Yesterday we had a vegan restaurant dinner.

[Lyric]

Our professor had some extra funds in the class-trip account, so he treated us all to dinner before the play at a vegetarian restaurant/cafe in Pittsburgh. Although they had dishes with eggs, cheese, and milk, we decided to choose the vegan ones instead.

Here are the foods I tried, and my reactions:

Beverage: Vegan Chocolate Egg-Cream--made with seltzer, soymilk, and AhLaska vegan chocolate syrup.
Reaction: Pretty good, but instead of using a chilled glass and cold seltzer, they put ice into a room-temp glass and used room-temp seltzer. This is a big egg-cream No-No. Ice makes it go flat too fast, in addition to making it hard to properly stir. It also made it watery after a few minutes. Sorry Pittsburgh--you just can't do egg-creams.

Appetizer: Hummus plate containing lemon-garlic hummus, warm pita triangles, carrot sticks, celery, cucumber slices, and kalamata olives.
Reaction: YUM. Except for the celery, but who eats that stuff anyway? :D

Soup: Vegan Potato Soup
Reaction: Meh. Had a really unappetizing texture and undertaste. Not to be too gross, but...it was like eating mushy potato chip pulp, coated in garlic powder, with a scorched-in-the-pot underflavor. It was also much too salty. I ate three bites and gave up.

Entree: Lentil Loaf with Roasted Smashed Potatoes, Vegan Onion Gravy, and Steamed Kale.
Reaction: Mixed feelings. The lentils weren't cooked long enough, which means that they hadn't become mushy enough to stick together properly. Therefore the "loaf" was more like an unformed pile of dark brown, slightly-crunchy Stuff on the plate. The sage flavoring was good, but a little too strong. Also, the loaf was WAY too salty. The gravy had a nice strong sweet-onion flavor, but also a little too salty. The potatoes were extremely good. The kale was steamed in lemon-water and was very good.

Dessert: Ginger-Lemon Shake, made with champagne sorbet, fresh ginger, lemon juice, and soy milk.
Reaction: To DIE for. Seriously. One of the best shakes I've ever had in my life. If I had my way, I would have one of these every day for the rest of my natural life.

I also tried a few bites of my friends' dishes, which included my very first experience with fried tofu cubes. Rhythm's vegan burger was pretty good, but the black beans were a little undercooked for my taste. My friend Shelly's tofu-and-noodles dish was nicely seasoned, but her tofu cubes had the texture of damp, deep-fried sponge or styrofoam. Gwen's zucchini stew was simple and very good. Amanda's tempeh "Cubano" sandwich was interesting, but not something I'd ever choose for myself.

So there you have it. My first vegetarian restaurant experience.

:hi:

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Do you ever make hummus at home?

It's pretty easy and not too expensive if you can find cheap lemons.

Overall it sounds like the restaurant makes decent food but I agree with you on the egg cream.

[Lyric]

2. I haven't yet, but I intend to.

I love the stuff. Every single time I go somewhere to eat, if they have a "hummus plate" option, I am THERE. I could eat hummus, pita, cucumbers, and kalamata olives for lunch every day for the rest of my life and die happy.

:hi:

[tigereye]

3. you should go to Zenith - their food is really good - they have vegan and

vegetarian offerings and great teas in a fun, funky antique store atmosphere. I think good veggie/vegan food really depends on the skill of the cook.


Curious where you did go.... I live just outside the Burgh and I am sure there's a place here where they can do egg creams properly.

[Lyric]

5. It's called "Quiet Storm Restaurant and Coffeehouse"

I know that it's on Penn Ave., but I can't remember the exact address.

As for the egg-creams, I guess after living in NY for a while, I became something of a purist. But man, they're sooooo good! :9

[tigereye]

7. sure, I've been there a few times, most recently for a Shakespeare reading...

It's a neat place, but I've never eaten any lunch or dinner there.

[mike_c]

4. I've switched to a vegitarian diet because of health issues...

...i.e. crippling gout, and so far I've found that most of my own cooking is far better than most of the food I've gotten at vegetarian restaurants in the area-- and we've got a number of them here. I'm doing pretty well with the change, mostly because I am getting lots of good, interesting, and diverse food choices, even without meat.

[Lyric]

6. Yeah--I was thinking that as well.

I am absolutely positive that I could make that lentil loaf a LOT better if I made it at home myself. I'd probably add chopped mushrooms, too. Mmmmmm.

[crim son]

8. Sounds like good food badly prepared.

I need a recipe for a good veggie nut/grain loaf. And what is vegan onion gravy? Mmmm.