Room at the Inn for a Vegan

Diggin’ In with Kennedy

The line is long at the Dig Inn but it moves fast. Its popularity is comforting. My falafel addiction had gone on vacation and Midtown is no East Village when it comes to vegan options. My bud Kennedy suggested this “Dig Inn.”   As usual, I checked out their website to see what I could eat. I opened up their Allergen Chart .  The last column on the chart, “vegan.”  The vegan column was checked a lot.  In fact, the food at Dig Inn is about 90% vegan and it is a big menu .   Set up like an edible Boston Market with fresh gourmet food, I was ready for this.

We got two of the four existing seats so if you go, prepare to take-out.  The Dig Inn is not a new restaurant but a rebranding. Originally created for the 90’s bodybuilder, it was formerly known as “Pump Energy Food.”  Dig Inn explained the name change this way:

“As New Yorker’s swapped out dumbbells for yoga mats, our relationship with food started to change. Something of a food revolution was taking hold…we’ve come up with a name that we’re truly pumped about”

The Dig Inn’s prices are fair and the dishes unique, inspired and farm fresh. I ordered the veggie platter because the tofu protein looked a little boring. The veg plate gets you 4 sides (small) or 5-7 sides (large).    Their website is one of the best out there. Just click on any item, get every ingredient and full nutritional information.  D.I. calls it full transparency, I call it a bar set high for restaurants everywhere.  I get flustered sometimes in these long-line situations so using their site, I was able to pick my meal and calculate how many calories I was getting. So what did I get?

Veggie Platter Large ($7.58): Tomato Brown Rice (199 Calories), Mushroom with Celery (41 Calories), Broccoli & Quinoa Salad (119 Calories), Lentils (58 Calories), Wheatberry Salad (124 Calories), Kale & Apple Salad (94 Calories) = 635 Calories. Maybe a bit steep in the calorie department but this is nutrient-rich cuisine.  Kids, you are going to want to eat these vegetables.  Kennedy (King of Control) went with the small veggie platter ($5.51) bringing him in under 500 calories.

I can’t say there was a losing dish on my plate.  My favorite was the Wheatberry Salad which they note, does have honey in it so you uber-vegans will have to pass on that one.  They also have some amazing sauces. I had the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (toasted almonds, roasted garlic and cayenne).  Next time I’m trying their House Hot Sauce.

They sell “picnic pints” as well $2.99/$5.51. Kennedy, hooked me up and I thank him for that. Dig Inn is my current Midtown favorite and possibly my new world favorite.  They really got it right. The only thing that irks me is that Dig Inn is the kind of place I would open up.  Julia’s got to check this place out. Perhaps I’ll bring home some picnic pints.  I’ll bet they deliver to my office.

Grand Central goes Vegan

Do you ever find yourself waiting in Grand Central for someone to come in from upstate or Connecticut? As the time wears on and the grumbling in your stomach gets worse, take a moment to explore the dining concourse. There isn’t much veg-friendly places there, but Cafe Spice (the only Indian place) has taken the steps to identifying there is a booming vegan consumer out there. No need to think anymore about if you can eat it or not, because Cafe Spice had labelled the vegan dishes at their station. The lentils were my favorite, although they were a little bland. The kara curry was waaaaay too coconutty for me, and I’m a snob when it comes to Channa masala because my homemade masala is boss. It’s no Dawat or Tamarind, but it does taste okay and it’s better than Curry in a Hurry.

After you’ve dined, head up toward track 19 and visit Joe’s art of coffee for dessert. They have an incredible vegan cookie selection. But beware, it goes fast and they run out.

Other Acceptable Veg-Friendly Restaurants in Grand Central Terminal:

Two Boots: They have vegan slices for sale. Very yummy, but I still hate Daiya.

Hale and Hearty: Good vegan soups, and also can work a sandwich to be vegan

Manhattan Chili Company: A few vegan chili options.

Zaro’s Bread: Okay bagels and coffee. Vegan sandwiches available upon request

Hot and Crusty: Decent bagels

Dishes: Fresh juices!

Five Tool Stew

Matt Kemp
Photo credit: Sportsagentblog.com

It’s baseball season and in honor of the bat swinging superstars I decided to pay homage to America’s pastime with this Vegetable Stew. This stew is crowd favorite and can be very versatile just like Mike Trout, Buster Posey, Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun and Josh Hamilton. It features 5 vegetables you can get all year round: Zucchini, Cherry Tomatoes, Onions, Peppers (mild or hot), and Beans.

3 out of 5 prepped and ready to go

Like every great superstar there needs to be solid role players and in this stew we have several great secondary ingredients: Fresh lime juice, fresh pineapple juice, garlic, fresh cilantro, tomato paste, and mexican spices. But before we field the ingredients we need to build our foundation first.

What the heck is it cooking in?

There is NO OIL involved in this. But I’m not going to say it’s entirely oil free. Grab a medium sauce pan and turn the heat to high and pour about a quarter cup of water in it. When it’s boiling (more like sizzling), drop in 1/3 of a vegetable bouillon cube (this is where a little oil sneaks in). Once the bouillon sliver dissolves turn the heat down to medium and add onions and salt. Be aware that during this process the water evaporates so in order to keep your pan from browning you might have to add tablespoons of water (I added 3).

When the onions become translucent add garlic and stir for about a minute before adding the zucchini and peppers. I allowed the zucchini and peppers to cook for about 2 minutes before adding a spoonful of tomato paste. Once tomato paste is fully mixed in, add the cherry tomatoes and zucchini insides (zucchini insides to be explained at the end).

Missing just one major ingredient: Beans

Once fully stirred, add the beans. Whatever beans are your fancy, have at it. I admittedly did not use dried beans. Instead I used 1- 14.5oz can of black beans, and 1- 14.5oz can of garbanzo (Chickpea) beans. Drained and rinsed of course.

5 big players in, now let’s round the bases for the winning run

At this point your vegetable stew isn’t quite looking like a stew at all, so we’ll need to add some liquid and spices to bind it all together. Add 1/2 of a lime juiced (if it’s not a juicy lime add a quick squeeze from the other half), and 2 tablespoon of pineapple juice. Then stir in the following mexican spices: 2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chili powder, dash of cayenne pepper, and a pinch of dried oregano.

Now that’s looking like a stew!

Once all the ingredients above are stirred in, salt and pepper to taste. To finish this veggie delight off, add 2-3 tablespoons of fresh cilantro to the stew and mix in before serving.

As I mentioned above this is very versatile and can be eaten with a spoon or served a little differently. It’s a great source of protein so I used this stew as my “meat” for my vegan and gluten-free tacos!

Topped with diced pineapple and julienned jicama for “cheese.” Avocado on bottom

Towering gluten-free vegan taco

jicama cheese adds depth and flavor

Ingredients:

Major ingredients:

• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 large zucchini, boated and diced. Chop and set aside insides*
• 3-4 small mild (or hot) peppers (or 1 large bell pepper), diced
• 2  14.5oz can of beans of your choice, drained and rinsed

Secondary ingredients:

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 vegetable bouillon cube
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 2 tbs pineapple juice
• 3 tbs fresh cilantro, chopped
• Heaping spoonful tomato paste
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• pinch of dried oregano
• dash of cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

Optional ingredients:

• Corn tortillas (I prefer Maria and Ricardo’s brand)
• jicama, julienned
• avocado, sliced
• pineapple, diced

Directions:

1. In medium sauce pan on high heat add 1/4 cup of water and add vegetable bouillon cube. When cube is dissolved, turn down heat to medium and add onions and salt. When onions are translucent add garlic and cook for an additional minute, then add zucchini and peppers.
2. Cook zucchini and peppers for 2-3 minutes then stir in tomato paste. Once fully stirred in, add cherry tomatoes and zucchini insides. Cook for an additional minute and stir in beans.
3. Stir in lime juice, pineapple juice, oregano and spices. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes until liquid is noticeable. Mix cilantro into the stew and then salt and pepper to taste before serving.

* Zucchini boated and diced

I don’t like how mushy zucchinis get so I’ve been scraping out the insides, setting them to the side and then dicing/cubing the harder outside of the zucchini. Once the insides are scraped out, I cut the zucchini into 5 strips and dice into even small cubes. It keeps the consistency of each piece, and also helps create more texture in the dish.

Process of boating

I made this for my family party and it was a huge hit! The vegetarians loved it and so did the carnivores. It’s nearly fat-free, completely gluten-free, good source of protein, entirely vegan and of course super healthy!

Ethiopian in Connecticut

One of my all time favorite cuisines is Ethiopian food. I just can’t get enough of the vibrant spices and the complex taste! I’m always very excited when I come across an Ethiopian restaurant and this time around I visited the only Ethiopian eatery I know of in the Hartford area: Abyssinian Restaurant. I’ve been coming to this place for years but never visited as a vegan. It does have 4 cows on Happy Cow, but how did it really hold up?

I’ve always meant to try the Mexican restaurant to the left of this place, but the Ethiopian aroma gets me every time.

Amazing. Absolutely stunning and unbelievable. One of my best friends (now a recently turned vegan) and I mentioned to the host that we were vegan, and when we placed our order he reaffirmed “No butter, but oil?” We nearly started dancing on the table tops because this showed attention to detail and a lot of times you put your trust in cooks to make it vegan. This time, he MADE sure it was vegan. We ordered the vegetable combo (#24 on the menu) and it was super filling although looked a little sparse.

Consisted of beets (yuck), split peas, lentils, cabbage, bean curd (?), potatoes, and collard greens, and spicy lentil (aka Yemiser wet) in the middle. We got extra spicy potatoes too.

We also indulged ourselves with Sambusas to start. A Sambusa is very similar to a Samosa all you Indian cuisine lovers out there who are new to Ethiopian and African food. To say the least we were very full and very satisfied. For being one of the very few (possibly only) Ethiopian restaurant in Hartford, we’ll keep coming back.

nom noms

Abyssinian Restaurant

535 Farmington Ave.

Hartford, CT 06105

860-218-2231

Juiced Up Thursday

There are days when waking up is just nearly impossible. Well on this Thursday that was absolutely the case for me. My dorm living lifestyle has come to a close for the summer, which means back to living like an actual adult. However, this morning I opted out of making a homemade juice and decided to head to Robeks instead. Will I regret this decision? Find out.

I’m not sure if Robeks is organic. They preach nutrition and healthy living, but I’ve been to a number of them and have never seen them preach “& Organic!” But the nice thing about them is they do make drinks and smoothies to order. However, if you get a drink with orange juice, they don’t freshly juice an orange in front of you. They pour the orange juice out of a container. So I’ve learned to stay away from anything with orange juice in it. So on this humid morning I was feeling a little out of sorts, I decided to order the Green-V with a touch of lemon.

• Green-V: Carrot, Celery, Spinach, and lemon

After I ordered I saw that I had more than just a choice of getting the generic celery and carrot drink, but it was too late. I handed my credit card over and was charge the $7.43 for my drink. But I am happy to see that Robeks is expanding the vegetables offered at their establishments. Getting carrot based drinks gets a little redundant. Just saying.

Oh now you tell me.

I know the carrot based statement above makes me seem like a hypocrite because I throw carrots in my juices very often. But the difference is the entire BASE of my juices aren’t only carrots. I use lots of kale or cucumbers as well, if available. I’ve gotten a number of juices at Robeks and every single one of them taste like carrot with a hint of whatever other vegetable was supposed to be in it. Well this case was no different. I’m not sure if there’s any spinach in it to be honest, just because of the very orange color it came out as. But regardless I could’ve made my own juice, but I didn’t so I have to settle for my poor decision this morning. Robeks, stop overusing the carrots in your juices.

If you love carrots, come on over to Robeks!

Positives of Robeks:

One positive is I don’t have to clean my juicer. But another serious positive is that there’s a couple of pleasant vegan goodies at your nearest Robeks. If you want a juice and a cookie it’s a nice place to hit up.

3 of their 5 cookie options for vegans

The Healthy Voyager

A vegan shouldn’t dread travel but finding food in unfamiliar places can be stressful.  Whether you’re on a business trip to Houston or a vacation in Thailand, the Healthy Voyager has got you covered.  At the Seed: A Vegan Experience, I was fortunate to catch the healthy voyager, Carolyn Scott-Hamilton and her priceless knowledge on vegan travel.

Carolyn has been vegan for 14 years   In college, she gained 50 pounds her freshman year.  Thanks to her vegan diet and her own craftiness, she’s presently slim and trim.  She started health voyage through trial and error and has come up with some incredible tips.

Select Wisely Card

Here are some of my favorites:

• A bpa-free plastic water container bag
• Packets of “Go Greens” turns water into vitamin and vegetable goodness
• Vegan Passport – phrase book to order vegan in any language
• Select Wisely card is similar to the vegan passport but has pictures so you can hand it to your server.
• Using your hotel coffee maker as a hot plate
• Using your hotel coffee maker as a grill
• Pack a thin and floppy plastic cutting board
• Bring your own tea
• For road trips pack a cooler
• Call ahead to see if they can accommodate your diet

Some of this may seem like common sense but you may recall our Napa Challenge.  We could have used a list.  Check out her website. You may become overwhelmed.  It seems Carolyn has thought of everything.  Enjoy your own vegan travel consultant.  Thanks Carolyn.

Newburyport Challenge

My job takes me all over the Eastern Seaboard and for this weekend it has brought me to where the shoreline of Massachusetts meets New Hampshire: Newburyport. This beach town, which hosted the first US Coast Guard station, is known for it’s copious amounts of seafood. Restaurants billboards bleed announcements of Lobster and Steaks. I knew coming to the salt dusted streets of this quaint fisherman’s paradise would be a task for a vegan. Taking a page out of the Tea Party (1770’s Tea tax rebellion posse, not Sarah Palin’s contingent), the idea of rebellion is rooted in Newburyport.

First act of rebellion, not staying in your standard chain hotel. My boss really didn’t appreciate this.

So my boss and I headed to downtown Newburyport and after asking some locals of where to go to get a good inexpensive meal, they suggested the Grog. We ignored them because there was no outside seating. So instead we ended up at Not Your Average Joes. They had a huge patio for outside seating and with the ocean breeze and the cooling evening air, it was perfect. The food was average though. However, not being a particularly vegan friendly place, the server was pretty attentive to my culinary restrictions. Once he knew that I wouldn’t eat any animal products, he went to the kitchen to relay the message to the chef, and came back to me with a chef’s challenge: Anything on the menu can be alter to be vegan, except for the veggie burger because that’s already pre-made and has dairy in it.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone eating a lettuce sandwich and right then and there I decided, why yes, I will have the Chicken Thai Lettuce Wraps for my meal but please hold the chicken. Well it came out moments later and instead of chicken there appeared to be julienned peppers, oranges, peanuts, onions, snow peas, and banana peppers sitting delicately in a lettuce bowl. It was light and refreshing and I enjoyed it.

Three little lettuce leaves sitting in a row…

After having a relaxing dinner at Not Your Average Joes, we wandered across the street to grab some homemade gelato. If there’s homemade frozen treats there’s always homemade sorbet. Well low and behold there was! So I ordered the lemon sorbet and it was so tart and delicious. And the servings are massive. I had one scoop and it was very impressive in size.

Evening cap of lemon sorbet. My vegan go-to dessert.

Overall the Newburyport Challenge has been relatively easy. If we were to eat at the Grog, they had a number of dishes that could be made vegan. There’s a little sandwich shop, The Purple Onion, which is vegan and vegetarian friendly. So vegans looking for some beach time, think about Newburyport, the restaurants can accommodate you. Plus there’s some great vegan places here and a few juice shops too.

Anna’s Goes Vegan

On our George and Julia Eat Manhattan blog I’ve declared my love for Anna’s Taqueria, but now I’m bringing a new vegan outlook on Boston’s favorite burritos. There must be a new kind of culinary consumer in the area because Anna’s now provides warnings of what consists of dairy and meat. A year ago this definitely did not exist.

Sour cream in guacamole? Huh?

My number one concern on this is what the caption above says. Vegans LOVE guacamole, but at this establishment it’s now tainted with sour cream. Not a big deal, to have a vegan experience there’s a number of items they provide:

• Roasted Vegetables
• Beans (Pinto, Black and refried)
• Vegetarian Rice
• Homemade Salsa
• Lettuce and jalapenos

Beans corner with a visit from carnitas

The proximity of meat to vegetables is something that would turn hardcore vegans off, but fortunately I’m not an overly zealous vegan. I don’t meltdown if there’s cheese on the same platter as my celery. Because Anna’s was pretty scrupulous to warn about the guacamole and rice I figured the beans were safe. George would claim the refried beans have lard in it.

Nobody puts roasted vegetables in the corner. Well apparently Anna’s does.

From when I started visiting Anna’s Taqueria in 2006, they’ve provided customers with roasted vegetables. But when I did order the vegetables for my burrito there was something I should highlight:

• Con: When you order the roasted vegetables, they do chop them up with the same knife and on the same cutting board as the meat.

Would this make it not vegan? Some would argue yes. Again, I’m not a go-into-freakout-mode vegan with things like this, but I know it’s something that some vegans would find unacceptable. So what did my plant-based burrito look like?

Veggie Super Burrito

What I got on it was vegetarian rice, pinto beans, lettuce, roasted vegetables, homemade salsa (chockfull of cilantro), and tons of hot sauce. It was delicious. But I did return again and decided to omit the roasted vegetables (because of the cutting board incident), and went with lettuce, jalapenos, salsa, rice, pinto beans and hot sauce. To be honest I think it taste better without the roasted vegetables. Stop by Anna’s while you visit Boston, it’s good for vegans and carnivores.

It’s like Subway (sandwich shop) style choices

UPDATE: Calorie Breakdown

• Tortilla Wrap: 290 (12 inch super burrito)
• Rice: 160
• Pinto Bean: 140 (black beans 130)
• Vegetables: 70
• Salsa: 20
• Lettuce: 5
• Hot Sauce: 10

Total: 695

Soupy surprise

I tore through Dr. McDougall’s soups. That’s why they’re not as organized as Fig’s. Sorry Whole Food employee who has to reorganize.

I had surgery today and afterwards I headed over to whole foods to find some soft foods to eat later today. Well to make a long story short, in the soup isle there were a bunch of organic pre-made soups. Most weren’t vegan (but they were vegetarian) but Dr.McDougall’s and Fig Food Co were totally vegan friendly. Fig contains soy but the ole Dr. kept it vegetable focused and heeded no soy warnings.

Advice From People You Don’t Know

Surviving Napa Continued…Most of you know us at least a little.  We have our strengths and weaknesses but you trust our opinions are somewhat objective and never paid for. This an ongoing debate with Julia and me. In my opinion, an online comment on yelp or message board is not reliable information. The person could be paid (going rate is 5 bucks per) or it is penned by the restaurateur. anonymous is as good as nothing yet we all read and make decisions based on what these strangers report.

He who does not live by his own creed,  gets burned. When happycow.com brought up zero vegan restaurants in Calistoga/Napa Valley, I looked to the online community for help. One avid patron proclaimed that vegan dining was a simple if you go to a place called “Pacifico.”  The eater/writer explained that they were talented in turning any dish into a vegan delight.  The place sounded perfect so Julia made the reservation.

The place was standard rustic-festive, complete with gratis chips and timid salsa and margarita pushing signage. It was the Mexican restaurant you could find in Connecticut, New York, Wyoming, anytown, USA.  The menu seemed strict but I recalled the online advice we had received from a person we did not know.

Our waiter wasn’t friendly or mean. His enthusiasm was toll booth attendant level. I can appreciate that controlled level of effort. It’s comfortable.  He steered us clear of the vegan impossible dishes and we settled on a cheese-free veggie burrito for me, and soft tacos, no meat or cheese with black beans for Julia. There were no questions about our order, just a friendly nod.

Something didn’t seem right. Julia thought I was being to hard on the place.   Was I?  I discovered halfway through my burrito that there were traditional refried-in-lard beans in the mix. It was really just a bland hunk of heavy dough.  Julia’s tacos were better but seemed like less than something we might make at home. I feel that in this case too much subtraction with no addition. No cheese, why not add more vegetables, rich and spicy veggies. No meat, let’s turn up the heat.  Black beans are bland so let those chiles burn up the place.

Accommodating the pain-in-the-ass vegan is easy but you need to try a little.  Stock some Daiya cheese and gimme lean sausage in your freezer. Ask Pizza Plus in park slope how they doubled their business offering the “premium-priced” soysage and vegan cheese to their customers.  Flavor those veggies with the spice you normally reserve for the steaks and chickens.  Here’s the kicker, it saves you money!  Most people are not vegan but it’s amazing how many restaurants are passed over because of respect for and wanting to include a vegan buddy.  Think about it Pacifico! Think about America!

Pacifico is located at 1237 Lincoln Ave, Calistoga CA