en francais svp!

Montreal was GREAT! I really enjoyed being able to practice my French. Here in the west we don’t hear it all that often. And although I’ve been taking classes I still really suck at speaking it with people. But I made sure to practice a lot as I went shopping and ordered some delicious food, which is the point of this post.

First up, the conference I was attending was located very close to Le Commensal downtown. This is a vegetarian buffet where you pay by the weight of your plate. Which could be a good thing, but if you’re a glutton like me and want to try everything, it’s pretty pricey. Oops. Anyway, vegan options are clearly marked, and there are quite a few of them. My only complaint would be the lack of vegan dessert options. They do have one vegan cheese cake, but honestly it’s not all that good (it’s okay, just not that great). Here is my plate loaded up with all kinds of vegan goodies:

Next up, I of course had to try Aux Vivres. I actually ate here on three separate occasions….and I would have gone back for more but they are closed Mondays which was my last day in the city. The first time I was there I tried the BLT wrap with the infamous coconut bacon…oh my gosh…the rumors are true, this bacon is AMAZING! However, I found it a bit overpowering after one half of this huge wrap. What I wish was available was half of a wrap and then a salad or something to go with it. I suppose if you went with another person you could split it and order a salad on the side. Because these wraps are HUGE.

For dessert I tried the carrot cake. It was soooo good! Very moist and it had a lemon flavoured icing…mmm. Once again, this piece of cake was gigantic, so you may want to share.

The next day a friend and I went back for brunch, which they serve on Saturdays and Sundays until 4:00 pm. I had “le complet” which comes with tempeh bacon, a salad, sweet potatoes, cornbread, and the best tofu scramble I have EVER had. Seriously, I think I am spoiled for life now. I would love to know what their secret is…

That night, the same friend and I returned once more for supper. I tried out the dragon bowl with grilled tofu. It was so pretty I didn’t really want to eat it, but I got over that pretty quick. Their dragon sauce is sooo unbelievably good. They also sell it for you to take home, but you have to keep it refrigerated so unfortunately I couldn’t do that.

I long for the day when I return to Montreal to go back to Aux Vivres…there were so many other dishes on their menu that I really wanted to try. Unfortunately I don’t see a trip to Montreal anytime in the near future, but if you’re in the area I really can’t recommend it enough. Now back to life in the prairies where it’s hard enough finding a single vegan mean in a restaurant, nevermind an entire vegan restaurant!

My Limited Adventures in D.C.

So I have returned from D.C. Although I have returned exhausted. I had to get up at 2:30 AM to make it to Dulles airport on time for my flight. Sigh. Anyhoo, as predicted, there was VERY little free time in D.C. Meetings, meetings, meetings. But I did get to sneak out twice to eat. First up is Sticky Fingers Bakery. This was my first time using Google walking directions and it gave me the worst directions ever. It had me cutting around all of these streets, ending up in a sketchy looking alley. When really I could just have walked up one street the entire way. Not impressed Google. Anyhoo, when I finally arrived, I ended up getting a TLT, or tempeh lettuce and tomato sandwich. Hands down best tempeh bacon I have ever had. Which really is only mine and the stuff at Sticky Fingers.

I also had a peanutbutter chocolate cupcake. I arrived pretty close to their closing time, so understandably there wasn’t a ton of baking around. It was pretty good though, very moist.

I also had the opportunity to try out Java Green Cafe. Excuse the bad cell phone pictures, but I had the curry noodles with spicy “chicken” for an entree. Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed. It was good sure, but I could make better at home. I really didn’t care for the texture of the chicken at all and I found the dish overall to be bland. But I have read such great reviews about this place that I’m sure it was just an off dish for me to order and if I am ever in the D.C. area again I will give it another chance.

I also tried two desserts there. I had this oatmeal cookie sandwich thing, which was awesome. It was two giant oatmeal cookies with this sweet icing in the middle…mmmm.

I also had a vanilla cream cake with chocolate icing. Words cannot describe how cocoa-y (you know what I mean) the icing was….like really dark chocolate.

And to conclude my adventure, I found a news stand in the Denver airport that carries Nana’s vegan cookies so I picked up two to try:

I have returned…

I am back from Boston and bring you stories of delicious vegan food…unfortunately no pictures. Boo. So bare with my text-heavy post.

First up – Veggie Planet in Cambridge. We took the subway here to go see Harvard and I stopped here for lunch. This place has both vegetarian and vegan food, so a lot of the menu items did have cheese. But I still had tons to choose from. I went with the “vegan oddlot” – which was a pizza with tofu ricotta, spinach, tomatoes, olives, and garlic. It was decent…I do like my tofu ricotta recipe better (from Vegan with a Vengeance) but it was still really, really good. Pretty cheap too. It was a cool little place…if I was a student around there I don’t think I would ever leave.

That night we made reservations at Grezzo Restaurant in the North End of Boston. This is a pretty swanky place, and all of the food is also raw. The bf did have some problems finding nut-free food, but they changed a few dishes so that he could eat them. I had the chef’s sampler which was pretty pricey, but SO worth it. You get two soups, two appetizers, a salad, an entree, and a dessert. I was basically eating for 2 hours straight. I had a cream of fennel soup, a summer melon stew, vegan sliders (SOOO good), gnocchi carbonara, a house salad (with the most delicious croutons I have ever had), zucchini canneloni, and brownie sundae. Yes I ate it all.

Our last night in Boston the bf was quite ill (bad luck..) so I took the subway to Allston so that I could try out TJ Scallywaggle’s Vegan House of Pizza & Subs. This is a neat little place. Unfortunately it was quite hot that day and they do not have A/C..but oh well. I don’t have it at home and I survive just fine. Anyhoo, I had the “meatza pizza”…with fake pepperoni, ground meat, sausage and chicken. It was pretty good. Their cheese melts quite well…I asked what brand it was but I forgot about 2 minutes after he told me. It was a brand that was only available at something like 3 retail locations in Chicago or some such thing. I took the bf back a chicken parmesan sub as I figured he needed something for dinner. He could only eat half of it so I had the other half. Yes, I pigged out on vegan food while in Boston. Anyhoo, the breaded chicken they use is AMAZING. I think I might email them and find out the brand. Even the omni bf was quite impressed.