vegetarian restaurant question

[Guest guest]

Interesting you brought up grilled cheese.......I usually avoid grilled cheese

and veggie burgers in restaurants since they like to grill them right next to

the meat and thus the juices get swapped. Gross. I usually avoid soups too. I

hadn't thought too much about italian red sauces, though.

 

Jigilou Snicklefitz <jigilou wrote:Hey Sheryl!

Good call about not asking the chef about the menu! Have you ever

been in a restaurant's kitchen when it's busy? The last thing they

want is someone asking a bunch of questions....

 

Nowadays, I try to eat in restaurants that I know either cater to

veggies or at least make special considerations for them. (ie, have a

little carrot next to vegetarian items or something.) If that isn't

going to happen, I do a couple of things.

 

I stay away from soups. Unless it specifically says it is

vegetarian, it is probably made w/ a beef or chicken stock. Learned

that one the hard way.

 

Stay away from other " often suspicious " items. This includes beans,

chili, and many " red sauces " in Italian restaurants.

 

Keep my menu selection simple. It's hard for them to sneak in meat

in a garden salad. Similarly, (for those of us non-vegans) a grilled

cheese and baked potato will probably always be ok (just make sure to

say No bacon bits!)

 

When in doubt, ask the waitstaff. Sometimes this confuses them (I'm

reminded of the waiter in Mexico who didn't understand why I wanted

to return my " Vegetarian(chicken) fajita " .) Othertimes, they're more

than willing to pop back to the manager and find out for you. Just

say it with a smile and be grateful for your answer, and you're food

probably won't get spit on!

 

-K

 

, Sheryl Arndt

<ssarndt> wrote:

Vegetarian question: What does everyone do when going into

restaurants and trying to figure out what to order? I have a friend

who insists upon talking to the chef to inquire about ingredients

before she will order anything to make sure it is vegan. Personally,

I prefer not to offend anyone in the kitchen who could possibly spit

in my food, so I try to be as amicable as possible and simply ask the

waiter/waitress to tell me what is vegetarian and I usually trust

them. If I go into a Mexican place, I usually ask whether there is

lard in the beans or not. I also found out that here in NM you have

to ask if there is meat in the green chile sauce. (I found this out

the hard way, assuming that green chile was automatically

vegetarian.) Green/red chile sauces are often made with meat and they

put the stuff on everything! Usually they have a vegetarian version

of at least the green chile, which is lucky for me because I've

recently become addicted to the stuff!

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