Red Robin is a favorite amongst my crew at work. Despite the emphasis on cow at this place, that works out a-ok for me because you can sub in a vegan Boca patty for any burger on their menu. I always do my own thing, opting for lettuce, tomato, onion and A.1. steak sauce – which is vegan!

Interesting sidenote: A.1. actually played a big role in helping me to go vegetarian way back in the day. I never ate a steak without it and it turned out just the taste of the sauce was enough to fool my taste buds into thinking I was eating real beef. Additionally, the strong flavor of A.1. (which I happen to love) goes a long way towards enhancing the taste of somewhat less savory foods, so I continue to use it liberally on burgers and the like.

Back to the matter at hand though, as usual, I opted for fries with my burger. There are lots more (healthier) vegan choices like steamed veggies and melon wedges to choose from if that’s how you roll but I’m a fool for french fries. Always have been.

Though it wouldn’t usually be my first choice for a meal out, it’s still good to know there are vegan options at Red Robin. As I said, it’s often the lunch choice du jour at my office so it’s great to be able to tag along with the carnivores without having to eat like them!

Yes, yes, I know Chipotle and Qdoba have significant differences. However, their menus are strikingly similar and I order the exact same thing no matter which one I’m at, so it seemed silly to do two separate posts for each.

The great thing about these kind of places is the “have-it-your-way” set-up. You stand within view of your food as it is prepared and decide what does and doesn’t make it into your order – which means virtually anything on the menu at Chipotle or Qdoba (except maybe quesadillas) can be veganized with ease.

My go-to order at each establishment is a vegetarian burrito. The options are many and varied, but I go with rice, black beans, pico, lettuce and guacamole. The tortilla itself is vegan at either place, as are the taco shells. That may sound a little sparse, but considering the sheer size of these things, it’s a more than satisfying meal.

Massive burritos are easily the fast/easy/cheap dinner of choice for my husband and I. Always a good option for a casual meal out with a vegan in tow.

Ok, first things first: I apologize for this photo. I completely forgot to take it until after I’d already dug in and messed everything up. I tried to make it pretty again, but obviously I had some difficulty. You still get the idea though, right?

Anyway, what you see here is one of Pei Wei’s signature dishes, the Spicy Korean. The basic version of this meal consists of stir-fried garlic, white mushrooms, onions, carrots, long beans and toasted sesame seeds in a Korean hot pepper sauce. When served with tofu and vegetables, it’s a vegan delight. As with all of their main dishes, you have your choice of white or brown rice (I’m told you can get any dish with noodles as well). I obviously went for brown rice with vegetables and tofu – which brings me to my next point…

The tofu at Pei Wei is firm, baked and dipped in soy sauce – and it is killer. When I was still a veggie newbie, I couldn’t figure out what was so special about this stuff and why my homemade tofu never had that kind of texture or flavor.  Who’d have guessed that baked beats fried?!

The Spicy Korean is just one of several vegan options at Pei Wei, though I should mention that “vegan” does not account for sugar in this case. Though there are more calories in their dishes than you might expect, I really love this place because the food is yummy and generally good for you.  Best of all, any dish marked with a “leaf” symbol on their menu is free of meat and animal byproducts when ordered with tofu and vegetables, making it super easy to spot the vegan options. As I said, this designation does not account for sugar (anything that includes Teriyaki sauce is also excluded, as honey is an ingredient) but I’m willing to overlook that while dining out if it’s the only thing keeping the meal from being “officially” vegan.

So there you have it! The next time you’re out and about and looking for a veg-friendly dining option, stop in at Pei Wei and look for the leaves! Oh, and if you plan to photograph your meal (that’s normal, right?), try to remember to snap the pic before you’ve eaten half of what’s on the plate.

First off, it’s so weird calling Bread Co., Panera. If you’re from St. Louis, I know ya feel me. Back to the matter at hand though, Panera is a pretty go-to place for me. There are actually several vegan options here, you just have to get used to customizing your order to find most of them. The great thing about Panera is how easy they make that process. It all starts with the nutrition calculator on their website.

The beauty of the nutrition calculator is that not only does it provide a breakdown of all the basic stuff about calories and fat, etc., it also lists allergen information front and center. The allergen statement is your friend. With just a glance, you can see the presence of eggs and/or dairy in any item on their menu. What’s more, with one click you can see the entire ingredients list for any given item – which makes it really easy to see exactly where the non-vegan stuff is hiding. All you have to do to veganize your grub is 86 the offending ingredients (where possible) and you’re in business!

What you see here is my favorite “You Pick Two:” Garden Vegetable Soup with Pesto and the new Thai Chopped Chicken Salad (which I’m totally obsessed with). To make this meal vegan appropriate, order the soup sans pesto (cheese) and the salad without chicken (obviously) and wonton strips (eggs). I’m a fool for bread, so I go with the french baguette as my side – naturally vegan. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the whole wheat baguette, which is a true bummer. Equally tear-inducing, there are currently no vegan pastries available at Panera for you to finish your meal with a lil somethin’ sweet. I’m told there are no plans in the works currently to rectify that situation – to which my obvious response is: BOO.

Bagel-wise, the plain bagel at Panera is vegan (without cream cheese), which makes choices like “Sesame” and “Everything” vegan as well. I’m pretty sure these aren’t the only vegan bagels, but don’t take my word for it. Have a gander at the nutrition calculator and see for yourself!

As I said, there are several vegan options here if you’re willing to do a little hunting and not afraid to be one of “those people” when you place your order at the counter. If I can do it, you can do it!

Cheese-ology is a fairly new macaroni and cheese-centric restaurant in the Delmar Loop. They offer up over a dozen different varieties of mac and cheese including everything from inventive concoctions like “Mediterranean” (Mozzarella and Goat cheese with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes and Kalamata olives) to the classic macaroni & cheese with Cheddar and American.

You might assume that macaroni and cheese is a food that is totally off-limits for vegans, but not so! Mac ‘n cheese remains one of my all-time favorite foods (I have a killer recipe that I’ll eventually share here). I figured that I was probably out of luck at Cheese-ology though, so you can imagine my delight to find “Vegan Mac ‘n ‘Cheese’” listed on the menu! This joint immediately went on my list of “places to try.” Last weekend, I finally got my chance!

Andy wasn’t going to make it home for dinner this past Friday, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to give Cheese-ology a go (he’s generally less enthused about mac and cheese). As you can see from my super-awesome photography skills, I went for takeout.

Full disclosure: this was not so great. They run all their dishes through an oven right before they’re served – which appears to have quite a yummy effect on their non-vegan concoctions. But either their vegan cheese sauce is too thin or they just aren’t using enough of it because the oven-baked process dries it out, big time. Taste-wise, definitely not bad – but nothing to write home about. They could probably greatly improve things by getting a little more creative. Spices, veggies, etc.

Even though I was underwhelmed by my option here, I’m still totally thrilled and grateful to have had one at all! I definitely appreciate the consideration they’ve shown in creating a menu item for vegans (and one that actually says the word “vegan” at that!). So, if you’re the lone vegan in a group with a hankering for some serious comfort food, remember that there’s something for you at Cheese-ology!

Doctored Artichoke Sub

So, here’s another fun little series for ya. The same way the “Local Vegan Eats” posts explore dining out as a vegan, “What does a vegan order at…?” will uncover the vegan options available at more mainstream, non-veggie restaurants. Some of these you’ll only find around St. Louis, some are widely accessible national chains.

If you’re already vegan, maybe you’ll discover a few more places you can easily dine at with non-veg friends and family or when you’re traveling and away from your favorite local spots. If you aren’t vegan, you might be surprised to see how easy it is to find vegan options at familiar places. Who knows, maybe next time you visit, you can test-drive a convenient vegan meal!

Obviously, in this first post we’re talkin’ bout eating veg at Penn Station.

I actually just recently discovered the wonder that is this particular establishment. I’ve never been much of a sub sandwich kinda gal and I figured if there were vegan options here it would be along the lines of Subway (brown, wilted, shredded lettuce and a smattering of sad looking vegetables – no thanks). Then a veggie friend mentioned how much she adored their artichoke sub and I became officially interested.

Happily, the bread at Penn Station is vegan. Once you clear that hurdle, it’s generally pretty easy to stay on the veg train at a place like this. Done Penn Station’s way, the Grilled Artichoke sub comes with artichoke hearts, provolone, oregano, parmesan and mayo with an option to add fresh mushrooms. Done my way: Opt for the mushrooms and sub grilled onions and pizza sauce for the provolone, parm and mayo. Add on some fries or chips and you’ve got a bonafide vegan meal (Also vegan: the Grilled Vegetarian sub, sans cheese and mayo – but the basic idea for this series isn’t necessarily to show everything that could be vegan on the menu – just that there is something).

Funny aside: you may notice from the picture that there’s an order of large fries on my ticket. As I said, I’m sort of new to Penn Station, as is my husband.  On this particular trip, we decided to split an order of fries and got a large, expecting something along the lines of a large fry at McDonald’s. Yeeeeah, the large fries at Penn Station could feed a really hungry family of four. It’s literally a bucket! I refuse to comment on whether or not we/I ate them all.

So next time you’re at Penn Station give the Grilled Artichoke sub a whirl, if you’re so inclined. And don’t order large fries unless you’ve got an Army to feed.