They especially gained a following among my immediate circle of friends (ie swing dancers) due to their location directly across the street from Century Ballroom and their late hours. When they first opened I had intended to take a look and see if they had any veg options, but it kept slipping my mind and I didn’t ever fully investigate. Then one night I was at a dance and one of my vegetarian friends mentioned having some awesome veggie tacos across the street. I soon after investigated and found that Bravo offered a solid selection for veggie inclined. Instead of meat on any dish you can get their vegetable mix. The veggie mix consists of summer squash, onions, carrots, mushrooms and sometimes sweet potato (the mix varies a little bit from time to time), cooked down and and well seasoned. Veggie tacos offer the mix topped with fresh onion and cilantro and a few slices of fresh radish, or try it in a burrito with black beans and rice (make sure to hold the cheese).

One of the best parts about Rancho Bravo is their fantastic salsas. They offer several awesome, house made salsas (and not chunky pico de gallo, or other tomato laden things, but smooth, complex, wonderful sauces) ranging from mild to fairly spicy. Be sure to grab some as they are what really make your taco or burrito special. The menu is authentic Mexican, not Tex Mex or cheese covered  ”family Mexican restaurant” kinda stuff. The food here is definitely the best Mexican I have tasted since my travels in Mexico. 

To top it all off, they are also super reasonably priced (like $2 for a taco and $5 for a burrito), and are open late (midnight most nights, much later on Friday and Saturday). The burritos are decent sized. Usually a burrito or two tacos will do me for a meal, or a taco is good for a snack. Yes, you still have to contend with the fast food chain seating, and there is nothing fancy about the place (everything is served on paper plates or wrapped in foil), but it is a great place to grab a bite late at night or grab some takeout before heading to the park on a (rare) sunny day.

It just goes to show it’s always worth taking a look when a new place opens up. You might be surprised at what you might find, and if they don’t offer anything vegan, mention it to them early and they may add something to their menu if they believe there is a demand.

I remember going to Portage Bay Cafe with my dad when I was a kid. At the time, they had one location and were much more unrefined than they are today. The other day I was needed for an idea for a breakfast place with vegan options (I, of course, first suggested Wayward, but Olivia’s omnivore parents from rural Washington didn’t go for it), so I elected to give Portage Bay a try.

In the years since my childhood, Portage Bay Cafe has expanded to three locations and has made itself over into a clean, modern vibe, riding on the popularity of organic and local food. Their menu features several vegan options (marked as vegan, which is always appreciated), and they serve breakfast/brunch 7 days a week. Of their breakfast offerings we tried the Fall Hash and The Vegan Pancakes.

The hash (still being their fall menu) was made with butternut squash and roasted root vegetables and the vegan option added organic tofu and mushrooms. The whole thing was grilled up with onions, garlic, and herbs. It was well seasoned, hearty, healthy, and delicious. The pancakes were made with rice flour (gluten free!), bananas, and hemp milk. They were surprising light and fluffy for a GF pancake, and tasted wonderful. They also came topped with a house made chocolate hazelnut spread that was delicious as well.

The service was good, and the space was nice. Given it’s proximity to Wayward and other veg options, the University District location probably won’t be on the top of my list, but they also have locations in Ballard and South Lake Union, which lack abundant veg options. It is also a little pricy to make it a regular stop, but it is a good option of you are looking for a weekday brunch or someone’s parents want to treat you to breakfast.

Remember it is free, and there will be a book signing and Vega product tasting as well.

Because everything ends up n the blender, you don’t have to be too meticulous about cutting anything.

Easy Broccoli Soup

2 heads broccoli (about 3 cups), chopped (include stems)
1/4 lb (a few large handfuls) spinach, chopped
1/4 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 inch pice of ginger, peeled and chopped or grated
vegetable broth or water as needed
salt and pepper
zest of one lemon, grated
Coconut milk, for serving (optional)

Put the veggies, onion, garlic, and ginger in a medium pot and add enough broth or water to just cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is tender.

Remove from heat and transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Work in batches if necessary, and cover the top of the blender with a towel to to prevent any hot liquid from spurting out. Return the blended soup to the pot and heat. Add the lemon zest and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a drizzle of coconut milk.

They just announced that they will begin serving dinner later this month, and the menu (here) offers several vegan options. They will also be expanding to offer full bar service as well. I’ll be going by to check out he new offerings for sure.

You can see some of Arabica, as well as yours truly, in the video below.

I was in Portland, OR again last weekend. I love going to Portland because there is a seemingly endless supply of new edibles for me to investigate. While I didn’t make it to any of the food carts that are still on my list (well, I actually made it to most of them, but every one seemed to have closed early, or be sold out of the vegan goods), I did stumble upon Sizzle Pie.

While killing time before another bout of late night dancing, we were wandering around the little stretch of Burnside near the venue when I noticed Sizzle Pie and it’s vegan offerings. At first I just noticed a “vegan” section on their menu posted in the window, and noted it for future options, as we weren’t really in the mood to sit down and eat a whole pizza. Upon further investigation, I discovered that among the pizzas available for slices were two vegan options. They offered a more “old school” style vegan pizza, with caramelized onions, tomato sauce, and nutritional yeast, and a vegan pepperoni pizza with Daiya Cheese and what I am guessing were Tofurky pepperoni slices.

We elected to grab a slice of pepperoni. It was a great, decent sized slice, with an exceptionally thin crust, and no shortage of Daiya or “pepperoni.” The staff was very friendly despite it being after midnight on a Saturday. Better yet, they are open ’til 3am most nights, and 4am on the weekend. They will definitely be on my list of late night possibilities next time I am down, and they also offer “brunch pizzas” on the weekends with several intriguing vegan options.

Seattle has more and more vegan pizza options popping up, but I would love to see some more options for slices.

Sureshot has long been a fixture in Seattle’s University District. They have long been a favorite of mine when in that part of town and their vegan offerings often go unnoticed or underrated. For as long as I can remember they have offered some of the best vegan pastries around, and after finding myself working on my computer there for several hours the other night I decided to give them a little write up.

Sureshot offers a comfy, relaxed  atmosphere, excellent coffee and vegan pastries. Besides the mandatory free wi-fi they have a couple computers that you can rent time on (or get some free time if you grab a drink), a decent sized selection of board games, and a back room with pinball and arcade games. The service is typically excellent, and they make great coffee.

While some coffee houses in Seattle may toute themselves as “vegan friendly” simply because they carry Mighty O’s, Sureshot actually is what I would call a vegan friendly establishment (despite making it onto very few lists). For as long as I have been aware of their existence I knew I could get some of the best vegan scones, muffins, and bars around there. I had always loosely wondered at who was making all of their goodies, but had never really bothered to follow up and investigate (or, ask one of the baristas). It turns out they were making them, and a couple years ago, the people behind Sureshot launched “I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan” their sister bakery. Before you get too excited, ICBIV is a wholesale only operation, doesn’t have a retail bakery you can visit, and is operated out of Monroe or somewhere else you probably wouldn’t want to drive to for a muffin. Fortunately, they do supply Sureshot as well as several other local coffee houses (including Cortona). Unfortunately they don’t have a website (that I have found anyway), so there isn’t an easy way to find who is stocking their goods (if you know of more places, let me know in the comments). Sidecar also carries goodies form ICBIV (in that little display on the counter that always calls to you as you try and check out without picking up anything else).

I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan makes very good (and very “normal” tasting) coffee house pastries, something that is frankly missing from about everywhere. They make scones, muffins (the kind that are dessert masquerading as breakfast), cookies, and some delicious peanut butter chocolate bars. All are perfect to go with your coffee of choice, and none could be accused of any pretense of trying to be healthy or “tasting vegan.” They also make not one, but TWO varieties of vegan cinnamon roll. On my last visit to Sureshot I found myself enjoying one of their sweet potato cinnamon rolls (pictured above). It was excellent, and didn’t suffer from the dry, blandness I often find in a vegan cinnamon roll (I’m talking to you Cinnamon Works).

Besides the mother load of vegan cafe pastries, Sureshot also offers a vegan panini (I haven’t tried it so can give no opinion), fair trade coffee, white coffee, almond milk, and is open until midnight. Next time you are in the north end and need a snack or a place to work on your laptop for, say, 6 hours pop in and give them a shot.

Coming up this week on March 1st, Plum Bistro’s Chef Makini Howell will be doing a Guest Chef Night at FareStart in Seattle’s South Lake Union Neighborhood. I mentioned this via Faceboook and Twitter a few days ago, but realized that many in Seattle (especially veg folks) might not have FareStart or Guest Chef Night on their radar. In light of that, I decided I would give the rundown on this rare opportunity for vegan diners.

For those not familiar with FareStart, the organization has been around for 20 years. Founded by Chef David Lee (who has since moved on to found Field Roast), FareStart offers a culinary training program for homeless in Seattle. Over the years they have expanded to offer a youth barista program, and FareStart also operates a restaurant. The restaurant offers lunch service daily during the week (including the “Founder’s Field Roast Sandwich” which is vegan), and every Thursday they  feature a local chef for “Guest Chef Night.” Each week, one of Seattle’s premier chefs volunteers their time to work with students and serve a three course meal (typically in the style of, if not directly from, their restaurant’s menu). Diners are treated to three courses for the entirely reasonable price of $29.95, and all the profits go straight back to the program.

Typically there is always a vegetarian option available, but it is rare for there be a chance for vegan diners to enjoy a FareStart Guest Chef Night. If you are considering attending, reservations are always recommended. You can view the menu (which also offers gluten free options) here.

If you want to stay on top of other tips like this, as well as updates from the site, “like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Georgetown Liquor Company has been a fixture in the neighborhood for five years (their fifth anniversary was just a few weeks ago), but is often over looked on the list of veg options in Seattle. GLC, along with St Dames, is one of Seattle’s two vegetarian bars. That’s right, besides Highline, our vegan bar, there are two bars in Seattle’s south end serving all vegetarian menus. While Dames offers a refined, modern, upscale atmosphere, GLC is more of a cozy neighborhood dive.

Perhaps one of the best parts of GLC is that, besides being vegetarian, it also has a sci-fi nerd theme going for it. It isn’t over the top, and certainly isn’t a “theme bar,” but many of the menu items have sci-fi inspired names (“The Picard,” “Darth Reuben,” etc.) and they do have a wall of old school video game consoles (Atari, NES, SNES) and a large library of games you can play for free. While they will turn on a sports game now and then, the rest of the time they tend to have either horror or sci-fi movies playing on the TVs.

Georgetown Liquor Company is through and through a bar (it is 21+ all hours, sorry kids). They don’t make any pretense of serving craft cocktails, and they don’t stock bottles from obscure micro-distilleries. They do serve solid drinks, poured strong, at very reasonable prices. In addition they have an awesome happy hour 4-7 during the week featuring some cheap vegan eats (more on that soon, as I am working on a vegan happy hour guide for Seattle). Their bar selection isn’t exclusively veg. They serve Guinness and other such things, and I’m not sure how knowledgeable the bartenders are in what is vegan and isn’t, so order what you know or use www.barnivore.com to check on what’s what.

However, once you get past the divey surface, you will discover a wonderfully crafted menu of some of Seattle’s best vegetarian food. GLC’s motto is “STRONG ENOUGH FOR A CARNIVORE, MADE FOR A HERBIVORE!” The menu is a pub food inspired, but done with care and taken up a level from what you might expect first walking in. Their food is always fresh, flavorful, and well presented. Most of the menu is sandwiches, which every one I have tried has been excellent. In addition, they have a range of appetizers, salads (all their dressings are vegan), and a couple excellent Mexican entrees (I highly recommend their tamales). While they are a vegetarian establishment and serve dairy, they are ultra vegan friendly. So much so that they mark the few items on the menu that aren’t available vegan. My only real issue is that they are still using Vegan Gourmet as their vegan cheese, but I have made a point to start bugging them to upgrade to Daiya. My go-to sandwich is “The Picard,” which features Field Roast, roasted onions, vegan cream cheese, and roasted garlic on toasted ciabatta with vegan au jus for dipping.

Besides offering a fairly large menu (for a bar), they also offer specials. I’m a big fan of specials, because I like eating new and different things. On one recent visit I had a particularly good seitan Philly cheese steak, and we came in to eat late on Superbowl Sunday and grabbed an order of seitan buffalo wings (pictured below). They also feature daily vegan soups (which are usually awesome) and vegan desserts.

So, next time you find yourself in the south end, or just want a change from the usual spots, head down to Georgetown Liquor Company and give them a try. Their kitchen is open till 10pm most nights, and till 11pm on Friday and Saturday. They also offer brunch on the weekends (which I have sadly not had a chance to try yet).

Because of all this I tend to bring a massive supply of snacks (or often actual meals of sandwiches or the like) with me whenever I fly. Although it cuts into my carry on space, it make the whole experience just that much more bearable. Sometimes though, you are caught unprepared and left without supplies on your journey (usually this happens to me on my trip home) and youre left looking for options. On the return from my recent trip to Hawaii (full post coming soon, really) I found myself in one of these dreaded snack-less situations. I was pleased to find that Alaska Air now offers a vegan option for purchase on their flights.

While not a hot meal (there isn’t even a vegetarian option among those), Alaska does offer a vegan option among their snack packs. The “Mediterranean Tapas” pack is listed right there on the list of food and drink options, labeled as vegan. As a bonus, it is gluten free as well. The slightly over priced box of snacks includes: multi grain chips, snack olives (packed without brine so you can eat them without making a smelly mess on the plane), a little squeeze tube of hummus, almonds, dried apricots, and a square of dark chocolate.

While the offering is certainly nothing outstanding, it is always nice to have an option, and to see more companies catering to vegans (especially when they will go so far as to label it vegan for you, saving you the trouble of asking a million questions of the flight attendant). The snack pack probably won’t ever be a deciding factor in which airline I choose to fly, or make me decide not to pack my own supply of food, but it is good to know it is there.