Mandarin Chef

I'd read that Mandarin Chef in the U-District had some of the best Chinese Noodles in the city. This was quite a statement, considering the output of Szechuanese Cuisine, Seven Stars Pepper, Szechuan Noodle Bowl, Shanghai Garden, and the Snappy Dragon and I was more than happy to do a little follow up research myself.

We started with some jiao zi, reported by the sassy older waitress to be a specialty. I am happy to report that they do have a vegetarian dumpling option, which our table ordered along side a order of meat. The savory, sharp, spicy dipping sauces and oils, one of my favorite parts of dumplings, were tasty but not especially spicy.

For a main course I ordered Mo Po Tofu (fantastically available in a vegetarian version, or with pork) and a side of stir fried hand shaved noodles. The ma po was great... rich, red and super savory (may have been a bit of MSG involved... I just kicked back and enjoyed it). The noodles though, with all of the emotional culinary buildup, were a bit of a disappointment to me. I've really come to love thick, twisty, chewy noodles, and these seemed to be more on the thin and delicate side. It's hard to come into a restaurant with really high expectations of anything.

I would go back for the MaPo, but might leave the more severe noodle cravings to some of my other noodle faves.

Senor Moose

Senior Moose has long been on my list of restaurants to try, and I recently, finally, went there with company from out of town. We started with an appetizer of chips and guacamole and it was really outstanding. The chips were thick and salty and so fresh the grease burned our fingers, and their sturdy texture was perfect for the chunky homemade guacamole. In addition to this appetizer, there were other interesting looking starters too, including one particularly intriguing pile of roasted, cheesy corn also served with hot chips.

There were multiple interesting vegetarian dishes to choose from, including enchiladas in some sort of special salsa, and a vegetarian mole made from "25 ingredients". I chose a dish that was made from roasted chilis, roasted corn, potatoes and cream. It came on a plate split down the middle with tasty black beans on the other side, and a plate of warm tortillas wrapped in a cloth for scooping it all up. It was some heavy dense delicious food.

Many of the salads looked awesome too, and I wish we'd had room to try some desserts, including both a regular and a chocolate tres leches cake. Oh my, got to go back!

PS: My one complaint was that they kept the door wide open, likely to vent the kitchen in the small and somewhat crowded restaurant, but it was a nasty, rainy, cold night and I had to eat with my jacket and scarf on. A cozy, steamy, warm room would have much better suited the food!

Q Bakery

The Q Bakery is located in the same complex as Viet Wah on MLK and Graham down in my neck of the woods in South Seattle. It's not hard to find a good banh mi in Seattle, but a good vegetarian banh mi a stone's throw from my house is cause for celebration!

To start with , the Q Bakery is indeed a real bakery and it pumps out baguettes and rolls at regular intervals all day. If you choose to eat in the small shop, you'll know the bread is almost out of the oven because the population temporarily swells with people eager to load up their baskets and bags with hot bread. So this means that the backbone of the banh mi, the baguette, is oh so fresh and tasty. Off to a good start!

I'm not sure if they actually remove some of the center of the baguette, but somehow the ratio of fillings to bread is way better than usual, and the sandwich feels packed with innards and not just a bread baby.
Another reason I especially love Q Bakery is the sauce on the table. I recently discovered that one of the little plastic jars of red seedy sauce is NOT the typical vinegary chili garlic, but chili garlic lemongrass. I loaded up my sandwich and was in heaven.

The prices are similar to banh mi elsewhere: amazingly low. And in addition to sandwiches, Q bakery has a wide and interesting selection of other foods and snacks that are largely mysterious to me. Definitely worth a stop in if you're in the area!

Seasonal Goods

I recently had the pleasure of coordinating a catered lunch and chose Vince at Seasonal Goods to complete the task. Turns out he was a great choice: his bid was below our budget and his list of meals was huge, healthy and fantastic. The real clincher (for me) was that he routinely includes a fully-formed vegetarian version of the meal that matches it's meat brother.

The meal pictured below was szechuan chicken with noodles and asian slaw. Vince used a surprisingly tasty faux-chicken for the veggie version, and his sauces and salad dressings were all homemade and quite delicious. He also brought cranberry lemonade and a dense gingerbread cake with molasses whipped cream.

The next day we had enchiladas with chili roasted potatoes and cesar salad. Very satisfying for both the vegetarians and the meat eaters, and he was kind enough to, upon request, make a small portion of enchiladas without cheese for the lactose intolerant.

The whole scenario was cute too... Vince, a reticent somewhat gruff guy in chefs whites comes quietly blitzing in, sets up a little table, and serves up the eaters on nice glass plates and with real cutlery. Once done, he whisks it all up on a little cart and takes the dirty dishes with him.

I don't have many opportunities to employ a caterer, but he won me over with his menu variety and attention to vegetarians!

Seasonal Goods Catering
(253) 630-2233
14545 Se 261st St, Kent, WA 98042

Belltown Billiards

Belltown Billiards makes surprisingly good pizza. I was recently there on a stormy week night when the place was nearly empty aside from me and my pool shark friends. We ordered a bunch of pizzas through out the evening, including a tasty vegetarian pizza with fresh tomatoes and basil. There is a pizza oven and the back, and the thin chewy crusted beauties came out piping hot and surprisingly delicious. I had really low expectations, but am glad that I saved my appetite and indulged it here.

Belltown Billiards also has some good Happy Hour drink specials, including a $5 margaritas and Jack and Gingers.

King of Pho

I have some very excited news about the King of Pho in Auburn: They have a full new vegetarian menu!! I wrote about The King of Pho a couple of months ago, but in the meantime they've had a complete shift in vegetarian priorities. What fantastic news!

I was temped by many of the items on the vegetarian menu, but decided upon the lemongrass tofu vermicelli bowl, and oh my god, it was a good choice.

Their rendition of this dish (one of my Vietnamese favorites) rivaled any other I've ever eaten. The tofu was freshly fried and coated in a spicy, richly flavored lemongrass chili paste and tossed with stir fried onions. Half the bowl was full of vermicelli noodles, the other half was packed with lettuce, shredded cabbage, cucumbers, carrots and fresh herbs. The whole thing was covered in a generous blanket of dark roasted peanuts, and the small cup of sauce (meant to be poured over the bowl) was savory and unsweet, just how I like it.

I am so excited about this new development and will definitely be stopping here anytime I'm coming through Auburn hungry. Sitting here right now, looking at the picture of the dish, my mouth is watering so much I'd almost be tempted to drive to Auburn just for this meal.

(On a meat note, my meat eating dining companion said that his dish was outstanding.)

How wonderful! South side vegans and vegetarians (and heck, your meat eating friends too) go check it out!

(I posted a picture of the vegetarian menu on urbanspoon... you can find it by clicking below).

Beloved Mexico

Beloved Mexico is a taco truck in West Seattle that stands immediately apart in both appearance and conscience. The truck itself (more like a trailer) is shiny black with glossy cursive writing, and the family (owners) working inside pride themselves on quality ingredients and healthy preparations.

There are many vegetarian options, including a satisfying veggie taco with large, fresh corn tortillas, refried beans, and a big pile of grilled peppers and onions. They also have multiple cheese and potato dishes, burritos, tortas, etc. The salsa are freshly made, spicy and delicious. The pickled jalapeno that came with my taco tasted home-pickled with subtle hints of delicious spices.
My meat eating dining companion is especially thrilled to be getting his taco truck favorites from a place that uses good locally sourced meat, and as a vegetarian, I am happy to support businesses that make those sorts of choices too.

The prices are all taco truck cheap.

Stopping at Beloved Mexico used to be an occasional treat, but after hearing a KUOW radio show about people living "without a net" that featured Beloved Mexico's Guerrero brothers, we tend to stop every time we pass by, hungry or not. You can listen to the feature here: https://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=22719

I get complicated feelings around this... part of me wants to support the heck out of small, local restaurants making good food with good ethics. The other part of me feels like it's futile... that there are too many restaurants to each get enough of our city's collective "eating out" budget to survive. But then I think: But what the F about all the money spent at Applebees? And the Olive Garden? And the Cheesecake Factory?? These places aren't cheap, and every time I've ever had anything to do with them they've been packed with people complacently stuffing their pieholes.There is PLENTY of eating out budget, it's just being used in the wrong (IMHO) places.

It makes me angry that Beloved Mexico, with healthy, artful, delicious, reasonably priced food and carefully selected meat is just barely surviving (possibly headed to extinction soon unless business kicks up) while people will plunk down $13 at an Azteca for a mediocre cooperate meal without a flinch.

What the hell is wrong with us?? Go get some Beloved Mexico tacos before it's too late.