The Blogging Begins

Hello There,

My name is Rita. I spend an enormous amount of time away from home because of work. Its nothing glamorous and usually consists of waking up before the sun, driving to the airport, getting on a plane to nowhere, doing my job, and heading back to the airport. I have been a lot of places that I never thought I would be, or have much of a desire to go back to. What makes my travel particularly interesting is that I'm a vegetarian (of the ovo-lacto variety) and finding things to eat that don't consist of bread, tomato sauce, and cheese can be quite tricky. Don't get me wrong, I love me some pizza as much as the next chick. However, I also like to stay healthy and fit as possible, and quite frankly, if I always ate pizza I'd be the size of a house. So, a friend (thanks Chris) suggested that I start blogging about the vegetarian treasures that I do happen to come across while hopping back and forth across the country. Maybe I can be of service to my fellow veggies.

So I will start with tonight's trip to North Carolina. I flew into Charlotte and decided that I should probably look for food here before starting my hour drive to west bumble. I hit up my handy Urbanspoon app (still trying to figure out how I can marry my iPhone) and shook till I found Lupie's Cafe. Jackpot!

This little building on the side of the road in a seemingly residential section of East Charlotte was exactly what I needed in my life. The wood floors, wood benches and tables, and low lighting gave a very low key bar feeling. The "Hippies Welcome" sign gave me hope that I might indeed be in luck. I walked in, got my table for 1 (cue the world's tiniest violin) and ordered my standard "water to start." The menu was relatively simple (soups, sandwiches, salads, burgers) but there were actually vegetarian options in every section. And not just "cheese sandwich" or "vegetable soup".

I ordered the vegetarian chili which was chock full of beans and veggie crumbles, i.e. fake ground beef. Of course I ordered with the optional onions and cheese which consistent of a heaping serving of diced raw white onions and shredded cheedar. YUM!!! The menu warns it is hot and it is. Full of flavor spicy, not burn off all of your taste buds hot. I was very pleased. I would definitely go back for seconds and to try other things on the menu. And just so you don't make the same mistake I did getting angry that your server hasn't come back to get your check, you pay at the register at the bar. :-)

So there you have it. My first foray into blogging. I would love your feedback and will be adding more as time goes on. Thanks for listening!

here's the link to the restaurant: http://www.lupiescafe.com/