Chicago is delicious!

So this was my second time eating my vegan face off in Chicago, but
this time I stayed in the super cute Wicker Park area. I was fortunate
to find a foodie ally in Robin, the cute cyclist who ran the Wicker
Park Inn B&B I stayed at, and she recommended two great spots,
Handlebar and Earwax, both awesome! My friend and I checked out
Handlebar for dinner, a cute bicycle punk-run place reminicent of
Boneshakers in Brooklyn, another fave place of mine. The star player
of the night was the fried dill pickles with vegan ranch dip. The
breading on the pickles was SO perfect, really great pickles too, I'm
drooling at the memory. I might have yelled at the pickles, they were
that good. Let's just say they beat the hot pants off any similarly
named dish you'd find at Hooters. Our main dishes were good too as I
recall, but their memory was erased by the amazing little turnovers we
got for dessert, called Peanut Butter and Jelly Fried Pies, which I
had to order because they sounded so terrifyingly intruiging. They
looked like little 3-bite turnovers, filled with pb&j, and so good
they dissappeared before I could snap a pic. Find them online at http://handlebarchicago.com
or in real life at 2311 West North Ave.

Baby's First Grits!

It's almost 4am in Lexington, KY and the whole cast of Pretty Things
Peepshow joined me at Denny's for post-show food. The staff couldn't
tell me if the pancake batter was vegan,so I might research this
further. I ended up getting hashbrowns with mushrooms, the mushrooms
not being on the menu, but I figured they'd have them. Make sure to
ask them to cook them in oil, otherwise it will be butter! I has my
first (unfortunate) taste of grits too, which at Denny's taste like
wet cardboard. I am willing to give grits another chance, but perhaps
cooked by someone who can put a little more love in them. Altogether
my meal cost $1.98, and I was full from the hashbrowns, so I win,
basically.

Vegan Eggs Benedict!

Whether you travel or cook at home, there are a few meals that make up
the Holy Grail of vegan foods...croissants are one, but the oft
searched, rarely found vegan breakfast foods are French toast and eggs
Benedict, and Julian's in Rhode Island has them both, as well as
pancakes! Bearing in mind how many meals I've eaten in the past 48
hours ( a LOT) I ordered a small portion, which still filled a large
plate, and the good news is it was DELICIOUS! Thick italian bread
slices layered with steamed spinach and a deep fried tofu medallion
which filled the role of poached egg quite nicely! The vegan
hollandaise sauce was very good, not too thick, and the home fries
were so well seasoned as to make ketchup irrelevant. I stole an onion
ring off King Sickabilly's plate and those are the best I've ever had
too! Definitely want to come back to try other things next time I'm in
Providence!

Friendly Toast

After a great show in Dover NH, (my first time on New Hampshire ever!)
we went to eat at Friendly Toast afterwards, an all-night diner with
the most overwhelmingly awesome decor and even a couple vegan options.
I got the Vegan Valhalla after checking to see if any of their
pancakes or waffles were vegan - sadly no. My option was a giant
breakfast burrito with fried tofu and mushrooms and a creamy tahini
sauce, so good! New England is not disappointing me for vegan options
so far, yay!

Salad a la Sickabilly

King Sickabilly just made the cast amazing salads before we head out to Dover NH for our show tonight.  I'm not normally a zucchini fan, but whatever magical thing he did made it SO delicious! This tour is going to be great!

Rhode Island Pho!

Hanging out in Providence with Dave Sasquatch from Sasquatch and the Sickabillys, who will be hosting the next two weeks of the tour, and he took me to his favourite Vietnamese place, Pho Horns, so good! I had vegan soup and summer rolls, and the best limeade ever, freshly made just for me! Wish I'd asked for a small soup, but at least I can live off the large leftovers for the next few days!

The next tour

I'm a week into a three month long tour with Pretty Things Peepshow, which is surprisingly my first tour as the only vegan or at least vegetarian ever! I've been touring since 2005, performing since 2003, so I am pretty well accustomed to where I can find suitable food on the road, but it's always nice to have an ally in the hunt for vegan eats! We're stopped briefly in Brooklyn today on an off day, so I stocked up on a vegan reuben filled with Daiya cheese and lots of baked goods for the coming days. We'll be hitting New England this next week, which will mostly be a first for me, so I'll be curious to see what vegan options I find there!

xoxo
Bettina