We were staying with friends in Seattle so we spent a lot of meal times just hanging out in their beautiful garden grilling. We picked up lots of prepackaged products liked Tofurkey sausages and gardein that we don’t normally get to try, and had them with an amazing array of grilled vegeatables. The sun was shining so it was nice to slow down.
We did get to eat out there though. We arrived on Matthew’s birthday so he got to choose the venue. He chose Cafe Flora. I really like their cookbook but when we ate their a few years ago I was a bit disappointed by the vegan options. Matthew enjoyed his birthday and was very satisfied with his food, but once again I found that though there were enough vegan options, the flavours disappointed a bit.
I’ve had this coconut tofu with dipping sauce on my “to make” list for ages. You wrap the tofu in lettuce with herbs before dipping into the sauce. The textures were great but the tofu lacked seasoning and needed some oomph.
This was stuffed squash blossoms with pesto on beans, squash and tomato. It felt just right for season and I was looking forward to some lovely local produce but the pesto was overpowering and the vegetables had far too much agave in for my non sweet tooth. Cafe Flora is a lovely restaurant with a creative menu but if you’re vegan I’d recommending getting the book from the library and making some of the dishes yourself instead. You could even buy it for the price of a couple of main courses (It’s not a vegan book but the vegan dishes are clearly marked and others are veganisable).
We also managed to squeeze in lunch at Plum Bistro. This was welcome to cheer us up after our disappointment after racing excitedly to the moved Elliott Bay bookshop only to find it nowhere near as enticing as the previous location. I’ve read criticisms of Plum being overpriced and our bill was quite high for just a couple of sandwiches, but it was an inspiring menu and I’d love to back, especially to try their brunch.
I had tofustrami on rye, which was delicious despite not tasting anything like pastrami. Rereading that, I’ve never eaten pastrami, but I know how I expect it to taste. It was a good sandwhich though, and went great with my gin and dill cocktail. Matthew had a tempeh chipotle sandwich, which was equally good.
Other vegan finds on our trip included Mighty O cinnamon doughnuts in the basement cafe where Elliott Bay used to be (we were pining it and revisited in honour of the 4 hours we spent there last trip!).
OK, this vegan hotdog at Safeco (home to the Seattle Mariners) may look a bit dull, but imagine being able to buy vegan food at a sports stadium in this country?
Much more inspiring was this vegan hot dog with a huge condiment bar that we found on a day trip to Leavenworth, the German styled town. You could help yourself to as much sauerkraut, mustard and relishes as you wanted. I could almost have managed without the sausage, which I think was Field Roast.
There were lots of Seattle institutions that we still haven’t got to, like the Georgetown Liquor Company and Araya, but we still managed to eat very well and Seattle’s definitely a vegan friendly city. Try and ignore the misplaced apostrophe on the next picture, from Pike Place market, and focus instead on the amazing mushrooms!
Cooking the Vegan Books 
Yet another awesome travel post – I really can’t wait to get back to the US although I think it’s going to take me years & years to visit all the places I’d like to eat! That donut looks so good and it would certainly be awesome to be able to get vegan food at a stadium here – I’m going to see some American football at Wembley next month, I’m going to be taking a picnic!
That tofustrami looks incredible– it all does.
A great way to liven up those dull vegan dishes is with beef, chicken, fish, pork, and other all natural flavors. Since vegans want to make meats out of vegetables, I think it’s high time some meatatarians concocted something like “Messel Sprouts” (mussels friend in butter and cut to shape like a Burssels sprout) or “Tossed Reds” (roasted and thinly shaved beef, venison, and elk meat, with bacon bits and little “chick-tons”, cubes of seared chicken meat). I think I’m on to something.
wow
Everything looks soooo good!
YES! The tofustrami must be mine.
My husband and I used to frequent Mariners games when we lived on the mainland and when they first offered the veggie dog I was delighted since I was vegetarian at the time. The employees behind the counter kept hollering at the top of their lungs, “veggie dog, veggie dog here! This young lady wants a dog with no meat!” Nice to come across your blog as I’m transitioning back to vegetarianism.
Please send all worthy recipes my way!
I have only been to Seattle once (in June 2007) – a friend of mine has lived there for years – but I was in AWE of how vegan friendly it was (like dying and going to vegan heaven). I am from Texas but just recently moved to Michigan (where my new hubby is from). In our minds, we are planning a “someday” trip to Seattle because he has never been and I want to go back!
Going to Pike Street Market, I walked around with my jaw dropping over the fact that you could get vegan scones, vegan snickerdoodles, vegan corndogs, etc… as though that were the NORM! (what a cool norm 🙂 )
Perhaps things have changed (or we got different stuff) because we went to Cafe Flora at least twice while I was there (once for lunch; once for dinner) and LOVED it! Maybe the time of year (different menu) makes a difference too (we were there in summer, don’t know when you went). I also bought the book.
Mighty O donut shop is just too much for a heart to bear when you know you can’t bring it back home with you! My mom and I were in town for a few days before and after a cruise to Alaska. We stopped at Mighty O’s the morning before boarding the ship. Just in case my breakfast options were nil, I wanted to bring a half dozen vegan donuts with me (or, did I get a dozen… can’t remember. ha!). When you next return, be SURE to try the French Toast variety (you say you don’t have a big sweet tooth which MY brain has trouble processing ;)…. but still, ya gotta try it!). From what I remember, it is like taking the essence of french toast, a beignet and a sopapilla and rolling the flavor into a vegan donut. What is NOT to love about that???!!!
Also, DO try Seattle’s vegan pizza joint, Pizza Pi. My friend and I stopped in one night (she is omni ); we both loved it. They let you “split” pizzas (half one flavor; half the other) for all those times when you will be overwhelmed by the choices and you just can’t decide (and realize that buying FOUR pizzas just so you can try the flavors you want wouldn’t be prudent! :))