Vegan Chicago: Restaurant Review of Urban Vegan Chicago

Before I being my review of Urban Vegan Chicago, I'd like to let you all know that they have a benefit going on throughout the entire month of December. If you order take-out or dine-in and mention Mercy For Animals, 20% of the proceeds go to MFA. This is a great opportunity for vegans (and non-vegans a like) to try out this newer restaurant in Chicago! It also helps with MFA's life-saving work in farm animal protection. Plus, it is nom.

I've heard many great things about this Thai vegan restaurant since it opened. I've been to and seen a few mock meat Asian restaurants before like ChuChai in Montreal (which I blogged about here), Golden Lotus in Oakland (there are a number of Asian restaurants in the Bay Area that specialize in faux meats), and Red Bamboo in NYC. Based off my previous dining experiences, I figured the place would be either fancier (like ChuChai and Red Bamboo) or sort of just a hole in the wall. It's the latter. That doesn't mean it is bad, it just means it is a small establishment and more reasonably priced! I would recommend making reservations because from how I counted, there are only 8 tables in the whole restaurant. It is also BYOB.

As far as having an Asian restaurant with an extensive mock meat menu, I'm glad Chicago now has one! It is definitely an interesting dining experience. If I wanted to get a veggie cashew stir-fry, I would just go to any Thai restaurant and tell them to hold the fish/oyster sauce and add in some tofu. I think the primary reason to go to Urban Vegan (or any of the other places I mentioned, really) is to eat the faux meat with vegan pride. It just isn't worth it to go for Buddha's Delight (other than to support a vegan restaurant). That being said, I'm curious as to what vegan meat company they use. There is always the ever popular May Wah based out of NYC. I'm pretty sure this is what Red Bamboo uses. The "fish" in the Tom Yum I had at Urban Vegan tasted a lot like the fillets they sell on May Wah. If anyone knows where Urban Vegan gets their mock meat, I'd love to know. I'm curious!

Grilled Veggie Dumplings

This isn't the best starting line for a review, but the food was cold which was really disheartening. I was looking forward to this dining adventure. I will go again to see if I receive a better experience as when I went, it was on a Sunday night and every table in the restaurant was taken. I'm assuming this had something to do with it.


The menu is very extensive. They have all the usual Thai foods gone vegan as well as veggie sushi, wrap, burgers, and smoothies. There is also a lunch and dinner combination menu. They include steamed brown rice, a spring roll, salad, and a choice of an entree with either tofu, soy chicken, seitan, pepper steak, or soy fish ($9.95/lunch and $11.95/dinner). Addition of bacon, shrimp, or chicken nuggets is extra ($11.95/lunch and $13.95/dinner). For those of you with gluten allergies, there is a wheat-free menu available.

Seafood Tom Yum Soup

For starters, my friend and I had the grilled veggie dumplings, the house salad, and seafood tom yum soup. The portions are big! The dumplings were about what we expected - your everyday vegan frozen dumpling that was grilled. I think next time, I'd like to try the crispy chicken or chicken satay instead. They sound interesting! The house salad was filled with lots of veggies and I went with peanut sauce for the dressing. There is also tahini and Italian dressing. I've never had a Larb salad before since they aren't vegan, but that's the next salad I'm going to try here. The tom yum soup with seafood was interesting, to say the least. I've had vegan fish fillets before and vegan shrimp... but never the fish in a broth. Personally, the best preparation I've ever seen of vegan fish was in a light sauce and the fillet slightly seared. The seaweed wrapped around it to be the "skin" gives it that fishy taste quality. Vegan shrimp, for me, isn't really worth it. It's chewy and doesn't add much to the mix.

Garlic Pepper Steak

Our dinner entree's were the garlic pepper entree with pepper steak and the pad won zen with soy chicken. The pepper steak was pretty good and it came with rice, though I would have appreciated a few more veggies tossed in there. I liked the pad won zen very much (it has more veggies), but it was cold which kind of ruined the appeal (was looking forward to hot noodles!). Next time, I think I'd like to try the P.E.T. (pumpkin, eggplant, tofu) and the wonton noodle soup (I've missed wonton soup since being vegan - it was my staple at Chinese restaurants since I was a wee one). 

Pad Won Zen (w/ Soy Chicken)

Overall, I think Urban Vegan is a nice change from the normal Thai vegan dining experience (no fish sauce! no oyster sauce! no egg! tofu!). I'm definitely going to come back and try it again. It seems to be doing great thus far and the Chicago vegan community loves it.

If you want to pick up mock meat in Chicago and make your own food, there are a couple of grocery stores in the city. I personally like the Uptown neighborhood stores to get this stuff. Broadway Supermarket is my favorite. If you go to the very back corner near the produce, you'll find all the veggie meats in the freezer. Golden Pacific Market has faux meats too. Lastly, Tai Nam Food Market seems to carry a lot of products as well, though I've never been (and now I must!).

Urban Vegan Chicago's Facebook Page here. 

Vegan Chicago: Restaurant Review of Borrowed Earth Cafe

Haunted Trail

For a weekend trip, my friend (check out her website about teaching kids empathy) and I went to a family farm called Kuipers Farm in Maple Park, IL. It was a nice fall trip for us city dwellers here in Chicago. This farm was a great place for kids (and adults!). We specifically picked out a place to go that treated their animals in humane ways. A lot of the places we looked into had things like pig races and exotic animals. One even had a white tiger exhibit. Kuipers Farm had a corn maze, a nature walk, a haunted trail, a small farm area (where the farm animals had a lot of room to live and enjoy their lives - even an adoption program for the few cats there!), a hay wagon ride to the pumpkin patch, and kid-friendly areas with giant pumpkins and tractor truck tire playgrounds. They have duck races, but never fear... it is with plastic ducks! For adults, there is an apple orchard where one can pick their own apples and a large store with all sorts of local products including their apples and pumpkins. It was a very impressive place! They sell Christmas trees during the winter which I think would be a great outing for a family in order for children to see where their trees come from and the ecology behind it. The process of seeing where the tree is chopped to your living room I think is an important one because we often don't think about how items get from a to z (similar to factory farming and the meat at your grocery store).

Hanging Out With Goats

Corn Maze

Cheese Perogies

On the way back to the city, we stopped in Downers Grove to have lunch at Borrowed Earth Cafe. This place is a small raw, organic vegan restaurant. My experience with raw vegan restaurants has only been Karyn's Raw and raw. The meal was satisfying and the dessert was exceptional. For starters, we had the cheese perogies. It is a "cheese" filling with a jimaca wrapper. While I wouldn't necessarily call this a pierogi, the filling was creamy and scrumptious. 

Spinach Quiche

Egg Salad Sandwich

Oreo Cookie Ice Cream

For entree's, we shared the spinach quiche and the "I Can't Believe It's Not An Egg Salad" sandwich. The quiche wasn't really a quiche as I remember them, but the same concept was there. It had a base of nuts and chopped veggies combined with "cheese" to create the rest. The egg salad sandwich was creamy but not really an "egg salad". I made a vegan version a while back with tofu which I thought was better mostly due to texture. It had the same kick, but the texture was just too silky in this sandwich. It definitely wasn't bad, though, so I would get it again. It was wrapped in a zucchini flax seed wrap which was great. Both entrees came with three types of salads. One was a mixed greens, another a cabbage, and lastly a collard greens salad. The dressing was sweet yet not too cloying. My favorite was the collard green salad.

Raw Chocolate Cheesecake

For dessert, we split two different treats. My friend got a chocolate cheesecake and I had an oreo cookie ice cream sundae. I've had raw cheesecakes at the Chicago Diner, but this cheesecake was something to be said. It was amazing! The base was made of nuts and dates, while the cheesecake part was made of coconut meat, coconut oil, and other ingredients. I've never had raw ice cream, but I've seen pictures before. ...So tasty. It was also made of coconut meat, coconut oil, dates, etc. Everyone should go to Borrowed Earth Cafe just for desserts alone!

Your Blog Doll In a Pumpkin Patch

Vegan Chicago: Restaurant Review of Ian's Pizza

Ian's Pizza has several locations. One is here in Chicago while the others are in Milwaukee and Madison, WI. I love this place because it is one of the few places one can get a vegan pizza without going to a vegan restaurant specifically (they even deliver seasonally!). Other places I know of that carry vegan pizza are Mista, Moonshine, Pie Hole Pizza Joint, Piece, and Pick-Me-Up Cafe. These places all have vegan cheese and some carry vegan "meats" to top.

Ian's is known for their odd variety of pizzas like mac 'n cheese pizza and lasagna pizza. For vegan options at Ian's, there are a slew of veggies such as artichoke hearts, onions, spinach, basil, portobello mushrooms, button mushrooms, roasted red peppers, sliced tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, kalamata olives, pico de gallo, and pineapple. Other toppings include french fries and pasta noodles (penne, lasagna, macaroni). Ian's proudly carries local Chicago vegan companies, Chicago Soydairy and Upton's Naturals. They have Upton's Italian-style, chicken-style, and soy-pepperoni style seitans. They also carry CSD's mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. Lastly, Ian's has a build-your-own salad option with all of the said veggies above.

For the pizza we ordered, we got the Italian-style seitan, mozzarella cheese, basil, onions, artichoke hearts, and button mushrooms. This was really good! The crust was a bit try for me, but I added some homemade giardiniera. Ian's is a great place to either sit down and get a pie or take it to go. I also love that they support local vegan companies!


This week is World Vegan Week. Ian's is having a special in honor: Chili Cheese Fries. Everyone in Chicago should go out and get an order to support vegan week and this great pizza joint for their continued vegan options!

Vegan Chicago: Restaurant Review of Munch

Outside

Vegan Chicago is a vegan network for like-minded folks to get together and have fun on various outings like dining at restaurants or bars. I've been to a few events in the last couple years. Truthfully, big social events like that are just not my thing. I'm much more of a lone wolf, if you will. But, I saw that they were having a dine-out at a newer vegetarian restaurant in Oak Park, IL (suburb just outside Chicago) called Munch. I was excited to see this as I have been looking for an opportunity to go out there and check it out. My friend who lives in Oak Park came with and we had a great time trying several items off the menu. Here are some photos from the meetup on Vegan Chicago.

Spicy "Beef" Nachos

To begin, we had the spicy "beef" nachos made vegan. It was topped with Daiya and Upton's Naturals chorizo. It could have been a bit warmer, but there were probably 30 people at this little cafe so I don't blame them for the heat factor. It was a pretty filling appetizer so I would get again. The radishes were a bit confusing, though. I'm not sure why they were on the nachos.

Vegan Lasagna

Soup of the Day

For entree's, my friend had the vegan lasagna with the soup of the day. I had a bite of each. The soup was excellent. Perfect for a fall day. The lasagna was also very good! I would definitely get this again as it looked like a filling entree portion. I ordered the Philly "steakless" sandwich. They use Upton's Naturals gyro style seitan which one can only get wholesale through the company. I've had it before by ordering bulk and freezing with the Chicago Vegan Co-Op. I really love Upton's Naturals wholesale products (even more than the retail seitan they have). You don't see it too often in restaurants, so I was really excited to see it on Munch's menu. I'm also glad that they're supporting a local vegan company like Upton's. The sandwich was a bit salty for my taste. Again, this could be because they were rushing to fill so many orders. It was filled with Daiya and sauteed mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers. The side I got was sauteed greens. These were really exceptional. I'm a bit of a dark leafy green freak (I eat raw kale salad 4-6 times a week), so I always go for the greens when I see 'em on the menu. The meal was so big, I took half the sandwich home for later. We were much too full for dessert, but the cafe offers vegan milk shakes, cookies, and brownies. 

Philly "Steakless" Sandwich

It's great to see new vegetarian restaurants popping up all over the city. I mentioned in a previous post about other places that have opened: Urban Vegan Chicago, the various new Native Foods Cafe locations, Quesadilla Mexican Vegetarian Cuisine, and Earth's Healing Cafe (raw). New York Deli has started serving a permanent vegan menu at their place too. Items include a vegan chick'n parm, vegan gyro, SLT (seitan, lettuce, tomato), the John Lennon (hummus sandwich), and vegan desserts.

Vegan Chicago: Restaurant Review of Northdown Cafe & Taproom

Tucked in between stores, other neighborhoods bars, and the busy hub-hub of Lakeview is this wonderful place called Northdown Cafe & Taproom. It is a vegan hidden gem. From the outside, one would never assume they have an extensive vegan menu. They pride themselves on homemade food from scratch with local ingredients and they certainly live up to this standard. Even their pickles are homemade (which I terribly appreciate as a person who pickles regularly)!

I enjoy a place where I can get great vegan food, a good beer, and not have to scream across the table to talk to the person I'm with. This is where you go to do all that. They have a full bar and seating in the back as well plus some pinball machines.

Garlic & White Bean Dip

The menu is marked what can be made vegan with a (v). To start, our option here is a roasted garlic and white bean dip. So good! Someone could make a meal out of just this. For lunch or dinner, the options include a portobello salad, seitan Philly sandwich, roasted spring veggie sandwich, mac and cheese, open face meatloaf sandwich, and a vegan cassoulet. For dessert, they make pies from scratch. There are usually two to three vegan varieties. When I was there, they had raspberry peach and blueberry. 

Mac & Cheese

Meatloaf Sandwich

My friend and I shared the roasted garlic and white bean dip for an appetizer. This dip is awesome. The toasty bread it came with was a great pair. Highly recommend this! For our dinners, I had the seitan Philly sandwich and he had the open face meatloaf sandwich. We also asked for a kids portion of the vegan mac and cheese. They make the cheese out of almond and cashew creams and while you can definitely taste the nutty flavor, it wasn't that bad at all. My Philly sandwich was huge! Oh my goodness! And really good too. The cheese sauce on it was the same used for the mac and cheese. The seitan is homemade and you can definitely tell. I really appreciated that as a home cook that makes a lot of seitan from scratch. I got a side of fries that was a mile high. We poured malt vinegar on it and it was the perfect pub food. My friend had the open faced meatloaf sandwich which really did look like what it was meant to copy. I find sometimes veganized versions of things fall short on how they are supposed to look. Not this. The seitan was stuffed with celery, carrots, and other things one would find in a meatloaf. It wasn't chewy, but moist and easy to cut as a "meatloaf" should be. It came topped with mashed potatoes and a beer gravy. Feast for a Sunday early dinner, let me tell you.

Seitan Philly

We were far too full for a dessert (actually, we boxed half of all the stuff we got aside from the appetizer), but the pies looked really tasty. Next time I'll be sure to save room.

For a vegan wanting to try a new place or if you're taking an omnivore friend out to eat but don't want to suffer in your own dining choices... go to Northdown Cafe! I give this place a 4.5/5 stars. I found my new place to frequent.

Vegan Chicago: Restaurant Review of Native Foods Cafe (Wicker Park)

Vegan and non-vegan Chicagoans alike were excited for the grand opening of the first installment of the Native Foods Cafe chain in our windy city. The one my friends and I visited is the cafe in Wicker Park (replaced by what used to house Burger King - oh, the irony). There are two more restaurants open: one in the Belmont area (not far from the Chicago Diner and Pick-Me-Up Cafe) and coming soon in the Loop. At first, I was surprised to hear that not one but three were opening all within a short time frame. When I went to the Wicker Park location, I realized why this was possible. A close friend of mine has been to one of the restaurants in California and she had described to me that it was a sit-down restaurant. The locations in Chicago are cafeteria-style where one goes up to a counter to order then waiters bring your food out by the number sign given to you. This doesn't leave for the best customer service, but it does mean less of a wait staff which is the theory I have going as to why Native Foods could open so many restaurants at once. 

Chicken Wings

The first time my friends and I went, we all got different things (menu) in order to get a good array. We shared the Native chicken wings to begin. I would describe these more like chicken strips. Perhaps it is because the cafe is in the location of an old Burger King, but they reminded me a bit of those BK chicken fries (if you know what I'm talking about from commercials). They were breaded well and overall were not bad, but the title of the dish should really be changed as they weren't like wings. The ranch was tasty and complimented the chicken wings well. The buffalo sauce has a kick, be warned!

Portobello & Sausage Burger

Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger

For sandwiches, we got the portobello & sausage burger, chicken run ranch burger, and the Oklahoma bacon cheeseburger. Before I start, my only issue with the sandwiches is that you have to pay for a side (unless that sandwich is the special of the day). Most restaurants give you the side with your meal, so I found this rather odd. The side choices include a lemon-dill potato salad, garden salad, sweet potato fries, etc. My friend really enjoyed the portobello & sausage burger, although they practically gave him a salad for his topping. The sweet potato fries were delicious too. My other friend had the chicken run ranch burger. It came with the ranch that was with the chicken wings for the appetizer. Overall, it was a bit like a larger version of the chicken wings, but more appropriate as it was meant to be a patty (not wings). He had the lemon-dill potato salad as you can see in the picture (which was very good too). Lastly, I had the Oklahoma bacon cheeseburger. I really enjoyed this and was looking forward to it. The cheese is homemade by Native Foods and I really appreciate that kind of culinary forwardness in a restaurant. In the last few years, places like the Chicago Diner have been using local non-dairy cheese and seitan companies for their meals which is great that they are supporting local small businesses, but it lacks the oomph that was once so special to the restaurant. The bacon on the burger is also made by Native Foods which wasn't quite "bacony" but it gave it a more meaty texture overall. The sandwich came topped with fried pickles which were a nice added touch. The bbq sauce and ranch went well with everything, but I must admit, I was surprised that it wasn't a "burger" patty. It was thinly sliced seitan which reminded me more of a sandwich rather than a burger. Again, dish names that I think throw people off for what they are expecting. Otherwise, I really enjoyed my sandwich (which I had a garden salad with)!

Chicken Run Ranch Burger

For dessert, we all shared a cardamon rose cupcake. It was really perfume-y from the rose (rose water, I assume). But the cardamon and rose together was a pleasant taste and the frosting was really divine. Major props to their baking team on this. I was really impressed with how great of a vegan cupcake this was.

Two weeks later, I returned back to this Wicker Park Native Foods location to have another go with the friend who has been to the California locations. She was also surprised by the cafeteria-style setup. We shared the Native nachos to begin with in order to have a better taste test of this homemade cheese. It had a really sweet aftertaste which I'm not sure if that is because of the cheese or Native crema. I'm going to assume it was the crema. If you like a bit of sweetness, go for it, but if not, I would suggest asking for the crema on the side. The nachos could have been a meal in and of itself, so kudos to Native Foods for ample portions. 

For entree's, I had the Chicago dip au jus and my friend had the super Italian meatball sub. The Italian beef sandwich (I'm assuming this is what the Chicago dip au jus was trying to be) was really excellent. I would definitely get this again. Much better than the Oklahoma bacon cheeseburger I had previously by comparison. The dip was tasty and the giardinera had a great kick to it. I'm always a fan of places with homemade giardiniera (like Revolution Brewing). The seitan was sliced seitan which is what it should have been for this sandwich (unlike the cheeseburger). My friend enjoyed her Italian meatball sub, but she was lacking enough marinara sauce for all the meatballs. She really enjoyed the pumpkin seed pesto that was on it, though. She had a chocolate cupcake for dessert and that was also great just like the cupcake I had had before.

Cardamon Rose Cupcake

Native Foods has a card member discount system. If you sign up for the card, you earn points for free drinks or cupcakes, etc. Be sure to sign up! The beer and wine selection is great, but no hard alcohol which I was surprised to find. They have a wide outdoor seating arrangement, so I think a mimosa or bloody mary would be lovely for a Sunday brunch. 

Overall, I give the restaurant a 3.75/5 stars. I'm hesitant to give them a full 4 stars mostly because it wasn't what I was expecting at all. The service was okay and the food was pretty good, but not extraordinary (as I was expecting from all the hype). If you want something really special, I would still say go to the Chicago Diner instead. Of course, I would come back to Native Foods, but it wouldn't be my top contender. I would probably go if it were nearby. Honestly, I am a huge fan of Handlebar, so I would probably walk over to them first. For non-vegans, I could see how Native Foods is a bit of a stretch as I suppose one would be comparing it to "real" meat and cheese. I would take non-vegans here to try it though and support an all-vegan establishment. Congratulations to Native Foods for their expansion outside of California and into the Midwest land of meat and potatoes. I hope that many hearts and minds are changed by the power of one's food choices (and their forks) at this all vegan cafe. 

Photo Credit: Louis McGill

Vegan Kaua'i, Hawaii: Part Two

One of the best hotels on the island is the Grand Hyatt Kaua'i. That being said, it has some of the best restaurants on the island too. Tidepools is located on the pools of the resort with cute thatched hut-style roofs. Their menu has vegetable samosa and the garden isle salad for starters. For your main meal, they have tofu hiryozu which is quite tasty. It is like tofu crab cakes almost. Also located at the hotel is Yum Cha, an asian eatery. To begin, one can get their wok seared edamame. Their miso soup has fish broth in it, but they made me a vegan version special when I asked if it did have it in it. They also made me tofu summer rolls. For dinner, we had stir fried wild rice and stir fried seasonal vegetables. Overall, it was an excellent meal and the service was incredible. They went above and beyond to please us and had very generous portions for the price. 


Another south shore favorite is Keoki's Paradise. While this is primarily a fish place, they do have some veggie options. For starters, one can have their house salad and for dinner, they have a teriyaki stir fry with vegetables and rice. For lunch, they have grilled veggie sandwich (get it without cheese and aioli). 

A classic plantation in Kaua'i is Kilohana. It is a must see for its rustic beauty. The restaurant at the plantation used to be called Gaylord's but in the last year and a half they have changed it to 22 North. They pride themselves on farm raised food and local vegetables. Their menu changes from week to week. 22 North was very accommodating to vegetarians and vegans. I had herb roasted macadamia nuts, the estate salad (garden salad), a couscous stuffed tomato with crispy kale and zucchini, and ended it all with coconut sorbet. The restaurant is located facing out over the plantation with a lovely Hawaiian atmosphere.

Roy's is a world famous Hawaiian fusion restaurant with many Japanese influences. They even have a location here in Chicago. The one in Poipu had a small separate vegetarian menu. To begin, I had a tofu and mushroom appetizer and a garden salad. For my dinner, I had a vegetable stir fry with rice and then for dessert, fruit sorbet. They also serve sesame oil edamame instead of bread. Overall, Roy's is a fun place to go for a nice dinner.


On the east side in Kapa'a, there is a small lunch and dinner spot called Mermaid's Cafe. They have a really vegan-friendly menu and it's cheap. They serve a tofu satay plate, tofu curry plate, tofu stir fry noodle plate, tofu satay wrap, organic salad, and a black bean burrito (no cheese). Basically, the whole menu can be made vegan. Also in Kapa'a is Sukhothai Restaurant, a great Thai restaurant that is very good. Another Thai place in Kapa'a is Mema Thai. Other Asian restaurants in this city are Sushi Bushido and Shivalik Indian restaurant. A great kaiten sushi (sushi served on a conveyor belt) joint in Lihue is Genki Sushi. It's cheap and tasty!


Lastly, I went to Merriman's Restaurant which is located in Poipu. The waitress there was also vegan and helped me out with their menu. If you are reading this, thank you! I really appreciated it. She also has a vegan baking business called Hippie Cafe Kaua'i. Check it out! She recommended a restaurant called Caffe Coco in Wailua which is vegan-friendly. At Merriman's I had the petite lettuce salad to start and for dinner, I had the veggie platter. The veggie platter had lovely moist taro cakes and fresh crunchy green beans. Just don't get the honey sour cream on it. 


Well, that is everything I have to say about vegan-friendly places in Kaua'i. I hope someone finds this helpful and enjoys this beautiful island as much as I do.

Vegan Kaua'i, Hawaii: Part One

I've been to the island of Kaua'i many times in my life, but have never blogged about my vegan findings. This may be a bit extensive, fair warning, because of all the places I've been on the island. I've never been to another island, but this is the Garden Isle of Hawaii and it definitely doesn't live down its name. It is breathtakingly beautiful (maybe that's why all the celebrities go there?). It really is an amazing place to have a honeymoon and many do (or hell, you're wedding too!). My vegan findings are going to be mostly about south, west, and east shore. I rarely have gone to north shore (rains too much for me). So, if you are looking to go to Princeville or the Napali Coast, I don't have much information for you. But, I recommend going to south shore to visit to Poipu. It named year after year one of the best beaches in the world. One can often see the Hawaiian monk seals on the beach sunbathing as well as many tropical fish in the sea. For great snorkeling, I would recommend going to the beach in front of Lawaii Beach Resort and the Beach House restaurant. You find a lot of surfers going out here as well as divers. When I was just here, I saw three giant sea turtles at this spot almost every day. They are so close to you in the water, you could touch them. It is truly a magical experience to be surrounded by giant sea turtles munching away and tropical fish. Very peaceful and natural.

To start, I visited a local favorite, Puka Dog, in Poipu Shopping Village. They have a veggie dog that is vegan. Puka Dog has a good FAQ section on their website for all dietary concerns. The garlic lemon secret sauce is not vegan, though, so opt to just get one of their relishes or other condiments. I tried it with the lilikoi mustard on my hot dog which is passion fruit mustard (amazing!). There is a lot of bread on this which is its only downfall. It's also kinda large, so you could definitely split one with somebody for lunch. Another vegan hot dog place in the south shore is Dude Dog located in the Kukui'ula Village (also there is Lappert's ice cream that has a variety of vegan sorbets). They use Yves veggie dogs. Dude Dog has a variety of condiments to put on the veggie dog. Personally, Puka Dog is more interesting in how they present their food and with their original relishes. But, if you are around and hungry, Dude Dog is certainly a pretty good place to go.

Now, as I mentioned, there is a good beach in front of the Beach House restaurant. The Beach House has been named one of the most romantic restaurants in the world and it certainly is. With it located directly in front of the shoreline, it is a lovely place to have drinks and dinner at sunset. They an open floor plan so you get the ocean breeze and noises. They have two vegan options on their menu. To start, have their Omao, Kaua'i organic baby greens. For dinner, have their grilled portobello mushroom dish. Lastly, for dessert, us vegans can have their sorbetto trio. 

Heading west are the little towns of Hanapepe and Eleele. In Hanapepe, there is the Hanapepe Bakery & Cafe. They have a vegetable sandwich as well as a garden salad with all locally grown vegetables (delicious!). Sometimes, the bakery carries vegan goodies. It quite a cute place located in this tiny town. I would recommend it for a quick lunch while driving around the west side of the island.


If you have a place to make food, I recommend going to one of Kaua'i farmer's markets at least once. It is really a site! Such great fresh, local produce. The fruits and veggies are to die for. It is just like getting it out of your backyard. I have nothing but praise for the farmers in Kaua'i. For other vegan products on the south shore, there is a small market called Kukuiula Market. It has surprisingly a lot of vegan and green products. They have brands like Seventh Generation, Amy's, Boca, Follow Your Heart, Daiya, Morning Star, etc. It really is more like a health food store. Perfect! Another place near by is Living Foods Market which is a upscale, gourmet small grocery. It reminded me a bit of a small Whole Foods. They also carried many vegan brands too. On east shore in Kapa'a, there is Hoku Foods Natural Market. It was a bit like a combination of the other two markets. It had many gourmet items, but also was very much like a large health food store.

Vegan Springfield, IL: Part Two

Vegetable Delight Hibachi

Part Two begins with Japanese hibachi. It has been years since I've had hibachi. Kiku is nice because it is rather quiet and one can ask for special needs diet stuff without feeling like a burden. They are really nice about not using butter or fish sauce (their teriyaki sauce has animal product in it). When you get there, just say you are vegetarian and would like oil to be used on the vegetables instead of butter. Ask for only soy sauce and ginger sauce. Their miso soup is vegan, but I am not sure about the hibachi soup. I usually get the hibachi soup traded for miso when I get the vegetable delight hibachi. The salad that comes with it is also vegan. Also, ask for no shrimp appetizer. I'm pretty silly, so I'm a huge fan of all the hibachi cooking tricks. I particularly love the flaming volcano made out of onion! :D

Tom Yum Veggie Soup

Spring Rolls

Other items at Kiku are a variety of vegetable sushi including inari, avocado, and asparagus. They also have edamame and seaweed salad.

Screamer Tofu

Vegetarian Buffet

The best place for Thai food in Springfield, in my opinion, is Thailand Cuisine. Mona, one of the owners, is the sweetest lady you will ever meet. Their food is traditional Thai and holds true to it. A lot of places have a mix of Chinese and Japanese, but not Thailand Cuisine. It is never busy and the service is the best. I really recommend it. They have a cheap lunch buffet that has many vegetarian options. Mona will go out of her way to let you know what has animal products in it too. The tom yum veggie soup is also vegan if you ask for no fish sauce. It is rare that I find a Thai place with soup that doesn't have animal product.

Fresh Carrot Juice

Vegetarian Buffet

Lastly, Holy Land Diner has the best vegetarian buffet on Saturday nights. It changes from week to week, but generally, they always have Mediterranean salads, olives, lentil soup, homemade hummus, homemade falafel, and a variety of entrees. The entrees are always some kind of grain (usually brown rice) and several vegetable dishes or veggies with pasta. They never use salt in their dishes either. The owners, Afaf and Jamal, are really sweet too. I leave MFA literature with them including Vegetarian Starter Kits and Vegetarian Eating brochures.

Vegan Springfield, IL: Part One

For most people, this may not be too helpful as I'm not sure how much traveling is done to Springfield, IL. If you like Lincoln, this is your place.

Vegetable Mix Sushi

There are quite a number of Asian restaurants which tends to be the best bet for eating veg. Osaka is newer and has a rather extensive menu of Japanese hibachi and traditional entrees, sushi, and Thai food. They also boast a large range of home infused vodka's, whiskey's, sake's, and rum's (which are tasty too). This place has sort of turned into the hip place to go it seems and would be great to take someone out on a date. I usually go with a seaweed salad (their house salad dressing has dairy in it), hibachi soup (the miso soup contains fish stock), edamame, and the vegetable mix sushi (it comes with salad so no salad, just trade out the miso soup for hibachi soup). There are many Thai entree's that can be made vegan including eggplant, trio nuts, mango, etc. Just be sure to ask for tofu and no fish sauce or oyster sauce. The same can be said for the Thai noodle dishes (no egg too). Appetizers that are also good are the fried tofu and the summer rolls (ask for tofu instead of shrimp in them). There are a couple other vegetarian sushi rolls on the menu as well as vegetable teriyaki (check for fish sauce in the teriyaki; I have not had this dish so always best to check). Lastly, Osaka also has vegetable tempura, mini rolls, and gyoza, but again, one would have to double check for dairy/eggs. I had a great experience here with a very knowledgeable waitress who knew what was exactly vegan and not.

Portobello Sandwich

Spring Salad

If you're heading downtown to check out those many Lincoln sites or the Illinois capital stuff, there are a few places with vegan options. I like to go to Cafe Brio where they give you chips and salsa to start and I always get their spring salad. For sandwiches, one is kinda at a loss for a vegan grub, but they have a portobello sandwich which you can have them veganize (no pesto and aioli). This pretty much just leaves you with bread and a mushroom, so get some sandwich veggies and mustard and you're good to go. They have some pretty tasty hand-cut fries and sweet potato chips too. Two other places to also check out downtown are the Garden of Eat'n and Andiamo. The Garden of Eat'n can make vegan wraps, salads, and sometimes they'll have a vegan soup. They also have chips to go along with your wrap or salad. Andiamo has sandwiches as well as pizzas. I've never eaten there, but I do see on their menu they have a vegetarian sandwich and I'm thinking one could ask for no cheese on their mushroom pizza. Doesn't hurt to ask, ;].

Dal Soup

Almond Vegetable

Green Masaala

Another great place for vegetarians is Gateway to India. They have a weekday lunch buffet that is cheap, good, and they let you know what's vegan and what is not. The mint chutney is not vegan, to note! There are a number of vegetarian and vegan options. To start, one could go with vegetable samosa, pakora, salad, or dal soup. For entree's, I like the mango vegetable, green masaala vegetable, almond vegetable, baingan bharta, or the mushroom masaala waala. One can go with roti or garlic naan without butter for a side. They also have a killer fresh mango juice and organic, vegan wine. This is another place to take someone out on a date, I think. It has a lovely atmosphere (but quiet) which would be terribly romantic!

Veggie Samosa

While on the subject of Indian food, there is this great little store hidden away in Springfield called Mini Devon Groceries. One can pick up all sorts of vegan Indian things there such as bulk grains, chutneys, frozen entrees, and produce. Food Fantasies is the local health food store in Springfield and most people know about it to get vegan or green products. But if you are looking for some more traditional Indian or Pakistani food supplies, I recommend checking out Mini Devon (and grab a snow cone when you leave - Ice Deli is just next to it and hey, those are vegan too!).