My Top 5 Favorite Vegan Restaurants in the US
Between my trunk shows and travels, I am on the road quite a bit. I am sure I’m not alone in the challenges of eating well while traveling. As a vegan, eating on the road is especially complicated. Thanks to some fantastic restaurants around the country, I can maintain my vegan diet while away from home and discover some incredibly scrumptious meals while I’m at it. Here are 5+ of my favorites.
1. Vegeria in San Antonio, Texas
Perhaps vegan food is not the first thing that pops in your mind when you think of Texan cuisine, but Vegeria in San Antonio, Texas will make you re-consider. This place is so good that I ate the avocado taco for dinner and then ordered an Oh My Not So Honey Quinoa Salad for lunch the next day.
2. Food and Thought in Naples, Florida
Food and Thought takes health and good eating very seriously. The founders originally started as organic farmers and then grew into, as their website states a, “100% organic store, café, coffee and juice bar.” You don’t hear of restaurants being “militantly organic” often, but Food and Thought evangelizes being so, and those who eat their many wonderful offerings reap the rewards of it. Their hummus and raw desserts are worth the trip alone. Don’t miss their entirely raw daily special, which never fails to please.
3. Crossroads Kitchen in Los Angeles, California
As if the Mediterranean small plates, farm-to-cocktail offerings, and incredible desserts were not enough to make you drop everything and go to Crossroads Kitchen right now, let me add that their food is served in a fine-dining atmosphere and is entirely plant-based with a minimal use of soy. The crab cakes made with hearts of palm, smoked kelp, as well as their risotto are truly out of this world!
4. Kelly Liken in Vail, Colorado
Every once in a while you come across a restaurant that is more than happy to accommodate your dietary issues and needs. Kelly Liken in Vail, Colorado is one such restaurant. They are committed to offering fresh and locally available food, so their menu changes as the seasons do. Some of my favorites at Kelly Liken include the quinoa pilaf with blueberries, their roasted veggie soup, and the fava bean and pearl onion ragout.
5. Josie’s Restaurant West in New York City
If you’re in New York City’s upper west side and looking for a healthy and wholesome lunch, brunch, or dinner, you must go to Josie’s Restaurant West. I prefer to graze on their appetizers and sides and my absolute favorites include: broccoli and sundried tomato dumplings, sauteed haricot verts, baked fries, and the butternut squash soup. Yum!
Honorable Mention: Babycakes in New York, Los Angeles, and Orlando
Babycakes offers delicious desserts for those with, as they say, “persnickety diets.” Babycakes offers what most sweet shops do not - natural, organic, and extremely tasty desserts that do not contain wheat, gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, casein, and/or eggs. Who says healthy cannot be incredibly tasty? Not Babycakes. Don’t leave without trying the brownie cupcake with mint frosting!