Vegan Eatin' in Little Rock

This is my best friend Sheridan, and when I say "best friend," I mean absolute BFF. We've been best friends since we bonded over now-deceased teen actor Jonathan Brandis when we were in the eighth grade:

On Saturday, I made the two-hour drive southwest to Little Rock, Arkansas to try on bridesmaids dresses for Sheridan's upcoming wedding. Although Sheridan's been vegetarian for years, she just went vegan on New Year's Eve. This was the first time we'd hung out since then and she had lots of suggestions for delicious Little Rock vegan eats.

Pre-dress shopping, Sheridan, Brittany (Sher's other best friend/my former college roommate/the other bridesmaid), and I stopped at Izzy's for lunch. I started with a Diamond Bear Two Term IPA, a local beer brewed in the LR. I'm not much on dress-shopping, so I needed a beer (or two) to make shopping tolerable:

We came to Izzy's for the Vegan Tamales:

These were WONDERFUL! They were stuffed with a black bean/veggie mixture and we topped 'em with salsa. These were only the second vegan tamales I've had in my life.

After lunch, we tried on dresses and of course the bridal shop had nothing in my size. In fact, they don't even make my size, and I have to get my dress altered. I've never really wanted boobs, but it's annoying when clothing shops don't recognize that there are ladies out there who wear less than an A-cup.

After the stress of trying on too-large-on-top dresses, I needed dessert. Thankfully, we were able to find dairy-free Orange Sorbet with fresh fruit toppings at a build-your-own yogurt bowl joint called Yogurt Mountain:

Britt had to go home after dessert because she has a kid. But Sheridan and I went back to her house for a bit. When our tummies started growling again, we (and Sheridan's newly-vegan partner Drew) decided on Lilly's Dim Sum and Then Some for dinner. This cute Asian restaurant used to be located in Memphis, but its owners moved it to Little Rock several years ago. I'd not eaten there since Lilly's Memphis days.

We started with the Vegetable Gyoza, a chewy-yet-tender vegetable dumpling:

For our main course, all three of us ordered the same thing — Spicy Panang Curry with Tofu:

Why were all three of us drawn to this dish? It's made with Ramen noodles! And we all agree that Ramen noodles might be the best thing in the whole world. The semi-spicy sauce was creamy and coconuty and the tofu was perfectly fried. Turns out Little Rock is pretty vegan-friendly!