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Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Jamjuree, Seattle, WA

Location: 509 15th Ave E, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
There are a lot of Thai places in Seattle. Most are alright, a lot are not good (ketchup in pad thai - why??). Jamjuree is probably my favorite Thai place we have tried. It is consistently good no matter what we order. Their pad thai (shown above) is delicious - a little sweet, definitely no tomato products. I don't get it often, but when I do it is delicious.

From Vegan Gastrobot
Their curry (red curry above) is always tasty. The red curry was not too spicy (I don't like my food to hurt me - I don't like a lot of hot spice). Served with brown rice it is nice and creamy, the flavor was perfect.

Overall - Everything we have had at Jamjuree has been delicious. If you are in the mood for Thai food this is a great option - they have something for everyone.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Georgetown Liquor Company, Seattle WA

Location: Seattle, WA, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
Georgetown Liquor Company is a vegetarian bar and restaurant where most everything can be made vegan upon request. Their sandwiches I think are some of the best in the city - it is definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle. On the last visit we noticed they have a happy hour so we wanted to go back and try that. Their happy hour menu was pretty good -  cheaper options of some of their normal menu items. The first thing we tried were the tacos - three soft taco shells filled with GLC’s housemaid vegan taco ‘meat’, shredded romaine, diced tomatoes, and vegan cheese served with a side of salsa. These were very good. The taco meat was a little spicy and delicious. They didn't seem like much, but I would definitely order them again.

From Vegan Gastrobot
Next we ordered some of the vegan burger sliders - Vegan burger patty, Dijon-mayo spread, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato and vegan cheese, served on a toasted buns served with a pickle spear. I was iffy on these - I thought we had tried the veggie burger before there and I didn't like it. I was wrong - these were delicious as well! I would definitely order the veggie burger again. Raymond loved these as well - he could not stop raving about how good they were and kept trying to figure out how they made them as he wants me to try and recreate them. I unfortunately don't know what is in them so we will just have to go back to get more.

From Vegan Gastrobot
The last happy hour option we ordered was the baron sliders - Vegan ‘ham’ marinated in a tangy BBQ sauce, vegan cheese, sliced tomatoes and baby field greens served toasted on a bun. The baron is probably my favorite sandwich they serve - it is what I usually order as it is amazing. These sliders however...something was lost with them. That or everything else was so good it overshadowed them. Either way they were just okay.

From Vegan Gastrobot
That was a lot of food, but they have vegan mousse which we had to get. It was peanut butter chocolate and was delicious. Usually we are way too full to eat it, but this time we had a little room left. It was delicious.

Overall - definitely check out Georgetown Liquor Company. Their sandwiches are delicious, their happy hour is a good deal, next up - to try their brunch menu.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Sputnik, Denver CO

Location: 3 Broadway, Denver, CO 80203, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
For lunch on our second day in Denver we went to Sputnik. I had read a lot of so so reviews of this place before we went, most of them stating that there was only one vegan option - the breakfast sandwich. Usually I like going places with more options, but since we didn't have many breakfast places I put it on the list. We didn't end up getting the breakfast sandwich as there were too many other delicious sounding options. First up were Hush Puppies - corn fritters with roasted jalapeno sauce. These were amazing and just what you would expect from deep fried corn balls.

From Vegan Gastrobot
Since we were there at lunchtime the special was half a sandwich and a side. We got half a green falafel pita with mac and cheese. The falafel was actually really good and the sandwich was delicious. The mac and cheese was light but tasty - one of the better mac and cheese we have had.
From Vegan Gastrobot
We also got a half Freddie Murphy and french fries. The freddie murphy was smoked tofu, sweet and sour slaw, tomatoes and french fries and all together delicious! They used hand cut fries on the sandwich which were much better than the fries served on the side, but fries ate fries and I will eat them all. The half a sandwich and side lunch combo was perfect for us - just the right amount of food.

Overall I would highly recommend Sputnik. The inside is kind of dark and divey bar, but the food is delicious. They also have many vegan options to choose from, not just the breakfast sandwich.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Watercourse, Denver CO

Location: 206 E 13th Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
Our second morning in the Denver area we had breakfast as Watercourse. I was just so so on wanting to go here for some reason. The menu just didn't appeal to me as much as some other places, even though this is owned by the City O' City people. Nothing really stood out as a must try, but we didn't have many breakfast places on our list so we tried it out. I am so glad we did! We got the banana bread french toast - Banana bread dipped in a traditional French toast batter, grilled and topped with maple roasted walnuts served with syrup and seasonal fruit. This was amazing! Definitely my favorite breakfast I have ever had. I could eat this every day...it was so good. The banana bread was amazing and making into french toast just took it to another level. Raymond thought it was good, but still like the savory waffle better from City O' City.

From Vegan Gastrobot
We also tried the Amsterdam Hash - Grilled vegetables and home fries scrambled with tofu and topped with gravy served with a biscuit. This was really good, but after eating the banana bread french toast it was hard to get excited about it. I think if I would have eaten this first I would have enjoyed it a lot more since I wouldn't have had to amazingness of the french toast to compare to it. The biscuit was the same as City O' City - full of veggies for extra nutrition.

Overall I am glad we stopped at Watercourse for breakfast. If you go definitely get the banana bread french toast - I cannot say enough good things about it!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Boulder Baked, Boulder CO

Location: 1911 N Broadway St, Boulder, CO 80302, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
Our last stop for in our full day exploring Boulder was Boulder Baked. I had heard that they had vegan cupcakes and they did, but only one kind - gluten free pumpkin spice. Even though there was only one option, that one option was amazing! The cake was nice and moist, the frosting not too sweet. All in all delicious. The perfect small treat after a day of eating and exploring.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Leaf, Boulder CO

Location: Boulder, CO, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
On our trip to Boulder we stopped by Leaf for happy hour after a day of exploring. It was a weekday, but when we got there the place was empty. We got some drinks and tried the raw wrap (the only small bite on the happy hour menu that was vegan). This was amazing! I was very skeptical as it seemed like something I wouldn't like much. Rainbow chard, pea shoots, mixed sprouts,carrots, basil almond paté, and cashew “ricotta. Really it was the pate that was putting me off - I still remember trying some vegan pate in Paris and bleck. This was just incredible. All of the flavors worked so well together and it was so light and I could have eaten a few more of them. This was so good that we made a point to come back later in our trip for dinner since I was intrigued but he raw thanksgiving dinner (we were there in November).

From Vegan Gastrobot
So when we went back we did get the raw thanksgiving dinner - stuffed mushroom with a cranberry sauce, almond corn croquette, mashed winter vegetables, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash,a veggie croquette with a cashew sauce, and Brussel sprouts and shaved squash. This was incredible! I wish we had a raw place in Seattle where I could get food like this. This might have been my favorite thing we ate while in Boulder - everything was just perfect!

From Vegan Gastrobot
Unfortunately we also tried the vegan enchiladas - corn, summer squash, zucchini, black & red beans, mazina tortilla, cilantro rice, guacamole, roasted tomatillo & tomato salsas. Leaf is a more expensive restaurant and I don't mind paying more for food if it is amazing. This was not amazing. It sounds like it would be really flavorful and delicious, but it just tasted like nothing. I don't understand how you can have so many different flavors and have it come out tasting like nothing at all.

From Vegan Gastrobot
For dessert we had peanut butter chocolate tart. I am not sure if there was peanut butter in this as you could not taste it at all. What you could taste was chocolate, coconut and mint - 2 of which I really do not like so I did not like this at all. The menu did not list anything about coconut or mint. I hate when places do that - why do you have to add flavors, but not list them? I don't understand.

Leaf was a mix of absolutely amazing food, and food that was not really good at all. I would definitely recommend going and trying their raw dishes as they were all amazing! Their cooked food though...I would skip. It is not worth it especially for the price.

Friday, February 17, 2012

BOP Pizza, Boulder CO

Location: 1175 Walnut St, Boulder, CO 80302, USA

From Vegan Gastrobot
While exploring Boulder, CO we needed someplace to eat for lunch and decided on BOP Pizza. They have 2 vegan pizza listed on the menu so we decided to try one of each even though they were a bit expensive. we were on vacation so why not? Plus they both sounded amazing! The first one was the Beet pizza - cannellini sauce, beets, beet greens, and basil. I love beets, but this only tasted like beets. If the beets would have been sliced thin so they added flavor, but didn't completely overpower the pizza it would have been much better. The cannellini sauce was really good and the dough, once you got to the crust, was actually really good. The problem was the beets were really thick and we might as well just have eaten a bowl of them.

From Vegan Gastrobot
The second vegan option was the Bliss pizza - pea sauce, carrots, sweet potato, onions, and basil. This was...well it just wasn't good. The peas sauce might as well not be on it - you cannot taste it at all. Or maybe it was what lent the not very good flavor to the dough. This was the first one I tried and I thought the dough was eh, but once I got to the crust I realized it was actually tasty. I think this pizza would have been much better had it had the cannellini sauce from the beet pizza - then the flavors would have probably come together a lot better and we might have eaten all of it.

Overall if you are in Boulder you can get much better pizza elsewhere. Skip BOP pizza and their overpriced so so pizza.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

CIty O' City, Denver, CO

Location: 206 E 13th Ave, Denver, CO 80203, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
On a recent trip to Denver we stopped by City O' City for breakfast the first morning. I loved this place! They had lot so these cool light fixtures that were made out of small led lights. We started with the basic breakfast with tofu scramble, salad, potatoes, biscuit and gravy. I really enjoyed the tofu scramble - it was peanuty which was a pleasant surprise. Raymond thought it was so so which was surprising., The potatoes were delicious and the biscuit and gravy was amazing. The biscuit was full of shredded veggies so it was healthier than the normal white flour biscuit which is nice

From Vegan Gastrobot
We also got the savory waffle - a waffle with seasonal vegetable ragu and cheese sauce. Now I am not usually a waffle fan, especially not for breakfast. Usually it is a lot of sweet, syrup, sugar, etc and I just am not a sweet breakfast fan usually. I loved the savory waffle for breakfast though. This was by far Raymond's favorite thing we are in Denver. The waffle itself was almost like a potato pancake made in a waffle iron. It also had a ton of veggies in it and flax seeds and all kinds of good stuff and was so delicious. The cheese sauce by itself I was not a fan of, too mustardy, but it really pulled everything together. The veggies were perfect. I would definitely get this again and I need to try and recreate this at home since I cannot say enough good things about this waffle.

Overall we loved City O' City. Definitely stop by if you are in Denver.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Mexico Restaurant, Seattle Wa

Location: 600 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
We used to go to Mexico quite a bit before I was vegan, but then they changed chefs or something and the food went downhill. I received an email that they have a new "healthier for you" menu with new options, some that are vegan. We tried it out over the summer and had the butter lettuce wraps and they were delicious! Light and perfect for a hot summer day. We were downtown so we decided to try more. We started with some vegetarian tortilla soup which was actually really tasty. I think this was the first time I had ever had tortilla soup so I don't have anything to compare it to, but it was light and refreshing.

From Vegan Gastrobot
We also tried the vegetable fajitas which are the standard fare we get at Mexican places. They come with a side of rice and beans, but there is butter in the rice so they gave us extra beans. The fajita veggies themselves...well I wish there would have been more veggies. There were a lot of onions, like 4 stalks of asparagus and 2 slices of zucchini. They were also incredibly oily and not the best fajitas we have had. It was good, but not great. I would definitely go for something different if eating here again.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Homegrown, Seattle WA

Location: 1531 Melrose Ave, Seattle, WA 98122, USA
From Vegan Gastrobot
While searching for new restaurants to try I came across Homegrown - a local sustainable sandwich shop. They have 2 vegan sandwiches so we went for dinner last night - I mean it seems like the kind of place I really like to support. First up hummus and roasted red pepper sandwich with avocado, cucumber and arugula. I love the hummus sandwich at Cherry St so I was hoping that this would be just as good. Unfortunately...it was not. The bread wasn't amazing - good but not the best I have had - and it totally overpowered the filling. You couldn't taste the hummus at all. The pepper - they might as well not be on the sandwich. Since the bread was just alright and that was all you could taste this sandwich was just alright. Not that good.

The soup yesterday was Potato Lemongrass so we tried a cup of that as well. It was...interesting, but not in a good way. I don't know what it tasted like, lemongrass I suppose but not like anything lemongrass flavor I have ever had. It was...odd. There were a lot of chunks of different things in the soup that I couldn't identify. It was just odd and not my thing. Not the worst, but not the best either.

From Vegan Gastrobot
The other sandwich they have is seasonal squash and snap pea pesto with sweet corn, green beans and tamari onion. This one was a lot better than the hummus one, you could still taste the filling and the bread didn't overpower it. It still wasn't the best sandwich and I wouldn't go back specifically for it. I would never day "Hey let's go to Homegrown for dinner!" It was just alright. Since there are so many other places that you can get amazing sandwiches I wouldn't spend the money here. Also, the small sandwich is $6 - a large $10. Since the small didn't really fill us up it would be $10 for a so so sandwich.

From Vegan Gastrobot
The one good thing about Homegrown - homemade sea salt and pepper potato chips. These were delicious! I would stop by and pick up some whenever I am in the area. They were a little bit sweet and very peppery and just perfect. Super crispy and I cannot say enough good things about them. Definitely check them out.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Scoops & Plates, Brooklyn, New York

Location: 624 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11225, USA
From Food
Next up on our food tour of Brooklyn was Scoops & Plates in Brooklyn. We walked from over in Park Slope just to check out this Jamaican on the other side of Prospect Park. We walked in and the place is tiny - there are only a couple of stools by the window. There were a bunch of trays behind the glass with food in them, but just as we walked in the guy behind the counter covered them up. There wasn't a menu I could see to know what was underneath the lids so I asked the guy if he could tell me what he had. He was incredibly rude the entire time we were in there and if anyone else came in he ignored us and helped them. I am not entirely sure why....I tried being as nice as possible and he still had some issue with us. I almost just left and said screw this place as I was really hungry and tired. I have no idea what his problem with us was, but when I finally got him to tell us what he had he sighed really loudly and angrily took off the lids and threw them to the side. We decided to get a small container with mince and peas over rice. The peas were good, but the mince...the mince was amazing! It was like barbecue and was just amazing! I was glad we stuck out the rude service just to have some of the mince.

From Food
We also got a scoop of the strawberry banana ice cream. All of the ice creams were tofutti brand which is not my favorite, but this strawberry banana was actually pretty good. Not as good as the other ice creams we had, but alright.

Overall I would try this place again just to get more mince, and to see if the service was any better. If not then it would be hard to continue to eat here because I do not like to support rude people.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Foodswings, Brooklyn, New York

Location: 295 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA
From Food
Next up on our tour of New York - Foodswings. Vegan fast food in Brooklyn. We tried one of the combo plates - 3 drumsticks with choice of side. We chose 1 BBQ, 1 Buffalo, and one Southern Fried wing with a side of mac and cheese. The drumsticks...well I really liked the BBQ one - it was sweet and delicious. The buffalo wing I did not like at all. I don't think I really like buffalo sauce unless there are other things to help diffuse the flavor. The southern fried was fine, but not as amazing as I thought it would be. If I were to go back I would get BBQ and maybe the Sweet Southern Fried - battered, fried, then covered in BBQ. The mac and cheese was alright - not the best, but not the worst. It didn't have as much flavor as it could.

From Food
We also tried the Chicken cordon blue sandwich - Breaded and fried mock cutlet, soy ham and daiya mozzarella cheese with lettuce, tomato, onion and dijonaise on a roll. This was delicious and greasy. We wanted to try a corn dog as well, but they were out of them :( Oh well, next time maybe they will be available. If you're in Brooklyn and want some greasy eats check out Foodswings!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Champs Bakery, Brooklyn, New York City

Location: 176 Ainslie St, Brooklyn, NY 11211, USA
From Food
The second day in New York was spent in Brooklyn. I had only ever been to Manhatten so it was fun to explore another part of the city. Our first stop in Brooklyn - Champs Bakery. We purchased a bunch of day old stuff - a cinnamon roll, cider muffin, chocolate chip cookie and brownie all for $5! What a good deal! Everything was also amazing even though it was day old (which is not always the case). The cinnamon roll was probably the best I have ever had - so delicious! Sweet but not overly so, nuts in the filling...yum! The chocolate chip cookies were crispy but delicious. The brownie moist and chocolatey. The muffin tasted so good on the plane flying home - very moist and flavorful. Champs was probably my favorite bakery in New York - everything was amazing! I didn't know they had other foods or we would have planned on eating here as well (though when we stopped by it was packed!). Since all of the baked goods were so amazing I look forward to trying their breakfast and other entrees next time we visit. Definitely check out Champs for amazing baked goods!!

Friday, February 3, 2012

Sacred Chow, New York City

Location: 227 Sullivan St, New York, NY 10012, USA
From Food
Day two of our food tour of New York started with brunch at Sacred Chow. I love breakfast, it is one of my favorite meals though I hate making it. Sacred Chow was a little expensive for breakfast (over $10 a plate), but it was quite tasty. We walked in and I loved the place - very open and bright with lots of natural light. We tried the breakfast sandwich with a side of gravy so we could try out a little bit of everything. The breakfast sandwich was a soy buttermilk biscuit filled with tofu scramble and tempeh strips with a side of fruit to share. This was huge - I am glad we only ordered the one entree. There is no way you could eat this as a sandwich - it would be way too sloppy and the tofu spilled out all over the plate so fork and knife it is. We took the top half of the biscuit and put the gravy on that for a biscuit and gravy. The gravy was pretty good - peppery and thick like a normal white gravy served on biscuits. I haven't come across a lot of vegan gravies like this - the place we usually go has amazing mushroom gravy, which isn't the same so it was nice to have something different. The tofu was good, but nothing special. The biscuits light and fluffy. They were very generous with the fruit on the side.

From Food
We also tried one of the specials - cornmeal crusted brussel sprouts. I definitely need to recreate these. Overall very good if a little pricey.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Babycakes, New York City

Location: 248 Broome St, New York, NY 10002, USA
From Food
The last stop on our first day's eating extravaganza in New York City was Babycakes. I had heard mixed reviews of this place from a few different sources so I almost just said eh let's skip it since we had so many other stops. We actually saved most of it to eat at a later date since we were so full. We had the cheese biscuit for breakfast the following day and man was that good. One of the best biscuits I have ever had. Amazing! It was a little spicy and I wish we would have gotten more to bring home with us! We also got an agave brownie which was incredibly dry. So dry it was hard to eat because it instantly dried out your mouth so much. The brownie was the only thing I would not recommend. We tried the carrot spelt cupcake which Raymond really wanted to try but I didn't think I would like. I like carrot cake, but the problem is there is usually cream cheese frosting which I hate. This cupcake however was delicious! The cake was moist, the frosting sweet but not overly so - overall really good. The last thing we tried was an oatmeal raisin cookie pie - we had thought about just trying a cookie, but Raymond said why try just 1 cookie when we could try a cookie pie with frosting in the middle? I couldn't argue with that and I am glad we tried it - the cookie was very moist and flavorful and one of the better cookies I have had!

Overall I would definitely come back to Babycakes next time we are in New York City and pick up some cookies and biscuits.