Hello Cupcake, Washington DC

From Vegan Gastrobot

On our super tour of the Washington DC area the last cupcake place we tried was Hello Cupcake.

Again there was only the option of vanilla or chocolate cake and a few different frosting flavors. I really don’t know why cupcake places cannot figure out how to make a vegan flavored cupcake. I mean they had normal cupcakes in fun flavors like chai, and caramel apple. Is it really that hard to put some chai flavor in your vegan batter? I mean I make them at home so it is not that difficult…it is like vegans can only have chocolate or vanilla. I often joke how I should start a bakery so vegans can have better options (even the all vegan bakeries don’t have fun flavors like Sticky Fingers! Disappointing). Anyways we tried the peanut butter chocolate cupcake. It was alright. Not the best and not anything I would make a trip for.  The frosting was good – light with a light peanut butter flavor.

Overall – Another cupcake place that has the standard so so cake with different flavors of frosting. If I were in the area I would rather got to Red Velvet or Bakeshop (even though they are farther away from downtown)

Mellow Mushroom, Washington DC

From Vegan Gastrobot

We almost skipped Mellow Mushroom  as we were way too full the first time we stopped by. The following day however we were going to be walking by so we stopped and got a pizza to go just to try it. We ordered a pizza with BBQ Tofu, broccoli and vegan cheese. It was so nice out we walked down to a park and ate in the sun. The pizza was amazing! Definitely the best we had in DC. The dough was very chewy and really really good. The BBQ sauce was sweet, the tofu tasty, and the broccoli was still crisp. It looked like a mess, was kind of a mess to eat, but was so tasty I didn’t mind. Definitely stop by for some pizza if you are in the area.

Overall – If you want pizza in Washington DC definitely stop by Mellow Mushroom. It was the best pizza we had on our visit (a close second was District of Pi).

Sticky Fingers Bakery, Washington DC, Brunch

From Vegan Gastrobot

While picking up treats from Sticky Fingers Bakery we saw that they have brunch on the weekend including biscuits and gravy which is one of my favorites. There are a few food items that if a restaurant has it I like to try it and this is one of them. I never had non-vegan biscuits and gravy so I am not 100% sure what it should taste like, but I know what I like in the breakfast food. You can get the biscuits and gravy by itself or as a platter with cheesy grits and tofu scramble. We decided to go with the platter to try a little bit of everything. The cheesy grits were…not my thing. They did not have any flavor and I don’t know that I have ever had grits before. Maybe if you like grits you would like them. The tofu scramble was alright. It had a very light flavor and was not bad. The biscuits and gravy were delicious! The biscuits were light and fluffy, the gravy was very meaty and like a dinner gravy, but it was good.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also picked up a Mini Berry Pie to eat later. We heated it up and it was really tasty. The crust was flaky and delicious, the filling quite good.

Overall – Sticky Finger I found to be hit and miss. The biscuits and gravy were delicious, the mac and cheese amazing, the pie and cookies good everything else we tried was just not so good. I am still so disappointed that they only have chocolate and vanilla cake bases….and that the cakes were very dry. Would it hurt to add a little flavor and make it fun?

Red Pepper Chinese Restaurant,

From Vegan Gastrobot

After a full day of walking all over DC we got back to my friends place and were hungry and tired. We originally were going to go out for dinner, but she had too many last min things to get done so we just ordered delivery. I wasn’t expecting much from Red Pepper Chinese Restaurant. We ordered the steamed vegetarian dumplings which were tasty, but not at all what I was expecting. The filling was tofu, mushrooms and veggies. It was almost like a tofu scramble dumpling. Odd but tasty.

From Vegan Gastrobot

Next we tried the mu shu vegetables. We get them at the one Chinese place in Seattle and love them. These came with…tortillas as a wrapper not the wrappers they are supposed to come with. Strange, but I like tortillas. This was just alright. The cabbage was not cooked as much as I would have likes. It was almost not cooked at all – super crisp and hard to deal with. I would have liked it cooked a little more to make it softer. The other veggies were alright, but the sauce was pretty salty.

From Vegan Gastrobot

Next we tried the String Beans Szechwan Style. I have never gotten this before and didn’t really know what it was, what it entailed. Usually I go with a noodle dish or fried rice or something, but my friend recommended it. This was delicious! The beans were cooked till tender, the sauce was not super spicy which is good, overall amazing. It was a little oily, but super delicious.

Overall – It is take out Chinese food. I wasn’t expecting much and didn’t get much, but the Szechwan String Beans were delicious. If you are just too tired to cook or go out and are in Fairfax then sure you can give it a try. Don’t expect the most amazing Chinese food, but it will suffice.

District of Pi, Washington DC

From Vegan Gastrobot

We walked into District of Pi to pick up a pizza to go and good thing – it was crazy busy! I guess it doesn’t help that it was Fri at 5pm in downtown DC. We ordered a thin crust pizza with vegan meat and cheese, spinach and green peppers. I wasn’t really expecting much from this as well…I didn’t think it sounded amazing. They use Daiya cheese which normally if you use too much of it is way too much. Raymond doesn’t really like it, though the mozzarella he can handle. We opened the pizza box and there was so much cheese on it! I though this is not going to be good…but it was super delicious! The cheese was not overpowering even though there was a ton, the crust was thin and crispy and really really good. The toppings paired well with the cheese and crust, the sauce was tasty. All in all I would definitely go back for this again if I were in the area.

Overall – Definitely check out District of Pi. Be warned that it gets really busy at peak times, but the wait is worth it.

Kabuki Sushi and Teriyaki, Washington DC

From Vegan Gastrobot

Seattle is like the home of teriyaki. I remember when I moved out here there was a Teriyaki place on every corner and I ate it all the time. Unfortunately, though, it is hard to find tofu teriyaki and when you do it is disgusting. It is one of my favorite foods, and I don’t really know how they mess it up so badly. Usually the tofu is super soft and disintegrates when you try and pick it up with the chopsticks...not good. We were walking around downtown Washington DC and needed some food and saw a small food court. We went exploring and found Kabuki Sushi and Teriyaki…with tofu teriyaki listed so I had to try it. It came with some rice, a salad with a peanut dressing (I think) and the teriyaki was lots of tofu and veggies. I really enjoyed all of this except the salad. The dressing was….not good so we didn’t eat it. The rice was sticky and rice, the sauce was sweet and tasty and the veggies and tofu were cooked surprisingly well for a food court. If I worked in the area I would stop in for lunch.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also tried one of the asparagus rolls to try out more sushi. It was good – just rice, seaweed and asparagus. The rice was on the outside so I was good (I don’t like the seaweed on the outside as I think it is disgusting when it is the first flavor to hit my tongue) and the asparagus was still crisp.

Overall – I wouldn’t make a special trip to get this, but if you work in the area of just need a quick bite to eat it is a nice option.

Dama Pastry & Cafe, Arlington VA

From Vegan Gastrobot

When searching for vegan treats in and near Washington DC I found Dama Pastry and Cafe  listed as having vegan desserts. I put it on my list and it was a little bit out of the way, but also near the Pentagon and Air Force Memorial so why not? I had never been over on that side of the river site seeing so it would be fun to explore. Well we got off at the Pentagon subway station and walked out past the Air Force Memorial to Dama. We were walking and I just kept thinking is this right? It doesn’t look like there is anything out here…then we came upon it – there are really four different stores on the same lot – a bread shop, a restaurant, a grocery store and the bakery/coffee shop. The parking lot is completely full of taxis – I don’t think there was a non-taxi parked anywhere near here. We walked in and everyone was hanging out watching Ethiopian tv and drinking coffee – It was just full of Ethiopian taxi drivers. I take that as a good sign as it must be somewhat authentic if all the people from that country are eating there! So they have a half case of vegan cakes to choose from – coffee, chocolate, fruit, etc. We went with the fruit cake even though I was a little worried it would be lemon flavor. The lady working however told us the fruit was just on top so we tried it. It was sooooo moist, not too sweet and completely delicious! There was a light lemon flavor, but not too bad. The cream was super good, like whipped cream, just light and fluffy and delicious. The jellied fruits on top added a nice sweetness.

Overall - Really amazing and if I am in the area again I would go back for more (and try the restaurant out as it smelled really good). The chocolate cake it probably incredible!