vegansaurus!

Vegansaurus NYC: Tiengarden!

Another day in New York, another vegan restaurant! I ventured out of Brooklyn to meet my pal Brittany in her neighborhood, the Lower East Side. OMG my big day in the city! We were searching for a place by her apartment and with the help of Happy Cow and SuperVegan, we decided on Tiengarden. It’s completely vegan and the internets are calling it Chinese food but I felt like it was kind of Thai (the lovely Brittany agrees), but maybe I’m a racist.

We shared spring rolls and they were adequate. I’m like a spring roll ninja (why’s it got to be a ninja Megan? Racist!) so you can’t just come at me with any old thing, but they were enjoyable. Brit (an omni) got the stir-fried noodles and she liked it, but says it was a little oily. But dude, she was totally into it. She was even talking about becoming a vegan but she didn’t really have any other reason besides liking the stir-fried noodles. I was like, homegirl, it takes commitment! It’s like on America’s Next Top Model, you can’t roll in on day one thinking you’re Tyra! You can’t even smile with your eyes!

Whaaaaaat was I talking about? Ah yes, nuggets! Well, I was about to. I had T11, the special nuggets with peanut curry sauce. Boy were those nuggets special! I think they were deep-fried chunks of tofu—I can get down with that. There were also zucchini, broccoli and other veggies along with some sort of brown rice. I’m a peanut sauce enthusiast and the more it tastes like peanut butter, the better. This sauce was excellent, very peanut-buttery (not thick like it, just the taste). If you like that spicy non-peanut-buttery peanut sauce, you are out of luck.

Other things to note: they have lots of desserts available but I didn’t try any because I had places to be (I’m a big-city girl now!) but they looked good. I’ll definitely have to try the carrot cake next time—cake is my favorite vegetable! Oh and they didn’t have regular soda but Brittany got this Chinese cola thing and now she’s all about it. It’s like, there goes Brittany with that Chinese cola! Sheesh, if I had a nickle…etc.

New Restaurant Review: Green Papaya Vegetarian Thai!

Green Papaya, an ALL-VEGAN THAI RESTAURANT in downtown Berkeley, opened this week. Upon walking in, one might feel as if he or she is in the center of a fresh papaya, with long walls freshly painted green and pink curtains.

Glancing at the shiny flat screen pasted on the wall, I thought we were in a Supreme Master joint, but then I saw BEER. The menu was super-cute, with appetizers billed as “chill chill,” salads as “yum yum,” and soups as “warm up.” They brought us Thai iced tea on the house. I was sort of anticipating fake meat galore (a la every vegan thai restaurant in Hollywood) but was shown a world of tofu, lightly fried seitan, and fresh vegetables. While my tastebuds missed the processed soy, my butthole said “thank you.”

Despite the lack of faux mutton or veggie whole duck or whatever, the menu was pretty inventive. We started with Curry Puffs, which are four deep-fried triangles stuffed with a moist mixture of pumpkin, shiitake, potato, onion, and pepper.

Then came the delicious Pad Thai. Probably my 4th best ever. And finally: the lunch special, Seitanic Broccoli (my name, not theirs); a mound of rice, crispy tofu skewers (or spring roll), and a sweet cucumber salad.

You don’t have to say “no egg pretty PRETTY please!,” they won’t mistake your gluten dish for beef chunks, and there is no fish sauce—ever.

They’re open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and located a mere block from the downtown Berkeley Bart station at 2016 Shattuck Ave. Check it out!

Central Vegetarian!

Central Vegetarian is a new vegetarian/vegan restaurant on Park Street, the main drag in Alameda, a tropical isle of dreams, located on the idyllic SF Bay, a.k.a. The Biggest Little City on Earth. I grew up on The Island and finding ONE restaurant with even ONE vegan item on it is like trying to figure out how Star Jones gets out of bed in the morning instead of just killing herself. It’s like Labyrinth, bitches. Next to impossible. However, with the opening of Central Vegetarian, we have a player in the game, folks! With a menu that is nearly identical to Golden Era in San Francisco and Golden Lotus in Oakland, you can’t help but believe this is a Supreme Master Ching Hai Enterprise.* And it is: the chef/owner used to work in the kitchen at Golden Lotus but then realized she was hell of in a cult and jumped ship, taking the recipes with her! You go, girl!

The menu is mainly Vietnamese but there are some Chinese and Thai dishes. If you’re not a moron, you will order any of the clay pots, CARAMELIZED CHICKEN (!!!), Spicy Gourmet Chicken (!!!) and the Veggie Chow Fun. It’s cheap, filling and delicious. A VERY VERY VERY welcome addition to the prestigious Alameda eating scene. It takes its place alongside Subway and Applebees to complete the trifecta of Alameda Power Eating (APE). Watch your back, Gary Danko; APE is coming to get you and what we lack in deliciousness, we make up for in knife fights.

*God, I love that crazy bitch. She doesn’t believe in alcohol, drugs, sex, meat or happiness. Obviously, I’m down. With most of it. I mean one thing of it.