Subject: Vegetarianism

• Letters

  July 20, 1995

• Dude Food: Big Al's Burger Hut

  Big Al's Burger Hut3211 S. Hampton Rd. (recently moved from 4950 W. Illinois)214-333-7767The first thing you see walking into Big Al's Burger Hut is a sign with an illustration of a revolver and the slogan "Warning - I don't dial 911." The sign is, of course, intended to caution to would-be holdup artists. But in its own way, it also serves as a warning to vegetarians, dieters and food snobs. You'll never see such a sentiment gracing the doorway of an organic, vegan cafe--unless it threatens to

  January 6, 2009

• 10 Questions: Steven Harvey

  For years, Dwight Harvey catered in his spare time...although the ever-increasing popularity of his barbecue didn't leave him much room for rest.Along the way, he taught the trade to son Steven. Eight months ago, after Dwight retired from his day job, the pair opened Off the Bone Barbeque--which has very quickly become a go-to destination both for locals and folks working downtown.So it's a success story, but one that comes with a price. There's no way, Steven says, to get rid of that barbecue s

  February 19, 2009

• Best hamburger (tie)

  September 21, 2000

• Buzz

  Don't have a cow

  June 28, 2001

• 10 Questions: Rip Esselstyn

  He's a former professional triathlete and current Austin firefighter. But Esselstyn is also the author of a vegan cookbook. The Engine 2 DietBut he doesn't call it vegan. He's eating "plant strong"--and has been for more than a decade. Then, when a fellow firefighter found out his cholesterol was dangerously high, Esselstyn challenged everyone in the firehouse to eat "plant strong" (all plants, no animal products, no added oils, and no processed foods) for a month.The results were impressive: C

  March 11, 2009

• Best Bean Burger

  September 26, 2002

• Best Pappadam (That's Right, Best Pappadam)

  September 26, 2002

• Veggie Girl: Kalachandji's

  Our new feature searching for vegan and vegetarian dining options in Dallas--both at restaurants committed to the cause and regular, meat eating places.Being vegan is supposed to do lots of lovely spiritual and gastrointestinal things to you. You're supposed to feel lighter and healthier, for one. And your bowels work better (if "better" can be defined as "with alarming frequency"). A less-publicized side effect of veganism, however, is the constant urban foraging.Since going vegan, I've been r

  March 17, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Cliff Cafe

  Through all my phases, from finicky meat-eater to cheese-hating vegetarian to vegan, I've never had a server actually encourage me to complicate my order. But at the Cliff Café last Friday our server, Ryan H., did--even after my "girly lunch" group had finagled a table on the sunny, secluded back porch and asked too many questions. You know: which iced tea was better (plain, over blackberry rooibos); whether the deviled eggs were any good (yes); whether the vegetable of the day (green beans, r

  March 24, 2009

• Veggie Girl: "Fourth Sunday" At Veggie Garden

  On the fourth Sunday of every month, an assortment of vegetarians--police officers, an airline pilot, animal activists, nurses and all manner of otherwise normal people--gather for all-you-can-eat vegan Sunday brunch at Veggie Garden in Richardson. The restaurant is small and casual, occupying an unassuming suite in a strip mall near to a Brazilian church. Fourth Sundays mark the unofficial meeting of the Vegetarian Network of Dallas, whose founder, Margaret Morin, is a tireless animal enthu

  March 26, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Cosmic Cafe

  Fill in the blank: The best thing about Cosmic Café is... ...a deck of Tarot cards at every table. ...free yoga. ...unlimited mugs of soy chai. ...delicious plates of all-veggie food, whose prices all add up to multiples of nine. (We don't know why. We asked our waitress, and neither did she...but in Tarot, nine symbolizes completion of a cycle.) ...vegan cake! If you've been there, you know the answer: All of the above. At first, I didn't want to write about Cosmic Café because it seems f

  March 31, 2009

• Best Vegetarian Restaurant

  September 25, 2003

• Veggie Girl: Nana

  It only took one vegetarian to convince Nana chef Anthony Bombaci to draw up a meat-free tasting menu. "They made reservations, they told us they were vegetarian and they paid for their food," Bombaci recalls. "And we served them meat." After their visit to Nana, Bombaci got a letter--"snail mail, not e-mail"--from one of the guests telling him how disappointed she was at the lack of vegetarian options on the menu. Then and there, he decided to create a menu that would not only accommodate v

  April 9, 2009

• Review: Spiral Diner & Bakery

  Spiral Diner & Bakery lets you avoid sins of the flesh

  April 17, 2008

• Giving Up The Goat

  March 27, 2008

• Veggie Girl: Green Papaya

  Eddie GarzaThey say Green Papaya isn't authentic Vietnamese. I say: When I first moved to New York, my oldest friend introduced me to her cousin, who also lived there and was also a journalist. We hit it off immediately, and one of our shared passions--aside from writing, reading, watching Project Runway and mercilessly critiquing the fashion choices of half the people on the Upper West Side--was food. A very specific type of food, as it turned out, because every time we tried to try a new d

  April 16, 2009

• Moby

  Hotel (V2 Records)

  April 28, 2005

• Best Vegetarian Restaurant

  Cosmic Café

  October 14, 2004

• True Dat

  A Run-act play starring the Simmons brothers, Russell and the Rev

  October 24, 2002

• Gag Order

  An anti-fur protester claims her rights are violated by a too restrictive probation

  August 23, 2001

• Mean Green

  What do you get when you cross the Zapatistas with Dr. Dolittle? The Animal Liberation Front

  April 19, 2001

• Veggie Girl: Cafe Brazil

  (A Fairytale) Once upon a time, on a Friday night in a town called Dallas, Veggie Girl got confused. She thought she was Girl Drink Drunk. So she waltzed herself to a couple of happy hours and sampled their libations. But as the night wore on, Veggie Girl got hungrier and hungrier. And suddenly she remembered: She wasn't Girl Drink...She was Veggie Girl! Fortunately, Veggie Girl had done some research on places that were open late and served something other than mini sandwiches named for rap

  May 5, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Dosa Cafe

  View Larger Map If Frank and I had ever dated, our first date would have been the time he invited me to eat real, honest-to-goodness Taiwanese food in Richardson. I've been a Chinese-and-related food hater for most of my life, with the exception of this one vegetarian place in L.A. where I haven't been since 1990. Still, against my better judgment, every couple of years I jump at the chance to try some "real" East Asian food, hoping it'll be different this time. That time with Frank, it was.

  May 14, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Pizza By Marco (Part Deux)

  After the recent post on my not-so-great experience at Pizza By Marco, I received an e-mail from the restaurant's owner, Frank Nuccio, who wrote that he was disappointed and offered to personally deliver a re-try. Now, I've written some unfavorable blogs in my day (OK...not as many as any self-respecting food writer should, but still), and never have I received such an offer. It took me all of ten seconds to say yes. Why not? Esquire's John Mariani gives restaurants a 'show me what you're c

  May 28, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Villa-O

  Vegetarian penne with vodka sauce.The first thing that drew me to Villa O was the exterior, where a line of nautically themed blue and white couches and rocking chairs wait invitingly for the odd passerby to recline and stay awhile. (This, of course, was before today's storm-of-biblical-proportions rolled in.) Assuming I couldn't eat the food, I'd only ever been there for drinks until this week, when a pasta craving coincided with my usual drive for the 6pm cocktail. "Original, organic, ocea

  June 11, 2009

• Veggie Girl: York St.

  Veggie Girl finds vegan and vegetarian options at Dallas establishments of all kinds. The column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays.I love a good storm. So when I woke up last Thursday to howling winds and sheets of furious rain, I resisted the urge to crawl back into bed and instead opted for staring raptly out my window, thrilled by the weather. As it turned out, that was the day's high point--until dinner, anyway. Leaving for work was fine; I wrapped myself in a ski jacket and shot out of the

  June 16, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Lazare

  Two days after the Morning News gave Lazare a scathing one-star review, I went to see for myself. I had actually meant to go somewhere else, but Lazare was closer. Having read the review, I wasn't expecting much. And the menu didn't bode well for a vegan meal. Most things had cheese or meat--there was even a bacon-infused vinaigrette, which is probably exciting to some people , but I am not one of those. Our server confirmed my suspicions. When I told him my dining companion and I were both

  June 23, 2009

• Veggie Girl: Olivella's

  The question is not how Olivella's does the simple Italian thing so well, but why more restaurants don't. Is it so difficult, really, to buy fresh, healthy ingredients, and then to keep the food simple enough to let their flavors come through? Apparently so, or more places would do it. Olivella's is tucked behind the row of shops that line Hillcrest Avenue across from SMU. There's a narrow swath of patio with tiny tables and wrought-iron chairs, but 8 p.m. was still too hot for comfort, so

  June 25, 2009

• Top 10 Vegan-Friendly (But Not Vegetarian-Only) Restaurants in Dallas

  Alexa SchirtzingerHey Olivella's -- think this is good enough to land you on our list? Yeah, it is.Dallas, as we've discovered over the past half-year, has a surprising wealth of options for vegans and vegetarians. And though its shining stars are usually the veg-only places--Spiral Diner, Kalachandji's, Veggie Garden and the like--that doesn't always leave room for vegans to bring along our good ol' meat-eating friends. With that in mind, we've produced this list of places where the most red-b

  July 8, 2009