I just went to a graduation dinner for my cousin Seamus. It was at a VEGAN restaurant called "Real Food Daily". Apparently this is because his girlfriend, Lauren, is vegan. No one else in attendance is vegan. Only Lauren.
I ordered a diet coke. No dice. I ended up drinking some raspberry ginger ale, which was nice enough, but not what I wanted to drink.
I ordered pasta. It was described in the menu as having "parmesan sprinkle". I asked the waitress if it was parmesan... Nope. It was a walnut something-or-other.
By the way, instead of making a simple tomato sauce, they put some ridiculous fake meat sauce crap on it...
My other cousin, Darcie, ordered a "Grilled Cheese Sandwich" for her 5 1/2 year old daughter. She took one bite and declared it "yucky." Darcie took a bite and agreed. Lauren took a bite and said "Yeah... it's different." Ya think?
When the waitress was reciting the dessert offerings, she mentioned at least three items that were chocolate-whatever... Of course, I had to ask if it was in fact chocolate. The waitress replied that it was "mocha", and then further described it as cocoa powder. So technically NOT CHOCOLATE.
The classic end to the evening was when I ordered a double espresso. When it arrived, I asked the waitress for sugar. You guessed it - NO SUGAR!!! (What's wrong with "Sugar In The Raw?) She brought out a shaker of "Maple Crystals", which were so clumped up I had to open it up and break off chunks...
BOO!!!!
The whole thing is a fraud. The common justification for a "vegan" lifestyle is to prevent cruelty to animals. Of course, this is Los Angeles... Many of the other diners had leather products (purses, shoes, etc.) and got into cars (and some BIG SUV's) with LEATHER seats.
Moby (the musician) was there. I've known he was vegan, but I've never bought his albums... I digress.
Anyway, the fact that she (Lauren) would make all of these people (10 not including her) go to a VEGAN restaurant seems at least a little bit self-absorbed. It was pretty clear no one (other than her) enjoyed it, except maybe for the (non) chocolate cake...
Seamus seemed to suggest to his dad that they'd have similar food at the wedding. If that's the case, I may either boycott the reception or have pizzas delivered... I'm serious.
2 comments:
Being a vegetarian, I know vegan/fake-dairy food doesnt always taste as good as real dairy food-in fact it can be downright nasty at times (i.e. soy yogurt- ewwwww)!!! But please don't judge all vegans or all vegan food form this one bad experience! Not all vegan (and vegetarian)food is horrendous. My mom has made tons of vegetarian dishes and desserts that a lot of non-vegetarians have love/praised/begged her for the recipes.
I'm sure there are "vegetarian" dishes that may be enjoyable. My problem is with the "vegan" restaurant, everything seemed like it was imitating "regular" food, and doing so poorly. Why couldn't my pasta have tomato sauce???
What really got me irritated about the whole thing is that my cousin's girlfriend made 10 NON-vegans go to this restaurant for my cousin's graduation party. Everyone humored her, and no one honestly enjoyed it as much as they would have at a regular restaurant.
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