Restaurants and Travel

Besides staying at home, I love to travel to new places and try new restaurants. Listed are some of my favorite places I’ve been:

Florida

VegSouthFlorida.com

Food trucks

• Mac’n Food Truck, South Florida’s first vegan food truck, serves soul food accommodating to special diets. My review (Currently inactive)
• Mushaboom focuses on burgers, all vegan.
• Veggie Xpress has all-natural vegetarian and vegan foods with seasonal and cultural influences.
  

Walt Disney World

• First trip to Walt Disney World
• We visited for a whirlwind trip on Leap Day for One More Disney Day, hitting up three parks and snacking and drinking along the way.
• Eating vegetarian at Le Cellier Steakhouse in Epcot’s Canada Pavilion.

Restaurants

• Blue Heaven — Key West restaurant in the Bahamian district. Not vegetarian but very accommodating, with a great atmosphere and menu.
• Darbster — West Palm Beach bistro with creative food.
• Dogma Grill — A hotdog shop in Miami where tofu dogs can replace the beef dogs.
• Sweat Records — Miami’s only fully vegan coffee house, it’s located in a cute and fun record shop.
• TooJay’s — A New York-style deli with locations throughout Florida, there is a section of the menu with multiple vegetarian options.

Georgia

Restaurants

• The Flying Biscuit Cafe — Southern restaurant with a few locations around Atlanta. Serves breakfast all day (including a tofu scramble) and vegetarian and vegan options throughout the menu.

Iowa

Just because it’s my home state, doesn’t mean it’s not considered a “trip.” Iowa has some hidden gems for food, situated as the breadbasket of the world. At the age of 30, I made my first trip to the Iowa State fair, and loved the attractions and food.

Restaurants

• Hamburg Inn — A diner that has been around since the 1940′s. Always crowded on the weekends (and worth the wait), it has vegetarian options to sub out meat, old-school diner sides and a huge menu.
• Lincoln Cafe — A cafe on Lincoln Highway, it is a small restaurant focusing on seasonal, local and organic food. There is always a small menu with a vegetarian choice or two, or they can substitute portobello as the protein in one of the day’s specials.
• The Red Avocado — Iowa City bistro currently closed and moving. But you can find their food at New Pioneer Co-op (which has a deli counter with vegetarian food).

Louisiana

I spent a wonderful few days  in New Orleans, eating and drinking my way around the city.

New York

The City

• Curley’s Vegetarian Lunch, a little vegetarian diner, has a really great variety of food with cute names. My review
• The Meatball Shop has a variety of meatballs, including a lentil and mushroom choice, with all kinds of sides and add-ons. Open late in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. My review
• You can find good vegetarian food outside of Manhattan, like I did on my trip to Queens.

Restaurants

• X’s to O’s — Vegan bakery located in Troy

Vegetarian-friendly chain restaurants

Fast food

• Chipotle — Fresh-Mex trying to use local and sustainable food when possible. Any meal can be made vegetarian, and beans are vegetarian. Similar to (and tasty like) Chiptole: Pancheros Mexican Grill, Lime Fresh, Moe’s
• Maoz Vegetarian — Awesome falafals served in a pita or on a sandwich. Put as many sauces or salad toppings on as you want.
• Shake Shack — Always-expanding burger and shake chain. There is a vegetarian portobello burger with cheese between two mushrooms, breaded and fried to warm, oozing goodness. I’ve been assured by corporate that all regular shakes on the menu board are vegetarian (and you can inquire about the rotating special shakes). My review and here.
• Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes — Mostly located in Florida and California with many locations scattered elsewhere, this is the best salad bar I’ve ever been to. You can eat in or carry out. The salad bar is very huge and specialty salads change frequently to stay in season. In addition to salad there is a large soup and potato bar, breads, pasta and a dessert station.
• Whole Foods Market — A grocery chain focusing on whole foods and organics, the stores always have a large variety of prepared foods that are clearly marked with who can eat them (vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, etc.) and the ingredients in the meal. In addition to a salad bar, it has excellent soups, prepared hot dishes, sushi, Italian food, a deli and more. I’ve never had anything I don’t like.

Sit-down

• Mellow Mushroom — Pizza, salads and sandwiches with fresh ingredients with great ingredient combos and a huge beer selection. Similar: Pizza Fusion
• P.F. Chang’s/Pei Wei — P.F. Chang’s and it’s order-at-the-counter little brother Pei Wei may not be the most authentic Asian food out there, but it’s always fresh and tasty and clearly marked as to what someone with certain restrictions can eat.
• Seasons 52 — Serves healthy, seasonal food. Knowledgeable about the menu and can accommodate a lot of different dietary restrictions.

Dessert

• Babycakes — New York-based bakery with other locations. Vegan and gluten-free.

Websites to find restaurants while traveling

• Happy Cow — International, broken down by country
• Vegetarian Resource Group restaurant page — U.S. and Canada
• What is vegetarian and vegan in chain restaurants
• List of vegetarian food trucks in various cities can be found here and here.