Nashville Ribz Plate at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

This is the Nashville Ribz Plate. The Wild Cow never disappoints. This was very good, but it's not on the menu. It was a "special of the day". Too bad you missed this one! This plate included barbecue seitan ribz over a bed of lettuce, a side of barbecue sauce, house baked beans, and Nashville potato salad. There was nothing light or mild about this meal except the lettuce. This plate was full of flavor!

I'm not much into meat substitutes, but the special of the day on this particular visit was something I've never had at The Wild Cow. I decided to give it a try since it was vegan.

The ribz were very good but so much like real meat that it was scary. I almost couldn't eat it. I needed more information to convince me it was not real meat. The taste and texture was exactly like ribs with no bone. There was a firm chewy side that was stringy and had crisp burnt edges and also a fatty soft side that stretched and appeared to be juicy like real fatty meat. It freaked me out for several minutes. But once I knew it was really veggies, I ate it and enjoyed the flavor. The sauce was very spicy. The lettuce added a good contrast with the spicy sauce and helped balance it out.

The beans were spicy, tangy, smokey, and sweet. I really noticed the celery. The sauce tasted like it possibly had the barbecue sauce in it too. It was a very similar bold flavor.

The potato salad was very chunky, creamy, and tangy with noticeable hints of dill, citrus, and celery. This also had a bold flavor. I also noticed some crunchy ingredients like onions and possibly grape tomatoes. This was very good but so flavorful that a small amount was plenty.

This was a great meal. The bold flavors were a bit more than I was expecting, but I enjoyed the meal and would recommend it to anyone who likes the traditional versions of these foods. This was a very convincing plant-based substitute for a classic omnivore meal. I will probably not get this again because it was just too much like eating real meat. Meat eaters, try this if you can! This is not the rabbit food you would expect.

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Tofu Rancheros at Graze in Nashville TN

The Tofu Rancheros at Graze in Nashville TN is described as tofu scramble, black beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, vegan sour cream, green onions, and cilantro served on two grilled corn tortillas.
Everything about this was excellent. Even the tortillas were delicious. 

Click here to see the Graze website

A Vegan Lunch at Wendy's

Wendy's doesn't have much for vegans. My original plan was to get a side salad and a baked potato, but the salads have cheese on them, so I just got the potato. This is a plain baked potato with black pepper and a large sweet tea.

I only had to pay $3.90 for this meal. It came with butter and sour cream, but I told them to keep those. This was a pretty good snack. Wendy's often over-cooks the potatoes, but this one was good. This Wendy's was rough. Very rough. The whole place smelled like a dirty bathroom, the 1990s interior was sun-bleached and sticky, and the people inside looked scary. I won't say where it was. I will choose another Wendy's next time. It's good to know Wendy's does have food for herbivores.

Santa Fe Quinoa Salad from Ale's Kitchen in Straight To Ale Brewery in Huntsville AL

This is the Santa Fe Quinoa Salad from Ale's Kitchen at Straight To Ale Brewery in Huntsville AL. This is without the ranch dressing. This was fresh, chewy, crunchy, and creamy. The avocado sauce was spicy. This salad was huge!

Santa Fe Quinoa Salad from Ale's Kitchen in Straight To Ale Brewery in Huntsville AL

Click here to see the Straight To Ale website

Nachos with an Upgrade at The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in Nashville TN

I thought the Nachos at The Wild Cow could not possibly get any better. I order them almost every time because they are irresistible! But I discovered a new level of perfection. I went with an upgrade option and got them with fajita style seitan, peppers, and onions. This upgrade took the Nachos from amazing to fabulous! It was worth the extra charge. I've been missing out on it all this time. Now I know. This is the way to do it. Check this out!

Click here for The Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant website

Lightlife Smart Dogs with Sauerkraut

I've never been a big fan of meat or meat replacements, but every once in a while I like to experiment with vegan versions of "normal" foods just for an interesting experience. Here's a good meal for anyone transitioning to the veggie lifestyle. These vegan hot dogs taste just like regular hot dogs (maybe real hot dogs are not real meat?). And look. This is a non-GMO product!

I usually eat these hot dog wieners as a quick snack with a little bit of ketchup. This time I wanted to do something different.

After I lightly fried the sliced wieners in the skillet, I dumped a small amount of sauerkraut in there and added some spicy Boar's Head Delicatessen Mustard and just a tiny sprinkle of other spices. This is a very quick and easy meal.

This is not something I personally would make very often. It's not a favorite, but this is a good idea for anyone who may want to make the plant-based lifestyle a bit more interesting.

Another Vegan Breakfast at Om Sanctuary in Asheville NC

Here's another vegan breakfast at Om Sanctuary in Asheville NC. This was part of the complimentary breakfast buffet. In this photo you can see beans and rice, tempeh, and kale.

Click here to see the Om Sanctuary website

Vegan Breakfast at Om Sanctuary in Asheville NC

Om Sanctuary in Asheville NC is a good place to escape. And for those not on a fasting retreat, they have food. Here's a vegan breakfast. This is toast with jam, orange juice, coffee, and granola cereal with almond milk and berries.

Click here to see the Om Sanctuary website

Roasted Garlic Hummus from Ale's Kitchen at Straight To Ale Brewery in Huntsville AL

This was great. The hummus was thick with a heavy but delicious bean flavor. It was drizzled with oil and topped with spices, basil, and kalamata olives. The olives were the best part and almost had a grape flavor. The corn tortilla chips were pretty firm but thin. The heavy flavor of this appetizer goes well with the Straight To Ale beer.

Roasted Garlic Hummus from Ale's Kitchen at Straight To Ale Brewery in Huntsville AL

Click here to see the Straight To Ale website

Loaded Potatoes at Graze in Nashville TN

The Loaded Potatoes meal at Graze is awesome! This includes oven fries, cashew cheese, seitan chorizo, guacamole, vegan sour cream, pickled jalapenos, green onions, and cilantro.

The Loaded Potatoes meal is a classic breakfast with a secret. The secret is that it's all plant material! Even meat-eaters could be deceived. This had a heavier, meatier flavor that omnivores would love. The smoky grill flavor makes this taste like something your grandma could have made in the skillet or something you could get at a greasy spoon on the old highway. Meat substitutes this good make vegans nervous! But everything at Graze is vegan.

Graze is a vegan restaurant specializing in breakfast and brunch comfort foods, dinners, smoothies, and juices. It's around the corner from Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant in East Nashville. This place is a funky, comfortable place that looks like a combination of a clean dive bar and a vegan version of Waffle House. They have vegan mixed drinks and they serve breakfast-style foods all day and night. The portion sizes are smaller, but the food is more filling than most other vegan food. The service is friendly. The environment is casual and relaxed. This is a great place for artists and musicians to socialize. Everything I've tried at Graze was awesome. I have not yet explored the entire menu but have plans to visit many more times.


Click here to see the Graze website

Mellow Mushroom Bruschetta (Vegan Style)

This is the Bruschetta with no feta and no butter at Mellow Mushroom. This was excellent!

Click here to see the Mellow Mushroom website