Adventures in Vegan Dining Out

Superhero card at The Bad Waitress

Friday evening, after attending a fun political event, a couple of friends of mine and I decided to go out for coffee. The political event (Al Franken's holiday party) had food, but I decided against standing in a big long line to find out if there was anything vegan or not; having not eaten at the event, I decided to get something to eat when we went out for coffee at The Bad Waitress. Initially, I was going to get chips and salsa, but when I saw "#20v. - Vegan Cake," a vegan pancake, I decided to give it a try. It was reasonably priced enough to take a risk. That vegan pancake was delicious! As a side note, The Bad Waitress is one of my favorite restaurants in Minneapolis. The reason for this is not just that the "waitresses" are actually very good, but that the chefs never cease to amaze me with their creativity within the greasy-spoon format. The prices are low and the quality is high. The ambiance includes a ton of posters B-Movies, many of which have been featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and each table has a Superhero card, which you are to write on your ticket when bringing it up to the counter to pay.

This evening I had a dinner date with a friend of mine, who has recently gone vegan himself (in his case, the intention is that it be permanent). My friend recently mentioned that he misses pizza. I have long been a fan of  Galactic Pizza, and have also long been aware that they have numerous vegan offerings on their menu. This evening, we gave it a try.

Vegan Paul Bunyan Pizza

As an aside, last week I tried store bought vegan "cheese" and found that it was one of the most vile tasting things I had ever placed in my mouth. It ranked up there with Fisherman's Friend Cough Drops and NyQuil. So my expectations for the cheese on the vegan pizza at Galactic Pizza were not that high.

We started our meal with vegan garlic "cheese" bread, and behold! Not only did it not suck, it was actually pretty tasty! This is something I will eat long after I have ended my vegan January. We ordered the Paul Bunyan pizza vegan-style. The Paul Bunyan pizza has vegan "cheese," wild rice, morel mushrooms, and vegan "sausage." The "cheese" was the same product as was on the bread earlier, so that was definitely good. The "sausage" was indistinguishable from meat sausage. It was fantastic.

Vegan Strawberry Cheesecake

Our waiter informed us that Galactic Pizza carries a vegan strawberry cheesecake, and like a good server he went for the up-sell  The servers's diabolical plan succeeded and we each had an order of cheesecake. This stuff was terrific. I'm not going to say it was indistinguishable from real cheesecake, but I will say that it tasted like cheesecake and it was delicious. It was possibly a little fluffier than cheesecake, but I kind of like that quality.

If you are looking for a vegan meal but you really just want to go out for pizza, go to Galactic Pizza. If you're in their delivery area, the delivery driver will arrive in a sustainable electric vehicle and typically will be dressed in superhero attire.

Based upon this experience, I am starting to feel that even after I have ended my vegan adventure, it is greatly possible that I will continue to make vegan choices while dining out, when such choices are available.