Vegan Road Trip: Part 3
The East Coast and more
We made it to the East Coast just in time for Christmas Eve with Shawn’s family. We relaxed for awhile, ate some home cooked meals, went to the movies, had a vegan taco night and played lots of Little Big Planet. While there was snow on the ground when we arrived, it rained all of Christmas day, so no snowmen were made as I had hoped. Though we had planned to head in to NYC from the New Jersey suburb where we were staying, we opted to stay home and stay dry.
Luckily this meant we got to try out a (new to us) vegan Chinese restaurant, Veggie Heaven. Oh and it was heaven. I have enjoyed some fabulous vegetarian Chinese restaurants but there was just something about this place that has me dreaming about it. Maybe it was the sushi. Okay, so that’s not Chinese specifically but I’ve never had such amazing vegan sushi. I love sushi. Hey, I’m from Los Angeles, I’ve been eating sushi since I was two. As soon as I saw the fireball roll on the menu, faux spicy tuna with avocado and a signature spicy sauce, I knew it was the one thing I had to have. My goodness, it was divine. But it wasn’t just the sushi, we also had a great wonton soup and some fantastic crispy duck. So good, I can’t wait to go back…
Soon enough we were on the road again, heading to Asheville to pick up our backseat companions. I should mention that this is probably around the point where I was far enough from home and a computer that I forgot about taking photos of much. We went to some really neat restaurants and it just never even occurred to me to take photos. These things happen when you just enjoy your trip and forget about blogging for a bit.
After getting stuck in traffic on the horror that is the I-95, we were ecstatic to find the Blue Nile in Harrisonburg, Virginia with a bar that was open late (we drove through at about 11pm) and yummy vegan sandwiches. Also, I should mention I now have a deep affection for Hampton Inns. After staying in the creepiest Motel 6 ever, and after one of our more stressful driving days, it was so nice to fall asleep in a clean room (and watch Animal Planet). Not to mention, their complimentary breakfast actually has a few vegan options.
Asheville ended up being one of the surprisingly awesome stops on our trip. We spent most of our time exploring the amazing Biltmore House, but also had the opportunity to try a couple restaurants including Green Sage, where the reuben you see above is from, a cafe with a bunch of vegan options clearly listed on their menu. We had an amazing pizza with a super thin crust made from beer mash at Barley’s Taproom. And get this, Mellow Mushroom in Asheville has Cheezly vegan cheese! This isn’t true for all Mellow Mushroom locations either. As far as I know, it’s only Asheville. Did I mention that Asheville has the most craft breweries per capita in the US? Oh I didn’t? Well it does.
I’ll have one more episode of our road trip tour, featuring my favorite stop: Austin, Texas. In the mean time, I recommend you check out Shawn’s beautiful photo sets from our trip here and here. You can see much more of the places we stopped, some of our crazy antics and not just food.
Sounds like a fantastic tour & I just fell in love with that sushi!
Asheville! It’s a wonderland. My sister in law lives there, and I would move in a second if my hubby’s job weren’t here. Did you guys make it to Rosetta’s Kitchen?
It really was a wonderland! I can’t wait to go back. We did not get to go to Rosetta’s but I will make sure to next time…
Damn it, I wish the Mellow Mushroom here had vegan cheese.
Next time you’re in Asheville, you havehaveHAVE to hit Rosetta’s Kitchen.
Yes I was shocked that they had it. I tried calling all the other MM’s on our trip to see, but no one else did. And yes, now Rosetta’s is for sure on my list.
vegan sushi is one of my favorites! gah, i wish we had more interesting choices in los angeles.
I’m so pleased that you visited Asheville! I’ve lived there my entire life, but now that I’m going to school in Chicago, I really miss the yummy restaurants! MM’s vegan cheese option is delightful; I’m pretty sure they only have that option because of the city’s large health-conscious, “hippie” (and I say this in quotes because there are tons of people who represent alternative subcultures…) population. But anyway, if you ever have another chance to go, definitely visit The Laughing Seed Cafe, a completely vegetarian restaurant with a several vegan options.
Anyway, happy roadtripping!
I’m so glad we got to go to Asheville. Our traveling companion is from there but I had no idea how cool it is. I can’t wait to go back and spend more time there. Hopefully when it’s warmer 🙂
Oh my god I love reading your blog. It’s so cool.
you’re awesome
We go to Asheville about once a year so we’ll have to hit up Mellow Mushroom. Usually we just end up at Laughing Seed.
Hi, I just followed you on Twitter. Your blog is really great and I wanted to invite you to join our food & wine socialnetwork @ http://www.tasteandshare.com. If you sign up you can share links, rss feeds and photos from your own blog.
Thanks,
Carsten