Thursday, June 29, 2017

Stuff I Ate: Restaurant Edition

More stuff I ate. This time, it's all from local restaurants. I've been eating out quite a bit lately, especially from Imagine Vegan Cafe. But while we're on the subject of restaurants, check this out! I wrote a piece on Memphis vegan restaurants for the VegTravel feature in the July/August issue of VegNews Magazine. It's out on stands now. Here's the cover!


And here's the feature! I shouted out to Imagine Vegan Cafe, Raw Girls, Zaka Bowl, Mama Gaia, Juice Bar, Fuel Cafe, Blue Nile Ethiopian Kitchen, City Silo Table + Pantry, and Dejavu Restaurant. And for non-food-related travel fun, I mentioned the National Civil Rights Museum, Big River Crossing, and Crosstown Concourse (shameless plug, I know). Sadly, I had to leave out a number of awesome vegan-friendly places because I could only fit so many into the word count.


As for stuff I ate, let's start with Imagine. Owner Kristie is updating the menu, and she's removing a few of my favorite items. Sadness. So I dined there THREE TIMES last week in an effort to have those items one last time. One of those is the Meatball Sub, enjoyed here with sauteed spinach.


Also going off the menu is the Quesadilla. This one is stuffed with vegan steak and cheese, topped with guac, Tofutti, and salsa. The quesadilla is usually served in a larger tortilla, but they were already out when I got this, so they used two smaller ones. Still delicious.


The BBQ Salad is going off-menu too. Chunky, saucy bbq seitan served atop greens, broccoli, tomato, and carrots. Best with Imagine's housemade vegan ranch.


I also squeezed in a work day lunch with my neighbor Karen at Mama Gaia in Crosstown Concourse last week. I got the Copia Pita with roasted zucchini, bell pepper, eggplant, leeks, and onion, hummus, and olive-basil sauce. This may be my new Mama Gaia fave. That olive sauce is FIRE!


Speaking of Crosstown Concourse (where I work), the MemPopS truck dropped by on Monday with handcrafted frozen treats. I had the Roasted Peach, made with locally grown Jones Orchard peaches. MemPopS will be opening a brick-and-mortar location in Concourse soon, and you know what that means? POPSICLES ERRYDAY!


And finally, here's a quick smoothie from City Silo, enjoyed while running errands a couple Saturdays ago. It's the Jammin' Smoothie with banana, strawberry, almond butter, flax oil, and cold-pressed Granny Smith apple juice. Tasted like a PB&J sandwich! So good!


9 comments:

The Chubby Vegetarian said...

Congrats on the article -- wow!!!

janna said...

Do you know if Jones Orchard brings peaches up to Nashville? We've been in jam-canning mode and have found local strawberry and blueberry farms, but no peaches. My cousin sent nectarines from Her tree in California, but you can imagine how those arrived from that distance!

Hillary said...

Congratulations on the article! That' so amazing!!! I'll miss seeing the meatball sub from Imagine Cafe!! I wonder what new fun foods will replace those items? Popsicles are all I crave lately! Roasted peach sounds fancy and delicious!!

Sarah said...

Congrats on the article!! That's amazing!! What a bummer that those dishes are being taken off but I'm glad you got to enjoy them one more time! They all look so delicious. The roasted peach popsicle sounds so refreshing! Yum!

Bianca said...

Hey Janna! You know, I'm not sure, but I can certainly ask the Jones folks next time I'm at the farmer's market! Their peaches are awesome!

Brenda said...

Congrats on the article, I'm looking forward to reading it and looking forward to seeing what new favs you decide on at Imagine Cafe. By the way, I had to order the pecan pie almond butter you blogged about from the Vegan Cuts box. OMG OMG OMG, where has this been all my life. Thank you for reviewing it. It's really good.

J said...

Congratulations on the article; I just got my copy of VegNews in the mail the other day, so I look forward to reading your piece! The BBQ salad looks great!

Unknown said...

Congratulations on the article!! That's really awesome- and you certainly do know all the good spots from what i can tell on this blog!
Nice that you jad advance warning enough to enjoy those dishes at Imagine one more time, i'm always disappointed when a favorite is just missing from the menu. Although now you will have to try all the new dishes they add :)))
That smoothie sounds like the very Ideal of All Smoothies. I've been having a blast with these new "zipzicle" things i got off amazon - they're basically pushpops you DIY. I pour extra smoothie into a few and then have tasty frozen treats for later! I'm thinking i gotta do a pb and strawberry combo like that next....
ttrockwood

Susan said...

Congratulations on the article!

All those menu items sound really yummy, I would be sad to lose them as well! I hope you will have some new favourites soon.