Denver

I'm in Denver for a convention this week. Last time I was here was 2002 and at that time I was disappointed with the vegan options I found, but now this trip I found some wonderful choices. I did my preliminary vegetarian restaurant search and decided to hit up Watercourse Foods main restaurant, their bakery and their pizza place/bar called City O' City. There were other restaurants that I found but when possible I prefer the totally vegetarian restaurant options and their menus looked great!

As a side note I was at the Denver Convention Center and they had a table sharing what Denver has done is terms of Greening the city, including a list of restaurants that recycle, are organic, and/or are vegetarian/vegan amongst "greening". It was nice to see.


City, O’ City
206 E. 13th Ave
Denver, CO 80203
303-831-6443
www.watercoursefoods.com
Vegan Pizza...need I say more. All the pizzas can be made vegan. I made my own although it was a tough decision considering their pesto, fig sauce, white pizza options. I did a red sauce with half vegan house made mozzarella and half vegan house made cashew cheese with pineapple and house made seitan sausage. The crust was the thin NY Italian style. It was delicious. I preferred the cashew cheese but both were super good. I also had a house salad with house made vegan ranch dressing, again very good. The restaurant also has sandwich options and the restaurant is Kosher.

The bakery listed on the Watercourse Foods website is adjacent to City, O' City and you can buy their baked goods and coffee at their store front. I tried a ho ho cupcake (amazing), a sweet potato cinnamon roll (I like it but it wasn't my favorite), and a melt in your mouth lemon poppy seed frosting on sugar cookie(I chose the gluten free version) it was soooo good. The bakery makes pies, cakes, coffeecake, muffins, scones, cookies, brownies, all vegan and with non-bonechar sugar.

WaterCourse Foods
837 E. 17th Ave,
Denver, CO 80218
303-832-7313
www.watercoursefoods.com
I also went to the main Watercourse Foods Restaurant. One of those you could eat there everyday places. All day breakfast with an assortment of scrambles, pancakes, french toast, biscuits and gravy, etc. A nice salad menu with a make your own salad option with tons of choices. I tried the vegan caesar-vegan house made parmesan (walnuts and nutritional yeast blend), croutons, crispy romaine (you can add herbed tofu or seitan but I opted not too) and a house made caesar dressing. It was very good. I also did a make it yourself salad with spinach, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, vegan parm and again the caesar dressing...can you tell how much i liked it? I tried the Dona Lee-kind of like a gyro, crispy house made seitan with lettuce, avocado, tomatoes, and ranch dressing, in a warm pita, with steamed kale (sprinkled with sesame seeds), and french fries (they were like and just cut up potatoes not deeply fried). I also tried the country fried seitan covered in a white gravy, with amazing mashed potatoes and steamed kale(although this time it was very garlicy and a bit salty). My friends had the seitan french dip, one liked it the other thought it didn't have enough veggies (traditionally it doesn't) and thought it was a bit salty. We shared a piece of tiramisu which was moist and tasty but lacked the espresso flavor of tiramisu. The bakery provides an assortment of cakes, pies, cookies, etc. also available at Watercourse Foods. The onion rings were huge and I tried one which was enough as I like tasting simulated vegan SAD type items but usually a taste is all I need. Another thing Watercourse Foods has is Oogave a vegan fountain soda sweetened with agave nectar. I tasted the Key Lime, Watermelon, and Cola. There's free refills so I got several half glasses so I could taste the different flavors. www.oogave.com

Minneapolis St.Paul Airport/ St. Cloud/Grand Rapids, Minnesota

So recently I was in Minneapolis, Grand Rapids, and St. Cloud. First things first, the MSP airport is a great place to connect (if you have to).

I was in northern Minnesota for a conference starting near Duluth, to Biwabik, Grand Rapids, then down south to St. Cloud. Usually before I travel to places where I won't have much control over my food (i.e. a conference for work) I pick up a few Luna bars, some vegan dehydrated soup cups, etc. but I recently I was connecting through the Minneapolis St. Paul airport which has so many great vegan options I thought I'd pick a few things up there. Unfortunately my flight came 2 hours late and I had a 5 minute connection so my plan was derailed. I arrived in Hermantown (right outside of Duluth) late Monday night, my boss asked what restaurants were still open- McDonald's, Outback Steakhouse, etc. but when I inquired about a grocery store luckily the person at the front desk at the hotel told me about one right around the corner. (Side note: I know Duluth itself has several vegan options, but I was outside of the city and it was late so I needed a quick and close option) I thought I'd try to see if there was anything I could pick up for the week. Well to my delight the Super One grocery store had a mini-health food section. I picked up a box of kashi oatmeal (honey-free) for breakfast, a few pieces of fruit, a couple Luna bars, a box of Boca original burgers, a can of lentil soup with a pull top, soy milk, and low and behold they had whole wheat hamburger buns with nothing funny in them just wheat, water, etc. Then I put it all in one of those hot and cold traveling cooler packs so I didn't have to use a "disposable" bag either.

Duluth Airport Vicinity
Super One Foods Duluth

Miller Hill 5401 Burning Tree Road Duluth, MN 55811 Phone: 218-722-6019 (near the Duluth airport)

Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport (June and July 2007)

Fresh Meadows Bakery

Has vegan soups, tofu-hummus wrap, tempeh reuben, cupcakes, cookies, etc. They have an ingredient book so you can double check ingredients. Note: the balsamic dressing contains honey that comes with the med. tofu-hummus wrap.



360 Burrito

They have a listing for a vegan burrito and and even have tofu offerings. They'll change your gloves if you ask but make sure they don't put your tortilla on the grill to heat it where they make the chicken.



St. Cloud

Hmm this was more of a what can I eat as opposed to an oh wow I get to eat kind of place. We went to a Mexican restaurant which can make a bean and chip platter. It wasn't very good to be honest and next time I would try the Thai restaurant (Sawatdee Thai Restaurant ). Although the coffeeshop had soymilk and raw sugar and made a great soy latte. Everything was around the corner from the Radisson, so I think the Mexican place was MEXICAN VILLAGE RESTAURANT and the coffeehouse is Java Joint.

Grand Rapids

Rivers Wine Bar & Bistro
It's a higher end restaurant in town but they were able to easily accommodate me as a vegan. I had a big grilled vegetable plate with portobello mushrooms, zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, and so on. It was nicely seasoned, not mushy, and not too oily.

Welcome to The Traveling Vegan

Welcome to The Traveling Vegan. Here you will find tips, restaurant reviews, airport and grocery store options for the vegan who travels mostly in North America with the occasional tip from international excursions. Anything described as vegan will not contain any sort of animal product (poultry, mammal, fish), any products made using animal-by products (no honey or bone char refined sugar) or food that may have come in contact with animal products (i.e. french fries fried in the same oil as chicken, vegetables on the same grill as meat). If you're a new vegan, relax you won't have to be relegated to the twigs and berries people will tease you about, although these wild blueberries were pretty good. Enjoy!