Blogs

By Megan Irwin

Fate's House Dynamite dish with tofu -- and in the way back, more tofu. I really love the tofu here.

I love Fate for several reasons. I love that it serves Republic of Tea iced tea. I love that it played a huge role in making the part of town it's in livable. But most of all, I love, love, love the tofu here.

I am a fussy tofu eater. There are places I literally avoid because I know the tofu is nasty -- all squishy and bland. There's nothing worse to me as a vegetarian than bad tofu (except maybe being forced to eat at a steak house, but that's only because I usually leave hungry.)

So Fate's perfectly prepared, lightly fried tofu wedges are pretty much heaven on Earth for me. I could seriously eat this stuff every day (and some of us here at New Times practically do...)

I indulged myself recently with the House Dynamite, a spicy (but not too spicy) dish filled with sweet peas, pineapple, bamboo, baby corn, carrots and, of course, my beloved perfect tofu. Yummm.

By Megan Irwin

I was particularly amused by the tiny pickle used as garnish for my sandwich at Lisa G's.

Ahh the “Veggie Sandwich.” The staple of cafe/bistro menus that cater mostly to meat eaters, but don't want to exclude us veggies. Veggie sandwiches all share key characteristics: fancy bread (usually house-made), zucchini, peppers (usually roasted), cheese (usually high-end) and whatever other roasted veggies are on hand and in season.

I'm okay with this. I like these ingredients and, while I sometimes wish I had more options when out to eat with my omnivore friends, I’m grateful that the only choice is at least a good choice.

I recently had a particularly good version of The Veggie at Lisa G’s Wine Bar and Cafe in central Phoenix. It was one of the more interesting ones I’ve tried lately.

It had all the usually ingredients: focaccia bread, roasted eggplant, zucchini, peppers and Portobello mushrooms (which actually I don’t see on sandwiches as often as I should) and tomato jam. The cheese was fresh, perfectly melted herbed farmer’s cheese. It was rich and surprisingly unique tasting. I’m guessing it was the cheese and the Portobello that added a flavor I’m not used to finding on The Veggie. It was damn good, and when going for the typical vegetarian standby, that’s all I can ask for.

By Megan Irwin

It's hard to see it underneath everything, but this is one of In Season Deli's famous tamales.

Somehow I managed to live in Tempe for seven years -- right down the street from In Season Deli for two of them -- and never know this place existed. Which is almost a tragedy as far as I’m concerned. Especially when I think of all the crappy places I ate in college, while In Season was hiding on Mill only a block from the student newspaper where I spent pretty much every second of my spare time.

I mourn the loss of hundreds (possibly thousands) of vegan tamales I will never eat.

I love tamales. I would venture to say they are my favorite Mexican food. But for some reason, the green corn variety seems less common than its beefy counterpart. And finding a vegan one? Forget it. But now, after years of claiming to “love” burritos (when I really only moderately like them) for lack of anything else to eat, I have found my dream tamale. Better late than never, I guess.

In Season has been around for years, though it recently switched ownership, and this tamale recipe is old school. A friend of mine who grew up down the street from Mill says this place was famous for both its tamales and beans (sadly, those were missing from the menu when I visited.) I can see why.

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By: Megan Irwin

This little guy stands gaurd at Tandoori Times, where I had the best naan I've had in years.

If I had to choose to eat only one kind of food the rest of my life, it would be Indian food. And I’m spoiled about it – I had it for the first time when I lived in Washington DC at Jyoti in Adams Morgan. Six months later I moved to NYC where I frequented a place in the east village my friends and I called “Christmas in Hell” (it’s real name is Panna II, but here’s a pic where you can clearly see how it got it’s name:)

Christmas in Hell: possibly the cheapest food in Manhattan. And you can BYOB.

After almost a year of eating superb, cheap Indian food, moving back to the Valley left a void in my life. In the three years I’ve been back I’ve had some good meals but still, I yearned for the naan and palak I’m convinced exists only in the magical vortex on first ave. between east 5th and 6th streets.

Until a friend, bless her, took me to Tandoori Times last summer. I loved it but for some reason never went back, until the same girl took me to dinner there again recently.

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Brunch at Mandala Tea Room. (Photo by Oliver Polk.)
By Megan Irwin

About a month ago a commenter asked me where he could get a decent vegan breakfast in this town. I intended to answer his question the following week, but breakfast seems like such a weekend thing and my weekends are usually filled with a heavy schedule of drinking too much, staying up too late, sleeping in and watching basketball. Not a lot of time to go out to breakfast in there.

Lucky for him, and for you, my dad came to visit on Sunday which means I was up before 10 and eating brunch at Mandala Tea Room by noon.

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By: Megan Irwin

My cure for a terrible, awful, no good, very bad day: Persian Garden.

Today I am extremely grumpy. It’s been the kind of day where every car in front of me is going 5 m.p.h. under the speed limit, every song on the radio is by Chris Brown and my road rage is at an all time high. I wouldn’t be surprised if I somehow get gum in my hair later, or walk out later to four slashed tires.

Though I’m normally unspeakably cheap (I saved my stimulus check, even!), all day I’ve had the urge to spend a lot of money to try and make myself feel better. How American of me.

I resisted, until I realized there was at least one thing I could justify dropping some cash on: my Veggie Girl lunch. So I did. I went to, Persian Garden (on 15th Ave. and Thomas), my absolute favorite vegetarian restaurant in Phoenix, and spent wayyyy too much money on lunch. And I felt so much better afterwards, I didn’t even care that it’s a million degrees outside and traffic sucked on the way back to the office.

There are two main reasons this place is my favorite veggie joint in town.

Reason one: While the menu does feature a few meat items, it is clearly geared toward vegans and vegetarians. (Unlike that other Mediterranean themed restaurant every in town is so gung-ho about. Not that I’m gonna name names here, but I bet you know which one I mean.)

Reason two: The ingredients are really, really fresh. As someone whose a dunce in the kitchen, quality ingredients are key to me when I eat out. I can cook processed crap in my own kitchen, I don’t want to pay for it. And they know how to handle their spices – I never feel overwhelmed by any one flavor, but everything I’ve ever ordered is flavorful.

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By: Megan Irwin

The desk of a New Times reporter, made prettier by her sandwich.

I am in a major time crunch today after the holiday weekend (during which I was stranded at DFW airport for eight hours...), so for lunch I visited my favorite cheap sandwich spot in central Phoenix: the deli at Safeway. For real. Sandwiches are my favorite food and, surprisingly, this grocery store deli makes a great one. And it's under $5. It's so good that I normally eat at least half while driving back to the office. I restrained myself, for your benefit, today.

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The Art of Soup -- perfect (and cheap) vegetarian lunch spot.

By Megan Irwin

Eating vegetarian is not a fringe lifestyle choice. According to the Vegetarian Times 7.3 million Americans are vegetarians and 22.8 million follow a mostly vegetarian diet.

So why is it so hard to find a good veggie-friendly meal in Phoenix? Sure, we have Green (one of my favorite places in town) and a handfull of other well known spots, but it's easy to get tired of the Green-Fate-Pita Jungle circuit.

Especially if you're like me: I haven't eaten meat in seven years but I also never learned to cook anything more sophisticated than a peanut butter sandwich or a bowl of pasta. I've managed to keep myself fed by discovering places around town that can serve me more than a Boca Burger or a wilted salad. And I've learned that just like everything else in Phoenix, there's a lot there if you know where to look -- so I'll be taking you to a new Veggie friendly place each week. I've been eating around this town for 7 years, but if you think I might have missed something, feel free to tip me: megan.irwin@newtimes.com.

Yesterday I tried The Art of Soup an organic soup shop I'm surprised no one thought of sooner. (After all, Larry David gave us the Soup Nazi 13 years ago...)

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