ChuMinh Tofu & Veggie Deli

I have finally located the antidote for Maruta's and other vegan un-friendly Asian delis all over Seattle: the ChuMinh deli at 12th and Jackson where the staff is lovely and everything is animal-free!
The vegan deli has a well stocked hot case full of various curries, veggies and tofu dishes. There is also an impressive selection of various deep fried things and both sweet and savory rice flour pastries. The prices were inexpensive and my dining companion and I tried a bunch of different dishes:
In the above picture we have stewed greens and tofu (with two different types of greens- this was my favorite!), some kind of fresh, lightly steamed veggie and tofu, an egg roll, an interesting and delicious shishkabob with grilled pineapple and various savory sweet and sour flavors, and a coconut bamboo shoot curry.

We also ordered a bahn mi and it was large, fresh and spicy!
It was such a treat to be able to order freely from the plentiful options and not worry too hard about the potential for meat/fish ingredients. My only complaint is that all of the tofu had been fried, while I would have preferred it to have been steamed, and as a result the various dishes all felt a little greasy.

Revel

Some hidden hipster part of me is really reluctant to embrace restaurants that gain quick noteriaty; I tend to initially shy away from places with too much hype (or accolades, eh). And then eventually, once curiosity or necessity or social obligation finally requires it, I drag my snagglepuss self out into the world to check then out. And on occasion I am blown away. Revel was a restaurant like this. I should have gone sooner.

The menu is small and changes frequently, and is grouped into a few categories: salads, dumplings, rice bowls, etc, each of which has maybe 3-4 varieties in it, including one that is vegetarian.

On a surprisingly lovely recent night I began with a spinach salad with palm hearts, black lentils and smoked peanuts. The dressing was salty and lightly acidic and every item was perfectly in balance. I would not have guessed that the explicit flavor of the lentils would be important and enhancing in a salad like this, but it was.

Next I had the vegetarian dumplings, which were filled with cauliflower and ricotta and served with pickled leeks and a black truffle puree. They were every bit as interesting, delicious and unusual as they sound.

The perplexing this about this place, which had fancy, well crafted, artsy type food, was that the prices were in the same ballpark as a "normal" restaurant. Both the salad and the dumplings were $9 each. Ordering them together made the meal extra fun and decadent, but wasn't necessary to get full. I am intrigued by whatever else is going to be coming out of this kitchen!

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).

Loving Hut

After a long remodel, my beloved international district mainstay, the Vegan Garden, has been transformed into one of the sensuously named "Loving Hut" chain of vegan (Supreme Master based) restaurants.

Off the bat, I found the menu to be a little bit less appealing than the Vegan Garden's. The Loving Hut menu is composed largely of fake meats shaped like real meat parts, and has lots of deep fried morsels that look delicious but not particularly healthful. I was pleased to see that the lemongrass tofu vermicelli bowl still exists, as does a spicy soup. My dining companion ordered the soup, and was disappointed to find it came with a variety of fake meats instead of tofu. Good to know that a tofu specification needs to be made next time!


I ordered the "Guru's Curry," specially made with with soft tofu instead of vegan meat nuggets (they are willing to do this all over the menu) and found it to be fantastic. The ample plate consisted of cubes of silky custardy tofu, broccoli and cabbage drenched in a most delicious, slightly spicy, very savory yellow curry. I don't know how they make that stuff taste so good but it was addictive. I can imagine going to the Loving Hut with specific cravings for this dish.

There is definitely a "Supreme Master" bend to the place; propaganda videos play on a big TV, there are pamphlets and books to take and buy, and the fortune cookies spread Supreme Master wisdom. None of this bothers me though. I'm not sure if Supreme Master is leader of a cult, a religion, or just a state of mind, but as far as her message is understood to me, it is that being vegan is kind to the planet and fellow life, which is an idea that I generally agree with. If there is a darker or more manipulative side to the videos and messages, I'm not picking up on it (nor am I on the look out for it).

The sweet waitress brought us multiple samples of vegan baked goods through out the meal.

Supreme Master or not, chain restaurant or not, it feels really good to go to a restaurant where the entire ideology is based on veganism, and if the change-over is what needed to occur to keep this location in business, I'm happy that it happened.

Golden Era

Today I found my way to the Golden Era vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco. I had read on-line reviews that spoke wearily of the neighborhood, and as I walked there today by myself I initially thought that everybody was overreacting until eventually the ratio of me to people laying on the ground, mumbling, stumbling, talking/hollering to/at me became fantastically disfavorable. I probably wouldn't have wanted to do the same walk at night. It is always hard in an unfamiliar place to know how bad a place really is because everything has that "Is this even real?" feel to it. Anyhow, I made it and was strangely relieved to enter the dark below ground restaurant and be greeted by none other than the Supreme Master herself on a large TV. (The Supreme Master also has a presence at the Vegan Garden in Seattle).

The menu reminded quite a bit of the Vegan Garden, which is full of good looking dishes. I ordered the Jalapeno Tofu, which was described as "Best tofu with jalapenos, onions and bell peppers, served with steamed broccoli." Sounded perfect.

The meal arrived and was as described... soft tofu triangles with finely diced onions and bell pepper, and then succulent, lightly steamed slices of fresh jalapeno on top. Yum.


I thought that the Supreme Master connection was interesting... makes me wonder if there are followers all of the country (world?) who are starting up similar Chinese vegan restaurants in her vision? I'm not complaining.

Supreme master is a blond now

Golden Era
(415) 673-3136
Civic Center
572 O'Farrell St
San Francisco, CA 94102

TIG Asian Tapas Bar

After walking around the Art Walk in Pioneer Square all evening, my friend and I were suddenly hit with what felt like a crippling hunger. I could hardly look at another lovely painting for want of nourishment, and the bowls of gallery pretzels had long before been reduced to crumbs.

So we went walking around looking for a place to eat. I got into a ridiculous mode that I enter when I am especially hungry that makes me want to keep going and see "what else" is out there in restaurant world. After a lot of walking around, and a pitstop at the Dry Soda tasting room, we came across TIG Asian Tapas Bar.

Mmm... Dry Soda. So much tastier than regular soda, and with such classy marketing.

The menu pasted in the window at TIG devoted a large section to describing the (high) quality of their tofu, and we decided immediately to go in. It felt a little bit fancy, and had some cool details inside included: bathrooms with one way glass separating them from the rest of the restaurant and waterfall sinks with joystick triggers. But it couldn't get too fancy with windows and doors facing an often unappetizing street scene in Pioneer Square, and the prices were surprisingly reasonable. The menu was broken into sections based upon price, starting at $2, and ranging to $12.

We'd assumed tapas portions, and ordered 2 items a piece. First to come was a big bowl of bibim noodles. They were cold, skinny noodles in a spicy red sauce with bits of cabbage and other veggies. They tasted truly vegetarian.

We really put the camera phone to the test.

Next came the Tofu with kimchee. It was another cold, surprisingly large portion of sliced soft tofu covered in kimchee and spicy red vinegary sauce. The kimchee exploded in a sour almost citrusy burst with every bite, and was quite delicious. Unfortunately, the occasional piece had a pretty seriously fishy flavour, and I became weary and stopped eating it.

Next we ate bean curd paste soup, which was essentially a spicy, hearty miso broth with hot cubes of soft tofu, potato chunks, cabbage, and other vegetables. It also tasted vegetarian.


And last came the almost comically huge plate of kimchee pancakes. As with all of the portions so far, it wildly exceeded our expectations. It was pretty tasty too... kimchee bound by some sort of bready binder and deep fried. It came with a soy dipping sauce. It is hard to go wrong with these particular ingredients, especially deep fried. I did taste some of the fishy flavour in the kimchee though, and ate more sparingly once I detected that.
I didn't have the chance to talk to our waiter about what was truly vegetarian, as he was entirely unfamiliar with the menu and disinterested in checking with anybody who knew. For example:

Me: What is a "tig burrito"?
Him: I don't know
Me: ...
Him: ...
.
But it was a fun evening, and I enjoyed getting to partake in a little vegetarian Korean food, even if it wasn't completely smooth sailing. My friend had some familiarity with authentic Korean cooking, and his impression was that it wasn't exactly authentic here, but the portions were impressive and it was good enough.

Thanks K for the pictures!

TIG Asian Tapas Bar
(206) 332-0844

614 1st Ave
Seattle, WA 98104

Zao Noodle Bar

I have an unhealthy relationship with Zao Noodle Bar in U-Village. It started a LONG time ago, once upon a time, when I ordered their Ginger-Garlic-Chili Chicken and Prawns, minus the Chicken and Prawns, and it was really really good. I won't go into the details, because it only happened that way once.

Every subsequent visit I've ordered the same thing, paying the premium price for the absent Chicken and Prawns ($11.50), with a retarded optimism that is, without exception, crushed by the reality of a meal dramatically inferior to the memory.

Still I went back again today. I was in the neighborhood on my bike, really hungry, and once again had a huge and irrational level of excitement about going to Zao. I was seated outside at a table in the blazing sun on this unusually warm day (was I seated there because I was dining alone? Maybe). I started to get hot, really hot. I could have asked to be moved, but I think I was afraid of disrupting the already tenuous magic I was hoping for (Note to self: You should have moved.)

Looking at the menu today I had an exciting realization: I could order the Monk's Vegetarian Delight, which in theory comes with: tofu, mushrooms, zucchini, green beans and yellow squash, and their fat shanghai noodles, and special order the addition of the garlic-ginger-chili sauce. Cost: $9, a full $2.50 better than paying for ghost meat in the Ginger-Garlic-Chili Chicken and Prawns and essentially the same dish.

I was becoming delirious with anticipation and slightly nauseous as I sat in the sun absorbing heat from the dark metal railing that my sweaty arm and back were pressed against. I am not a women with ample folds/valleys in my physique, but those that I do have were cascading with sweat."Confucius Say" style wit and wisdom on the t-shirt of every employee, and on the sanitary wrapper of every outside chopstick

When my meal came, it was a disappointment from first glance. Where were the vegetables? There was, for certain, no spinach involved. There were perhaps 4 green beans (a generous estimate), and the rest of the meager vegetable supply was paper thin slices of zucchini and yellow squash. There were a hand full of sizable mushroom chunks, but in a fault that is my own I left those in a little pile on my place. The sauce was oily and yes, spicy, but not in a way that made sense. There wasn't much flavour in the sauce. The noodles were large, but somehow there wasn't much pleasure in eating them.

This picture was taken with my laptop, which I took out of my backpack and held up like a steroidal camera trying to aim at my food. Classy and discrete.

But I ate the whole dang plate anyway (minus the mushrooms). The waitress came by and tried to take it away as I was still chasing tiny nubs of noodles with my sweaty chopsticks, and I wouldn't let her. My behavior didn't even make sense to me.

After I ate I ambled bench to bench in U-Village, resting, finding reasons to hangout a little longer, until I realized I was more or less trapped in the village by my gluttony induced laziness. It might be a fantasy of some to be trapped in this particular locale, but I am too frugal to enjoy that fantasy and forced myself back on my bike and began the long process of pedaling home.

For the sake of putting something useful in this post, I must announce: Zao does have multiple vegetarian (and even vegan) options on their menu. And as I write this, I have the urge to say that the food is actually pretty decent. It makes me wonder if I've picked up a Zao friendly parasite that is directing my behaviors.

Zao Noodle Bar
(206) 529-8278

2630 NE University Village Street
Seattle, WA 98105
www.zao.com

P.F. Changs

http://www.pfchangs.com/

On a recent cross-state drive, I found myself needing dinner whilst in the middle of one of the countless and contagious stretches of country containing an explosion of chain restaurants and box stores and little else. In this hungry and road-weary state, it was a relief and a pleasure to spot the majestic cement horse statue that marks a P.F. Changs.

No matter where you are, the P.F. Changs menu seems to stay the same. To my fortune and delight, it includes a sizable vegetarian selection that promises the same dependable vegetarian choices even in areas of the country where tofu might not be popular.

The shtick is dependable too... your waiter will arrive at the table with an attractive tray with glass bottles of soy sauce, vinegar and hot oil, and small cups of chili sauce, pot sticker sauce, and horseradish-y Chinese mustard. He asks how hot you like it and like a magician combines the ingredients before your eyes.
I've found an item on the menu that I really enjoy, and I enjoy the predictability of its availability no matter how far into cattle country I've wandered. I order the Ma Po Tofu. It comes standard with the silken tofu fried (but they easily accommodate my request for steamed instead) on a big pile of steamed broccoli in a not-too-salty, not-too-sweet Ma Po sauce that is rich with garlic.
You can choose white or brown rice.

One interesting thing I noticed while looking through the PF Changs website later on, is that many of the vegetarian dishes include vegetarian oyster sauce, which includes no animal products. The existence of such a product was an exciting discovery for me (though I do wonder if it is just a fronting name for liquid MSG?), and I am pleased to see that PF Changs is going the oft-considered-subtle-extra-mile and acknowledging the presence of oyster extracts as not truly vegetarian.

Triple Door

216 Union St
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 838-4333
www.tripledoor.com

The Triple Door is great in theory... I love the idea of a live show coupled with a lingering evening of food and drinks. But in practice, it is lame lame lame for a vegetarian.

The Triple Door has a menu that is smaller than, but related to the Wild Ginger upstairs. The entrees are mostly in the mid teens to 20's range in dollars, which feels spendy.

We were out for the full night on the town experience, and it went like this:

Appetizer: Much discussion with the friendly and attentive waiter over what was vegetarian. Answer: One thing. Salad rolls with pineapple sauce. Not in the mood for this, we tried for a salad appetizer. All of the salads had meat. We settled on a version of the Green Papaya salad specially made with pineapple sauce instead of the usual (which includes fishsauce). It was decent... better than I expected given my distaste for sweet sauces, and was presented in an ample pile that made the price feel almost justified.

Main course: The waiter checked with the kitchen to see what could be made "vegan". The "vegan" vs. "vegetarian" label was tricky here, as they viewed both shrimp and fish sauce as vegetarian-friendly. There weren't many choices on the menu that were even close to vegetarian, and of those that were listed as vegetarian (squash curry, some tofu dish with peanut sauce, "vegetarian" phad thai), none could be made without some sort of sea-animal-flavouring. He said that they could, however, make the Seven Spice beef with tofu instead of beef, and that became my easy choice.

It arrived and was a grand disappointment. I had the choice between fried and not-fried tofu, and chose not-fried. What arrived was a large plate with a scoop of slightly off tasting brown rice, a bed of beansprouts and barely-cooked onion pieces, and a big pile of my absolute least favorite type of tofu... it was the variety that is extremely dense with an entirely homogeneous and rubbery texture. The meager quantity of sauce glossed off the unmarinated cubes, leaving my palate the rather daunting job of choking them down without much to distract. The beansprouts and brown rice weren't able to take up the slack either.

We also ordered a side of Sechuan greenbeans, which were delicious and are, I believe, the redeeming factor of this restaurant. They are a little bit spicy and garlicky, not too salty. I could have eaten them all night. (And they are truly vegetarian.)

Ordered dessert too, somewhat against my will given the guilt I was feeling over the growing bill for an unsatisfying meal, but was hungry enough after barely eating my dinner that I heeded the urge to fill my belly. Ordered a rolled up carrot cake, which, apart from the too-small portion size, was quite good, if sort of spiced for the masses. It was really moist and had a thick ribbon of orange flavored cream cheese frosting swirled inside. The top was sprinkled with some sort of roasted nuts and really delicious candied pineapple. The cake sat on a little swirl of slightly bitter orange caramel sauce.

Didn't have any cocktails tonight... everything else felt too poor in value to warrant it to my frugal pocketbook. But people were slurping them down all around us, and they looked delicious. I believe most were under $10.

I think the thing to do for a vegetarian headed out for an evening at the Triple Door is to eat elsewhere. Then sit back and have a fancy drink while you watch your show.

Vegan Garden

1228 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98144
(206) 726-8669
http://vegangardenrestaurant.com/

The lit-sign for the Vegan Garden beckons from the intersection of Jackson and Rainier at the east end of the International district. I notice it every time I pass by, but never fully believed that its promise would be true, and part of me even wondered whether there was even a restaurant associated with the sign. Found out this evening, and was delightfully surprised to turn into the parking lot sandwiched between two buildings, and find not only a real restaurant but some easy off street parking.

The feel inside the restaurant was large, open and clean. It looked like it tapered a bit towards the back, so there was possibly some cozier seating back there. We ordered our food to go, and the waiter was really friendly and offered water and tea while we waited.

The menu is huge, vegan, leans towards but not entirely to the Vietnamese end of the asian food spectrum, and includes all sorts of fake meats. I tend to shy away from most of the fake meats in these circumstances... not so much for reasons of principle as I just prefere the taste and texture of tofu. We ordered the Shredded tofu rolls and Mongolian Tofu. The Mongolian Tofu comes standard with deep fried tofu, but a substitution for soft tofu was no problem. There was the choice of white or brown rice.

The shredded tofu rolls were exceptionally tasty... full of thin tofu strip fried in some sort of delicious way so that they had a wonderful crunch and rich nuttyness, and a large bunch of dark green lettuce that poofed out one end like a fanciful tubeworm. They came with a sweet pineapple dipping sauce that had a bit of a smoky taste, as if some fake ham had been stewed in it. It was sweeter than what I generally like in a sauce like this, and I ended up just dipping the rolls into a little soy sauce, which was delicious.

The Mongolian tofu was unfortunatly a bit of a dissapointment. I know that anytime I request soft tofu in a dish that usually comes fried, I am sacrificeing some deliciousness and loosing some of the intent of the dish, so I should allow a little bit of softness in my assessment. Regardless, the tofu itself was actually my favorite kind... really soft and silky, almost the texture of firm jello (as opposed to the pourous, slightly spongy stuff you buy in the tub at the grocery store), so I appreciated that. In addition to the tofu were a few red bellpepper slices, and a bed of little whitish-clear fried noodles. The sauce was the unfortunate part... it fell into the sweet and oily category instead of my preference, the salty and spicy category. I initially look a dip into the sauce with my finger, and it came out with a coating of what tasted like pure canola oil. After I mixed it all together, I added some sriracha and a little bit of soy sauce (not the best of circumstances when the excessive sweetness begs excessive saltyness....), and it was edible, but not something I'd order again.

In retrospect, I probably should have ordered something different. I am a sucker for good soft tofu cooked in a spicy sauce, and often look past other intrigueing options to attempt to satisfy this. Some of the other menu options I look forward to ordering sometime are: lotus root salad, tofu congee, tofu curry, spicy tofu noodle soup, and the tofu pho.

While I was not thrilled with my main dish, I'm not ready to write this place off yet. Going to have to go back...

Moonlight Cafe

There is an unexpected surprise waiting in the Moonlight cafe: a full second menu that mirrors the regular menu except all of the dishes (Vietnamese, mostly and some chinese) are made with tofu and fake meat counterparts. As a vegetarian, it's fun to be able to order general tso's chick'n, and other standard fare that is usually reserved for meat.

The downside of the place is that it is also a lounge, and smoking seems to be allowed inside. Also, there is a stage and a giant screen set up for kareoke, which could be fun if you're expecting it, or distractingly loud (can't talk to your tablemates) if you're not.

In the future, I think I will carry-out my food.

Teapot Vegetarian House

345 15th Ave E
Seattle, WA 98112
(206) 325-1010
http://www.teapotvegetarianhouse.com/

I am super excited to have found this restaurant because it has a complete menu with all of the usual meat-required Asian favorites made with either tofu or meat substitutes.

All of the dishes that I've tried have been really tasty, though heavilly sauced and often salty. The mongolian Tofu is a delicious mix of friend tofu and scallions over a bed of crisp rice noodles covered in a slighly spicy rich brown sauce.

I've also enjoyed the tofu kung pao, which came to the table with a nice mix of chopped vegies and a generous helping of peanuts under a slightly spicy, slightly sweet sauce.

The vegetables in yellow curry are also good, though not quite as exciteing as the other dishes. What I really enojyed about this was the large chunks of vegetables (like cabbage) that were slowly stewed in the curry sauce.

The ambiance is pleasant... art on the walls, christmas tree lights, a shrine, but everytime i've been in there it is almost empty. I don't know if this is just my timeing, but it makes me nervous because I don't want this restaurant to be forced out of business- it really is a good find for a vegetarian/vegan looking for a tantilizeing choice of pan-asian options.