New Orleans Travel Guide: Who Dat?by Randi / September 1, 2014
|
When I was in sixth grade, we sang this ridiculous song in chorus about New Orleans. I don’t remember what it was called or who wrote it, but I remember the words because they were all about food, with the most fun-sounding, exotic-to-young-me names. For more than 15 years, I’ve remembered those words and stored them for whenever I finally got to New Orleans, so I would be sure to eat the proper dishes. The song went:
|
Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and file’ gumbo
Cause tonight I’m gonna see ma cher amio (pronounced ah-MY-oh)
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar, and be fine-o,
Son of a gun we’ll have big fun on the bayou.
Cause tonight I’m gonna see ma cher amio (pronounced ah-MY-oh)
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar, and be fine-o,
Son of a gun we’ll have big fun on the bayou.
And then at the end you repeated “son of a gun, we’ll have big fun, son of a gun, we’ll have big fun, son of a gun we’ll have big funnn onnn theeee bayouuuuuu” and I swore ONE DAY I would have big fun on the bayou and eat that file’ gumbo and fill my fruit jar and you know what buster? I did.
Seitan gumbo at Seed. It’s not my fault the bowl is messy.
As soon as we landed in New Orleans, we were starving. I don’t use that word lightly because there are actually people starving in the world and also because every time I say it I imagine Louis CK saying “I’m starving” in his voice of mockery (“I’m literally starving. It’s so annoying” oh my god I love it). We immediately began our journey through the many places on the NOLA List Of Dreams that I cobbled together from Melissa Bastian’s NOLAinGreen blog and from Queen Kittee Bee Berns‘ recommendations.
13 BAR
Our first stop was 13 Bar, in the Marigny, which is the neighborhood just northeast of the French Quarter. This low-key joint would be one of my favorite local places if it was in Philly or London. It was so casual and had a nice vibe. More importantly, it had several vegan options on the menu, including totchos (tater tot nachos)! I of course ordered the tofu bahn mi because that’s my favorite sandwich in the world. It was so delicious! The tofu was spiced and pressed into perfect little dense squares, and it had a good amount of shredded carrots, jalapenos, and cilantro. I could always use more but this veggie showing was more impressive than most other purveyors. I would have added some shredded lettuce or even jicama to add just a little freshness (all the vegetables were warm from the grilling). The bread was a little too chewy but the fillings made up for it.
Our first stop was 13 Bar, in the Marigny, which is the neighborhood just northeast of the French Quarter. This low-key joint would be one of my favorite local places if it was in Philly or London. It was so casual and had a nice vibe. More importantly, it had several vegan options on the menu, including totchos (tater tot nachos)! I of course ordered the tofu bahn mi because that’s my favorite sandwich in the world. It was so delicious! The tofu was spiced and pressed into perfect little dense squares, and it had a good amount of shredded carrots, jalapenos, and cilantro. I could always use more but this veggie showing was more impressive than most other purveyors. I would have added some shredded lettuce or even jicama to add just a little freshness (all the vegetables were warm from the grilling). The bread was a little too chewy but the fillings made up for it.
We also tried their red beans and rice, a New Orleans staple dish that quickly became one of my favorites and something I can’t wait to recreate. 13’s version was decent, creamy and comforting if a little bland. The service was fast, the bartender was nice, and they had a pretty clean bathroom. Win.
We didn’t get totchos, which in hindsight was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. |
|
COOP’S
We went to Coop’s, a famous old pub-ish place packed with locals, so husband could have their famous jambalaya, and we had our first fried shit of the week, the fried okra. Oh man. Fried okra might be my favorite fried thing ever! I don’t have pictures because Coop’s is dark and the people were kind of glaring at me?
We went to Coop’s, a famous old pub-ish place packed with locals, so husband could have their famous jambalaya, and we had our first fried shit of the week, the fried okra. Oh man. Fried okra might be my favorite fried thing ever! I don’t have pictures because Coop’s is dark and the people were kind of glaring at me?
SUPERFOOD BAR
On our second day, I patiently sat as my husband and his good friend who lives in NOLA ate supposedly the best fried chicken in the world. How good am I? What’s that, I deserve presents? Well I had a more than lovely reward afterwards, when they drove me to get my favorite type of food at Superfood Bar on Magazine Street.
On our second day, I patiently sat as my husband and his good friend who lives in NOLA ate supposedly the best fried chicken in the world. How good am I? What’s that, I deserve presents? Well I had a more than lovely reward afterwards, when they drove me to get my favorite type of food at Superfood Bar on Magazine Street.
This is the best picture I’ve ever taken you’re welcome |
Viet Wrap I had some doubts about a place called Superfood Bar. I love things that profess to be super foods and raw and super healthy and what not, but I always wonder whether such a place would be too raw and too grassy even for me. But for the most part I loved my food!
It was a cute little spot that reminded me of Blossom du Jour in NYC, but with slightly better seating, cheaper prices, and a bathroom, praise the lord. I got a green smoothie of course, because I hadn’t had one for more than 24 hours and I wasn’t sure what would happen to me if I waited any longer. It was a decent smoothie, full of greens, but I asked to add some Grassy Green or some such powder that made it taste primarily of that. Not bad though! |
Kimchi salad
So that was breakfast, and then 6 minutes later I had a wonderful lunch of the Kimchi Salad and the Viet Wrap. The salad was a bit bland, but luckily the wrap came with an extra side of sauce that I shared with it. The wrap though was SO good! It was in a gluten-free brown rice wrap, and as I’ve learned (and learned to love), when you grill a brown rice wrap, they get kind of hard and surprisingly crispy instead of just hot. Well I love it. The wrap comprised a spicy red bean and rice patty, paying homage to the famous dish of NOLA, along with pickled vegetables like carrots, lots of cilantro, not enough greens but I drank those, a sunflower cream and a spicy mango sauce. Oh man I could eat healthy wraps like this every day. Nothing makes super healthy food like putting it in a warm wrap.
RAW REVOLUTION
After I was sufficiently (insanely) fed at my new fave place Superfood Bar, we wandered around the area of Magazine Street, which is a somewhat more upscale and modern shopping area, at least the stretch we wandered. Just a few blocks down from Superfood Bar was Raw Revolution, which was also on my list for lunch. I can never thank the universe enough for making me choose Superfood Bar first, because, in contrast to the few things I could find online, Raw Revolution does not have food. It has a fridge of bottled juices, yes, and some ginger and lemon shots, and some packaged raw date balls (that were actually delicious, but made on Martha’s Vineyard?) and kale chips, but it doesn’t have food. It was mostly pills and products for cleanses (and not the good taco kind) and stuff like that. It was a disappointment. I don’t know how they pay the rent for the large, mostly wasted space, unless people in New Orleans like to spend a lot of money on diet pills and shite like that. (And then I bought a juice for later and it was over $10 and realized oh that’s how they pay the rent, gauging. It was a decent extremely green juice but dayum, this isn’t NYC.)
After I was sufficiently (insanely) fed at my new fave place Superfood Bar, we wandered around the area of Magazine Street, which is a somewhat more upscale and modern shopping area, at least the stretch we wandered. Just a few blocks down from Superfood Bar was Raw Revolution, which was also on my list for lunch. I can never thank the universe enough for making me choose Superfood Bar first, because, in contrast to the few things I could find online, Raw Revolution does not have food. It has a fridge of bottled juices, yes, and some ginger and lemon shots, and some packaged raw date balls (that were actually delicious, but made on Martha’s Vineyard?) and kale chips, but it doesn’t have food. It was mostly pills and products for cleanses (and not the good taco kind) and stuff like that. It was a disappointment. I don’t know how they pay the rent for the large, mostly wasted space, unless people in New Orleans like to spend a lot of money on diet pills and shite like that. (And then I bought a juice for later and it was over $10 and realized oh that’s how they pay the rent, gauging. It was a decent extremely green juice but dayum, this isn’t NYC.)
Our favorite thing to do is walk around new cities, so we walked maybe 45 minutes and were rewarded by the universe with this Mecca:
Damn right we’re taking a detour |
I want a dispenser of various bulk liquids at my Whole Foods! |
A GIANT WHOLE FOODS! Oh man, I love seeing what Whole Foodses in other cities have for sale. This one had so many more flavors of Justin’s Nut Butter than I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t had the vanilla almond butter, I suggest you find it immediately. Amazing! We also picked up a slice of vegan carrot cake that promptly melted (still good) .
HANSEN’S SNO-BLIZ
Then, because this trip was mostly about being gluttonous, we walked to the very famous and very old school Hansen’s Sno-Bliz, the greatest snow-cone-type concoction in the world. Listen, I’m from Philly, the land of waterice. I love all the old school waterice places all over the Philly area, but this place is different and ridiculously good. They pour their fancy syrups over the shaved ice, like snow cones, but then they put it in a machine that like poufs and fluffs the ice and then drops clouds of snowier ice on top. And the flavors are so much more subtle and elevated and fancy than traditional waterice.
Then, because this trip was mostly about being gluttonous, we walked to the very famous and very old school Hansen’s Sno-Bliz, the greatest snow-cone-type concoction in the world. Listen, I’m from Philly, the land of waterice. I love all the old school waterice places all over the Philly area, but this place is different and ridiculously good. They pour their fancy syrups over the shaved ice, like snow cones, but then they put it in a machine that like poufs and fluffs the ice and then drops clouds of snowier ice on top. And the flavors are so much more subtle and elevated and fancy than traditional waterice.
|
Look how it got fluffed! 
The majestic, mysterious cucumber. |
That first day I had half cucumber and half ginger. Yes, that’s right, CUCUMBER. And it was the best water ice-y thing I have ever, ever had. It was perfect, light and refreshing and a tiny bit sweet and it was somehow exactly like cucumber. Later, I tried cardamom which was spectacular, chocolate which was wonderful but comparable to Rita’s, and spearmint, which was somehow not mouthwashy. They also do cream flavors that my husband reported being amazing (especially the cream of root beer and cream of almond together) and that I will create later this week! I really want to try recreating the cucumber but my efforts would be disgusting I imagine.
MEALS FROM THE HEART CAFE
In the heart of the French Market, which is full of various vendors’ stalls of mostly food, stands the vegan-friendly Meals from the Heart café. I only got to try the vegan shake, which was very good despite not having any vegetables!
They also have Portobello sandwiches and other various vegan-friendly foods that I would love to try when I return. The extremely friendly manager/owner gave us fresh orange slices while we waited, and he talked about how his family started eating more vegan foods and solved tons of their health problems that they picked up from traditional New Orleans cuisine. Yay for people eating more vegan food, even if it’s for health reasons!
They also have Portobello sandwiches and other various vegan-friendly foods that I would love to try when I return. The extremely friendly manager/owner gave us fresh orange slices while we waited, and he talked about how his family started eating more vegan foods and solved tons of their health problems that they picked up from traditional New Orleans cuisine. Yay for people eating more vegan food, even if it’s for health reasons!
DREAMY WEENIES
Oh man, one of our absolute favorites was Dreamy Weenies – or, as we refer to it because it’s better this way, Weiner Dreams. So, this popular hot dog place has 5 vegan dog options!! I wanted to try the falafel dog, but I always have falafel, so I got the vegan andouille. So crazy meat-like ahh! I got it ‘Genchili’ style, which is topped with house-made vegan chili and Creole mix (celery, onion, peppers). With ketchup and mustard on top it was very tasty. It was seriously outmatched, however, by the red beans & rice, which we got as a side. Oh my goodness, these were the best red beans & rice either of us had in New Orleans! So crazy! The person who took our order also said that all of the sides are vegan. Amazing! So, you definitely have to go here and get a fun dog but BE SURE to get the red beans & rice all the time. I wish I knew how good they were earlier in the week; Weiner Dreams was so close to the hotel, we could have had them for breakfast every day. They also had a navy bean pie on display that husband said was really good, so I will be making that soon.
Oh man, one of our absolute favorites was Dreamy Weenies – or, as we refer to it because it’s better this way, Weiner Dreams. So, this popular hot dog place has 5 vegan dog options!! I wanted to try the falafel dog, but I always have falafel, so I got the vegan andouille. So crazy meat-like ahh! I got it ‘Genchili’ style, which is topped with house-made vegan chili and Creole mix (celery, onion, peppers). With ketchup and mustard on top it was very tasty. It was seriously outmatched, however, by the red beans & rice, which we got as a side. Oh my goodness, these were the best red beans & rice either of us had in New Orleans! So crazy! The person who took our order also said that all of the sides are vegan. Amazing! So, you definitely have to go here and get a fun dog but BE SURE to get the red beans & rice all the time. I wish I knew how good they were earlier in the week; Weiner Dreams was so close to the hotel, we could have had them for breakfast every day. They also had a navy bean pie on display that husband said was really good, so I will be making that soon.
Good job weenies! 
I ate all the topping first :/ 
Fun chalkboards are always fun and chalkboardy |
The best red beans & rice 
I WILL HAUNT YOUR WEINER DREAMS |
My sausage plus waffle fries!
KILLER PO’ BOYS
One of the most fun food-related things in NOLA is the existence of Killer Po’ Boys. This centrally located Irish pub called Erin Rose has a little back room where a separate operation makes and sells fantastic po’ boys, the most famous food out of NOLA. I have tried to find out what makes a sandwich a po’ boy, and the only consensus is just the French bread, which seems super wrong.
One of the most fun food-related things in NOLA is the existence of Killer Po’ Boys. This centrally located Irish pub called Erin Rose has a little back room where a separate operation makes and sells fantastic po’ boys, the most famous food out of NOLA. I have tried to find out what makes a sandwich a po’ boy, and the only consensus is just the French bread, which seems super wrong.
Anyway, the best part? KPB always has a vegan option! I got a sweet potato & greens po’ boy, hot and melty from the grill and coated with a pecan spread. Holy crap this was so good! It was nearly falling apart, in the best way. Greasy from the grill and hot and perfect. I could have had two…maybe. It’s such a charming operation, just hashing out hot po’ boys!
I think of Joey from “Friends” as the voice of wisdom so sandwiches are the best food, and po’ boys are the most fun (besides bahn mi!). HOWEVER, on one menu at a different place we found this winner of a po’ boy listed:
|
|
This is an actual food item that people apparently order and then eat. You know who these people are? US! I’m going to make this later this week! So tune back in for this craziness!
BREADS ON OAK
Thank you LazySmurf for telling me that Breads on Oak was a must. It’s kind of out of the way, over where d.b.a. is, but oh my god, everything I had (and I had a lottttttt) was amazing. We stopped here on our way out of the city for the day (for plantation and bayou tours) so I stocked up, getting an entire day’s worth of food (wasn’t necessary but you never know?).
Thank you LazySmurf for telling me that Breads on Oak was a must. It’s kind of out of the way, over where d.b.a. is, but oh my god, everything I had (and I had a lottttttt) was amazing. We stopped here on our way out of the city for the day (for plantation and bayou tours) so I stocked up, getting an entire day’s worth of food (wasn’t necessary but you never know?).
|
I had the Buckwheat Breakfast Sandwich first – it was gluten-free and tasted like it (very earthy because of the buckwheat) but I love that taste. The tofu filling was mild and stuffed with sprouts, the perfect breakfast item.
For lunch a few hours/minutes later, I had the Live Food Sandwich, which featured the most incredible, chewy sandwich bread stuffed with carrots, cucumber, avocado, and some kind of spread. Ugh it was so good! My favorite kind of food, fresh vegetables and good bread. |
Floating breakfast sandwich of dreams 
Sooo good! And I think that’s the pie to the left |
The besssst
THE GUMBO SHOP
Right in the heart of the French Quarter is a heavily trafficked, adorable little restaurant called The Gumbo Shop. Because of its prime location, you’d probably assume it doesn’t have anything for vegans, but you’d be wrong. Not only is Gumbo Z’Herbes – a traditional vegetarian gumbo often filled with cabbage, collards, beans, and fresh herbs – always on the menu, but they also always have a vegetarian special entrée! Note, the Gumbo Z’Herbes is on the menu as an appetizer (a cup of it), but I wanted it as my meal so I just asked for a bowl of it and it was no problem. It was absolutely delicious!
* * *
Here’s a picture of my favorite tree
I hope this will help you if/when you go to New Orleans! Don’t worry, we aren’t finished! The next two days will feature reviews of two fancier restaurants (Seed and Feelings) we went to that merit fuller coverage. Both were really good, and one was my favorite place of the whole trip!
After that, we will create dishes inspired by several items you see above — including that absolutely revolting but amazing sounding po’ boy!
Related Posts
The Yucatan Adventure Continues: Vegan Food, Hotels, Beaches, & More Merida
Last week, we were finishing up some wonderful sightseeing in Merida, seeing Uxmal, the Choco-Story chocolate museum, the Museo del Mundo Maya, and of course our favorite thing: cenotes. You may have noticed/I told you we were saving the most important aspects of that part of our adventure – vegan food, hotel, pools, beaches, you know, the fun parts – for today. We went to Mexico almost entirely for the food (I’d say 70% food, 60% sights, 40% non-food cultural experiences, 50% cenotes…math checks out) and our culinary adventures through Merida and the Yucatan post-Valladolid supported our decisions.
Catch up on the Yucatan adventure!
Part 1:
Part 2:
A long, hot drive to Merida led us to our hotel for three nights (absurdly long for us) called Casa Lucia, a lovely little boutique hotel with a giant, clean bed, a good shower, and most importantly, a lovely pool area. When in Mexico in the summer, you need to find lodging that has a pool, that’s just the rule and we don’t support rule-breakers here.
Although the poolside bar service didn’t really work (where did that phone actually call??), the pool area was just what we needed after our long days of tourism. It was empty a few times, but mostly there were just 3-4 other guests using it, the benefit of a rather small hotel. I loved attempting to relax in the hammock even though I never trust them.
The rooms were spread around this courtyard on 2-3 levels, and everything felt really spacious and private. Here’s my standard hotel bed picture!
i love bed
Since we were staying at Casa Lucia 3 nights, and when we travel we normally don’t have that much time at one hotel, I like to make the most of longer stays by unpacking COMPLETELY. Every sock, every extra ziplock bag, everything gets unpacked if I’m in a place longer than 2 nights. It’s honestly one of my top travel tips because it brings me some weird sort of peace, like feeling at home.
For our first night in Merida, we had a decent list of all the vegan-friendly restaurants we wanted to try, but guess what – it was Monday, and like Dave says in the movie “Dave” but the exact opposite, “Everything is closed on Mondays!” Ughhh. Well what would be our favorite restaurant in the Yucatan, Distrito Vegano (infra!) (I’ve never been so excited about an infra before but I am! it’s a good one! (it means below/later in this writing)), was open but it’s outside the city center and we didn’t feel like driving any more. So our only real option was the chain restaurant 100% Natural, which I obviously called Mr. Natural. It has easy-for-tourist menus with pictures, English versions, and vegan options clearly marked, and since we were beat (BEAT!) it was a good simple option. The food was whatever but it was exactly what we were after – quick, easy, no-thinking. I got a bowl of kale soup that was Not Good, but I also got mushroom tacos that were Very Good, so it averaged out to be a fine dinner.
After dinner, we walked through the main square, saw the requisite dancing in the square as one does throughout the Yucatan and as one learned in previous posts, and…went to church. No but our hotel was on the same block as this cute lil church so we took a picture and crossed ourselves? and went on our merry way.
Our merry way included some stops in other cute lil places, namely cute lil shops, including one where I got THE FUNNIEST coin purse I’ve EVER seen and will post in my instagram stories for you to enjoy, and one where I found mamey flavored bolis! Bolis are like bags of flavored water ice – you just bite the corner off the plastic bag and it’s like a big ice…bar…kinda jawn. I’m so glad I got to try something mamey flavored. So good!
lol that hand is twice lifesize on my desktop
The next day, we went to Uxmal and the ChocolateLand (Choco-Story museum), which you already read about. What you didn’t already read about was that, there’s not really any food out there. Luckily, we brought sufficient snacks (bananas, Justin’s peanut butter packs (ALWAYS when traveling!), lime nuts, chips/salty things of all shapes and sizes) to get us through the day, but that’s a big day, and in this heat, oof, we were pretty hungry. Luckily, we had made a reservation for that evening for dinner at Lo Que Hay, the vegan restaurant inside Merida’s Hotel MedioMundo.
The owners of Lo Que Hay were very helpful and friendly (and fluent in English). I believe one is originally from Lebanon, and so the set menu varies between Lebanese and Mexican food. The night we booked was Lebanese night, which is fine, but we really were after Mexican food all day err day. If you’ve been in Mexico for a while and need a break from Mexican food, this would be absolutely perfect because it was delicious, but we were the tiniest bit disappointed to miss an opportunity for MOAR MEXICAN FOOD.
It was good though, and it was outside in a lovely setting. For 200 pesos, or $10, we got a nice spread (though not as much food as we expected/hoped, it was probably a normal amount for normal people).
We started with a mezze plate with hummus, babaghanoush, tabouli made with quinoa, falafel, and pita.
All the components were great! The falafel reminded us more of kibbeh, not that it mattered since it was all good. We just like…wanted more. And we wanted it to be Mexican food. Lol that’s OUR BAD. It was really good though, truly.
Next was mjadara, or lentils with basmati rice, plus a purple cabbage and lemon salad.
The fried onions were amazing with the lentils and rice, and like everything else it was really good. Just unexpectedly not Mexican food. Okay okay you get it!
Dessert was lemon sorbet, which was fine (you know how I feel about sorbet but when it’s a hot destination like this it’s fine, I’m fine) and not pictured because guys it was hot out and it was melting!
I definitely recommend going to Lo Que Hay for a lovely dinner, but make sure you are cool with whatever menu they have going on your night because you might not get the tacos your body desperately needs.
Our third day in Merida was a doozy. We decided to enjoy a beach day at Progreso beach, about a half hour from Merida, after we visited the Mundo Maya museo. Progreso is a very normal-life beach – not really built for tourists (good!) but for locals and people who generally can figure shit out on their own. We can figure shit out on our own and don’t need luxury or anything, but Progreso still wasn’t my favorite because…it was windy. I know you’re like oh boo hoo the beach was windy? the Mexican beach you got to visit? But guys, it was like, RULL windy. Like glasses and beer bottles (not mine) and silverware and menus blowing off the tables of beachside restaurants and cafes windy. Like Arabian nights sandstorm looking jawn windy. And most importantly, like ohh this is how people get swept out to sea in harsh rip currents windy. We went in the ocean but it was rough, and it was kinda scary. Yeah there are lifeguards but they’re not like, life guarantors. And it was kind of too windy to enjoy ourselves. We tried to swim, we tried to sit at a little cafe table and enjoy horchata, we tried to really do anything but all we could do was fight the wind (with eyes closed). It was too windy to take our phones out and take pictures! This is literally the only photo we took the entire time!
So, our day at Progreso was a bust. It might have just been an off day, but I figure if you are going to Mexico for the beaches, you got off the bus long before you reached this point in the Yucatan, so stay in Tulum or whatever, or commit to having a non-beachy holiday.
The saddest part was that we went out here in large part to eat at vegan-friendly restaurant Milk Bar, which has amazing reviews. SO EXCITED! SO WORTH THE WIND! We did not expect that Milk Bar’s closed day of choice would be Wednesdays. Yup you guessed it, this was a Wednesday. Dammit! We had a heck of a time walking around the little streets trying to find a restaurant with vegan food. We finally find one called La Antigua and the entire staff was so nice in trying to feed us enough, and they definitely did. I don’t even know if they ever had to deal with a vegan before but they really tried to make me happy and succeeded, which given the rest of the experience in Progreso was a g-d miracle.
Of course, we got guacamole, which was great. They also made this gigantic pear and pecan salad (it seemed like a salad-trustworthy place, and I did not get sick), grilled mushrooms, and black bean dip.
So it worked out well, food wise. It seemed like they felt bad about not having vegan stuff on the menu so they made and brought out everything they could think of! It was so much, and all really good. I just wish the beachy part of the day had worked out as well!
Luckily, that night, our final night in Merida, was The Time.
The Time for Distrito Vegano, the best restaurant in Merida. AND IT’S ALL VEGAN! I’m so excited just remembering how great this place was.
WE GOT SO MUCH FOOD. OK not really we got a normal amount of food but I have a lot of pictures. The special El Xolo hot dog, made with lentils and seitan, was great. The tacos, of any variety, were great. But the torta, MY GOD THE TORTA. It might be because it was my first torta (ever!) (baby’s first torta!) but it was AMAZING. Everything honestly was amazing. I wish I could go to DV every single week. The place was cute, the service was great, and the food was sensational. I LOVED it. I may have just been overexcited at the idea of the first all-vegan Mexican restaurant of our trip (not the last!!) but man alive this was all epic.
Distrito Vegano is a bit annoying to drive to – it’s outside the city and you have to drive on the highway to find it, and it’s like in a random spot, but it’s SO worth it. We finished dinner with peanut ice cream that was just as impressive as the rest. I really want a torta now!
Back in the main/old part of town, we strolled along the enormous fancy boulevard Paseo de Montejo, home to palace museums, rich people, and a well known cafe with a Chevy Impala just like perched on top.
This boulevard at night is also PRIMO DOGGO SPOTTINGO land. We met an older lady leaving her super-gated compound with THREE count em THREE good boys and we chatted and got to meet them. But then we like kept running into her on our walk and I think she thought we were following her and got scared and I SWEAR I wasn’t following I just get like magnetized towards dogs, I think? We mean no harm.
Anyway, we had such a great time in Merida and the Yucatan, and that brings this particular adventure to an end. The next morning, we would fly to Mexico City for even more amazing sights, vegan food, and good dog sightings (in increasing order of importance).
Eating Vegan in Moscow: Highs, Lows, and Our New Second Home
My eating in Moscow started off dire but ended up in strong contention for my favorite food of the trip, thanks (and no thanks) to a wildly uneven list. Due to some HappyCow reviewers whom I no longer trust, I decided my first stop would be at Prime Cafe because they had juices, salads, and wraps. Sure they did, but it ended up being 100% a copy of Pret a Manger. And the old-style Pret, not the newfangled wave of super vegan-friendliness that Pret’s doing in London now. First of all, it was so hard to find because it wasn’t actually called Prime Cafe on HappyCow; it was just listed as its address, which Google maps didn’t want to find. When we finally found the address and saw it was a Prime Cafe, we realized we had seen this chain all over the city and for no good reason had been heading to this not-super-close location. We learned that night that there was one 10 yards from our hostel.
I ordered a vegetable juice right off the drinks board but for some reason the staff laughed at me. Maybe no one orders it. Maybe I just said the words slightly off because I’ve never met people so obsessed with precisely how things are pronounced like Russians are. I think they are just messing with us. Like in English if someone came up to you and said maybe “tree teeckets plees” you’d know they were saying three tickets please. Yet in Russian we’ll say things pretty accurately but because it’s not in a perfect accent people are like what what what??? I don’t understand? And I’m like YOU REALLY DO, YOU’RE JUST BEING A DICK. Anyway, the juice. It was fine but took forever to make and I was just chilling by the counter waiting for it and everyone kept saying things to me that I didn’t understand. I also got the only vegan salad and the only vegan wrap I could find in the fridge case. So, just like Pret but with fewer options. Whoever gave this place great reviews for vegans needs their membership reexplored.
The salad was mostly corn and red pepper, but it did have some kidney beans and maybe pinto beans in there, and it’ll probably be the only beans I find this whole summer so that was great. I mean it didn’t taste particularly great, it was fine, but it was great to have beans. I love beans. The wrap I got was sub-Pret, with one half inedible because it had gotten that gross wrap-sliminess that happens within five minutes of making a wrap and refrigerating it. Grilled wraps 4eva. So even though these Russian Prets were literally on every block (as with regular Pret), I didn’t go back there.
Perfect salad at Fresh
Luckily, Husband’s former London colleague who now lives in Moscow introduced us to my new favorite restaurant called Fresh. It is sooo awesomeeeee. The food is so good and the menu so damn perfect that I forgive them for their tagline being “Healthy is the new Sexy”. Barffff. But yummy food! They had my dream food – big salads full of greens and veggies and chickpeas and grilled tofu and then fun things like tempura-ed oyster mushrooms and grilled sweet potatoes and just ugh I love salads like that! Dream! They also had really good burgers and an extensive smoothie and juice menu, like more than I could hope for even in NYC or London. It was perfect!
yummy magic mushroom salad at Fresh
Over the course of several lunches (okay I admit just two but we ordered enough food for like 4), we tried a lot of dishes. My favorite was my first salad (first pictured above), called the All Stars Salad, with lots of raw spinach and sunflower sprouts with grilled sweet potatoes, slabs of grilled tofu, avocado, a quinoa and adzuki tabouleh, and a yummy sauce. I later got the Magic Mushroom salad (second salad above) which was also really good and had the aforementioned crispy oyster mushrooms mixed it. I wish there were a few more of those. It also had caramelized apple slices, more sunflower sprouts, and pecans. Really, that mushroom salad would have been the winner if it had a better dressing. As it was, it only came with vegan sour cream, which is gross to me but Russians live on their sour cream so I guess it’s popular like that. I just poured in salsa and sauces from our other plates that day and it was great. Both salads came doused in a goji berry & mixed superfood seed mix, which was an awesome addition. I hope those salads provide continued nutrients for me weeks afterwards like when I had cookies and bread for dinner on the train.
Yay chocolate and kale! |
Yay green smoothies! |
The real winners at Fresh were its amazing smoothies. Over our visits, we tried three smoothies. First, the Green Goddess, with broccoli, spinach, pineapple, mango, banana, orange, and green superfood mix. Then I tried the fun Super Kale, with pear, ginger, cucumber (coo coom ba), kale, mint, cilantro, pineapple, and ‘cannabis seeds’ as was written in the menu. And lastly a chocolate peanut butter banana cup of deliciousness. My fave was the Green Goddess but I was most intrigued by the Super Kale one and those cannabis seeds, which sounds crazy but I imagine that just means hempseeds, which is totally normal. The choco pb one was as expected delicious, but not too sweet which was nice…but veered on being not sweet enough.
Ordering falafel: good. Ordering vegan onion rings: GOOOOOOD
Is it just a dilla?
We also tried the quesadillas without cheese, which brings up a hilarious Facebook ‘fight’ my Husband has watched unfold on his wall for like years now. Some rando friend has a running joke/argument with someone about how a quesadilla without cheese just can’t exist. So that’s funny. Our nonexistent dilla was really good, chock full of black beans and corn and vegetables and served with avocado cream and salsa. Hard to eat but yummy and yay I got beans again! We also had the falafel plate as an appetizer once; wasn’t our idea (we were a table of 4) because falafel isn’t exactly hard to come by like other things on the menu but hey I’ll never turn down falafel. And as you might have seen in the falafel plate picture above, we also got VEGAN ONION RINGS! They were so good ahhhh!!!
Husband got the BBQ burger one time, which I was incredibly jealous of. It was really good even though I don’t like barbecue sauce. It had onion rings on it! And hot banana chilies. They know how to make burgers. Another time he got the Mexican taco special which I also really enjoyed. I think it was full of TVP, or maybe ground seitan, and lots of lettuce and it was yum.
Of course I also got their vegan cookies to go once or twice. They were very reminiscent of the banana-filled oatmeal I make sometimes – just oats and bananas. I think that’s literally all there was in these cookies. But hey I love oats and bananas so we’re good.
I wish I could go back but I don’t know if I want to go back to Moscow for a trip. I’d be so pumped if they opened a Fresh in London. Oh we do have half a day in Moscow later in our adventure and I’m definitely going there again. Yummm.
|
|
Another very nice vegetarian place we tried was Avocado Cafe, which was similar to Fresh but not quite as good. Maybe it’s because they didn’t bring my soup until everyone else had long finished all their food, which is just terrible service. Luckily that soup was good. It was a chickpea (CHICKPEAS HELLO!) tomato soup with a few various veggies and it was perfect comfort food. I also had a basic but decent green salad with avocado (of course, it’s called that after all) and we all shared fried tofu sticks which were random but damn good.
green salad woohoo 
vegan pelmeni! I hope I find you again! oh woohoo 
another soup veg? lentil? hooray for soup woohoo |
fried tofu woohoo 
delicious but 40 minute late soup woohoo 
first and only vegan ice cream of the trip was full of freezer burn. but the cheesecake was so good |
Husband had the pelmeni, which I was super jealous of because pelmeni is usually made with egg and filled with meat, but these were vegan! I had one but I’m still jealous of them. I want to find vegan pelmeni again! And I was jealous again of Cousin’s dessert. I got ice cream – first and only vegan ice cream we’ve found so far! – and he got blueberry cheesecake but from the raw section, so I was like eww raw cheesecake is always the worst, just thick slabs of pureed cashews so nauseating. But this was actually the best raw cheesecake I’ve ever had. And my precious beloved ice cream had been apparently in the back of their freezer since the end of the Soviet Union because it was a slightly melting but mostly hard as a rock piece of freezer burn. DISAPPOINT.
Luckily, nothing can keep us down long when we are in the presence of our new favorite place, our second home as it became when in St. Petersburg – Teremok! The McDonald’s of fast Russian food but soooo good! In crazy events, the Moscow Teremoks had even bigger lenten/vegan menus!! Hooray the day!
This time, I had the roasted potatoes and pickles and fried onions, plus another vinagret (diced veggie salad in a light vinaigrette). Both were so good but what else would you expect from our beloved Teremok! There’s one in NYC now, guys! Go!!
Near our hostel, there was a pretty fancy grocery store that we went to for emergency water, and lucky that we did because in their fridge section were a few ready-made meals marked as vegan! Such a shock! The one I grabbed was an unfortunate mix of hummus and seaweed in a wrap, so ack, but still, it was vegan!
it says vegansky product!
And I would be remiss if I didn’t share status updates on the constant search for my new favorite bars (although I found a potential new favorite in Yekaterinburg, but we will get there!). The “Take A Bite” bar was pretty easy to find in Moscow – especially at this random grocery near Avocado Cafe:
THEY HAD EVERY FLAVOR GUYS!!!
So, overall Moscow is very vegan-friendly, with a few standout all-veg restaurants that I would happily go back to next time I’m there (in 3 months lol!). Ordering at the regular traditional restaurants requires a little bit of knowledge about Russian food, but still you’re in a city where most people understand a little English and most restaurants have an English menu, so it’s easy. And I know it won’t be this easy again, not until we circle back through Moscow!
