Vegan Night

Anyone with a special diet knows that it’s not always easy to find places to eat out. Everything either contains gluten, dairy, meat or something else you can’t eat. It can be a frustrating experience for sure, but every now and then I happen upon a restaurant that has already taken those things into consideration. Such was the case with The Cove.

The Cove is a restaurant here in San Antonio that features SOL food—Sustainable, Organic and Local. Their website says “All of our meats (beef, bison, lamb and chicken)  are grass fed and from Texas.  No Antibiotics, No Hormones. All of our greens are organic – no pesticide residue. All of our oils are non-hydrogenated. We serve Boylan Sodas- no high fructose corn syrup.” While they’re known for their burgers and seafood, they also have several vegan/vegetarian and gluten-free options. Guy Fieri even featured The Cove on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ and gave it rave reviews. Make sure to bring your dirty car and laundry, because The Cove doubles as a car wash and laundromat, too!

While their regular menu is great, every first Thursday night, The Cove sponsors what they call Vegan Night. The vegan night special consists of an entrée, a side dish or two, and a dessert—all for $10. The website says “our passionate chefs bring something delicious and vegan to the table.  Even if you are not vegan it is a chance to try new creative dishes with fresh organic ingredients from local farmers.” I’d been wanting to go try their vegan night for a few months, and tonight I got to!

The menu for tonight’s meal was Texas Caviar, Gazpacho and homemade pickles. My brother, Dakota, also gave me his avocado since he didn’t want it. (I know, he’s crazy. )

The caviar and pickles were great, but my absolute favorite part was the gazpacho! Gazpacho is basically a chilled cucumber and tomato soup, and I’d never had it before today. I quickly realized what a mistake that was! It was absolutely delicious. I have to try making it at home.

For dessert they served a homemade vegan ‘paleta’ which is basically a Latin American ice pop made from fresh fruit. This was the first time I’d ever had one, and the flavor was blackberry chipotle! It was pretty interesting and different.

All in all my experience at The Cove as awesome! It’s a really cool atmosphere there, and I love that they focus on using local, organic ingredients. I hope to go back soon, because they have an awesome homemade vegan burger that I want to try, as well as their vegan BLT. They also have two vegan cookies offered – carrot spice and banana oatmeal chocolate chunk!

Question of the Day: Have you ever been to a restaurant that caters to special diets, such as serving vegan/vegetarian or GF food? It requires some research where I live, but there are several restaurants that do. What are the options like where you live?

Thanks for reading!

P.S. I decided to have some fun with the fonts and colors in Windows Live Writer. Hope it wasn’t too annoying.