VEGETARIAN BEYOND VEGETARIAN RESTAURANTS
I eat vegetarian because of ethical, health and ecological reasons. For ethical reasons I avoid buying leather and other products that inherently require the death of animals. For for reasons of health and well being I find it good to prioritize raw food, but that it can be a strain possibly out of proportion to the benefit to try to eat too strictly raw food- but this explains a preference for eating places that have salads as well as additional vegetarian dishes. It probably would promote the ethical and ecological (it takes a lot more resources and pollution to first turn vegetable matter to animal matter before eating it) to try to eat at vegetarian restaurants. On the other hand I like to promote the idea that one can eat healthily and considerately with only a minimum of personal sacrifice (it’s mostly just a matter of changing habits) whereas many “vegetarian” restaurants don’t really explore what I would call “refined” cuisine- chef picked fresh ingredients, sophistication of seasoning etc. Usually I would rather have a baby greens salad with a light vinaigrette than chopped cabbage and carrots with a lot of tahini dressing. And I think when mainstream restaurants find a demand for vegetarian items on their menu they will keep and or expand them, making them a choice for those either are not vegetarian, or are only vegetarian when convenient- in either case reducing the amount of animals being eaten by humans, and making the prospect of being vegetarian not so daunting.
PREFACE
Originally the idea was to post experiences in finding vegetarian cuisine in places we traveled to in order to help vegetarians have some idea what vegetarian dining might be available when they travel. But several years of Europe, Puerto Rico,Tahiti and touring are now a bit far in the past to remember in detail. So some general information about those places will be described herein, along with more detailed information from more recently.
The information below results from personal experience, and biased with a taste towards contemporary refined cuisine. Resources of Rice and veggies or burritos are generally overlooked herein.
If a restaurant is described without details it probably had at least one or more vegetarain entrees and salads that were OK.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
Thai restaurants frequently have lot’s that might be vegetarian, but they aren’t always real consistent in telling you whether there might be “fish sauce” in curries and other dishes if you are a stickler. They also are more likely to be open late.
Indian restaurants usually have some vegetarian.
Italian and Greek and Chinese restaurants usually do as well, though sticklers might be concerned about pork or chicken “soup” in Chinese dishes. TRAVELING
On the other hand, there were a variety of experiences traveling to Europe.
Studying the language books and WRITING down exactly what you won’t eat helped (NO guarantees, dining harbor front in Monaco at an outside Cafe we discovered in a salad which was covered by any of the multitude of words we said “no” to (pas de poulet, pas de viande, pas de poisson, pas de jambon, rien de.... etc.) I think subsequently we added a word or two for shellfish and that didn’t occur again.

2008
NEW ORLEANS
Giovani’s on Decauter
5/27/08 Several vegetable side dishes: Spinach $8,Tuscany Vegetables , $8 Polenta with goat Cheese $7 - all good, old world style, not light cooking, not sure if there was actually any goat cheese in the polenta,
Picasso salad- tasty variety with attractive row presentation, lettuce greens with sweet mildly spicy dressing, avocado, candied/spice pecans/pistachios, - only the beets were probably canned.
Quattro fromagio with eggplant- rigatoni in creamy tomato sauce, two pieces bread eggplant with cheese melted on top- very good old world style.Muriels Chartres street
Butter Lettuce salad with pine nuts and slightly sweet citrus basalmic vinaigrette and pine nuts. Very buttery butter lettuce- good.
Tagiltelle in creamy sundried tomato sauce with artichokes and 4 tender thin asparagus spears on top - excellent.
Angeli- Decauter
Greek Salad, - fresh iceberg lettuce- marinara sauce in little plastics cups for the dressing, better than it sounds.
Spanokopita spinach cheese pastry triangles- good, though arrived a little late as sweet waitress was a little overwhelmed with rush around 8:30/9pm.
Those items, lemonade, and glass of wine and an artichoke/spinach sandwich (which I got the bread from and was either very hungry or loving that bread) came to $30.00- but she probably took something off because she forgot the spanokopita- but still rather “reasonably” priced. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORLANDO
Epoch Center
“Seasons” cafe in “The Land”
Baby Greens/Roasted beet salad with generous amount of goat cheese and flatbread crackers. Baby greens a little tired, goat cheese lower quality- but a refreshing surprise to find and alternative to iceberg lettuce in a theme park.
Vegan Blackbean soup on the day we were there.
-------------------
Disney Marketplace?/Downtown Disney-
Wolfgang Puck Express,
Spinach Salad (chewy, dressing underseasoned), Goat Cheese Pizza (OK, not quite like in the best restaurants) “Mediterranean Vegetables (Sautéed zucchini and mushrooms- so so), mashed potatoes (grainy- or was it the minutemaid lemonade self serve from a dispenser Disney/cafeteria style that affected the way other things tasted?)
-------------------------------------------------
Universal Citywalk,
Bob Marley Freedom Road restaurant
“Don’t Worry Don’t Cry” salad- pretty good salad with crisp plantain on side
Jamaican empanada like dish fried cornmeal outside pocket with seasoned spinach and sauce inside- tastefully seasoned- the outer cornmeal is fried, but if you can minimize how much of the outer crust you eat. Served on breaded french fries with their special ketchup in a small paper cup- the fries are more breaded in quality and less like regular french fries.
---------------------------
ST. PETERSBERG, FLORIDA
Thai Am restaurant eleven thousand something Gulf Blvd.
Two full pages vegetarian items- waitress said no fish sauce in vegetarian vegetable curries.
Hot Sour Soup, good- no tofu- one soup cup, lot’s of straw mushrooms, bell peppers, onions.
Green Curry Vegetables. asked for “mild” and was still fairly spicy, a bit less than what would have been too hot- very good.
Tofu “on Fire”- not really spicy- the “on fire” comes from the whiskey they light on fire (blue flame) and pour over the tofu, which despite the red sauce on top is not particularly spicy. Very good- soft inside, slight firmness or crust on exterior.
TAHITI 2007
Papeete
intercontinental Hotel I think it was the Te Tiare restaurant.
On at least two nights it was possible to get a salad and something to be a vegetarian entree- good quality- beautiful sunset and Moorea views can be had. Moorea
Sheri=aton Moorea Pao Pao- the hotel restaurant many times had a couple of vegetarian items, and one night when it wasn’t too busy the chef made a special vegetarian plate. Good quality food, better selection that most Tahiti restaurants, but still limited
Bora Bora
La Bounty had salads and pasta and pizza, more reasonably priced than other restaurants, but not really less quality- a bit more casual with bare earth floor and across the street from the beach.
Sofitel restaurant We stayed next door at the Novatel and the restaurant at the Soffitel would frequently have salad and a pasta.
-----------------
SAN FRANCISCO
Greens- for a long time the best vegetarian cuisine in a restaurant I knew of (and of course they have their view of the water and Marina and Sunsets), but more recently other restaurants are offering superb quality vegetarian dishes as well- like Millennium.
OAKLAND AREA
Of course there are the Cafe Gratitude restaurants that are largely raw, but have a little cooked food so it also seems like there is something that is not an austerity to order, even if one isn’t particularly looking to eat raw.
Mangia Mangia usually has a couple of good vegetarian Italian dishes and good salads- occasionally a special is vegetarian.
The Baywolf is “fine quality” dining (not cheap) and frequently (but not always) has a vegetarian dish in addition to a salad.
In the united states Ethiopean restaurants can usually prepare a vegetarian dinner- with the sourdoughish pancake underneath and portions of salad, lentils or split peas, cooked greens which are eaten with torn off pieces of the pancake/bread scoopeing them up. Quite delicious.
Berkeley has Ristorante Raphael which has a number of Vegetarian dishes, as well as Venetia. SANTA CRUZ
Aside from restaurants that obviously have vegetarian food, (Dharma’s in Capitola) Santa Cruz restaurants probably include more vegetarian items on their menus than anywhere else.
Mobo Sushi has a number of vegetarian Sushi’s
La Brushchetta in Felton has usually a couple of vegetarian pasta’s or entree’s and salads- they use some organic ingredients.
In Vino Veritars.Scotts Valley owned by La Brushchetta- similar quality, less vegetarian.
Ristorante Italiano on Soquel is traditional Italian with Pastas and Eggplant Parmigana and salads.
Gabriella’s on Center Street- good quality usually one or two vegetarian entrees and a salad plus they have made special vegetarian plates.
Crepe place has a number of vegetarian items on Soquel.
Scopazzi's In Boulder Creek usually has a couple of vegetarian things, and seem to have gone from a C+ quality to a B+ quality recently.
The Taj Indian Food - classic Indian food - fairly good quality with servers that are from a family that might just as soon not be serving food (perhaps it’s that we are usually there on Holidays or late at night?)
Asian Rose-- cafeteria/buffet style.
Saturn Cafe - playful atmosphere- truly vegetarian Caesar Salad and all sorts of vegetarian stuff- including good quality fast food style (like their fries). Usually open late. LOS ANGELES
It’s been awhile, but Inn of the Seventh Ray was always an exceptional place and hopefully has a few vegetarian items left on it’s menu.
Real Foods on Santa Monica In Santa Monica has food oriented toward quality perhaps over sensual gratification- but that’s not to say it doesn’t taste good. Fresh Ingredients caringly prepared (they seem to have an underlying macrobiotic background, but are more broad than some people think of macrobiotics) are almost always going to taste good.
Dar Magrheb off Sunset Blvd in Hollywood is inconstant in their seasoning, but can usually prepare a vegetarian dinner (if you don’t eat eggs the Bastilla will be out in any case- but otherwise their vegetarian food might actually be vegan). It’s really more a theatrical experience to dine in their Moroccan palace, so it might be suited for special occasions. It used to be each person had to buy a multicourse meal and you shared eating from the same plates with your hands. PARIS (2001)
There was a Thai restaurant about a 15 minute Cab Ride from the Motre Dame area where we were staying that served some very bland food (probably if we could communicate better they wouldn't have had to err quite so far on the side of caution)- and they were kind enough to get a cab for us (I think they feared we’d be there all night if someone who spoke French didn’t help!).
We happily found that the cheese and tomato paninni sandwiches readily available at stands on the Champs Ely’see and elsewhere were usually delicious, not too heavy. LONDON (2002)
There are many ethnic restaurants that might have vegetarian, and in the town of Bath as well.
BARCELONA (2002)
First night discovered European Gelato (on the internet it appeared it would be vegetarian)- didn’t need anything else.

ITALY 2003
Below are restaurants we ate at, all had some vegetarian items, Don’t remember any being bad, many were very good By approximate areas.
ROME
Ip Galluzzo
Bar Buca Di Bacco
Pizz Aurora
Bar Buca Di Bacco
Agip Hermitage
Ristorante Apollinare
SPOLETO Area
Hotel Tratt Pallotta
Ristorante Al Mangia
FLORENCE area
Ristorante Il Cantasto
Bar S. Firenze
Ristorante Antico
TUSCANY UMBRIA or LA SPEZIA/ CINQUE TERRA area
Ristorante La Lampara
Alchimilla
Tratt Alle
VENICE and finally LAKE COMO
Iguana
Antica Locanda
Agip Lario
La Funicolare


MARRAKECH 2006
I was concerned from accounts of friends who thought they were careful yet got sick.
I was very careful - carried handwipes to use after washing hands.
I also was concerned about tanginess having some meat broth even if they didn’t say so.
The Last night we had dinner in our Riad -Kniza- felt quite safe to eat and the setting was exquisite. Highly recommended as a place to stay.
BARCELONA 2006
We ate at our hotel, Hotel Montblank, Barcelona, one night, classy piano bar dining room style. And another night up the street (away from the “Jewish Quarter”) about a block at a restaurant that served a fair amount of Italian food. MADRID 2006
One night the closest thing near where we were walking was Tony Romas - pretty much a place for Madridians to get an American fix, we found some Spinach Artichoke something and something else- a bit on the fried/cooked oil side but that’s ok once in a while.
We also found something at Café Del Real Madrid, But I don't remember which restaurant this was. PUERTO RICO 2006
One night after we had wandered around old San Juan all day we went back to restaurant where you go under arches and come into a courtyard garden for dining- it was casual, the coqui’s in the patio kept us guessing whether they were real or recordings (must have been real) and there were a couple of vegetarian things of decent casual dining quality.
Porto Bello Ristorat I believe is the Italian restaurant we ate in on a main shopping street just a few blocks into Old Town San Jose- fairly typical Italian if I recall correctly.
In the North we ate at the excellent restaurant at the hotel, Villa Montana Beach Resort. And a visit to the emergency room for a sea urchin sting resulted in a visit to the local Pizza Hut, which was better than I would have expected.
In the South of Puerto Rico we ate at least twice at the hotel restaurant at Copa Marina Reserv Guanica. They usually had two possibliites for vegetarian entrees and a salad.
On the Island of Vieques we ate at
The last night on Vieques we ate at the Martinau Bay resort, There were several things to choose from that were vegetarian, though it might have been a special night. Dining on the Veranda outside was exceptional and the quality was good.

TOURING
In actuality, touring was mostly each day before driving to the next city googling the nearest Whole Foods (unless one knew from recommendation or experience of an alternative Whole Foods provided a pretty reliable place to pick up vegetarian take out from city to city).. And there was the food rider, which went from stale prepackaged vegetables to a gourmet feast (Thank you Taos!), and the restaurant across the street or in the club after soundcheck.