Meh-ze 119, Vegan Flan, and Low-Quality Cell Phone Pics, Oh My!

Yesterday was a super-fun day, and a much-needed day after a stressful work week. I couldn't find the charger for my little point-and-shoot camera, and didn't want to lug around my "nicer camera," so I went camera-less (Gasp!). And wouldn't you know, there were many photo ops that presented themselves, so I did something I never do:

I took food pictures on my crappy cell phone.

And now I'm about to do something else I have never done before:

Post said cell phone pics on this blog.

You'll forgive me, right?

So I was in St. Petersburg that morning, helping my friends with their Ethics of Vegetarianism presentations at a local high school, which was an interesting experience / outreach event. (How cool of a public high school to bring in that kind of information!) Since I was in St. Pete, it only made sense to go to the beach afterward. My friend Amber drove out to meet me and we headed to nearby Treasure Island. This brings us to the first cell phone pic (and the only one I took at the beach).

I'd been talking about an absolute NEED to get to the beach for WEEKS now, so I sent this pic to a couple of friends with the caption, "Achievement Unlocked." Some time at the beach was so badly needed. We got some sun, jumped in the waves, and laughed at sand pipers and the reactions of men upon seeing The Lady in the G-String walking around.

Amber and I lost track of time (time flies at the beach!), but we had a plan to get to Meze 119, a vegetarian and vegan restaurant in St. Pete. I hadn't been there yet and since I rarely find myself in St. Pete, I wanted to make the most of this visit.

For starters, Meze 119 is tiny. Much tinier than I was expecting. They have a decent-sized menu and most of their vegetarian dishes can be made vegan, usually by just omitting cheese.

Their drink selections are... interesting. The only iced tea they offer is mint-green. It's unsweetened, but it comes with a sugar cane stick.

I did not like the sugar cane stick. I did not find that it offered a drop of sweetness. Our server said that some people chew on them, and I overheard another server saying that to other people a few times, too. I tried it, but it was... awkward. I started chiseling away at the stick with my straw, making it look like a hamster had been gnawing on it, but that didn't make a smidgen of difference, either. I asked if they had any agave nectar, and I never got the answer. They have a house-made lemonade (also with mint), bottles of natural sodas, coffees and hot teas (which did not appeal to me since it was 94 degrees that day and we had just spent 3 hours in the sun), and... Pepsi products. Yes, at a restaurant that prides itself on high-quality ingredients for their vegetarian and vegan fare, you can still get highly-processed, high fructose corn syrupy, artificially colored carbonated water. Does that seem strange to anyone else?

Let's move on to appetizers.

Meze 119 has a 'bourekas' puff pastry appetizer with fillings that change daily. Amber had said that the last time she was there, the bourekas weren't vegan, and they were pre-made, so they couldn't be veganized. That night's bourekas happened to be vegan, but the filling was strange: butternut squash, vegan sausage, and jalapenos. Still, we wanted to try the bourekas, and they happened to be vegan, so we went with that. Their hummus of the day was onion and rosemary, and rosemary in hummus just didn't sound terribly appealing. Plus I'm picky when it comes to onions.

And then our bourekas came with a rosemary tree in the middle of them!

Three decent-sized puff pastries, steaming hot when they arrived to our table. Steam spilled out of the stack as soon as Amber pulled the rosemary tree out. The triangle shape is nice for presentation, but the filling is only in the direct center of the pastry. The corners are just flaky pastriness. It took a couple of bites to get to The Moment of Truth.

Now, I love butternut squash, and I'm neutral about jalapenos, but I'm not the biggest fan of mock meats. Because this was labeled as including vegan "sausage," I was expecting something in a crumblier texture. What it actually was, was more like vegan "ham," which threw me off. Amber didn't like it at all, and I would have liked it better minus the ham and maybe with something else in its place. Kale? Black beans? White beans? Some kind of cheesiness, either with nooch and/or cashews or Follow Your Heart or Daiya?

These bourekas left a lot to be desired.

Amber and I both love falafel, so we each ordered a falafel dish. She ordered it pita-style and I ordered the falafel salad. What I received was a surprise: 10 pounds of salad with 4 falafel balls.

Seriously, there must have been an entire head of cabbage shredded onto this plate, with just a little bit of tomato, cucumber, and Romaine lettuce tossed in.

Amber said she only had two falafel balls in her pita. There was a serious lack of falafel going on here. The falafel itself was pretty good, though. The insides were a little mushier than I prefer, but the flavor was nice and even had a little kick to it.

They had a vegan dessert on their specials board that night -- banana cheesecake -- but Amber was already running late for a meeting, so we actually had to get to-go boxes within a few minutes of receiving our food. (I couldn't even fit all of that cabbage salad in the to-go box. Seriously.)

So, my conclusions on Meze 119: Overall kinda disappointing. I love and support meat-free, vegan-friendly restaurants, and I would still go back and try COMPLETELY DIFFERENT dishes and NOT expect a tasty beverage, but there are other restaurants I'm more interested in trying out before I return to Meze 119.

Because the timing was right, I was able to zip over to a volunteer meeting back in Tampa, taking place at Loving Hut (which is Tampa's ONLY 100% vegan restaurant). The last time I was at Loving Hut, I made a mental note to get the flan, once I realized that it was on their menu. As soon as I got to the meeting, I ordered that and a Thai iced tea. I was very pleased with both.

The flan was smooth and not just creamy, but downright SILKY. The sauce is SUPER SWEET, so I actually avoided that, but the custard itself? Magnificent! My friend, Lisa ordered one, too, and also enjoyed it.

And the Thai iced tea was perfect: sweet, creamy, smoky perfection. What a sweet way to end a day filled with activism, sunshine, new foods, and friends! Life is good.

From Raw Food to Loving Hut in One Day

Saturday was a fun-filled, food-focused day.

It started out with a raw foods class in Lakeland, organized by a group called the Polk Veg Connection. Jackie and Gideon Graff were the teachers of the class. They talked a lot about raw food diet basics, then demoed Brazil nut milk, raw apple pie, and then raw ice cream (made from the aforementioned Brazil nut milk).

The apple pie was amazing! Very simple to make (all you need is a food processor) using simple ingredients. The texture was the best part. Half of the apples are processed until it resembles applesauce, then the remaining apples are just pulsed into chunks, and this texture combination was lovely for mouthfeel and for presentation.

I wasn't sure about the ice cream at first, but it grew on me. I think I would have liked it better if it had more flavor (more vanilla, maybe?).

From there, we skeedaddled back up to Tampa for our friend, Dean's going away dinner held at Loving Hut. Loving Hut had a buffet all day, and the buffet offerings are always hit-or-miss, but that night, they had two totally awesome dishes with no strange mock meats, and I loved them!

This tofu is the BEST tofu I've had since I moved to Florida.

And the all-veggies stir-fry was delicious. I love bok choy!

Amber brought some totally rockin' homemade cupcakes - peanut butter with chocolate frosting and chocolate-chip pumpkin with cream cheese frosting - but I didn't get any pics of them. They do make an appearance in this shot of the guest of honor.

I had an educational day and a rowdy, laughter-filled night with my beautiful veggie pals. I met some cool new people, too.

And to Dean: It was nice knowin' ya. Your activism will be missed in Tampa, but Seattle is lucky to have you. Expect to see me crashing on your floor space in the as-near-as-possible future.

Ending 2011 Deliciously

On new year's eve eve, a former co-worker of mine was in town for the holidays and she and I went out for lunch and chat at Ciccio's in South Tampa. I had never heard of this place before, but my friend felt confident that I'd be able to find something vegan there. Being a trendy-looking restaurant on South Howard, I was greatly amused to hear White Zombie's "More Human Than Human" playing as we walked in.

At first glance of Ciccio's menu, it looked like the only vegan offerings "as is" would be the edamame and the Asian guacamole. A salad minus at least half of the ingredients would also be vegan. Even their sushi menu listed zero veggie options. Right off the bat, I inquired what made the Asian guacamole Asian. Our server said that it was made with rice wine vinegar and "Asian spices," and it was vegan, so we ordered it. Next I asked if there was a vegetarian/vegan menu, and there wasn't, but the server was knowledgeable and helpful and gave me a few tips on how and what to order. She said an all-veggie sushi roll could be made, and many of the stir-fries and rice bowls could be made vegan by swapping the meat out for portobello mushrooms. There's no tofu or tempeh here, so if you hate portobello mushrooms, you'll be eating a much lighter meal at Ciccio's. Luckily, I love portobello mushrooms, so I was in luck. When she suggested the lettuce wraps with this alteration, I quickly made my decision.

I wish I had taken a picture of the Asian guacamole, not that the picture or my words would do it justice. It was AMAZING. The rice wine vinegar gave the guac this amazing sweetness. I'm not sure what spices they used, but it gave it another dimension of flavor to this amazingly creamy guacamole. Garnished with black sesame seeds, this was a flavor explosion. The Asian guacamole alone will bring me back to Ciccio's! (And also the top hits of the '90s, which they kept churning out the whole time we were there. It was like playing "Name That Tune," and I was totally winning.)

And then this was brought to the table.

This GIANT platter held portobello strips, sprouts, black bean salsa, shredded carrot-zucchini-yellow squash, and shredded cucumber. It came with three different sauces for dipping: red wine vinaigrette, balsamic vinaigrette, and - my favorite - Thai peanut sauce (which the server made sure to go back and check that it's vegan). This was super delicious and tasted very fresh. I loved all the colors and textures and flavors, all brought together on a crispy lettuce leaf. Although Ciccio's doesn't seem vegan-friendly at first glance of their menu, they are actually quite accommodating. I think they should put these vegan suggestions on their menu for all to enjoy!

Later that night, Lisa and I went to Pizza Fusion downtown to cash in her Creative Loafing deal coupon (kinda like Groupon). Parking downtown is always an ordeal, but since we didn't get down there until 8, street parking was free (woo hoo!), but we still drove around in circles several times, trying to find the actual Pizza Fusion location, and then finding a parking spot in that vicinity.

Ahead of time, Lisa inquired for me about Pizza Fusion's gluten-free crust, and yes, it is vegan! Yay! AND they offer iced black tea AND green tea, both unsweetened, but they have agave nectar upon request! Yay again!

Lisa ordered the Very Vegan with daiya cheese.

I ordered the Farmers Market with daiya on the gluten-free crust.

I was VERY impressed with this gluten-free crust. It was soft and chewy and had a very pleasing texture. Next time I'll get a larger size! And for all you daiya-haters, they also offer Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet cheese. Pizza Fusion also offers a vegan brownie, but we were too full to try it this time around.

On New Year's Eve, I closed out 2011 and rang in 2012 with my vegan friends. I LOVE my vegan friends -- we always eat like royalty at these get-togethers! I didn't get pictures of everything, but here's a portion of our spread.

These are Loving Hut's seasoned "passion fries," which are pretty good, but made AMAZING by whatever dipping sauce comes with them. Wow!

These seitan skewers are also from Loving Hut. I didn't try them because seitan ruins my guts (although I did eat other wheat things that night, bad girl I am).

We had two different kinds of chili, chips and Veggie Booty, corn breads, a Chinese noodle dish and a stir-fry, a fruit tray, and a veggie tray.

And Dean brought cheesecake! Ahhh! Banana-nut and gingerbread, served with a glop of Healthy Top.

All that food fueled us for a night filled with amber Woodchuck; lots of dirty, That's What She Said-type jokes; Guesstures and Taboo, and watching the ball drop AT MIDNIGHT! (When I lived in Missouri, we always watched it at 11pm. Stupid Central time.)

I rang in 2012 with the exact same people I was with to ring in 2011. Only this time, I'd known these people for over a year, instead of just a month. The only difference is that we've only gotten more crass.

<3

Happy New Year!

So We Wheat Again

I had a few run ins with that bully, Wheat last week. I don't know if Wheat is more a bully or a sweet talker, but either way, Wheat is trouble!

I went to the Loving Hut in Tampa for the first time last week to listen to a presentation from Nick Cooney, the director of the Humane League. There also happened to be a very affordable buffet for the occasion, so I hopped in line. Unfortunately, most of the offerings were pasta-based. Ho hum.
At least there was soup, which was PERFECT because it was a cold night.

This soup had an interesting consistency. It was mostly creamy. It had coconut, rice, and tofu.
I went ahead and grabbed a little bit of everything, for the sake of reviewing. (The things I do for this blog, eh?)

Another con to the offerings: too many mock meats! Mock meats weird me out a bit. I definitely did not like the meatballs, and the chicken-esque bits in that creamy pasta dish were a little too realistic (I haven't eaten meat since 1995, but those chunks almost gave me a disturbing flashback). That dish could have used more broccoli and other veggies, less weird stuff, though the sauce was awesome. (I'm not sure if this was supposed to be like alfredo sauce or not. I don't remember what alfredo tastes like!) The tofu was fine and the eggplant chunks were a bit undercooked. So really, the offerings were VERY hit or miss. This tapioca-based pudding was fun, though.

The creamy pasta with mushroom and broccoli was the best of the options.

This was my first time at the Loving Hut, and a friend of mine there said that the buffet offerings didn't quite reflect their regular menu. I'd be willing to give them another try some day.

Then the next day, a friend invited me out to pizza. Oy. Not the smartest of moves, but when a nice person invites you to get pizza, you go, am I right? We went to Mellow Mushroom. Unfortunately, their gluten-free crusts are not vegan, but their regular crust and sauce is. They now offer Daiya cheese, as well.
My friend ordered a small field salad, which I helped eat.


Hummus was also ordered (note the cucumber slices - that'd be my wheat-free dippers right there).


We ordered the pizza with the most veggies on it: the Mega Veggie sans cheese. Since it included crumbled tofu, we skipped the Daiya.

sun dried tomatoes, green peppers, spinach, mushrooms, olives, onions, broccoli, Roma tomato, and artichoke hearts. Whew! Mellow Mushroom should make the Mega Veggie available as a salad, as well.

So, between Loving Hut and Mellow Mushroom, I was quickly wheated out. I'm ashamed to admit this, but because of my schedule these days, I hadn't cooked at home in days. I'd just been eating salads, raw veggies with hummus, Larabars, and then eating on the go with friends. On Wednesday, I was happy to get back in the kitchen and whip up a couple dinners for myself: Wednesday night I roasted Brussels sprouts with bell peppers and ate it with quinoa and spinach. Thursday night I made a cozy little pot of red lentil stew, throwing in the leftover quinoa at the last minute. It all worked together nicely. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of either of these, nor of the dinner and dessert I made with my friend, D: stuffed green bell peppers and a fruit crisp. I've been slacking, folks!

I won a coupon for a free Tofurky product during Vegan MoFo and finally used it a few days ago on their Hickory Smoked Tempeh Bacon. Before trying this product, I hadn't been able to find a way to truly enjoy tempeh.

Let me say, I LOVE THIS! Granted, there is SOME wheat in it, but it's soooo good. I didn't even heat it; I just tore the strips into pieces and added them to a salad, and it was heavenly.

I will certainly be purchasing this tempeh again.
And of course, everything is better with Annie's goddess dressing.

Speaking of goddess dressing, I have turned TWO people to the ways of the goddess: a fellow vegan, and an omnivore. Goddess is quite the siren of salad dressings.

Also, check out this CLUB of Annie's I picked up at the Greenwise Market a couple of weeks ago.

BAM! You could seriously club someone with this bottle.

And it was less than a dollar more than what the normal size would cost at any other grocery store.