Just a note to fellow vegetarians passing through Barcelona: The best vegetarian restaurant we’ve found so far is BioCenter, 25 Fortuny, right off the Rambla. The menu is fairly small, but the food was really good. We had a very tasty seitan dish (sort of how I remember veal) and gnocchi. Reasonably priced, too. We haven’t been to many of the local veggie restaurants – see www.sincarne.net for a list – so there may be better ones, but you’ll get a tasty meal at BioCenter. And tell them Los Lobos sent you. (They won’t know what you’re talking about, but you might enjoy their momentary look of confusion.)

The next night: We had a lovely meal at Smilo, which bills itself as a pizzeria but has a very good Italian menu with numerous veggie entries. The pesta ravioli and veggie risotto were both delicious. The place is bright, clean, and very friendly.

Later still: We had a lovely, delicious meal at Vegatalia , off Las Ramblas. The eggrolls were fanatastic, and the risotto and seitan were delicious. Clean and friendly. Highly recommended.

2 Comments »

A fancy restaurant that assures a diner that it can take care of vegetarians and then serves a plate of side-dish vegetables as the main course:

1. Has an incompetent chef.
2. Ought to be ashamed of its lack of imagination.
3. Is as embarrassingly ignorant about vegetarianism as they would be if they reassured a diabetic that they don’t cook with diabetes.
4. Is doing the equivalent of serving a grilled cheese sandwich or a plate of Ritz crackers and peanut butter, except that either of those would be preferable.

Note that this is not a multiple choice question.

[Tags: vegetarian whines ]

3 Comments »

Last night in New Orleans I had a delicious veggie meal at Bennochin (1212 Royal St), an African restaurant. The restaurant is humble, inexpensive, and friendly. It’s not a veggie restaurant, but they have lots of dishes that are, or can be made, animal free. It’s next door to Mona’s, which has some veggie, cheesy Italian dishes. Since New Orleans is not the veggie-friendliest of cities — they like their seafood here! — I thought I’d make a note of it…

[Tags: new_orleans vegetarian restaurants veggie ]

Be the first to comment »

I’m about to begin a 4-city, 3-country, 7-day around the world trip, from Germany to China to Vancouver, arriving home on the morning of Election Day. And you know what I’d really like to find? A printable statement that explains in Chinese that I am a vegetarian, that I don’t eat any animals, including fish or shellfish, or anything made with animals (including fish juice in sauce, animal juice in soup, etc.). Any one have a quick pointer before I leave in a couple of hours?

[Tags: vegetarian ]

13 Comments »

Solana Larsen has a fabulous idea. For those of us vegetarians who love faux meat, why doesn’t a restaurant serve up something besides the usual mock chicken, beef, pork, etc.? Why not faux endangered species? Solana suggests a menu… [Tags: vegetarian solana_larsen food ]

4 Comments »