Jack Talk Thai

Usually when I find a place to blog about, I try to focus on things you can't find in every city. I love Thai food, but generally won't blog about it because I think everywhere I've been, I have found Thai food. (Yes, that includes Hickory, NC.) However, today I had the yummiest lunch I've had in a while.
I have been to Hartford a number of times both for work and for pleasure, as my sister lives about 20 minutes outside of the city. I had a hearing there today and met her boyfriend for lunch at Tamarind Grill, a Thai and Malaysian restaurant. They had your typical Thai dishes (Phad Thai, Drunken Noodles, Assorted Curries) but I wanted to try something a little different. They had a selection of lunch specials and I opted for the Mango Tofu, which consists of tofu, mango, fresh basil, and peppers in a mango sauce. It could be ordered mild, medium spicy, or hot so of course I got the hot. Each lunch special comes with a choice brown, white, or vegetable fried rice and chicken satay, shrimp shumai or vegetable spring rolls.
The service was super quick so don't worry if you have time constraints. I mean honestly, our food was out in about 5 minutes. And I want to eat it every day. I love mango to begin with but I didn't know it could be so special. The contrast of the mango sweetness with the spicy chili in the sauce was amazing. I love hot food but I am disappointed when it is only hot with no flavor. I don't just want my mouth to be on fire. This was flavorful heat. Not so hot that it cleared my sinuses (yay wasabi!) but enough to make me sweat a little under the eyes. And the tofu was done very well. It was nice and crispy on the outside but not too tough that you wouldn't be able to cut it with your fork.
For those of you that travel with meat eaters, the menu was quite lengthy so anyone should be able to find something. Check it out, I promise you won't be disappointed.
Here is the link to their website: www.tamarindhartford.com.

Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again

I've been a huge slacker. I got sick of listening to my own thoughts on my travels so I stopped writing for about a month. But people have been asking for updates and I felt inspired this week. So here we go.

First I wanted to mention yesterday's trip to Richmond. I had lunch at a cute little coffee shop like place called The Urban Farmhouse Market and Cafe. The menu was relatively small and there were a few vegetarian choices. The thing that I found most interesting though was the sweetener choices for the unsweetened iced tea. They had Sugar in the Raw, honey, and blue agave extract. I was confused but apparently blue agave is a sweetener with a low glycemic index. And it was actually pretty good. So, if you are interested in natural alternatives to refined sugar, there you go.

Now, on to the real review. Tonight I flew into Memphis on my way to some other no where land in Arkansas. I decided my best bet was to try to find something in Memphis before getting on the road. I drove through a neighborhood with super beautiful big homes and found myself at Fuel Cafe. I was a little nervous by the looks of the neighborhood that I was under dressed and would be spending a fortune. No problems. It was absolutely gorgeous out so I sat on the front deck area. I have no idea what the inside looks like so I can't comment. The deck is nothing fancy at all. Its basically like a large concrete patio with an overhang. In fact, when I drove up to the restaurant, it kind of looked like an old gas station that had been converted. Not sure if the name of the place brought this to my head, but I digress.

The menu has a lot of different choices for non-vegetarians and a few for veggies. I was pretty excited to see a choice that we can't get everywhere else, the Vegetarian Cheese Walnut Loaf. It is a meatloaf substitute made from walnuts, cheese, and vegetable protein served with mashed potatoes, greens, and a mushroom gravy. It was awesome!!! No kidding. I don't know what the greens were seasoned with but they were the perfect consistency (not too soggy) and were spicy but not too hot. The meatloaf was fantastic. It was not the consistency of actual ground beef but it had this awesome nutty flavor with a hint of sweetness. The mashed potatoes were mashed potatoes. I'm still of the opinion that my mom makes the best mashed potatoes on the planet so they didn't knock my socks off but were good. Try it out! Seriously. I think you will enjoy it.

The restaurant does not have a website but here is a link to check out the menu. http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/50/1508868/restaurant/Midtown/Fuel-Cafe-Memphis

City Mouse Meets Country Mouse

After leaving Cootie Brown's last night, I drove to my final destination on this trip, Bristol Virginia. I checked into my hotel and started searching online for local vegetarian friendly restaurants to repeatedly receive the message "Sorry, your search was unable to find results. Please change your search parameters." Um, not really an option since this is where I was going to be for at least the next 18 hours.

I did however find their premier upscale restaurant, The Brooklyn Grill & Cafe. Problem, no website means no previewing the menu ahead of time. So I figured I would just go, check it out, and worst case scenario, I could probably find a Subway for a Veggie Delight.

The restaurant is situated on the side of the road and could easily have blended in with the other random buildings and strip malls if not for the 7 foot Statue of Liberty in front. I was pleased to see a few different options on the menu posted on the wall outside the front door, including a stuffed eggplant appetizer, assorted salads, and a grilled vegetable pita. In I walked in and transported back to what I would describe as upscale in the fabulous 80s. The back wall was adorned with a mural of the NYC skyline. The rest of the restaurant was all shades of grey with grey, pink, green, and gold glitter table cloths. I was starting to doubt the wisdom of this choice but took my seat.

I was eased by the sounds of Mr. Tony Bennett serenading me as I awaited my hot tea and water. I opted for the grilled portabello mushroom sandwich. Did I mention this place had great music. As I sat I grooved to Dean, Sammy, Frank, Tony, Ella, and the incomparable Lady Day. And then my sandwich came. It was advertised as being served on a kaiser roll but anyone outside of the Philadelphia area knows that the rest of the world has no idea what a kaiser roll actually is. Therefore, I wasn't too disappointed when it arrived on a fancy looking hamburger bun. The mushroom was topped with melted Swiss, tomato, onion, and mixed greens. It was delicious! The interplay of the flavors of whatever they used to marinate the mushroom and the roasted red pepper mayo was truly special. It also came with a perfectly crunchy dill pickle and kettle chips. The chips looked like they were bar-b-que but actually had a tomato-basil flavor.

I admit, what qualifies as upscale is all relative to where you live and your life experience. I imagine that a meal at this little flashback of a restaurant really is quite the place for a night on the town in Bristol. This is probably just my big city snobbery showing. There were four other patrons in the place for lunch and in jeans and a nice sweater, I was the most dressed down so I guess I actually looked the fool. If you are ever in town for whatever reason people come to Bristol VA, pull out the slacks and heels for a trip to a tribute to NYC.

In Search of a Dream Underneath the Tennessee Moon

When I pulled out of Tri Cities Regional Airport I was feeling a little discouraged at the prospects of finding something to eat. Actually, I was discouraged at the prospect of finding anything other than snow flurries and darkness. However, after a 10-15 minute drive, I spied a Burger King so I knew there was some civilization. Civilization that included Cootie Brown's "Real Food".

I was led to my rainbow swirl painted table in the main dining room and sat to take in all that was around me. Looking up revealed blue painted exposed beam ceilings strung with light bulbs. The walls were all mosaic tiled in reds, yellows, blues, and greens. Each of the tables were painted or tiled in different patterns and styles. The whole place had a light airy outside feel, but a warm summery outside, not the snowy winter.

The menu also offered plenty of things to feel good about. This is a place that meat eaters and vegetarians alike could enjoy. There were plenty of options for everyone including appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, and dinner entrees. There were non-meat options in each category and even the tamales could be ordered with chicken, steak, or black beans.

When my tied dye clad server came to take my order, I opted for one of the three veggie burger options, the black bean burger with a side salad. (You have the options of spiral fries as a side as well.) The side salad was good; mixed greens with diced tomatoes, cucumber slices, and some red onion, topped with shredded cheddar and croutons. The black bean burger patty itself was too much for my wheat bun to handle. It was covered with melted cheddar and came with a side of sour cream and pico de gallo. The patty was a little softer than I prefer. Since it was hanging over the side of the bun, I ate the outside edges of the patty itself first. Alone, there was something strange about the taste. However, the combination of the burger with the cheese, bun, pico and sour cream was really delicious. The only complaint I have about the experience was watching UConn beating up on my Wildcats, though, I was thankful to have had to opportunity to watch it at all.

So if you find yourself in Johnson City Tennessee, check out Cootie Brown's. I highly doubt you will be disappointed. http://www.cootiebrowns.com/

Meet Me In St. Louey

Every once in a while I stumble upon some good old anarchists that remind me of a time in my life when I was at my hippie tree hugger prime and actually had time and energy to care about things other than when I was going to buy my next fabulous pair of shoes. I miss those days of social consciousness (I'm not parting with my shoes), but I'm not here to discuss my falling victim to capitalism. My purpose here is to talk about the food and this is what I'll do.
Today's trip to St. Louis MO, "The Home of American Brewing" brought me to a little cafe just blocks from the Busch Tour Center. The Black Bear Bakery and Cafe is a small empty looking store front that I surely would have never found without a little pre-trip research. As their website states: "Environmental sustainability, neighborhood support, as well as quality, local, and organic ingredients are at the center of Black Bear Bakery's mission." They are not even slightly kidding. Everything here is organic, locally grown, free-traded, or a combination of the three. WhenI went to the counter, the guy in front of me was filling out the "Barter/Trade Log" before walking out with his muffin. Yes, forms of payment accepted are cash, check, EBT (food stamps), or bartering. Grocery items are not accepted as a form of trade so you will have to be more creative than that.
Every single thing on the menu here is vegetarian. Not all vegan, but there is no meat in this place. You can buy fresh baked breads, muffins, brownies, cookies, etc. In addition, they have an eat-in lunch cafe. They are only open for breakfast and lunch. I came for lunch and my choices included the Black Bear Burger (black bean patty with cheese), BBQ Tofu (tofu sauteed with onions and bbq sauce topped with greens and served on a roll), and a Vegetarian Muffaletta (house made vegetarian sausage, roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, sundried tomato cream cheese on bread). Almost everything on the menu can be prepared vegan by request. I went all out and got the Tempeh Ruben.
Now it has been over 10 years since I have intentionally eaten meat (everyone that tells you that there is no meat in something is not telling the truth). When I was a meat eater I don't think that I ever ate rubens so it is difficult to really gauge its ruben-ness. I will say that I was pleased but not over the moon. The pumpernickle bread it was served on was great, the tempeh itself was cooked well and tasted very good. I think what lost me was the sauerkraut. I don't think this was at the fault of the establishment so much as maybe I'm just not a huge sauerkraut fan. What I am a fan of is this place's creativity and willingness to step out side of the box and offer such a rarity. I will definitely come back if given the opportunity and sample some of the other options for sure.
So, overall, I recommend it. I'm still happier to have eaten something with imagination that I wasn't 100% in love with than the same old same old. And they were playing Nina Simone, super extra bonus points there.
Trip to St. Louis= successful eating. Oh yeah, and I saw that arch thing too :-).

here's the website: http://www.blackbearbakery.org/

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/