Published Monday, October 4, 2004
More Than Beantown
A Vegetarian's Guide to Boston
By Nicole Delessert Shields
APPIAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Two of Massachusetts’s vegan restaurants – Boston’s Country Life and Newton’s Lite and Life – have recently closed.  But while these fine establishments will be missed, there are several other restaurants in the area, and no vegetarian or vegan, no matter how strict, should starve.

Conveniently located right in Harvard Square, Veggie Planet (47 Palmer Street, in the alley between the two Coop buildings) specializes in pizzas. The cheese is rennetless, and most dishes can be made vegan. They usually have some sort of vegan baked-goods, as well. My favorite is the Portabella Redhead, which has a roasted pepper sauce and portabella mushrooms. "Dinner for Henry is delicious; the odd-sounding combination of squash and goat cheese on pizza turns out to be a fantastic blend of rich and creamy and sweet. The Thai Curry pizza was a bit of a disappointment. It turns out rice on top of pizza is not as inventive as it is gross.  However, the Macaroni and Cheese features the perfect balance of pasta and cheddar.  For those watching their weight, the (anchovy-less) Caeser Salad with tofu croutons is a tasty yet light option.  The croutons have a chewy texture, and soak up a bit of salad dressing for a flavorful burst.  Most dishes are around $5-$8.

Buddha’s Delight (two locations: 3 Beach Street, T: Boylston; 404 Harvard Street, T: Coolidge Corner) is a Southeast Asian-style favorite.  But while the food is fabulous, you should be warned: it is very greasy and heavy.  I often have indigestion the next day, but I put up with it because the food is so tasty. 

The specials menu your best bet. The special 18 is barbequed Seitan, shaped into strips, with mint and tomato. The flavor is smoky, with a light sweet and sour sauce. I also enjoy their “steak” dish, which tastes a lot like the number 18, but the seitan comes in nuggety shape.  I recommend the vermicelli noodles with “beef” in curried-coconut milk, and anything marked as spicy.  The noodle dishes come in an oval dish, half-filled with noodles, half-filled with sprouts.  For a better value, ask them to hold the sprouts, and they will add more noodles to fill up the empty half of your dish.

For those who want something lighter, there are the summer rolls. Make sure you ask for them steamed, not fried.  The plum sauce is a tangy accompaniment to the lettuce, tofu and seitan in the roll.  Also, try the tofu salad.  There are long, thin pieces of tofu on a bed of shredded cabbage and other vegetables, in a zesty sauce. It is huge, so you can make two meals out of it.  It works better as a main dish than as an appetizer.  Most dishes cost about $5 - $12.

Much of the food at Grasshopper’s (1 North Beacon Street, Allston) is bland and tasteless. It isn’t that it is actively bad, it is just that I often feel as though I fix a much better meal at home. One notable exception: a dish called the “No-Name”. I think it is supposed to be a vegetarian version of General Tsao Chicken. It consists of crispy, fried seitan, stir-fried with broccoli in a citrus sweet and sour sauce. The seitan has a very satisfying crunch to it, and the sauce is addictive. The steamed spring rolls are also quite good, similar to the ones at Buddha’s but my mother swears by the dumplings as an appetizer. They are filled with a mixture that seems a bit mushy at first, that is, until the taste of ginger hits you. If you aren’t on a diet, try the fried tofu skins. They are dyed red to look like pork, and there is something very satisfying about tearing off chewy chunks of them with one’s teeth.

With its Allston location, Grasshopper is difficult to reach without a car. Parking is on the street, and I’ve had good luck with it. Cost is usually between $5-$12 for most dishes.

Organic Garden Vegetarian (294 Cabot, Beverly) is an organic, vegan, raw foods restaurant.  Sounds a bit daunting, but the food is great.  Their seaweed salad is very different from the bright green wakame you get in most Asian food restaurants. The seaweed is dark green, and it has a rich, nutty dressing made of tahini. They have a sunshine burger that I especially like, which comes with a so-called “barbeque” sauce that like a chunky tomato sauce, with smoky and sweet undercurrents to the flavor. Unlike many bottled sauces, you can tell it is fresh and healthful. There is a small hint of spiciness, but it is not overwhelming. Buy a plastic tub to take home with you.

They make fresh juices, and it is here that I tried my first wheatgrass juice. It was alright (tastes a little bit like grass mixed with licorice), but I prefer their orange juice. Steer away from the desserts, unless you are just getting fresh fruit. They do something with dried fruit and nuts, and I got bad heartburn from it. Some things are tasty enough to brave heartburn for… these desserts are not among them.

The Organic Garden Vegetarian is a good contrast to the heavy, greasy-yet-tasty, diet-blowing fare of the other three restaurants. If you want something filling and yummy that doesn’t make you feel like you have to live off of spring water for the next month, eat here.  To get to the Organic Garden Vegetarian, drive up Route 128 to 294 Cabot Street in Beverly.  It’s a good restaurant to go to if you’re doing a day trip to Rockport or Cape Ann.  Most dishes run around $5-$10.

As for non-vegetarian restaurants that accommodate vegetarians, the Other Side Café at 407 Newbury serves a variety of sandwiches and salads. My favorite dish is the cheese and fruit plate with the yogurt-honey dipping sauce. House of Tibet, in Teale Square, has an extensive vegetarian selection. The hot buttered tea is sort of weird, but the food is original, similar to other asian foods with its own take on it. Obviously, any Indian restaurant will be able to serve you, there are several in Harvard Square… take your pick! I would not recommend going to Pho Pasteur.  On several occasions, they have told me a dish was vegetarian, when in fact it contained fish sauce. They kept denying it, even though fish is a pretty distinctive flavor, and my brother had to actually go into the kitchen to see.  This is after I specifically asked whether or not it had fish sauce in it, and they said no. Avoid them.

In terms of other resources, Trader Joe’s keeps a list of rennetless cheeses, something Bread and Circus (now known as Whole Foods, but still Bread and Circus to the locals,) does not do. Be warned that these maybe subject to change at any time, depending on what is cheapest for the manufacturer. In general, domestic cheeses are more likely to be rennetless than foreign ones, especially if they are from hippy states like California and Vermont. British and Scandanavian cheeses are more likely to be rennetless than French or Italian. I recommend Hudson Valley and the Humbolt Fog, both of which can be found at Bread and Circus.  Great Hill makes a sharp blue cheese that is suitable for vegetarians. If you can find a Boursault anywhere (I found one once at Wild Oats), try it. Of course, you can never go wrong with a nice Boursin!

Both supermarkets have a variety of prepared vegetarian foods in the frozen foods section, and in the case of Bread and Circus/Whole Foods, in the deli section as well. Try the goat cheese and caramelized onion quesadillas. A vegetarian family runs Amy’s Frozen Foods, and their products do not contain rennet or eggs. Their dairy-free macaroni and cheese is for lactose-intolerant people, but not suitable for vegans as it contains casein. Ethnic Gourmet makes a few Indian dishes that can hit the spot. I like their Saag Paneer; the creamy spinach has just enough spice in it to give it a little kick.

The Harvest Co-op in Central Square, and Wild Oats on Rte 1 up towards Saugus, also offer extensive organic and vegetarian options. Some Star Market/Shaws have a decent health food aisle labeled “Wild Harvest,” but they are not your best bet, as they do not have the same sort of selection that the other ones do. Also, depending on the neighborhood, they have more or less of a selection, with the wealthier neighborhoods having more choices.

Vegetarians everywhere should mark their calendars, because the 8^th annual Boston Vegetarian Food Festival is coming up. It will be Saturday, October 23^rd, from 10am-6pm, at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center, 1350 Tremont Street. There is free parking, and the nearest Subway Station is the Orange Line stop, Roxbury Crossing. There will be free food sampling, cooking demonstrations, and speakers, among other things. You can find out more about it by going to: http://www.bostonveg.org/foodfest/

As you can see, there are many options for vegetarian dining and shopping in the Boston area. If all of this is not enough for you, and you need more information, you can contact The Boston Vegetarian Society, at: http://www.bostonveg.org 

Nicole Shields, an Ed.M. candidate in Arts in Education, is a contributing writer for The Appian.