Cindy Lee Cafe re-opens

tofu noodle salad! ask for no fish sauce and they'll sub a tasty ginger sauce!

One of my favorite places to grab lunch downtown closed their doors for a few weeks a while ago. I was sad.

They re-opened with a new menu with a lot of missing vegetarian dishes like Pho and a bunch of my favorite Thai dishes. Not one to give up easily, I've been back and ordered a few things. They've all been pretty good and reasonably priced. But really, it's just not as good and veggie-friendly.

Cindy Lee Cafe (801) 359-4544 Downtown 264 S Main St Map.791d7c9 Salt Lake City, UT 84101

So Good Seaweed Roll

spring roll, Szechuan Soy Bean (yum! ) and the So Good Seawed Roll

Over a month later and I'm still craving the Evergreen menu at Golden Phoenix. According to their Facebook page, the dishes are getting more authentic as the chef's learn the menu. I've never been disappointed, but I rarely visited their old location. Dumb me!

My favorite item on the menu is the So Good Seaweed roll. I have an affinity towards vegetarian sea food, and this roll was especially delicious. It's also very clever - the seaweed makes it taste fishy, of course, but the soy on the inside is flaky, moist and savory. They made a whole vegetarian fish. Crazy. It's served with either a brown sauce, a hot and sour sauce and a spicy sauce. (I just realized that I haven't tried the sweet and sour sauce yet! Goodness.)  Either sauce is yummy.  Also - this might be TMI but leftovers are really good straight out of the fridge. With your hands.

Vegan Calamari with Spicy Aoli

Sophie's Calamari with a super easy spicy aoli

In my pregan days, seafood was my favorite thing to eat. Sophie's Kitchen has lovingly recreated all my favorite seafoods! How thoughtful. :)

These are so creepy realistic and delicious. They're really the most meat-like vegan thing I've had. And they're like five dollars at Whole Foods. Just a win-win-win. I get to feel like I'm at TGI Friday's, nobody has to die and it's easy.

Spicy Aoli

Three parts Veganaise to one part Sriracha

Fresh lemon juice

 Smoked Paprika

....

ta da.

Evergreen House! At Golden Phoenix! What!?

Tofu Bao

Number 7. Curry Potato Soybean

YUM. This even tastes good on a paper plate.

I never went to Evergreen House as much as I wanted, but I loved  it. My favorite dishes were the Number 7 (pictured above!) and the Broccoli and Beancurd. So, when it closed last summer I was sad because I've missed out on this huge part of Salt Lake's vegetarian history. There were so many things I hadn't tried!

Here's my chance. A new incarnation of Evergreen House lives inside of Golden Phoenix. There is a separate menu, dining area and kitchen space. (thanks Facebook for all this info!) They're located on 1084 South State Street in Salt Lake City.


I've never had Tofu Bao before and it was fascinating to me. Flaky, chewy, fried and savory with sweet sauce. I need to learn more about this dish because I've never had anything like it. The Number 7 was as I remembered. Next time I'm trying it with the mushroom stem, I bet it's fantastic!

I'm so excited to try everything on the menu. It's crazy that I'm getting a second chance to try all this great food! 

Rich's Mighty Fine Burgers & Grub

well hello there. fries, and a vegan patty w/ artichoke hearts and tomatoes. 

The veggie burger at 'Rich's Mighty Fine Burgers and Grub' is pretty tasty. It's made from black beans and  veggies but needs something to hold it together. With that easy improvement, I think we could be looking at one of the best veggie burgers in Salt Lake!

It's unusual to walk into a burger place and find something vegan and good, but Rich's uses top-notch ingredients that elevate a regular veggie patty into something memorable. And OMG the fries were dope.

I was more than happy with the fresh-cut fries on my plate, but the cashier brought me out another plate because she "didn't think those fries were good enough'.  I like a place that's serious about fries.

Bike Junkie's Visit to Cedars of Lebanon

I was captivated by these photos that @bike_junkie took from the lunch buffet at Cedar's of Lebanon and wanted to share. The buffet is $9.99 and looks wonderful!  The restaurant is located at 152 E 200 S in downtown Salt Lake.

Cedars of Lebanon was included in the Veg News declaration of Salt Lake City being the new vegan hotspot!

Here is a link to my last visit to Cedar's!

And here is another time I've ripped off Bike Junkie. :)

Vote for the Vertical Diner!

Pancakes w/ local raspberry syrup, tofu scramble, 'sausage' and home fries.

Peta2 has nominated our little Vertical Diner as 'The Best Local Restaurant' and we all know it's true. Ya, I've kvetched about it occasionally, but damn. Look at these pictures!

Head over here to get your vote in. They also have a lot of other fun food categories! And I like to vote for things!

The Mountain

Delicious Chicken Pot Pie