Ed. note: Along with our booze correspondent, food critic Scott Reitz is trying his mouth at going meatless on Mondays. They'll occasionally relay their experiences. So far Scott sucks at it.
It sounded soooooooo easy. Drop meat on Mondays -- it'll help save the world and shit. And it's only one day a week. How hard can it be?
Turns out it's hard. Or I'm just dumb and lazy. Or maybe both?
The first Monday of the year I completely forgot Meatless Monday was a thing that existed. In fact, I think that after cooking and eating sausages from Bolsa Mercado and Kuby's and drinking beer all day that Sunday, I completely forgot it was Monday at all.
No problem, I thought. I'll put a little reminder-type thing on my iPhone so I wake up to a don't eat meat message every meatless Monday. And it worked! Yesterday I had lunch at Avila's and ate beans and guacamole and salsa. Nice, right?
Then I worked until 8. And because Herrera's is stumbling distance from my office, and because I'm a glutton for punishment who eats repetitively and compulsively, and because when pressed for time I couldn't think of anything else without meat in it, I decided to have Tex-Mex for dinner after having Tex-Mex for lunch.
I scanned the menu and found a number with a guacamole tostada, a cheese enchilada, and a cheese taco and ordered. Perfect, I thought. Meatless Monday is going to make me fatter as it morphs into a bean and cheese Tex-Mex Monday. And then my food came 14 seconds later.
There was chili con carne on the cheese enchilada. Any my cheese taco was another cheese enchilada. And because I have a propensity to think it's annoying when vegetarians ask too many questions as they order food, and I was convinced I had ordered incorrectly, I shut up and ate it. I was a failure.
I was flat-out wrong to think that giving up meat one day a week was a thoughtless and easy sacrifice, especially for a devoted carnivore. Still, the benefits warrant the effort, and I'm determined to be meatless on Monday at least 50 days this year.
But I could use a sherpa. Let's have it comment folks, what are your go to meatless dishes in Dallas? Maybe next Monday I'll hit the Spiral Diner or V-Spot cafe. In vegan restaurants it's impossible to make a mistake, right?
