Veggie Garden

 

Veggie Garden in Richardson, TX is awesome! They have a huge menu and even a vegan lunch buffet. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect because their menu is so big. I ordered their appetizer sampler which was vegan crab cakes, crab rangoons, fried tofu, fried mushroom, fried wontons, and fried vegan pork (The only thing that wasn't vegan was the rangoons because it had cream cheese which they removed) It was all awesome, especially the vegan crab cakes. For dinner, we ordered the orange soy chicken and the sesame soy chicken which was served by brown rice and white rice. This is some of the best Chinese food, I have had since being vegan.  We will be back often for sure!

Major Sugar Kick

I've been on a major sugar kick lately. Vegans are left out of having some really good candy bars, and you are lef to find a dark chocolate bar with 90% cocoa that's vegan friendly, but those always have a bitter taste to them. So what happens if you want a Snickers, 3 Musketeers, Almond Joy, or Milky Way? GO MAX GO has got you covered! These bars are delicious. I haven't had one of the non-vegan bars in awhile, but to me these are spot on! Recently, Whole Foods have started carrying these. It took awhile to get into a few of the whole foods in other cities, but I have seen them in everyone of them recently.

Also, recently they have two new bars Snap! and Cleo's which are a Crunch and Reese's Cup copy. Pretty awesome!

Vegan Cookies

Alternative Baking Company makes delicious vegan cookies. They have Chocolate Chip, Lemon Poppyseed, Peanut butter, Pumpkin Spice, Oatmeal Raisin, Double Chocolate, Cranberry Orange, Mac the Chip, Snickerdoodle, and a seasonal flavor. These are really great cookies. They are available at Whole Foods and you can usually find them at smoothie and health food places.

Anvil Pub

The Anvil Pub in Deep Ellum is a rockin' pub on Elm St. They have a good amount of vegan options and the ability to turn quite a few of their menu items vegan by substituting vegan cheese or chili. I ordered their chili cheese fries with vegan chili, sour cream, and cheese. It comes with fresh jalapenos which were awesome with their vegan chili. The vegan chili had a different flavor to it than most standard chili, almost had a curry flavor to it. It's some of the best vegan chili I have had. I only had time to run in and pick up some food, but the atmosphere in Anvil Pub is awesome and I could hang out in their all day.

Justin's Peanut Butter Cups

I've been craving peanut butter cups and haven't found any vegan versions of them. Recently, I discovered two. The first is Justin's dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I had seen these in whole foods before, but only noticed the milk chocolate version and then gave up since those are not vegan. VegNews had an ad for the dark chocolate cups and I went on the search to find them. They rule! I don't have a picture of what they actually look like on the inside since I devoured them immediately upon opening.

Go Max Go also has a new peanut butter cup they came out with recently called Cleo's. I haven't picked those up yet, but will shortly.

Cafe Elite Fried Tofu

Ok, I'm well aware I have posted 3 times now about this place. I just ate their again and had their Fried Tofu for the appetizer. It is absolutely amazing! They serve it with this buffalo sauce that is a little spicy but also sweet. I still can't seem to order anything different than the Fetuccini Alfredo with Chicken, it is so amazing! I'm a huge fan!

Cafe Elite
1501 Preston Rd. #800
Plano, TX 75093

Pizza by Marco

Pizza by Marco is the oldest pizzeria in Dallas. They have vegan cheese and vegan meats: ground beef, pepperoni, and sausage. The whole wheat crust is the only vegan crust they offer, I was told the others they offer use milk.

I really dig this place, however, I wish they had another crust other than they whole wheat since it is almost tortilla thin.

Cafe Express

Just went to Cafe Express for the first time. This would be an awesome restaurant for a quick lunch. They have some very fresh, light lunch and dinner options. According to the people I talked to at cafe express, the new black bean burger they have is vegan when ordered without cheese. The Veggie sandwich is also vegan when ordered without the parmesan dressing. They also have awesome sweet potato fries.

Cafe Express
They have 5 locations in the dallas area

Sprinkles Cupcakes

Sprinkles Cupcakes offers a vegan red velvet cupcake. It is absolutely amazing! The red velvet cake is moist and delicious and the icing has almost a coconut flavor to it. These are super addicting.

Sprinkles 
www.sprinkles.com
4020 villanova drive
dallas, texas 75225

Phil Collen in VegNews

Phil Collen was featured in the back of VegNews this month. He is vegetarian turned vegan and the guitarist for Def Leppard. In my store, we recently sold one of his Jackson guitars and it was a pretty sweet instrument. It a pretty quilt maple top on a mahogany body and has a few different color options, the most unique being a cool color called chameleon green. It has a sustainer in the neck, a dimarzio super 3 in the bridge, floyd rose, and a compound radius fretboard for the shredder in all of us.

Guitars I want/need

I've gone through tons of instruments and my go to guitar is the tedlecaster...

I've got the hankerin' to add some guitars to the collection, so here's what I'm thinking:

Rickenbacker 360 Jet Glo

 Gretsch Duo Jet

Gibson ES339

Fender 72 Pawnshop Series

Gretsch 6118t Anniversary

More Cafe Elite

I love this place. There food is awesome, Here is the fettucini:

Website: thecafeelite.com

Please spread the word about this great place!
They have tons of great options on the menu and even vegan deserts like cheesecake.

Pedalboard in progress

Time for another music post...

So the pedalboard is still a work in progress. I've added the Lovepedal eternity fuse, aqua puss, sparkledrive, and sonic stomp. I've also added a second pedal power 2 to power the pedals.
Although it doesn't look finished, it's actually getting pretty close. What's left is to add the following pedals in the spots that are open on the board: T-Rex replica, Empress tremolo, Fulltone Mini Deja Vibe, EP booster, Fulldrive 2, and a Echobaby. I'm going to also have to add one more pedalpower, an ISO 5, so I can power the other pedals and use the 12v for the T-Rex. So that will be 3 pedalpower's powering this board. So how many pedals is too many pedals?

More updates to come...

Salata

This build your own salad bar is a fun, healthy place to eat. You have your salad built for you as you order versus you serving yourself off a bar. They have tons of veggie options and even wraps.
Besides having tons of fresh veggies they also have tofu, fruit, and pita chips.






Salata
mysalata.com

B.B. Bop

B.B. Bop is an asian style restaurant that is inspired by a Korean rice dish. You "build" your rice or noodle bowl by choosing your protien (they have tofu or you can choose all veggies), choosing your veggies (Bean Sprouts, Broccoli, Carrots, Corn, Garbanzo Beans, Peas, Jalapeños, Red Bell Peppers, Mushrooms, Spinach, Zucchini, Cilantro, Cucumbers), and then choosing a sauce to add. The vegetables can be served raw or sauteed over the rice.
I'm absolutely addicted to this place. The food is awesome and the people are very helpful and friendly.
Please check it out!

Website: www.bbbopricebowls.com

There are currently two locations: one in Dallas and one in Carrollton

Cafe Elite

I love this place and the fact that it is 1 minute away from where I love makes it even better! They have a full vegan menu and are super nice. The menu has a lot of variety from fettucini alfredo to paninis and burgers to mac & cheese and chick'n sandwiches. I highly recommend this restaurant. I love their commitment to stopping animal cruelty and that they provide a fully vegan menu that is not just the standard vegan dishes. Huge Fan!

Dallas Vegan Restaurants

Since moving back to Dallas, I have discovered a ton of cool vegan restaurants or vegan friendly places to eat. I'll be adding to this list as I find more, but here they are:

Cafe Elite
has a full vegan menu
located in Plano

Bliss Cafe
Raw Cafe with pizza, sandwiches,  "Rawsagna", tacos, burgers

Loving Hut
All vegan with quesadillas, wraps, sandwiches, sloppy joes, chili, pizza, pasta,  & vegan sushi

Dream Cafe 
Tofu Scramble called "you're so vegan"

Cosmic Cafe - Vegan/Vegetarian
tacos, stir fry, indian dishes & pizza

Pizza by Marco
Pizza with vegan cheese & meats

Pizza Lounge
Vegan Grilled Cheese
Vegan Brat
Menu indicates vegan options

Veggie Garden
Vegan Chinese food with zero meat

Nana Restaurant
Fine Dining in the Anatole w/ vegan options

Z pizza
Pizza with vegan cheese

New Start Veggie Garden
"Steak" with mushroom gravy, lasagna, noodle dishes, veggie sushi, & deserts

Anvil Pub
Nachos w/ vegan chili
Loaded Cheese Fries
Vegan Chili

Zen Sushi
Vegan Sushi options

Sweet Tomatoes
Salad Bar / Soups

Salata
Salad bar / wraps

The blog is back

I missed a few days of updating due to moving and getting settled in here in Dallas, but I'm back and have tons of updating to do. There are plenty of vegan places to eat and tons of whole foods and boutique grocery stores. I live in the suburbs, but I work near downtown so I'll get to experience a wide variety of restaurants. I've been to some awesome places already that I'll have to update about this week.

Goodbye Memphis, Hello Dallas!