Restaurants

Another great place that Neil failed to mention is Kismet Kitchen on Barre Street in Montpelier. Although neither vegan nor vegetarian they are very accommodating to your individual dietary needs and even have vegan crepes. It is absolutely amazing for breakfast and trust me you will leave and need to unbutton the top of your pants, untuck your shirt and loosen your belt. They are open
breakfast
brunch
and lunch…….
wednesday through sunday 8-3
(kitchen closes at 2:45)
Also be aware that is Cash or Check only! No cards!

“when the work we do is motivated by our best intentions, we are ultimately rewarded
with the divine gifts of inspiration, joy, and pleasure.
As we devote more and more of each day to this good work, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to better ourselves and our community.
At kismet, we believe that through our intimate relationships with local farmers, individual customers and clients, our staff, and our neighbors, we are able to feed ourselves with the abundance that surrounds us. We use food as our medium, like artists, musicians, or healers, to keep us engaged and connected to our vision.
Using as much local food as we can, sourcing all of our other ingredients, and making as much as we can from scratch (like butter, ketchup, mustard, and kombucha), we have the ability to control and maintain the quality and intimacy of the food we are serving.
Sure, it’s just food- but we’re sure that its good food,
and it sure does feel good making it.” (Kismet Kitchen Website- http://kismetkitchen.com/default.aspx)

Since moving to Vermont from Fredericton, NB, Canada, I must say that I feel rather spoiled by the great options for veg*n dining throughout Vermont. In Fredericton, there were very few options available to vegans (for the most part french fries/salad and the occasional boca type veggie burger) and what was available was often bland and uninspiring. I’m not a food critic, so I won’t go into too many details, but here’s a quick run down of some of the Vermont restaurants that my my partner, Lindsay, and I enjoy eating at as vegans are:

Stone Soup
College St
Burlington, Vermont
This vegan friendly counter service restaurant has a great, always fresh salad bar, a number of veg*n friendly hot and cold sandwiches and fresh vegan baked goods! I love the vegan macaroons and the Vegan club sandwich!

Bee’s Knees
Morrisville, Vermont
http://www.thebeesknees-vt.com/
The Bee’s Knees is a small, locally run cafe in Morrisville, Vermont with a really welcoming, community oriented feel to it. They often have many different veg*n dishes including great salads and sandwiches. My favourites are the mock pulled pork (mushrooms and eggplant i believe) and the tofu breakfast sandwiches (I love being able to get vegan breakfast that consists of more than just homefries). The menu indicates which options are vegan friendly and which can be made vegan friendly on request. They have local music acts playing there fairly regularly as well.

A Single Pebble
http://www.asinglepebble.com/intro.htm
Classical Chinese cuisine in downtown Burlington. Offers many traditional Chinese dishes including many veg*n options including my favourites mock eel (made from mushrooms) and the Buddha’s Beef (made from seitan).

Ocha/Royal Orchid
Waterbury/Montpelier, Vermont
These two Thai restaurants are owned by the same family. Both restaurants seem to have very similar menus with slight variations between the two. They have many veg*n dishes and are willing to make changes to other dishes to accommodate veg*n customers as well. The menu is split into curries, noodle dishes, rice dishes and vegetable/stir fry dishes with your choice of tofu or meat. We usually start off our meal with the fresh rolls which is a soft rice paper roll with tofu, rice noodles and just a taste of mint with a nice light sweet and sour sauce for dipping. It’s a nice light and fresh start to the meal. The entrees we have had are the pad ki mao (my personal favourite, a wide rice noodle dish with thai basil and chilli), brocolli and tofu in a nice creamy peanut sauce, penang and massuman curries (personal favourites at home when my parnter cooks them and both very well done by the restaurants) and the pad thai (with no fish sauce or eggs). The pad thai is closer to a traditional pad thai than what people in New Brunswick knew as pad thai (spicy peanut sauce with rice noodles). While the Waterbury location seems to be a bit pricier, it also has a nicer atmosphere than the Montpelier location and I typically find the food to be a little better. Entrees are typically in the $10 range while the appetizers are in the $3 to $5 range.

Pacific Rim
Burlington, Vt
Pacific Rim is one of my favourite spots to eat when we’re in Burlington. It is a mainly Korean Asian restaurant in downtown Burlington. There is a good selection of salads/appetizers and main courses that are veg*n friendly. The food is fresh, flavourful and very affordable. They also have a good drink menu with asian takes on popular drinks and lots of ginger! It’s a very informal seat yourself sort of atmosphere with fairly decent service considering how busy things can get there.

Magnolia Bistro
Burlington, Vermont
Hidden away in downtown Burlington is Vermont’s only truly green restaurant, Magnolia Bistro. Magnolia focuses on eco-friendly, fair trade, local and organic foods and offers a twist on regular breakfast and lunch fare. They have many veg*n friendly options and the menu indicates what is vegan or can be adapted to be vegan. Some of the veg*n options you can order vegan french toast, substitute eggs for tofu in breakfast dishes or if you’re not in a breakfast mood go for a garbanzo burger. The food is fresh tasting, well seasoned and fairly affordable considering the quality of ingredients used.

Time to wrap up this entry as my bus home is due to arrive any moment. Hope that some of you can elaborate more on veg*n friendly places to eat in and around Vermont or even provide more insight on the places I’ve decided to mention!

Neil