Pai's

I came across Pai's food truck late in the evening at the South Lake Union Block Party. Most of the cuisine related components of the event had long shut down, and the masses of hungry late-comers were hanging out in a parking lot surrounded by soft glow and smokey allure of the food trucks.

I have long coveted the Hawaiian plate lunch, and was thrilled to see the Pai's has a vegetarian friendly plate. It is a pretty far stretch from the traditional meat/rice/mac salad type of affair, but the deviations made it that much more awesome for me as a vegetarian.

I got a "plate special" with lemongrass tofu and bok choy over rice, and my two sides were sesame coleslaw (no mayo!), and vegetarian kimchee.


Thank you Pai's for creating such a rad option for the vegetarians! (And vegans too, far as I can tell).

Aloha Mixed Plate

The Mix Plate is a staple Hawaiian fast food. It's often served out of a truck or bus or shack or little restaurant, and usually consists of two scoops of rice, a scoop of mayonnaise-y macaroni salad, and some sort of specially cooked meat(s). It's honest, unprocessed food, but there's not much to be had for a vegetarian.

Aloha Mixed Plate is a sort of domesticated Mixed Plate eatery... the food and the preparation are similar to elsewhere, but the restaurant itself is located right on the beach in touristy Lahaina Maui and is geared for tourists.

We started with a passion fruit smoothie, which didn't feel like it had much real fruit in it.

While my dining companion mowed down his mixed plate with chicken, beef and mahi mahi, I had one of the few vegetarian options: house made chow mein with tofu in peanut sauce. It was OK enough, not gross, nothing to really write home about.

For dessert we had Haupia, a gelled coconut dessert (made with arrowroot or corn starch, not gelatin). For just $1, it's hard to say no!

Aloha Ramen

I have long fantasized about Aloha Ramen up in Greenwood because it is one of the two (far as I know, the other being Samurai Noodles in the ID) ramen houses in Seattle that has a vegetarian ramen. I finally had the chance to eat there, and ordered the one clearly vegetarian ramen: Veggie Ramen.

The bowl came with bamboo shoots, broccoli, some sort of greens, corn and tofu squares. The simple broth tasted vegetarian, and the corn added a surprising nuttiness.

Overall, I could have used a little more excitement in the bowl... some ginger or garlic, or spice, and the tofu had the rough texture of raw extra firm tofu, instead of the lovely slippery texture of poached tofu that I prefer.

There were many other tasty sounding meat ramens on the menu that had vegan bases (spicy sesame paste, creamy tofu, miso, etc), and the waitress told me that many of the soups could be made vegan upon request. I think my inclination would be to do that next time!