Taste of Orlando

As a last hurrah before heading back to work, I packed up the family last week and headed to Orlando. Here is a snippet of what we were eating (and drinking) during our three day visit.

Ethos Vegan Kitchen |  601-B South New York Avenue, Winter Park

Nothing combats the lingering effects of a late night arrival better than an all vegan brunch. Because of their relatively early opening, the family and I drove to Ethos Vegan Kitchen in Winter Park to fulfill our vegan brunch needs. For whatever reason, I had avoided this place every time I previously visited Orlando. As soon as I walked through the doors, I wondered what I had been thinking. This place was love at first sight. Big windows, interesting artwork, a high brow bar and low brow seating all flowed together to create an aesthetically pleasing restaurant. All that would be for naught if the food wasn't good. No need to worry, this place was absolutely toothsome.

Ethos' brunch menu is less extensive than their typical daily one. Still, despite its scaled down appearance, I still did quite a bit of waffling. Decisions, decisions. In the end the breakfast burrito called my name. The burrito is stuffed with tofu scramble, home fries and vegan sausage and smothered in vegan sausage gravy. I loved the combination of tofu, sausage and home fries and the sausage gravy was some of the best I've had. Anywhere. Ever. The completely smothered burrito just sort of melted right into my mouth. The only downfall of it was you couldn't eat it with your hands. A small price to pay for such a delicious dish. J-Fur ordered a cinnamon bun and Ethos' newest brunch offering, the breakfast skillet. The cinnamon bun was perfect. Soft and full of flavorful cinnamon. This is how all vegan cinnamon buns should roll. The skillet seemed like it would be right up our alley considering it included tofu scramble, lots of sauteed veggies (like onions, green peppers, red peppers and broccoli) breakfast sausage, home fries and cheddar cheese. Unfortunately the skillet was a bit too oily (yes even for me). Two perfect items, one good one. I'll take that every day of the week.

Erin McKenna's Bakery NYC | 1642 East Buena Vista, Orlando

We visited Erin McKenna's Bakery a few years ago after a Walk the Moon concert at House of Blues. The show ended pretty late and we high-tailed it over to the bakery, getting in the door right before closing. We ordered a cupcake and, well, I wasn't super impressed. This is what they eat in New York? No thank you. After two visits to Brooklyn last summer, I felt that I could definitely say New Yorkers know how to eat. So Erin McKenna's Bakery got one more shot.

I'm glad it did. We ordered two cupcakes (for J-Fur), a pineapple upside down cake (for me) and a shot of frosting (for Z-Bot). The two cupcakes were both moist and delicious. Neither was saturated with sweetness. I was surprised, being a total fruit dessert fan, that I actually liked the chocolate cupcake (not pictured above because it was already eaten) slightly better than the berry one. The berry one had a lingering aftertaste of something that neither of us could place. The chocolate was wham, bam, thank you maim with nothing hanging around after. Neither cupcake could hold a candle (is that a thing people say?) to the pineapple upside down cake. Again, perfectly moist, sticky, with big pineapple rings. This cake is what all fruit desserts should strive to be. I tried to eat only a little and save the rest for later but that didn't happen. I scarfed the entire thing right then and there. #NoRegrets. I didn't eat any of the frosting shot because Z-Bot was too busy wearing it on her face like a dessert badge of honor. She loved it.

The most amazing part of Erin McKenna's bakery? Everything is not only vegan, but gluten free. Normally I can tell when things are gluten free. Erin McKenna's did a great job masking it. I look forward to my next visit to Disney Springs just so I can eat these desserts again.

Lemon Shark Poke |  7600 Dr Phillips Blvd Suite 102, Orlando 

Lemon Shark Poke wasn't on the list of places I bookmarked before going to Orlando. It was more of a whim...sical move (clang!). We wound up here because after walking Disney Springs, J-Fur said she was hungry for sushi. I Yelped sushi and Lemon Shark Poke came up with a hot and new designation and a lot of really good reviews. It wasn't too terribly far away so we headed in that direction

Lemon Poke Shark can best be described as what happens when a sushi joint copulates with a choose-your-own-food-adventure restaurant like Chipotle. You start by picking a style. You can get a bowl, sort of like deconstructed sushi, or you can get a sushirito (sushi that is as big as a burrito). Next, you select a base. This can be won ton strips, white rice, brown rice, black rice, salad or a combination of any two. J-Fur combined brown rice and the won ton strips in her bowl. After that, you pick from various proteins. The only vegetarian friendly one offered is tofu. Finally, you fill the rest of the bowl with various pickled and fresh vegetables, sauces, seasonings and seeds. J-Fur's bowl was awesome. It was full of vegetables that tasted fresh, not like they had been sitting around a while and tasty tofu. The crunch of the won ton chips and the soft, chewiness of the rice offered a pleasing food dichotomy. She ate her bowl quickly and was very satisfied. If they story ended there, we would've left and thought man, Lemon Poke Shark was a fine place to eat. But it didn't end because J-Fur was so satisfied with her meal that she decided to take a sushirito to go. She wasn't quite as pleased with it because she didn't put any won ton strips in so they sushirito lacked the crunch that she so thoroughly enjoyed from the bowl. I thought the sushirito was really good. So good that I started researching Tampa sushirito places before I pulled out of the parking lot.

Z-Bot also ate at Lemon Poke Shark and this is my only complaint about the place. She is very picky and only wanted some rice, carrots and corn. The employees kept asking are we sure she doesn't want some type of protein. We said no because she doesn't eat meat and she isn't really a tofu fan. Unfortunately that left her bowl rather small and yet she was charged full price. I know the employees felt bad, that's why they kept asking if she wanted more. Maybe a way to do some rice and veggies a la carte for the picky eaters might be something to consider.

The District at Mills 50 | 1221 N Mills Ave, Orlando

After spending some time at My Little Town, an indoor play area that Z-Bot absolutely adored, J-Fur and I wanted to track down some kombucha on tap. We could've gone to Market on South, but I was still full from breakfast and I couldn't bear going there without eating. Most of the other places I bookmarked that had kombucha were already closed. That meant a visit to The District at Mills 50.

I bookmarked this place because it was a store that was full of various vegan items. When we arrived I was quite pleased to find they had a lot more vegan food items than I thought they would. I perused the coolers, checking out the various nutmylks, pizzas and drinks that they had for sale. I approached the bar and asked the barista about the tapped kombucha. He said it was a watermelon mint one. Unlike Market on South, which taps Humble Bumble kombucha, the District serves the Orlando City Kombucha brand. This was our first experience with Orlando City Kombucha. Both J-Fur and I were pleased that the watermelon mint was light and refreshing and not overburdened with mint (in fact, I wasn't even sure the mint was in there). Definitely a pleasing kombucha.

I didn't plan on eating anything but the giant peanut butter brownies on the bar looked fabulous so, I ate dessert. Again. After ordering the brownie, the extremely friendly barista asked if I wanted ice cream on it. Sure, it's vegan, why not? He then asked if I wanted homemade caramel on it. And that, my friends, is how my simple brownie became an elaborate dessert. But boy was I glad I did it. All three of those food components played off each other nicely. The ice cream, which has a coconut base, didn't even taste like coconut. The chocolate and peanut butter of the brownie were, well, a match made in vegan heaven. The caramel sauce was a great finishing touch.

Lazy Moon Pizza | 11551 University Blvd, Orlando 

Lazy Moon Pizza came about because Z-Bot said she wanted pizza. This place was extremely close to the District, so we rolled into the parking lot and pulled up the menu. J-Fur asked for the Asian tempeh salad with ginger dressing (pictured above). Z-Bot said she was super hungry so we ordered two slices for her. I almost got myself a slice because Lazy Moon offers vegan cheese but the brownie had down me in.

Boy, two slices was a mistake of gigantic proportions. These slices are not your typical Papa John sized slices. One slice was the size of Z-Bot's torso (I guess that is why their website says you have to eat their pizza slices with two hands). No wonder slices cost four dollars each. Needless to say Z-Bot could only finish one slice so J-Fur ate the other. That meant her salad went untouched. No worries, I ate it the next morning for breakfast.

Drunken Monkey | 444 N Bumby Ave, Orlando
Our final stop on the trip (only because the Humble Bumble taproom we visited afterwards wasn't open despite the sign that said it was open on Sundays) was Drunken Monkey coffee shop. This place offered numerous vegan coffees, pastries and sandwiches. It also has some non vegan and meat items as well. I wanted a flavored latte. I looked at the list of Drunken Monkey flavorings that they had right by the counter. This was quite an extensive list. Flavors like cherry, lavender, chocolate, etc. I would estimate there were about 25 plus different choices. I love that the coffee shop lists right on the flavoring card, which ones are better when paired with chocolate and which ones are vegan. That saved me from asking a ton of questions. I ordered a cherry and dark chocolate iced latte with hemp milk. Yep, you read that right, hemp milk. First coffee shop ever that had hemp milk as a dairy alternative.

Whoa. For those of you that love coffee, this is probably not the place for you. I couldn't even taste coffee beneath the cherry and chocolate flavorings. I do love a good coffee but even more than that, I love a good drink. This latte was a great drink! My only regret was that I had but one latte to give to my body. If I could've handled the caffeine, I would've gone down that latte list trying multiple flavors. I guess I know where I will be getting my coffee fix next time I am in Orlando.

That's it. That's our weekend in a vegan nutmylk shell.

Cook: Barbacoa Cauliflower

Things got a bit cheeky in the world of barbacoa this week. 

Courtney Aguilar was visiting El Rincon, a Mexican restaurant in Pflugerville,Texas, when she decided to get an order of their barbacoa. During her consumption of the barbecued meat that typically comes from the cheek or jaw of a cow she came across what she thought was teeth. She called her waitress over and the waitress, jokingly I hope, suggested that they weren't just any old teeth. What Ms. Aguilar found in her meat was a collection of "baby teeth."

After what I imagine could only have been an absolutely disgusting back and forth between the vendor who delivers El Rincon's barbacoa, the restaurant, and Ms. Aguilar, it was discovered that those weren't teeth that had made their way into the barbacoa but beef lips. Rest assured, everyone, beef lips are a "USDA-inspected product for human consumption.

Um, no thanks. I'll just save myself the hassle of finding baby teeth/beef lips/cow cheeks in my meal by making it all about cauliflower. To make it: baste a head and a half of browned cauliflower in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, cloves, veggie broth, lime juice and chipotles in adobo sauce. Simmer it on low in a crockpot for about six hours. Serve it on flatbread topped with lettuce, sliced avocado and salsa. If you want to give your vegan dish the El Rincon treatment, this site has a fabulous suggestion.

Merry Listmas 2016: The Food

Before the calendar turns to 2017, let’s reminisce about the finer things that food in 2016 had to offer (click on the picture for recipes and blog posts).

Favorite Sandwiches:



Main Attractions:




Desserts:




Some Other Favorites of the Year:

Favorite Place to Fill a Growler of Kombucha
Jug and Bottle. Not only can you fill their growlers with Mother Kombucha from the tap but you can also buy bottled kombucha, local ice cream, local snack foods, Seminole Heights clothing, nitro brewed coffee (also on tap) and some cheeses and salsas that are slightly harder to find. Oh, did I mention beer and wine? No? You can buy those too.

Best Vegan Lentil Soup in a Bread Bowl:
BJ's Brewhouse. I am enamored with BJ's vegan lentil soup. I've eaten it both as a bread bowl (hold the butter) and regular bowl. The soup is filling, slightly spicy and flavorful. Rare is it to find a chain restaurant in Tampa offering a vegan soup. Even rarer is the restaurant that offers a really good vegan soup. BJ's also does some beautiful Brussels Sprouts (nicely charred and crispy and tossed in oil).

Best "Fancy" Vegan Pizza:
Double Zero. From farro sausage to artisanal vegan cheese plates to sweet potato bruschetta, this place is all vegan all the time. It definitely isn't cheap but if you are in New York and looking for a fancy vegan dinner you can't get in Tampa, check this place out.

Best Artisanal Tofu in Tampa:
Thinh An Kitchen and Tofu.

Best Vegan Hot Dog:
The Holiday Dog from the Vegan Hot Dog Cart. The Holiday Dog includes Florida orange-cran chutney, Carolina BBQ mustard sauce and fried onions. It was ranked back in 2014 by PETA as the number one vegan hot dog in America. I can see why. This dog was amazing. Texture wise, it wasn't as chewy as the prepackaged versions you can get at the store. The dog (and bun) basically melted in your mouth. The orange-cran chutney, bbq mustard and fried onions flowed nicely with the dog. None of the flavors stood out, instead they morphed into one giant swirl of sweet, sour and crispy.

Best Seaweed Salad Served in a Martini Glass:
Samurai Blue Ybor

Best Vegan Cupcake Caught on Camera:
Georgetown Cupcakes. This place does live up to the hype, although I don't recommend checking out the cupcake camera. You don't want to lose too many hours of your life...

Best Veggie Burger:
Chickpea & Olive. A beet burger topped with vegan cheese and avocado and served on thick toasted bread. That's the kind of food porn my wife catches me watching late at night. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can even get her to join in. It really keeps the relationship fresh.

But seriously, if you go to Smorgasburg and are a vegan, eat this burger!

Best Vegan Banana Bread (aside from my own, of course):
Buttermilk Provisions

Best Bagels:
Bagel Pub. I rolled around my tiny little high school with the hottest girl on my arm. I thought I was something special. Then I went off to college in the city and I realized that there wasn't anything special about high school me. That girl on my arm, she was small potatoes compared to the city girls. I broke up with her via AOL instant messenger and never looked back.

So what does this have to do with Bagel Pub? Well, in similar fashion, I rolled around Tampa thinking that I knew what a good bagel was. It took me four hours in New York to realize that those "bagels" I was eating were nothing more than tiny little crust rocks. They were small grains of wheat compared to the Bagel Pub bagels.

Vegan Dessert of the Year:
Vegan Donuts. From Buttermilk Provisions to Alevri Marketplace to Valhalla Bakery to Dun-Well Doughnuts, I had my fair share of vegan donuts this year. Moreso than any other vegan dessert. That's why I am proclaiming that the Chinese calendar makers make 2016 forever known as the year of the vegan donut. I know it isn't an animal and all, but if I bite a doughnut in just the right places, I can easily shape it into a squirrel. That's good enough right?

Best Place to Purchase my Vegan Dessert of the Year:
Dun-Well Doughnuts. Dun-Well doesn't play the whole regular donuts with one vegan option game. Everything at Dun-Well is vegan. This includes the lattes, ice cream, milkshakes, sundaes, donuts, horchata and egg type things. Tough choices. During my first visit, I went with the most recommended doughnut according to Yelp, the Peanut Butter and Jelly doughnut. As I mentioned here, the peanutty glaze of the donut was not super sugary, like I feared it would. It had a strong peanut taste. The doughnut was fluffy, sort of like a dough pillow for the rich peanut topping to rest it's weary head. The jelly inside the doughnut was a nice sweet contrast to the rich peanut glaze and doughy doughnut. Later in the year I returned and ordered a doughnut sundae. The ice cream, courtesy of 3 Little Birds, was creamy and amazing. The doughy donut underneath matched nicely.

Best Vegan Ice Cream Not in My Grocer's Freezer:
3 Little Birds

Best Vegan Ice Cream From My Grocer's Freezer:
Ben and Jerry's PB & Cookies. More than twice the calories of my former go to vegan ice cream, probably because it is oh-so-good!


Vegan Restaurant of the Year
Champs Diner. While I ate better dishes this year, Champs takes the cake because it is a completely vegan diner that offers a ton of different options to choose from. While I liked Dun-Well Donuts more, they are limited by being a bakery. And while the burger I ate at Chickpea & Olive was hands down the best thing I ate this year, they suffer from a lack of options. I guess I am defining a restaurant as having multiple options and not just desserts.

I had only one shot at Champs Diner. Because of that, I wanted to eat everything on the menu. I wanted the mozzarella sticks and the buffalo wings and the seitan asada fries and a grinder and reuben and Philly Cheesesteak. Eventually I settled on a buffalo chick'n hero for me. J-Fur ordered an Awesome Bowl and Z-Bot the mac and cheese.

The Buffalo Chick'n Hero, which was made up of spicy buffalo chick'n, greens, tomatoes, sautéed onions and ranch dressing, was slightly salty. I loved the creamy, spicy combo. What made Champs stand out to me was the mac and cheese. This dish was perfection. It was cheesy and creamy without the weird texture that a lot of vegan cheeses seem to suffer from. The Awesome Bowl has quinoa, tofu scramble, bell peppers, garlic sautéed kale, home fries and hollandaise sauce. With that list of ingredients, it sounds like it should be one of the greatest things I've ever tasted. It pretty much was.

Cook: Zucchini Crab Cakes

At least once a week the following conversation takes place:

Person: Ah, you are a vegan. Cool, cool, cool. What do you eat?
Me: Vegetables, beans, nuts, cereal, pasta, sandwiches, pickles, mustard, you know, normal stuff. Oh, and BBQ sauce. I really like BBQ sauce.
Person: What about (insert random food here)?
Me: Yep, I eat that.
Person: How about fish?
Me: Are fish considered swimming vegetables?
Person: Huh?
Me: Nevermind. Great catching up with you. See you around.

People of this beautiful world. Despite what you may have heard from others (like that weird "vegetarian" art teacher that eats turkey on Thanksgiving), let me set the record straight. If it breathes, even if it is through gills, a vegetarian or vegan won't eat it. Now I'm not writing this post because I care what others label themselves, call yourself whatever you want. You want to be vegetarian that eats steak? By all means, have at it. You want to eat Veal Parmigiana and pretend you are one hundred percent plant based? Just do it! The reason I'm writing this post is to save me the headache, or rather the tedium, of having this same conversation week in and week out. Skipping the fish talk would allow our conversations to progress into some really interesting realms. I'm talking tempeh, seitan, maybe even mycoprotein. That would be the fish's gullet.

Tonight I decided it was high time I stopped fighting it and just started eating "fish" (that's also the name of the documentary I am currently penning). The only thing is my version of "fish" is actually created by swimming vegetables. It combines grated zucchini, aquafaba, breadcrumbs, vegan butter and Old Bay Seasoning. Behold, I give you Zucchini Crab Cakes. Just like Baltimore would've made them had they been a vegan who was bored to death talking about whether they do or do not eat fish.

Zucchini Crab Cakes
(printable version)

-3 zucchini, grated
-3 Tbs. aquafaba
-2 Tbs. vegan butter, melted
-1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
-1/4 cup minced onion
-1 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
-1/4 cup of flour

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a baking sheet with a tiny bit vegetable oil. Set aside.

2. Grate the zucchini in a large bowl. Using a towel, press some of the moisture out of the zucchini. Add the aquafaba, melted butter, breadcrumbs, onions and Old Bay Seasoning. Mix until everything is uniform.

3. Pour the flour into a second bowl. Form the zucchini mixture into small patties. Roll them in the flour. Place them on the greased baking sheet.

4. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet from the oven and flip each crab cake using a spatula. Bake for another 15 minutes. Top the crab cakes with some vegan mayo mixed with hot sauce. Eat those swimming vegetables!

Listen to this dish!

Where We Eat: The Vegan Hot Dog Cart

My refrigerator is currently overflowing with vegan versions of sausages and hot dogs. I blame some of this on game seven of the World Series, the rest is due to the giant squashes that covered my local farmer's market shelves. What I've found with most prepackaged vegan hot dogs is that they are really harsh on my stomach. If I eat more than one, which I sometimes get a hankering to do, I wind up with a stomach ache. As a result of this, I watch my vegan hot dog intake more than any other fake meat.

Yesterday was the annual Tampa Bay Veg Fest. Z-Bot, J-Fur and I arrived at Cotanchobee Park late in the afternoon when a lot of the crowds seemed to have thinned out. We had free reign to move about the park and explore the anti-animal cruelty product vendors at our leisure. There was one pretty long line in the park so I moved to explore it. Wouldn't you know it, Orlando's Vegan Hot Dog Cart had made the trek over to Tampa. The cart was offering three hot dog versions: the "Merica dog had ketchup, mustard, relish and saurkraut, the Olde Reliable was covered with five bean chili, vegan cheeze, onions and paprika and the Holiday dog included Florida orange-cran chutney, Carolina BBQ mustard sauce and fried onions.

I bookmarked the Vegan Hot Dog Cart (web, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)  about a year ago as a place I really wanted to try. Back in 2014 the Holiday Dog was ranked by PETA as the number one vegan hot dog in America. Seeing that it was here, right in front of me, it only seemed fitting that I would be all gung-ho about shoving a dog down my throat. But then I thought about my refrigerator. All those dogs I've been eating recently. It took all I had to pass the cart by. I wondered through the rest of the park looking for something vegetable based to eat. I passed by Ethiopian food, two Asian booths, a Caribbean stall (that had a lot of vegetables) and a falafel joint. I turned my back on BBQ Jackfruit Nachos, Banh Mis and plant based milk shakes. I reached for my wallet on numerous occasions but I always let go without purchasing anything. Deep down I knew why. I knew I was going back to that hot dog cart whether I liked it or not.

     The Award Winning Holiday Dog

I returned to the Vegan Hot Dog Cart and waited in a line that was, at this point, about six deep. The dog I longed for, the Olde Reliable, had sold out during my cruise around the park. I figured if the Holiday Dog was good enough for PETA, it was good enough for me. So I went there.

Holy f*** was this dog good. It went down much smoother than the prepackaged versions I've eaten. Texture wise, it wasn't as chewy as those versions. The dog (and bun) basically melted in your mouth. The orange-cran chutney, bbq mustard and fried onions flowed nicely with the dog. None of the flavors stood out, instead they morphed into one giant swirl of sweet, sour and crispy. Despite all the toppings, this wasn't one of those dogs that you have to clean up with a fork. They stayed nicely pillowed in between those two bun walls.

The only thing that I was less than enthusiastic about was paying $5.50 (with a credit card). This price seemed a bit steep for the size of the dog. But when you are an award winning food developer, you have a right to charge for your craft. Ultimately the price didn't deter me yesterday and it won't deter me next time the Vegan Hot Dog Cart and I cross paths.      

Pairing:
I'd pair this Holiday Dog with the swirling electro-pop beats in Erin McCarley's "Good."

Cook: Red Wine BBQ Tempeh and Shrooms

My good friend Chef Chloe (I use the word "good" here loosely) posted a recipe for Red Wine Seitan BBQ in one of those Men's Fitness magazines. I think it is the one where men dress up in tight bathing suits and lean up against various sports cars in provocative poses. I came across the recipe not because I have a closet subscription to the magazine, but because my phone stalks all my searches and then inundates me with articles featuring all my favorite key words (like fantasy baseball, vegan and Donald Trump).

Normally I let Chef Chloe do her thing and just roll with it. But I was withdrawing hard from a night of pizza and seitan eating and I couldn't bear the thought of more gluten than necessary entering into my digestive system. So I decided to replace the seitan with a mixture of tempeh and portobello mushrooms. Go with seitan, do the tempeh mushroom mixture or add your own spin on things. Doesn't matter. The key here is Chef Chloe's BBQ sauce. It is absolutely stunning.






Red Wine BBQ Tempeh and Shrooms (adapted slightly from Chef Chloe)
(printable version)

For the Tempeh and Shrooms:
-tempeh block, cut into minute cubes
-1/2 cup of portobello mushrooms
-1 cup ketchup
-¼ cup dry red wine
-1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
-1 tbsp brown sugar
-1 tsp Dijon mustard
-1 tsp onion powder
-½ tsp black pepper
-olive oil
-1 large shallot, thinly sliced
-3 scallions, thinly sliced

For the caramelized onions:
-1 large onion, thinly sliced
-2 tsp pure maple syrup
-sea salt

For the sandwiches:
-4 ciabatta rolls
-1 cup arugula
-1 small tomato, thinly sliced

1. Make the caramelized onions: In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add onion. Season onions to your liking with sea salt. Place them in a skillet and stir frequently until they are very soft (about 20 minutes). Add maple syrup and let cook one additional minute. Set aside.

2. To prepare the BBQ tempeh and shrooms: In a bowl, whisk together ketchup, red wine, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, onion powder, and black pepper. Set aside. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and cook shallots, tempeh and shrooms until lightly browned. Add the sauce and scallions to skillet. Reduce heat to low, and gently simmer until sauce has thickened (about five minutes).

3. To prepare the sandwiches: toast ciabatta rolls. Layer some arugula, tempeh mixture, tomato, and caramelized onions on each roll. Eat it while leaning on your car provocatively wearing only some sexy underwear.

Taste of Brooklyn (Part 2)

Only three days in Brooklyn, eh. That's simply not enough time. So, I went back. This time I spent three and a half days there! But with no wedding to attend, I was able to get in even more of good vegan eating. Here is a snippet of what I was eating and drink when I wasn't eating bagels.

Chickpea & Olive |  Smorgasburg, East River Park

I crawled out of bed our first day in Brooklyn feeling just a wee bit hungover. Thanks to some shenanigans caused by the federal government in conjunction with a rogue hurricane, my evening flight had morphed into a redeye with a 3 a.m. arrival. My only eats for the past twelve hours had been the free goodies that the airport crew passed out in order to appease their angry clientele. I needed some real food and I needed it now. Thankfully it was Saturday and that meant that Smorgasburg was raging over in East River Park. Chickpea & Olive here I come. Smorgasburg can best be described as a culinary free-for-all crammed into a space about the size of church parking lot. On the Saturday we visited, Smorgasburg was extremely crowded. Had it been just J-Fur and I, I probably wouldn't have been aware of all the people around me, but Z-Bot was along divaing it up in her giant jogging stroller. I steered that monstrosity (magnificently I must say) through throngs of bearded hipsters that always seemed to be going the opposite direction of me. You know exactly what I'm talking about.

Eventually we found our way to Chickpea & Olive. This vegan eatery is famous, at least on Yelp, for its beet burgers. I halfheartedly looked at the menu but really I had known what I was going to order since the day I left Brooklyn two months earlier. It was the beet burger melt with avocado or bust for me. The burger was served on thick toasted bread and sliced in half. I walked with it for a bit looking for some open space to relax and enjoy it. Talk about food porn. People walking by kept eyeing my burger and commenting on how amazing it looks. I'm pretty sure I heard a few catcalls as well.

When I finally found that coveted open space, I dropped everything and took a bite. I don't say this lightly: that was the most flavorful veggie burger I've ever had. The beet burger, vegan cheese and avocado all melded together into a blissful bevy of flavors and textures that held together bite after bite. The thick, toasted bread offered a salty, crispy backdrop of support for the burger to rest its magical head. Some people might balk at the price (13 dollars with avocado added). To those people I'd say, stop treating this burger like your typical veggie burger and start treating it like the hand crafted piece of art it is. You'll quickly realize 13 dollars is a steal.

Georgetown Cupcakes | 111 Mercer Street New York, New York

When my cousin suggested we pay a visit to Georgetown Cupcakes I have to admit, I was quite hesitant. My other vegan cupcake experience in New York, at famed Babycakes, had not gone over so well and I didn't want to waste precious calories on lackluster vegan desserts. When she told me that the place had been featured on some famous food television show and that they have a cupcake camera where you can sit at your computer and watch people make cupcakes all day, my desire to visit dropped even more. Can you say gimmick? But J-Fur and Z-Bot were interested and my cousin espoused their cupcake virtues to no end so I decided to part with some of my precious calories and give their vegan cupcake a go.

The one vegan option that was being sold on the day we visited was apple cinnamon. I could handle that. I'm all about fruit desserts. The cupcake was not overly sweet and moist. Just that in itself made it a better experience than Babycakes. But the pleasure was only beginning. The apple cinnamon cake was topped with an incredible icing that was really creamy. Best of all, this creaminess was not created by fake butter (or at least it had no fake butter taste). A fantastic vegan cake! I hate to admit it but ever since I ate that cupcake, I've been unable to go more than 12 hours without checking in on the cupcake cam. Sometimes I even find myself loosening...nevermind.

The Pulp & The Bean | 809 Franklin Avenue Brooklyn

I had four goals during this visit to Brooklyn. The first one was eat a beet burger from Chickpea & Olive. The second was to get a donut sundae at Dun-well Donuts. Once those two were out of the way, I set my sights on finding some Brooklyn Kombucha on tap. If there is one thing Tampa has going for it right now it is kombucha. I wanted to compare the two cities, see if they were as far apart as I imagined. I conducted an online search for kombucha on tap and the closest one to where we were staying was The Pulp & The Bean, a coffee shop in Crown Heights. Unfortunately the kombucha was all out. I wasn't really in the mood for a latte but Yelpers had kept talking about the soy rose latte, so I got one iced. I wasn't blown away by it. For one, it wasn't sweet enough for me. When I drink coffee, I like it to be sweet. The cool thing was that the latte wasn't overly expensive. I think I even paid less for it than some of the ones I get in Tampa. One thing worth noting about the Pulp & the Bean is their excellent customer service. I loved that even though they were four customers deep the barista ran thru my entire order to make sure she got it right.











Hungry Ghost | 253 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn

I achieved goal number three by walking about a mile and a half to Hungry Ghost. The only reason the walk matters is that by the time I arrived, I had to piss really bad and there isn't a space for this at Hungry Ghost. I ordered my kombucha, grape is what they had on tap, and I drank it way too fast. It went down smooth, it was unique (not a flavor I had in Tampa before). It didn't strike me as being any better or worse than Mother Kombucha here in St. Petersburg. That's a good thing (both for Brooklyn Kombucha and Mother Kombucha). After chugging, I went across the street to Starbucks and waited in a long line to use their restroom. Best I could tell is that none of the other coffee shops in the area, and there were a lot, had a bathroom either. That's the only reason I could see so many people in Starbucks when there were a lot of other options around.

00 + Co | 65 2nd Avenue, New York

My final goal this trip was to pay a visit to 00 + Co. I mean there just isn't anything creative going on with vegan pizza in Tampa. If they have any it is simply some fake cheese thrown over their normal crust and sauce. At 00 + Co, vegan is at the center of everything they do. I convinced a large group of friends to join me here so we shared three different pizzas. There was a smoked carrot pizza topped with crimini mushrooms, shaved fennel and parsley-mint pesto. I loved the cheese and balance of flavors on this pie. We also ordered the confit and tomato arugula pie. This one didn't quite have the pizzaz of the carrot pizza. It left me wanting more. The farro sausage pizza was also really good, with a nice spiciness to it. The dough at 00 + Co was incredible. It was charred and chewy. The table also got an order of zucchini noodles and farro. This was my favorite dish of the night. I thought the farro sausage performed really well when placed on top of zucchini. 00 + Co is definitely not cheap. It is the kind of place that vegans can go when they want to splurge and have a nice romantic evening. That being said, I recognize the time and effort required to make vegan cheese so I can fault them for pricing their pies a bit high.

Food Pairing 101: What goes well with Beer, Brussels and (Vegan) Bacon?

I woke up this morning with a pounding headache. I replayed last night in my head to see if I could place the source of my pain. Had I eaten Brazil nuts? Snorted lines of fermented cheeses? Did I do shots of vinegar again? Unfortunately I couldn't remember a thing. I stumbled out to my refrigerator and opened it. There, tucked inside the door, was a bottle of Sharkinator White IPA half gone. I pulled out my Untappd App and, there it was, plain as day. I had checked off that I drank a half bottle of Sharkinator (actually I had used it to baste some cauliflower for a burrito but who is keeping score aside from me?). I sought out some hangover cures online, found one that seemed to work with a vegan diet, and by eleven was ready to tackle the day.

The further my hangover drifted into history, the more I felt guilty about wasting half a bottle of beer. I scoured the refrigerator and found some brussels sprouts and vegan bacon. I decided to baste the brussels in a little beer and veggie broth and then toss them into garlic covered vegan bacon. I sprinkled a little Gomassio on to close things out.

So what did I pair with this brussels and beer experience? How about a track that pleads "please take me out dancing this Saturday night, please get me a little drunk, I won't ask why." It's like SLØTFACE's "Take Me Dancing" was written just for me. In reality the track, according to vocalist Haley Shea, is about being free to be yourself regardless of gender. She went on to explain that some people were skeptical about a group of feminists releasing a song about drinking and dancing. SLØTFACE likes partying and drinking and they want people to know that it is okay to make mistakes (you know, maybe drink half a beer too much or pour a little extra in your cauliflower sort of thing). That's why "Take Me Dancing" was written, recorded and released.

Click (Food): Shark Bait, Adam Lambert Foils Vegans, Google Embraces Vegan Shrimp and Buffalo Quinoa Balls

Happenings:

• Pip's Original Doughnuts put out a help wanted ad for a new barista this week. The ad included that statement that “No non-medical, non-religious dietary restrictions that would stop you from tasting, accurately representing our food and maintaining quality control to maintain the highest standards of food safety and excellence. We serve products with meat (including bacon) nuts, dairy and our doughnuts contain wheat gluten.” It then continued with Portland doesn't need another "moody hipster providing lame service." So as long as your doctor or religion prescribes you a vegan diet, you are good to apply? If you are doing it for any other reason, look elsewhere? Here's my doctor's note.

• Former NFL player Warren Sapp got bit by a shark while fishing for lobster. PETA rewarded him with a letter explaining the terror humans inflict on other species and a meal of vegan lobster. I'm wondering if he didn't get bit because he told the shark to "stop talking and oral me?" and the shark misunderstood what he meant.

• The new mayor of Turin, Italy has decided to make a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle a priority for her city. Calls of "meat terrorism" commencing in three, two, one...

• If you are looking to travel and need a place to stay that supports your vegan/vegatarian lifestyle? Check out vegvisits.

• Adam Lambert used to be most famous for...something, something singing? Now he can add sneaking meat into vegan customer's foods and bragging about it on Instagram to his resume. *What's that? Hold on. Leaves to receive a call from his agent. Damn, I've just been informed by my agent that these are actually two different people with the same name. Let me go on record as saying that both of their resumes suffer because of this.

• PETA is sending vegan lobsters. Google is switching to vegan shrimp on their campus. Weird because I thought fish were already vegan?

• Ikea's food truck, as part of their #Togetherweeat campaign will be visiting some fine festivals across this country and handing out a free vegan stack (made with their vegan meatballs, pickled ginger, avocado, wasabi and eggless mayo). Question is, do you trust that those meatballs are actually vegan?

Recipes:

Chickpea and Vegetable Picnic Hand Pies by Tinned Tomatoes

These cute little hand pies were crafted completely by ingredients from Iceland. Don't you worry, there isn't anything super exotic that you won't be able to find in your local grocer. Well, except for the pönnukökur (kidding). 

Buffalo Quinoa Balls with Vegan Ranch Dipping Sauce by V Nutrition

Mary Ellen, of V Nutrition, and I have something in common. We both are in the habit of carrying a small hot sauce around in our purses wherever we go. You can judge me all you want about carrying a purse but I used to stick bottles of hot sauce in my pockets and they alway seemed to break and...um...get on stuff they shouldn't. I quickly learned carrying a purse beats burning genitalia any day of the week.

Vegan Mega Burger with Seitan from Sandra Vungi Vegan

Pan-fried seitan steaks, carrot cheese sauce, grilled vegetables all on a burger bun? This mega burger appears to offer a lot more variety than the other mega burger I cam across this week.

Mini Key Lime and White Chocolate Cheesecakes from PeacemealXO

These mini cheesecakes are the sole reason that I went out today, bought a bunch of key lime trees and planted them in my backyard. Big mistake. I read, post planting, that they are a pain in the ass to grow and maintain. Nothing's ever easy in the world of vegan cheesecakes.

The City of Tampa According to Tofu: Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu

Five spring breaks ago my wife and I spent a few days in Asheville. We were spending two nights in a hostel before moving to a bed and breakfast for a night before coming back to the hostel for one more night (if you didn't catch that the first time, you have my permission to reread the line until it makes sense). When we arrived at the hostel the owner took us on an abbreviated tour. As he showed us the kitchen he said "Some local commune gave us a bunch of homemade tofu. Feel free to take as much as you want while you are here. Hell, you can even take some with you when you go." A solitary tear rolled down my face as I thought about homemade tofu and why Tampa can't seem to get nice things.

Hey, it may have taken until 2016 but thanks to Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu, Tampa finally has gotten nice things (at least in the world of artisanal tofu making). Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu is a unique place. When you walk in half of the business is a restaurant that serves boba tea, Vietnamese desserts, Pho and other traditional Vietnamese dishes. The other half of the building is a grab and go with coolers of homemade tofu, soy milk and various meats that might be necessary for cooking Vietnamese at home. There are also a number of metal trays that hold freshly made items. It was here, in these metal trays, that I found the artisanal tofu I was looking to take home.

According to Laura Reiley, food critic for the Tampa Bay Times Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu churns out seven different flavors of tofu. When I visited they had only four (ha, only four, like four flavors of tofu is a normal thing around here). These four were original, lemongrass and chili, onion and mushroom. The mushroom and onion were sliced into large rectangles. They were priced at four for a dollar. I filled a miniature plastic baggie (yep, that's how you take things to go here) with eight of each. The lemongrass and chili came in two forms, large rectangles (like the onion and mushroom) and a block similar to how traditional tofu in a grocery store is sold. I grabbed four of the rectangles and a big block. I was absolutely astounded when they lady rang me up for the block of tofu and it only came out to two dollars. The only place that I have found tofu that cheap in this city is Whole Foods (organic, $1.99) and MD Market (full of GMO's, $1.29). The lady at the register asked if I wanted any sauces with my tofu (options include chili paste, soy sauce, fish sauce and another one  that I don't remember). I settled on some chili paste.

My Plate of Different Flavored Tofu from Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu

I would love to say that I waited until I got home and ate that tofu properly but I didn't. I ripped into the rectangles as soon as I got to the car. Each tofu flavoring was subtle, it wasn't going to overwhelm you with whatever it was covered with. I liked that because it gave you the option of eating it with a dipping sauce or using it in a recipe. The different tofus had a nice chewy shell on the outside of them. Inside they were soft and creamy, almost like a custard. It was absolutely and without a doubt the best tofu I've ever eaten. J-Fur wasn't as instantaneously taken in as I was. She would not go on record as saying that it was the best tofu she has ever eaten. But when I pressed her to name a place that had better tofu, she couldn't. I took that as a motion seconded.

I used the lemongrass and chili block to make Thug Kitchen's Spring Veggie Bowl with Red Curry Lime Sauce.  I adore this recipe but hate the time it takes for the tofu to finish baking and marinating. Already marinated and baked tofu made this a total win scenario. I was very pleased with how the tofu held up when I put it in Red Curry Lime Sauce to warm. There was no crumbling or falling apart and it kept its chewy shell and creamy interior.

Taste of Brooklyn

Back in April, an invitation arrived for J-Fur and I to attend a wedding in Brooklyn. We were stoked. We started making plans for a weeklong tour of the city. I bookmarked the sh** out of all the vegan restaurants in the area and began taking detailed notes about the different dishes I wanted to try. She scoped out tattoo parlors and laundromats (or whatever it is that she is into now-a-days). But then my job came calling, offering me a pretty unique two week summer gig. And Google came calling J-Fur, asking her to do a bit of technical support. Just like that our weeklong trip to Brooklyn became a two day one. That Brooklyn eating extravaganza I dreamed up? Reduced to a period of about four hours.

With only four hours to eat, I had to make my calories count. I sought out things that I can't get in Tampa. Our first stop was Dun-Well Doughnuts. Up until recently, there were absolutely no good vegan donuts in the Tampa area. With the opening of Buttermilk Provisions, and their one type of vegan donut, this might not be the case anymore. I say might because I have yet to give the vegan donut at Buttermilk a whirl. Anyway, Dun-Well doesn't play the whole regular donuts with one vegan option game. Everything at Dun-Well is vegan. This includes the lattes, ice cream, milkshakes, sundaes, donuts, horchata and egg type things. I really wanted to try everything that Dun-Well had to offer. I wanted to come back six days in a row, sampling a different thing each time. The doughnut sundae caught my eye. So did the milkshakes and the lime doughnut. But having just a four hour window forced me to make a decision. I only had one go at this, I had to make it right. So I went with the one most recommended on Yelp, the Peanut Butter and Jelly doughnut. J-Fur ordered a straight chocolate donut. Because there was a ten dollar minimum for credit card usage, J-Fur also ordered a tea and I tacked on a lavender lemonade. Our bill...ten dollars exactly. One thing about Dun-Well's brand of doughnuts, they are certainly not cheap.

The chocolate frosted and peanut butter and jelly doughnuts.

I bit into the PB&J and did a bit of a mind gasp. I'm not a doughnut fan in the least, but this one, it was delicious. The peanutty glaze was not sugary, like I feared, it still had a strong peanut taste. The doughnut was fluffy, sort of like a dough pillow for the rich peanut topping to rest it's weary head. The jelly inside the doughnut was a nice sweet contrast to the rich peanut glaze and doughy doughnut. I offered a bite to J-Fur who remarked "It's way too sweet" after she tasted it. I shook my head in disbelief. I think her tastebuds have just been worn down by all the Dr. Pepper. J-Fur and I both agreed about the chocolate doughnut, it was too salty. Had it been a chocolate and sea salt doughnut, it would've been right on the money. But because she only wanted a chocolate doughnut, it completely missed the mark. I'm not sure if Dun-Well offers a salted chocolate version but, if they do, perhaps it was bartender error that led to the less than stellar doughnut.

My last foray into the world of lavender lemonade came at Kaleisia Tea in Tampa and I wasn't super impressed by it (don't construe this as a knock on the lavender lemonade, it is more a celebration of how awesome the matcha limeade is). The Dun-Well Doughnut version was just how I like it. The lemonade wasn't super sweet and the lavender offered a slight little flavor boost to the drink. It was very refreshing on a sweltering day. 

While returning the handcrafted pottery plate that our doughnuts were served on to the dish collection area, I overheard the bartender talking about Champs Diner. This was one of the places that I had bookmarked. I decided to approach him with my own take on one of those deserted island questions. I said "If you only had four hours in town, were vegan, and really wanted to experience what New York vegan food was all about, where would you go?" He replied, "Champs Diner" is really worth it. So we headed that direction. 

Champs is only about a block away from Dun-Well Doughnuts. Like Dun-Well, Champs is completely vegan. The diner describes itself as serving "Americana comfort food with a no-fuss, laid-back attitude." I contemplated filling the table with various dishes so that I could just sample a bit of everything. I wanted some mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings and seitan asada fries and a grinder and reuben and Philly Cheesesteak. S**t man, I wanted the whole menu. When I realized that Champs was a cash only joint, I had to temper my desires a bit. I had come with limited cash so I'd have to stick with one menu item for me, one for J-Fur and one for Z-Bot. I settled on the buffalo chick'n hero, J-Fur ordered an Awesome Bowl and we ordered Z-Bot the mac and cheese.

Buffalo Chick'n Hero

The Buffalo Chick'n Hero consists of spicy buffalo chick'n, greens, tomatoes, sautéed onions and ranch dressing on a hero. I've eaten a version of this at my house and I love the combo of spicy buffalo sauce and creamy ranch dressing. For some reason, and I couldn't place what it was, the Champ's version seemed overly salty. I remember having the same type of issue with a lot of the items on the Chicago Diner menu back in the day. While the sandwich was still good, it fell short of the perfection that I was hoping for. 

'

The mac and cheese

You know what didn't fall short of perfection? The mac and cheese. This dish was total bomb squad. It was cheesy and creamy without the weird texture or aftertaste that a lot of vegan cheeses seem to suffer from. My daughter only ate a few bites so we took the leftovers home. Later in the evening I pregamed for the wedding by eating the rest of it. About the only negative with the mac and cheese is that it is very oily. Be careful with it, especially if you take it to go. You don't want your three year old to swing it and hit you and ruin a pair of your shorts. 

The Awesome Bowl

The Awesome Bowl was full of quinoa, tofu scramble, bell peppers, garlic sautéed kale, home fries and hollandaise sauce. With that list of ingredients, it sounded like it should be one of the greatest things I've ever tasted. It was. But a large reason for that is because I ate from the side that was not drowned in Hollandaise sauce. Unfortunately, for J-Fur, she couldn't finish the dish because it had too much sauce on it. She loved the part that had only a smattering. Next time, she'd do it on the side.

By the end of our meal at Champ's, I was stuffed to the point of almost being uncomfortable. I knew then that I would be unable to hack a beet burger, New York style pizza or Chinese food. I threw in the white flag and headed home, satisfied, but not downright floored.

Check out my other Tastes of posts:
New Orleans
New York
Orlando
Savannah

Cook: Feisty Stuffed Peppers

I know what you're thinking. You made Tender Branson's feisty stuffed peppers once when you were drunk. In a toaster oven. With ketchup and sliced (vegan) cheese. Also, no Worcestershire sauce or onion powder or garlic powder. They were amazing. You're still drunk. And they're still amazing. Rock on.

Does that sound about right? No. Am I close? No. Hmm...then maybe you are thinking something along the lines of why would Tender waste his time on a stuffed pepper recipe. Every culture has them. They are so plain and boring and not impressive in the least.

While I agree with every single point you made in that second section of text, I have to pose one deeply philosophical question to you. Take your time, don't rush into an answer. A good philosopher let's things savor. What the f*** else was I supposed to do when J-Fur came home with a big ol' bag of peppers and a buy one, get one bag of Beyond Meat Feisty Crumbles? It was like the whole universe joined forces to create this gigantic funnel that led right to a neon sign that said make stuffed peppers and I was covered in a greasy olive oil body wrap and tossed right into that funnel. As that one sports anchor said on his morning show "Resistance is futile."

This is me, being a salmon, and reversing directions.

Feisty Stuffed Peppers
(printable version)

-1 pound Beyond Meat Feisty Crumbles
-1 cup brown rice, cooked
-6 bell peppers
-16 ounces of your favorite tomato sauce
-1 Tbs. vegan Worcestershire Sauce
-1/4 tsp. garlic salt
-1/4 tsp. onion powder
-1 tsp. Italian seasoning
-salt and pepper (to taste)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Remove the top, seeds and membranes from the peppers. Slice them in half from top to bottom. Arrange peppers with hollowed side facing up in a slightly oiled, glass baking dish.

3. In a skillet, warm the Beyond Meat Feisty Crumbles up. Then mix the crumbles with the rice, twelve ounces of the tomato sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, garlic salt, onion powder and Italian seasoning.

4. Spoon the mixture into the pepper halves. Spread it out so it evenly covers the entire inside of the pepper. Drizzle some tomato sauce overtop of each pepper. Bake for an hour, removing the peppers halfway through to drizzle with a bit more tomato sauce. Toss the finished peppers in front of someone you aren't trying to impress and tell them to "eat from the altar of your simplistic food vision."

Cook: Pinto Bean Sloppy Joes

I've pulled and shredded the jackfruit. I've umamied the TVP. I've mashed the tofu, seitan and tempeh. I've even slopped it up a few times with the lentils. Basically, I've been around the sloppy joe block more times than Thomas has been around the tr...er, a hooker has been around...er, a graham cracker crust has been around a meringue of key lime. My current obsession, I'm talking three batches since Memorial Day skipped town, is a version of sloppy joes made from pinto beans.

Beans? Yeah, I know. I didn't buy it at first either. Originally, I only went with it because I had a pantry full of pintos and I needed to get rid of them before the move. If there is one thing I've learned about moving over the years it is that the less beans that have to be moved, the better. But after two bites, I knew that these pinto sloppy joes would be a big part of my sloppy joe rotation for years to come. So how exactly did it all go down? Something like this:





Pinto Bean Sloppy Joes (adapted from Eating Well)
(printable version)

-olive oil
-2 carrots, peeled and diced
-1 onion, small dice
-4 cloves of garlic
-3 Tbs. chili powder
-2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
-2 cups of pinto beans, cooked
-1 large red pepper, small dice
-8 ounces of tomato sauce
-1/2 cup water
-2 Tbs. soy sauce or tamari
-2 Tbs. tomato paste
-4 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
-1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
-1 cup corn (fresh or frozen)
-3 Tbs. yellow mustar
-1 Tbs. brown sugar
-1 tsp. salt
-buns for sandwiches
-other toppings

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium. Place the carrots and onions inside and saute, stirring occasionally, until they are beginning to brown.

2. Add in the garlic and chili powder. Cook for about half a minute. Remove the skillet from the heat and add the vinegar and bell pepper. Scrape up any browned bits. Stir a couple times and then place the pan back on the burner and saute until the pepper is soft.

3. Place the onion mixture, beans, soy sauce, tomato sauce, water, and tomato paste into a slow cooker that is set on high. Add the cabbage, zucchini, corn, honey mustard, brown sugar and salt. Cook on high for 30 minutes. Spoon the mixture onto a bun, top with your favorite slopping joe toppings. Eat it!