Boston, MA

Thanks to the beauty of Priceline "Name Your Own Price" and Megabus, we were able to take a reasonably cheap weekend trip to Boston. Neither of us had been to the city as adults, let alone vegans, but we excited at the prospect for yummy food and new grounds to explore.

After a six hour bus trip, we checked into our nearby hotel and headed out to Veggie Planet in Cambridge.



We ordered up a large Vegan Oddlot and a large Blonde on Blonde. Sturdy crust with a "white" pizza base of garlic and olive oil, and because they had run out of Teese, both were made vegan with a tofu-spinach mash. The only differences between the two were the addition of salty kalmata olives on the Oddlot, and a light coating of marina atop the Blonde on Blonde.

Nate has never been one to complain about pizza, but Amy was a bit overwhelmed by the greasiness level. If you're a health-nut, avoid this place. Nate finished up Amy's last slice of the pie in our hotel late that night, and it stunk up our entire hotel room, but of course, it was yummy.

We topped our meal off with two delicious "to-go" walnut brownies, not pictured. Naturally, we ate them within a block of leaving and explored the Harvard Square and Cambridge areas of Boston to work off our meal.

Our second day, unfortunately left a sour taste in our mouths. We were eager to try some of "Best of Boston" vegan breakfast at Allston Cafe, previously called Herrells. A great vibe of tattooed-peers greeted us, and took our order counter service style — two large iced coffees, a banana nut muffin and fruit cup for Amy, and French toast for Nate.

Here's where things get tricky. We awkwardly waited for a table for two, for about ten minutes, worried we'd not be seated by the time our food came. Eventually we grabbed a table and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.... 37 minutes later, Amy peaked up and saw her muffin and fruit cup waiting patiently for it's companion French toast. A few more minutes went by, and Nate asked the guy who we had paid how much longer — just a few minutes. Finally, after over 60 minutes had passed from the time we placed our order, Nate's three slices of French toast with a massive glob of Earth Balance, and Amy's muffin we ready to be eaten.





Normally, we're not pushy, but we live in NYC, where the lines at some of our favorite counter service veg-friendly places is far longer, and the wait is far shorter. Being so annoyed that we only had the day to spend in Boston, and we'd just wasted over an hour in this cafe, it was no surprise that the muffin and French toast were nothing to write home about, and certainly not worth the wait. But for the record, Amy found her muffin near tasteless, but the coffee was perfect.

We scurried out of Allston Cafe, and spent most of our day being urban explorers. Consignment shops, Johnny Cupcakes and Newbury street were our major points of interest. After a few hours of shopping and walking, Amy worked up a grumbling tummy, and decided she needed a snack. We made the decision to cut through Boston Common, and back to our hotel to drop off some purchases, and find a place for a late afternoon lunch/early dinner.

As Amy had read on The PPK, Wheeler's hours are a little wishy-washy, so her intent to visit there was crushed. Her second suggestion was to Fiore's Italian Bakery, located in Jamaica Plain, featuring a handful of vegan sandwiches and baked goods.





We ordered two vegan sandwiches, and shared half with each other — both were absolutely delicious. The vegan version of The Nona, a breaded eggplant sandwich on grilled foccacia, topped with fresh basil, tomatoes and cashew-based cheese and The Pirate, with thinly sliced peppered seitan, olive tapenade, garlic, spinach and roasted red peppers on a toasted ciabatta roll. Each sandwich came with a side of potato chips and a free drink!

Unfortunately, they were out of vegan sweets, save for a couple of sad looking cupcakes, so we decided we'd fill our need for sugar elsewhere.

Amy had found Amsterdam Cafe on yelp, featuring a soft-serve machine serving frozen tofu — similar to Atlas Cafe in NYC's Lower East Side. It was located in one of the neighborhoods we had wanted to venture in to, so we stopped in for a delicious (and cheap!) ice cream with raspberry and coconut blendins.



Although it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it was delicious and cold and refreshing!

We headed back to our hotel completed exhausted with snacks from Whole Foods in tow, after eleven hours of walking around various parts of Boston. Our morning bus was scheduled to leave for NYC at 1130am, so w were excited to make it to one of the few breakfast joints open early enough with a vegan option, 303 Cafe!



Amy says this was her favorite meal of the entire trip, a savory curried tofu with chewy mushrooms and chickpeas was served along side crispy homefries and a toasted whole wheat roll. Nate ordered his up with the offered side of veggie bacon, and Amy ordered up an overpriced, but refreshing little bowl of cut up fruit. Soy milk was also an option for our coffee — served out of random kitschy mugs. It was a fantastic meal that left our bellies satisfied until we arrived back in NYC at dinner time.

All in all, it was a nice little mid-summer get away. Until next time!

Rhode Island

We decided to take a weekend trip to Rhode Island when Nate's aunt left us her car while she took a trip to Italy. We had planned on coming in on a Friday night and going right to Nice Slice, but the traffic getting out of New York was insane — so we were hungry way before we made it through Connecticut. As luck would have it, we just happened* to be driving by the Shoreline Diner and Vegetarian Enclave in Guilford, CT.

*for anyone who loves to travel and has an iPhone, Amy strongly recommends the VegOut application; it finds you veg (and veg friendly) restaurants within up to a 20 mile radius. Without this sucker, we would have been starving for the rest of our drive!



Here we see Nate scarfing down barbecue tofu, chili-lime corn on the cob, and vegan cole slaw. Not pictured: vegetable soup.



Amy went with a tempeh reuben and chili. The reuben had mustard instead of Russian dressing, and also had a wild-rice type patty nestled beneath the tempeh that Amy found to add a really great texture to the sandwich.

For dessert, we had a vegan Napoleon and a slice of "chocolate drift" cake. Forgot to take pictures though!

The next day, we got a Whole Foods lunch and went to the beach. After returning to our hotel and changing, we checked out the Garden Grille Café. This place was a really great surprise, being from Brooklyn we're lucky enough to experience all the great vegan fare our area has to offer, but there was something really unique about this place. It had a hippy-vibe with gourmet, flavorful dishes.



Amy's black bean cakes with a side of sweet potatoes were the highlight of the evening. The slightly spicy flavor of the cakes was balanced by a cilantro remoulade. A crispy cornmeal shell held it all together, and the side of sweet potatoes added another flavor dimension. The plate of cakes were also adorned with grilled lime oyster mushrooms that were slighty crisp and incredibly flavorful. Amy is a lover of presentation, and the way they plated this dish made her almost think it was too good to eat. Almost.





Nate went a little more for comfort food with a TLT and side of mac and cheeze. A chipotle sauce on the sandwich went well with the sourdough bread and avocado, while the mac and cheeze was realistic without being overly salty. For a healthy kick, Garden Grille adds some broccoli into the mix, which Amy really appreciated when she stole a few bites.





Dessert consisted of this apple pie á la mode and carrot cake with fragrant dates and walnuts. We're both lovers of carrot cake, but Amy found it a little dense for her liking, but of course we both ate it anyway. Overall, a delightful ending to a solid and satisfying meal and experience.

The next morning, we got brunch at Julian's.



Nate has now had vegan Benedict more than he ever had regular eggs. Greasy as this offering appears, it was not overbearing, nor was the portion too heavy on the fried tofu "egg" that it left him feeling ill. Sopping up the garlic "Hollandaise" with the Italian toast was a treat. Hash browns were good as well. Amy however, was horrified at the sight of this place and tried only a bite before deciding she wasn't interested. Julians also offers a homemade ketchup, that was sweet and maple-y, and went really well with the slightly spiced hash.



Amy opted for cinnamon-orange French toast. The name (and the smell) of this beauty were unfortunately more impressive than the taste, the outside of the french toast had a nice crisp to it, but Amy was dissapointed to find that it was mostly uncooked plain bread in the middle. Perhaps using texas toast style slices has it's downside when it comes to French toast. No complaints on the giant stein of coffee, however.

Unfortunately, we never made it to Nice Slice. Maybe next time.