By George Fuller
The tofu scramble with veggies breakfast at World Peace Cafe Atlanta didn’t sound that special. Heck, I make that every morning at home. But this one, made with olive oil, turmeric, cumin, thyme and minced garlic, was a tofu scramble worth its lack of salt.
My wife Landry and I—she’s vegan and I’m vegetarian—were in the middle of a two-week-long holiday road trip last December and had had some challenges in finding the foods that are so easily accessible in L.A. Stranded in more than one vegan/vegetarian wasteland on our travels, Atlanta seemed like it would be more of the same. Isn’t this where they deep fry their turkeys for Thanksgiving?
But Atlanta surprised us, as did several other cities that proved to be happy discoveries along the way.
Kale to the Chief
Los Angeles, Calif. to Lordsburg, New Mexico
Our route directly followed major freeways: Highway 10 from L.A. through Tucson to El Paso; up Highway 20 past Dallas to Atlanta; and back across 10 to L.A. And though Landry had done loads of research beforehand on the places we would stop, reality found us more than once looking for something to eat between vegan-friendly ports of call.
Of course, if your definition of “vegetarian” is any non-meat food, then achieving a vegetarian diet is pretty easy. Even Burger King has a veggie burger on the menu; and McDonald’s fries are technically vegetarian. But if your goal is eating a healthy and nutritious diet, as is ours, you might want to steer clear of fast food veggie burgers and the deep-fry palaces ubiquitously found next to gas stations.
In Tucson, we made a 10-mile detour off the freeway to stop for lunch at Lovin’ Spoonfuls (2990 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson; 520.325.SPOON; lovinspoonfuls.com), where the house specialty was a Route 66 Bacon Cheese Burger, a grilled soy patty topped with crispy soy bacon strips and melted vegan cheese. But the highlight, at least as far as my dark chocolate-loving wife was concerned, was the Chocolate Truffle Cake. Divinely creamy and darkly fudgy, “You’d never know it was vegan,” she said.
Late that night, well short of our target destination and somewhere in the middle of southern New Mexico, we stopped, exhausted from driving. With nothing but a greasy spoon across the street from our equally greasy motel, we drove around Lordsburg and found a Chinese restaurant. Praise be! Stir fry veggies with kale and brown rice never tasted so good.
Lettuce Now Give Thanks
Deep in the Heart of Texas
In major metropolitan areas, we had no trouble finding a vegetarian restaurant or a grocery store that carried organic produce. And even in the hinterlands, salads are a fine choice (though not often organic, and from a nutritional standpoint we consider iceberg a useless lettuce anyway). One time, when starving between towns somewhere in the middle of Texas, Landry’s only option among gas station junk foods was a salad and plain baked potato at Wendy’s.
But we veered north on Highway 20 near Midland, Texas, purposely to stop at the Whole Foods store in Arlington (801 E. Lamar Blvd., Arlington; 817.461.9362. It felt like home. We stocked up on vegetarian and vegan prepared dishes and organic fruits and vegetables and hopped back on the highway happy—organic food junkies having just scored.
I must admit to one personal weakness: pie. I can eat an entire peach pie in one sitting. And wouldn’t you know it, just as we were about to cross out of Texas, after two full days and 800-plus miles from state line to state line, there was the Original Fried Pie Shop (18089 I-20 Service Rd., Canton; 903.567.0000; originalfriedpie.com). Fried turkey is one thing, but fried pie? Lead me to it!
At least the personal-sized fried peach pie I had was sugar free . . . and vegetarian in the broadest sense of the word. I have no regrets.
Second Only to Laughter
Atlanta
To our surprise, Atlanta actually has quite a few vegan and vegetarian restaurants. Yes, they do deep fry their turkeys for Thanksgiving, but as we discovered at World Peace Cafe Atlanta (220 Hammond Drive, Atlanta; 404.256.2100; worldpeacecafeatlanta.com) not everyone eats like that. An oasis of tranquility in the midst of the bustling city, this little eatery is staffed by volunteers and was built entirely through donations. All tips to staff are donated to create a meditation center, and in the tradition of the Buddhists, meditation contributes to world peace.
Thus, though my scramble was indeed delicious—and Landry’s favorite was the Cranberry-Orange Vegan Pancakes—we ate there several times and felt very good about doing so for reasons greater than our bellies.
R. Thomas’ Deluxe Grill (1812 Peachtree Street NW, Atlanta; 404.872.2942; rthomasdeluxegrill.net) is a longtime Atlanta vegan favorite. Decorated with Chinese paper lanterns, bamboo curtains and seashell wind chimes, and complete with chirping canary, the restaurant is actually more aptly described as outdoor seating in a heated tent. It’s the kind of place you’d expect to find in the jungle south of Saigon.
It also served everything from tempeh to quinoa 24 hours a day, so when Landry and I showed up at six a.m. one morning, we found that the Thai Express—a bowl of quinoa topped with sautéed broccoli, red cabbage, carrots, scallion and cilantro in a spicy peanut sauce— was a darn good breakfast choice. John Vo, who has been at R. Thomas for 19 years, said when we ordered, “Laughter is still the best medicine, but quinoa is a close second.”
No argument here.
Sure Beets Fast Food
Austin, Texas
On the way home, we made a point of stopping in Austin. A city whose unofficial motto is “Keep Austin Weird” must have some good vegan and vegetarian food, right? Alternative eating follows alternative thinking.
And yes, in Austin we found a food truck called the Vegan Yacht that parks just a few blocks from Whole Foods’ flagship store on 6th Avenue; and around the corner from a tasty raw restaurant called Beets. Pretty good for such a quick stop.
The Vegan Yacht (parks at 1104 E. 6th St., Austin; 903.283.6471; theveganyacht.com) menu includes several sandwiches, quesadillas and wraps, but what caught Landry’s eye was the 100 percent organic tempeh chili. One reviewer on Yelp recommended: “Get the fake chicken wrap thingy with the apples. I wanna bathe in it. It is not fast food! So much love and care is put into your meal—it will fill up your insides with joy and tenderness . . . mmm. It’s like eating Al Green.”
But Beets Cafe (1611 W. 5th St., Austin; 512.477.Beet; beetscafe.com) was our favorite find anywhere on our trip. A “living foods” cafe that serves raw and yummy meals and desserts, Beets is the inspiration of Chef Sylvia Heisey, who worked for 16 years in the corporate world before opening her restaurant in late 2010.
Nowadays she can be found enthusiastically discussing the benefits of raw foods with customers and encouraging them to try her fruit or vegetable smoothies, fresh salads and nut milk “i-screams.” Landry and I split a pizza rustica with a sprouted sunflower seed crust, topped with spicy almond nut cheese and tomato sauce, and loaded with marinated mushrooms and other vegetables.
If we lived in Austin, this would be our main dining hangout, no doubt.
Stating the Obvious
Scottsdale to L.A.
Anyone who pays attention to politics knows about “red states” and “blue states.” I’d like to hereby suggest that “green states” be added to the list. Those would be the states where healthy, organic, vegan and vegetarian foods and restaurants can be readily found.
Arizona—at least the Phoenix/Scottsdale area—would definitely make the list. One of our final stops before getting back on the last stretch of Highway 10 to Los Angeles was Green (2240 N. Scottsdale Rd., Tempe; 480.941.9003; greenvegetarian.com). Here, in a bustling storefront location, we found some very creative vegetarian delights. The Apricot Miso Bowl sounded tempting, as did Singapore Tofu—spicy curried tofu tossed in a spicy orange soy glaze over rice noodles—but I just had to try a Texas Moo-shroom Po-boy, a tangy mock meatball sandwich smothered in tomato sauce topped with melted mock mozzarella. Take that, Texas.
When we finally got home to L.A., we made one more stop before finding our front door. And since we were getting into town around dinnertime, Native Foods (now with seven locations; nativefoods.com) was calling our name.
The creativity and passion of Chef Tanya Petrovna shows through in every dish on the Native Foods menu, but we just can’t resist the Sweet Potato Fries, Roasted Veggie Pizza and chocolate Good Luck Cupcakes (Landry); and the Gandhi Bowl (me), which is perfectly blackened tempeh with steamed veggies, organic greens and curry sauce over brown rice.
And they say you can’t go home again.
❋❋ If you liked this story you might also like… ❋❋
❁ Healthy Hawaii
❁ Magical Ashland, Oregon
❁ Tropical Farm Stay
