The Veggie Grill

The Veggie Grill is an entirely vegetarian restaurant that opened in the student center next to Trader Joe's last year. Since it's opening it has remained a popular place for both vegetarian and non-vegetarians alike. I think it has remained a place that people like to go to because it is good food but it is also quite good for you, which can often be a hard thing to find. Most of the meat substitutes are made out of beans and grains, which are healthy replacements full of protein and fiber. Although the Veggie Grill does not have the largest menu, it still has a large variety of food, including starters, entrée salads, soups, burgers & sandwiches, and dessert. The first time I went to the Veggie grill shortly after its opening, I was recommended to try the Veggie-Mite, which is similar to a hamburger but with substitutes for the meat part, along with pickles, lettuce, and chipotle ranch. I have yet to get anything else because I enjoyed it so much, but I always look at everyone else's plates when I am at the restaurant and everything always looks really good. Also, I always get the Sweetheart Fries, which are the incredibly amazing sweet potato fries that I believe to be the best I have ever tasted, and one of the best things this restaurant offers. I have never heard a bad complaint about them, and everyone else I know who has tried them once, would feel wrong if they did not have them again.
The Veggie Grill is also an especially nice place to go for students because it is so close to campus, which makes it very convenient.
When you go to the Veggie Grill, whether for lunch or dinner, you will probably spent around $10.00 for the meal. If you get a dessert and entrée it will be a bit more.

Website: http://www.veggiegrill.com/index.html
Location: UTC (Across from UCI)

Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving this year!! Thanksgiving is always a fun holiday for me. Mainly because it always centers around lots and lots of food. The main dish on Thanksgiving however, is of course turkey. This is not a bad thing at all... but it is a thing that I cannot eat. There are of course other vegetarian substitutions for the turkey such as Tofurkey or Unturkey, but many vegetarians are perfectly happy to just eat the many sides provided with the dinner. This is how I am. If there are multiple vegetarians in a family then it may make more sense to get a non- turkey main dish, but as I am the only one, I don't want to make my mom do any more work. Some of the sides do have meat in them, so for those my mom will normally make some changes so that I can have it. The stuffing, for instance, generally is made with the turkey, but there are many other kinds that are not. Other than that, typical sides for my family include yams, fruit salad, mashed potatoes, salad, and cranberry sauce. Another difficulty for vegetarians is the gravy. Many people like to put gravy on their mashed potatoes, and some people seem to like it on everything... but often gravy is meat based and so if it is something you want to have with you during your meal, you will probably need to make a special request. I do not need the gravy with my mashed potatoes, but I have had a vegetarian kind before and I found it to still be quite tasty so there are other things you could do. Other than that, you probably had dessert, but I am sure that that all remained meat free and I hope you enjoyed it!!