Vegan in Raleigh

Tags

Cary, Deco, Deco Raleigh, Dosai, Happy Cow, Indian food, Raleigh, Raleigh North Carolina, Tempeh Tantrum, The Fiction Kitchen, The Remedy, The Remedy Diner, Udupi Cafe, vegan, vegan friendly, vegetarian

Last weekend, the hubby and I visited my sister, Becca, and her husband Jonathan in Raleigh, NC, a magical land of bountiful plant-based food!

Both my sister and bro-in-law are vegan, so I was looking forward to a fabulous vegan tour of the city, and they did not disappoint!

The Remedy Diner

First stop was The Remedy Diner, one of my sister’s favorite downtown eateries, which she found on HappyCow.net.

It’s not exclusively vegetarian or vegan, but it has a ton of options.

I instantly knew I’d love it when we walked in and saw a portrait of Grumpy Cat on the wall!

To start, we ordered a couple of appetizers to share. The first was the flash-fried broccoli with creamy vegan ranch dressing:

The vegan ranch was superb!

Next, we tried the Buffalo Non-Chicken Wings, served with celery and more of that amazingness called vegan ranch dressing:

These were finger-lickin’ good!

Then….THE entree.

Becca had been telling me about the Tempeh Tantrum sandwich for the past couple of years, so my expectations were way high. Did it live up to them?

The famous Tempeh Tantrum

Ooooooh my. Yes.

I took one bite of this sandwich, which was named one of PETA’s Top 5 Vegan Sandwiches in the USA, and nearly cried from deliciousness.

It’s marinated tempeh, vegan bacon, homemade vegan basil pesto, avocado, and lettuce served on sourdough bread, a.k.a. sandwich perfection.

We all got the Tempeh Tantrum except Jonathan who dared to be different and got the Eastern Carolina BBQ sandwich with a side of gazpacho:

I had a bite and decided that one cannot go wrong whilst eating vegan at The Remedy.

My husband just cannot say no to vegan chocolate peanut butter pie (yes, vegans can eat chocolate!), so he got a slice to go:

It even came with vegan whipped cream!

Deco Raleigh

In desperate need of a stroll to “walk off” all of that food, we meandered up the street to a favorite shop of Becca’s called Deco Raleigh.

This store was full of unique, quirky gifts and art and jewelry by more than 50 local artisans! It was so much fun to look around…and we found some vegan friendly items too!

What a useful book!

Gandhi eloquently spoke more than one vegan-friendly phrase, and now you can take him and his enlightened wisdom anywhere you go…as a finger puppet!

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress…”

And, check out all these animal-friendly baby gifts!

P is for Piglet!

Finally, I got this cute owl ring, made by a local artist.

Now I can show whoooooo I love! Animals!

The Fiction Kitchen

That night, we headed to the all-veg Fiction Kitchen in downtown Raleigh to enjoy dinner with friends.

One of those friends was a childhood ballet buddy, Beth, who lives in Raleigh and is now vegan! Crazy how life works, huh?

We all started with some creative and delicious cocktails while we waited for our table for eight. (The restaurant isn’t huge, and they don’t take reservations, so plan to get there ahead of time to get your name on the list!)

Soon we were seated and enjoying appetizers including spring rolls with spicy peanut sauce, fritters with agave butter, and root vegetable chips (none of which I remembered to take a picture of – sorry about that!).

For entrees, Hanes and I got the Crispy Fried “Chicken” and Waffles, featuring marinated, herb-seasoned, dredged and fried vegan chicken, served on a Belgian-style waffle, topped with arugula and agave:

Becca opted for the Tinga Tacos, spicy chipotle vegan chicken on corn tortillas with slaw, savory black beans, and seasoned grains:

And once again, Hanes couldn’t resist dessert (which we took home). Cheesecake with Oreo crust and blueberry coulis, anyone?

On a squirrel plate, no less!

It was a glorious night of friends and food!

Udupi Cafe – Vegetarian Indian Cuisine

We thought we would never be hungry again. We were wrong!

The next day, we were ready to go to Udupi Cafe, a completely vegetarian Indian restaurant in Cary, just outside of Raleigh.

They were serving a huge Sunday buffet, so I followed Becca in choosing all the vegan food she loves to get there.

She got a big bowl full of coconut chutney first thing, and I asked her, “what do you put that on?”

She answered, “Um. LIFE!!”

I promptly got a bowl full of my own.

I also piled my plate high with lemon rice, chana masala (chickpeas simmered in lightly spiced tomato gravy with ginger and garlic), veggie curry, and a bowl full of spicy sambar (lentil soup).

The flavors were incredibly intense and wonderful.

I ♥ Indian food!

They also served masala dosai, a thin rice crepe, rolled up and perfectly crispy, with a savory potato and onion stuffing:

Put coconut chutney on this and life.

I went back for seconds. And they refilled my water glass about 100 times (wooo, spicy!). I absolutely loved it and left jealous that it wasn’t in Charleston!

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It was a short and sweet weekend, so there was no possible way we could go to all my sister’s fave vegan-friendly spots.

I asked her for a list of recommendations though, in addition to the above, so you can hit them if you find yourself in Raleigh for longer than a weekend!

Here they are:

More of Becca’s Recommendations

– Boylan Bridge Brewpub: Get the fried tofu wrap and beer!

– Irregardless Cafe: They have an entire veg/vegan section on their menu, and I like to get the quinoa salad with seitan added on, and I also like Eggplant Moussaka. Irregardless is a bit more upscale (read expensive) than The Remedy, but totally worth it for an awesome date night!

– Pearl Chinese: I also really love Chinese Food and one of the best places to get awesome Hunan Tofu is Pearl Chinese. They have amazing food, and their portions are huge!

– The Gourmet Factory: Another favorite. They deliver, which is super convenient for those nights when you just can’t bear to go into the kitchen. I always order the Eggplant Parmesan Sub without the cheese. They don’t use parmesan in the breading of their eggplant because the eggplant isn’t actually breaded for the sub! It’s thinly sliced grilled eggplant and smothered in their house made marinara sauce on a house made bun! I always get extra marinara on the side and dip my sub into it! You also must get their hummus! They make it in house, as well, and it comes with house made bread that is the perfect combination of a crunchy crust and soft pillowy inside! Dip the bread into the hummus and you’ll be a happy camper!

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Hope you enjoyed this vegan tour of Raleigh as much as I did!

To Vegan Food in The City of Oaks!

Sarah