Alamo Drafthouse New Vegan Menu - Austin, TX

I got a tweet the other day from the Alamo Drafthouse telling me that I was invited to a tasting for their new vegan menu (which will be available at the Village location only). This is awesome, and something I've been hoping for since I starting going to the Drafthouse 11 years ago.







The tacos were tasty, with crunchy tortilla chips in it, and slightly spicy salsa that complimented it nicely. The bruschetta was also good, with super creamy avocado and good flavors provided by the lemon vinaigrette and balsamic reduction. The samosa tasted fairly standard for samosas (delicious, in my opinion), and have my vote for the easiest thing on the new menu to eat in the dark). The cookie was warm and chewy, with a nice fruitiness from the cherries.

When the menu launches tomorrow, the bruschetta will be a full cup of avocado and tomato mixture, with crostini all around the edge of the plate.

Some of the other people at the tasting mentioned that a chocolate dessert would be quite welcome, and Trish, the chef, said that she'd had a hard time finding vegan chocolate at a good price point. We told her about the vegan chocolate chips in bulk at Wheatsville, and suggested that she contact some of the vegan bakers in town to get suggestions from them about where to buy. I also mentioned that I would love to see soy milk for the coffee drinks at all I the locations, and Trish said that she would make sure that it happened, since it should have been happening already (she said if it wasn't, it was an oversight).

RESTAURANT REVIEW, Part Deux - Blue Koi, Kansas City, MO

April visited Blue Koi in 2011, but the hedgehogs insisted on going to see it themselves. April met a few omnivorous friends there for a nice lunch.

Blue Koi
1803 W. 39th Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
(also at 10581 Mission Road, Leawood, KS 66206)







The last time April went to Blue Koi, she made a meal out of the Crispy Tofu With Spicy Awesome Sauce and the Veggie Dumplings. This time, she was excited to try the Eggplant Pockets, but the server told her that they were out of those. Vowing to come back before the end of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival to try them, April and her dining companions decided to split the Crispy Veggies (tempura coated fried mixed vegetables with a cool basil sauce and a semi-spicy sriracha sauce), the Spicy Chili Tofu Wontons, and the Crispy Tofu with Spicy Awesome Sauce.







The Crispy Tofu with Spicy Awesome Sauce was just as awesome as April remembered; the tofu is nicely fried and the sauce is just the right combination of sweet and spicy. The Crispy Veggies were also good - April got lots of the delicious cauliflower, since her companions weren't big fans of that particular veggie. The sriracha sauce wasn't overly spicy, but has a bit of a kick of one gets enough of it at one time. The Spicy Chili Tofu Wontons, however, are April's new favorite! Incredibly flavorful, with just the right amount of spice.

April and the hedgehogs were impressed to discover that Blue Koi actually offers more vegan options than they had originally thought. Besides the appetizers listed above, there's also Lettuce Wraps that can be made with tofu. For main dishes, the Firebird Duck and the Black Bean Chicken can be made with tofu instead, and in addition to the Vegetable Noodle Soup shown on the online menu, there's a Vegan Delights soup that April very nearly got, Tofu with Chinese Curry Sauce, Braised Tofu with Shiitake Mushroom (can be noodle soup or just over noodles or rice), and Ants On A Tree, which can be made with tofu, and which is what April decided to get. (The hedgehogs wanted to see if it really had ants. It didn't.)


Hedgie offers April her collapsible chopsticks.

The bean noodles were very tasty, and the fried tofu stood out well among the rest of the veggies. There was a ton of it, as well, and the hedgehogs helped April pack half of it into her reusable to-go box to have for dinner.

For a beverage/dessert, April had the Sweet Red Bean Bubble Tea with pearls. The server told her that they use soy milk, so it was vegan. Yay!

RESTAURANT REVIEW - Evergreen Chinese Restaurant, Bonner Springs, KS

After a long day of performing at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, April and a lot of her fellow performers like to unwind at Evergreen Chinese Restaurant. It's not too far away from the faire site, and they don't mind seating parties that trickle in two or three at a time. Plus, they have yummy food.

Evergreen Chinese Restaurant (and a second website)
13034 Kansas Ave, Bonner Springs, KS 66012

April and her friend Sally Tenpenny (who also plays beautiful music) love to split the Bean Curd Family Style. There's plenty of food for two people - "lightly deep fried bean curd sauteed with mixed vegetables in brown sauce", served with a large amount of fluffy white rice - and they usually get a couple of veggie spring rolls as well.





The waitstaff at Evergreen are very nice (and very patient!), and consistently provide good service and delicious food.

RESTAURANT REVIEW - FuD, Kansas City, MO (and the Hedgehogs see Marian Call!)

Last night, April and the hedgehogs were very excited to go see Marian Call in Kansas City! This gave them a perfect excuse to finally try out FuD for dinner beforehand.

FuD
813 W 17 St, Kansas City, MO 64108
Facebook page
(Cash or check only.)



FuD is located in a very pretty building that's probably just over 100 years old. Among the regular chairs and tables, they also have two window seats with cushions at the front of the restaurant. The hedgehogs were very impressed.








It says "National Unicorn Appreciation Year".

April noticed that FuD had several taco options -



Much as she would have liked to temporarily join in the Taco Cleanse again, April was overwhelmingly drawn to the Jackfruit Reuben (panini-style Jack Fruit spiced & stacked with Garlic Sweed Cheese, Thrillanaise, & Sauerkraut on Rye.) She hadn't had an actual reuben in over 10 years (before she was vegetarian), and thought that the idea of one with jackfruit was a fabulous idea.





The sandwich was heavenly! The jackfruit, sauce, and sauerkraut provided a very convincing reuben flavor, and the grilled rye bread was a perfect compliment.

April's Kansas omnivore host, Duane, got the Smokeywich (pan-grilled Local Organic Tofu decked out with Dillanaise, Sweet Pickle Thrillanaise and spicy Chilinaise, Purple Onion, Lettuce & Tomato on Sourdough Bread.) He said that the sourdough bread was surprisingly mild, and that the main flavor was from the Dill-, Thrill-, Chilinaise, and veggies, instead of the tofu. He liked the sandwich, but thought that the tofu could have been more interesting. A bite of the reuben, however, had him exclaiming "Ooh, that's good."



To go with the sandwiches, April and Duane got an order of eggplant fries, which they both loved. They were the perfect combination of sweet, salty, and spicy.



After all of that, the hedgehogs insisted that they get dessert. Duane decided on vegan ice cream on a brownie topped with vegan caramel sauce.



April splurged a bit and got vegan ice cream on a brownie in a dark chocolate bowl, topped with chocolate sauce.



A note on the bowl - it was made with probably at least 80-85% dark chocolate, and was a tad bitter. April prefers her chocolate no darker than about 55%, so half of the bowl went home with her to be melted into her Chocolate Oatmeal the next morning.

After dinner, April, Duane, and the hedgehogs drove to Barnes & Noble, where they got to see Marian Call (and Scott Barkan) play a wonderfully geeky concert. The hedgehogs think Marian is very nifty.





Marian is doing several upcoming concerts in Kansas/Missouri/Oklahoma/Texas/East Coast/Europe, and she's just a regular ol' traveling musician with no manager or anything (like me!), so if you can go see on of her shows, check it out! She's awesome! (Seriously, how many other musicians do you know who play the typewriter?)

The Hedgehogs Return To Kansas (RESTAURANT REVIEW - Baan Thai, Leavenworth, KS)

After an extra week in Austin to recover from gall bladder surgery, April was feeling good enough to make the trip back to Kansas so she could perform at the remaining weekends of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival. Before she left, Floyd decided to show her how much he was going to miss her -



...or perhaps he was just being silly. The world may never know.

The hedgehogs were excited to get back on a plane! This time, they were going from Austin to Colorado, then Colorado to Kansas.









Once they got to Colorado, the hedgehogs were both very excited to have their first ride on a moving sidewalk -



After all the fun of the sidewalk (Buttercup felt a bit ill, but Hedgie wanted to do it again!), April and the hedgehogs discovered that they were going to have their first ever ride on a propeller plane.



As neat as the plane looked on the outside, it didn't have very great views from the inside -





(Though, the hedgehogs commented that getting to see the landing gear (wheels) get drawn up into the wing upon lift-off and then come back out at decent was pretty darn cool.)

After getting back to Kansas, April's host, Duane, agreed to go with her and the hedgehogs to check out the Thai restaurant down the street.

Baan Thai
301 S. 4th St., Leavenworth, KS 66048 (also has a location in Manhattan, KS)
Facebook page

They started out with some Spring Rolls (Cabbage, carrots, celery, bean thread, with spring roll wrapper, deep-fried and served with sweet and sour sauce.)



Baan Thai didn't have April's go-to Thai dish (Musumun Tofo Curry) on the menu, so she decided to try Pad Preaw Waan (Sweet and Sour) - tofu stir-fried with pineapple, cucumber, onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes. It was delicious! The flavors went together well, the sauce was great, and the spice level was just right.




Hedgie figures that by being helpful, perhaps he'll get an extra taste.

On the way out, the hedgehogs stopped to make a new friend, who seemed a bit taken aback at their presence -

RESTAURANT REVIEW - The Dojo, Austin, TX

Since April had an extra unplanned week in Austin to heal from her gall bladder surgery, she decided to make the most of it and eat some delicious food! She had heard all sorts of good things about The Dojo, so she and her friend Alloni took the hedgehogs out to see what all the fuss was about.

The Dojo
9070 Research Blvd., #305 Austin, TX 78757
Facebook page and Twitter page







April had heard that The Dojo was one of the handful of new restaurants in town with vegan ramen, and was excited to try some. What she didn't realize was exactly how many other vegan options there would be on the menu!







Deciding on just one thing each seemed an impossible task to both April and Alloni, so they decided to pick a lot of different dishes. (Leftovers are always good, and it seemed like a good time to celebrate April being to eat All The Food after the gall bladder removal.) The hedgehogs, of course, urged them to get as much as possible (hoping that they could grab a taste of everything.)



The Okonomiyaki Style Potatoes (vegan version) were quite tasty, though April and Alloni weren't expecting French fries. There were four or five different things on top of the potatoes with flavors that all blended together nicely.



The Beets And Avocado Tempura was your basic veggie tempura, but the tempura coating definitely took a backseat to the perfectly-done beets and avocado (not overly greasy or "too fried").



The Tofu Steak was the definite winner for Favorite Dish for both April and Alloni. A semi-firm, creamy tofu block was immersed in a thick, sweet soy sauce with mushrooms and ultra-thin noodles.



The Nasu Scrambled (Stir-fried eggplant and tofu in red chili sauce) was tasty, and April particularly liked the eggplant.



The Veggie Gyoza were very good, but perhaps a touch on the oily side.



The Shichirin Yaki Veggie Set, at $13, was April and Alloni's most expensive purchase. Lightly seasoned raw beets, portabello mushrooms, and shishito peppers are meant to be cooked over the small "table grill" to the diner's preferred doneness, and then dipped in one of the accompanying sauces. It tasted good, but Alloni and April decided that next time, they could buy veggies and cook them at home for less, and have more money to spend on the other inventive dishes from The Dojo.



Finally, for the lovely ramen! The Veggie Miso Ramen, with bean sprouts, nori, fried tofu, scallions, and corn, was definitely delicious, with a flavorful broth and excellently-done noodles.

After all that food (part of which went home as leftovers), neither April nor Alloni had room for dessert (though the hedgehogs both claimed to be ready for some). Both the Homemade Coconut Ice Cream and the Mochi Tempura are vegan, and will certainly be on the list of things to get on April's second visit to The Dojo. Buttercup wondered if the Vanilla Plum Wine Float (vanilla ice cream and plum wine) could be made vegan with the substitution of the vegan coconut ice cream, and Hedgie pointed out that the Dojo Parfait could probably be made vegan with the ice cream substitution and the omission of yogurt and Pocky.

Completely stuffed, April and the hedgehogs went home to prepare for their imminent flight back to Kansas!