Zao Noodle says vegetarian = fish!? / Ultimate Guide categories

May 21, 2006

Hi folks

I have a question regarding Zao Noodle. This is a local chain with restaurants in SF, Palo Alto and Emeryville. It was submitted to the Ultimate Guide awhile back, with the note that vegan and vegetarian items are marked on the menu. It was categorized as vegan-friendly. Then later a reviewer commented that the paper "to go" menu said that "vegetarian includes fish" but that the vegan items are vegan. Currently, the restaurant menu has the same disclaimer on its symbol legend for vegetarian dishes. And, as there is only 1 vegan appetizer and 1 vegan entree, and it's unknown whether the other "vegetarian" dishes are *really* vegetarian, this is a good reminder about reviewing when/whether a "mixed" restaurant should be listed in the Ultimate Guide to Vegetarian Living in the SF Bay Area (UG for short)

For the most part, we *really* want restaurants that we have listed in the Ultimate Guide as vegan-friendly or vegetarian-friendly to have a significant portion or section of their menu as Vegan or Vegetarian. This is to maintain the quality of information in our Guide.

For example, most Chinese restaurant offer a veggie stir fry. In general, we don't want to list every Chinese restaurant in the SF Bay Area. But, of course, there are exceptions to the general rule -- like location or maybe a highly desired food item. For example, SF has about 20 different veg restaurants whereas Pacifica (just south of SF) has none. So a Chinese restaurant with 6 vegetarian items or faux meat is exciting news in Pacifica but not necessarily so in SF, especially if it's in the same neighborhood as Shangri-La or Bok Choy Garden. Likewise, all ice cream is vegetarian so we don't list ice cream parlors. But vegan ice cream is a *big deal* which is why we have MaggieMudd's listed (and, by the way, they have a separate board for their vegan flavors, typically 20-24 available for your favorite sundaes, shakes banana split, etc)

With nearly 300 restaurants listed in the Ultimate Guide, we rely on your help to know if a restaurant is particularly suitable to be listed as a source for vegan and vegetarian foods.

Anyways, has anyone contacted the restaurant headquarters or asked the restaurant managers about this. If so, could you please share this information. Otherwise, I am planning to contact them. It is very misleading to categorize an item as vegetarian when it is not.

Thanks a bunch!

Tammy & Chris

Bay Area Vegetarians

P.O. Box 371215

Montara, CA 94037

415-57-VEG-57 (578-3457)

http://BayAreaVeg.org