When I tell people out here that I'm from Phoenix, they give me a twangy "Well, you're a long way from home. Why are you here?" Like I was blown here in a tornado. The Midwest has its good points. The beautiful Autumns, first snowfalls, the trees everywhere, delicious veggies in the spring, my bunny friends, the lady next to me at a stoplight drinking a Bud light... well maybe not the last part.
Abundant in veganism, or animal rights, it is not. I'd like to think the scarcity of a decent, fast meal makes me appreciate food more, but that point is really hard to hold onto when it is 10pm, Joseph and I are driving around looking for something, ANYTHING, to quench our ravenous hunger. "Remember the vegan crab puffs at Green?" I say, like a reminiscent junkie. "Remember being able to get falafal at every street corner?"
I lived in Phoenix for twenty years, three as a vegan, and learned many things: Phoenix is fickle, Phoenix is fleeting, one day you will have discovered the perfect vegan brunch and the next month it is closed down (Coughs, Mandolin Tea Room, Coughs). Or they used to be vegan; then they sold out and now their only vegan option is a pb and j sandwich (Three Roots).
But I am here not to discuss what is no longer. I am here to discuss the everlasting present.
Green is prolly the most popular, and one of the few strictly vegan, eateries. They do an all-American, fast foodie take on veganism. Some of it is on the richer side, like the Spicy G Po' Boy (Joseph's favorite) or the BBQ Chicken Sandwich (My favorite and winner of some national award). The sides are yummy, like the aforementioned crab puffs, buffalo wings, and the thyme fries. They also do salads and Tsoynamis, which are like Blizzards and oatmeal cookies, which are like Lil Debbies. The staff was always friendly and the setting is casual, with bike spokes and Daniel Jonston (sp?) lyrics posted on the walls.
Mediterranean food is available practically everywhere in the Valley. Skip the chains like Extreme Pita and the Pita Pit, their falafal is bland and crumbly. The best spots are the mom and pop places like Haji Baba by ASU. Just be wary of the sun-crinkled, hungover co-eds.
The Blue Nile, an Ethiopian cafe in Tempe, has decent falafal, but their combo platters, which you pick from choices including stewed eggplant, squash and spicy peas, then sop up with injera, are their strength. They also do raw food Sundays and have (creamy!) vegan orange cake.
I have only been to Chakra 4 Herb and Tea House once, but would have gone more had it been closer and if I had one of those jobs that pays you a lot. Everything was out of my price range, but they had inventive tea selections (chai!), artisan chocolates, and raw options, especially dips. It has funky daytime hours, like Inn Season Deli (vegan tamales on Mill Ave.), so they are hard to catch.
The only vegan buffet I've ever been to in Udupi Cafe in Tempe, a vegetarian Indian spot just down the street from Green. The lunch buffet is worth catching and gorging on, but I preferred getting an appetizer platter with samosas and pakoras, and splitting a huge entree with Joseph.
I don't know what weird conspiracy/cult thing they have going on at The Loving Hut, formerly the Vegetarian House, but I do know four things: 1) Their banana cake sucks. 2) Their lemongrass chicken most certainly does not suck. I can never get enough of those little crispy things. 3) Ditto that for the sweet and sour pork, which my very much carnivorous brother-in-law recommended to me. 4) Their rosewater lemonade was the best lemonade I've ever had.
I also have the guilty-pleasure chains that I miss, like Chipotle and P.F. Chang's. I remember going veg and being all "Aw this is so fun, being vegan is easy", then eating a burrito the size of a small baby. Grocery stores don't carry tofu out here, if they do it's 4 bucks a pop. In Phoenix, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Sprouts, and Sunflower Markets are bountiful. You can snork nooch, get vegan cookies, and get tofu for a buck. Here, I have to drive 100 miles to get that delicious fairy dust known as nutritional yeast.
Yes, the middle of nowhere has its draw backs, but travelling has introduced me to the random vegan yumminess strung throughout the country...
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