But What Do You Eat? Dining Out Edition

The question every vegetarian or vegan gets. As I wonder, how do people feel comfortable eating factory farmed meat, milk and eggs at every single meal?

During a recent snowstorm, on the news they were interviewing people outside a grocery store, and a woman was listing what she deemed necessities: milk, eggs, butter, and cold cuts. It struck me they were all animal products. I also thought, how necessary are cold cuts? Of course if you ask my family dog, that's another story.

Here's a sample of what I've been eating in the past month:

An Arnold Palmer (a mix of lemonade and iced tea), $2.25, and falafel, $5.25, at Maoz Vegetarian (this location recently opened on Eighth Ave. at 43rd and 44th Sts. in New York City) I was super excited another veg option is available, especially in a high-traffic tourist area, but you can find great falafel at many places.

To go at Maoz: vegan rice pudding, $3.50.

At Empire Hunan, a Chinese and Japanese restaurant in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, bean curd soup, $1.75.

After sharing steamed vegetable dumplings, $4.50, devouring sesame fried tofu with veggies and brown rice, $9.50. A feast, and made more frugal by splitting the dish. Don't waste food (and money) - if you have leftovers, take them home, and bring your own takeout container when you can to reduce takeout waste.

To end, fragrant lychee fruit, $3.95, also to share. After the season of over-indulging (which is thankfully over), fruit is a refreshing and welcome change to complete the meal.

At cozy Mario's Trattoria on Ninth Ave. at 37th and 38th Sts. in New York City, garlic knots, $6.

The Mediterranean chopped salad, $9: green and red peppers, red onions, artichoke, tomatoes, cucumbers with oil and vinegar.

Heck, I can even eat at a steakhouse! My dad choose Charlie Brown's Steakhouse for his birthday dinner. So full from the salad bar (included in the price of the entree), I barely had room for my pasta primavera, $11.95 with garlic bread. I took it home in reusable container, and paired with a salad I got two more portions.


A dining out tip if you're looking to eat veg: don't just look for vegetarian entrees. Look at the other sections and see you can leave off the meat. If you are ordering a meat entree sans meat, ask if they'll give you a price reduction. I've had $1 to several dollars taken off. For example, at P.J. Finnegan's in Westwood, New Jersey, they took a few dollars off the chicken stir fry when I asked since I was just having the veggies and rice. Call me cheap - I prefer frugal. But it's more principal. I don't expect to pay for an ingredient I'm not having. Never feel embarrassed about respecting your hard-earned money. I don't.

Know you can find great vegetarian and vegan food dining out even if you don't have access to all the veg dining options. I dine primarily at non-veg restaurants. If you feel adventurous, ask the waiter or waitress to have the chef surprise you. Don't feel suprised when you don't miss the meat.

Soup's On, Soul's Smiling

Give me soup...any day, any season. From scratch is preferred. My ingredients are simple: olive oil, onions, vegetable stock (I get a little help from Rapunzel which I pick up at Old Hook Farm), veggies of choice, spices. Sometimes a little soy creamer to mock dairy creamer.

These leeks from Abram Demaree Homestead are just begging to be paired with potatoes for a homemade potato leek soup. Celtic Kitchen in New Milford, NJ, sells brown bread from Ireland, which would be a delightful partner.


With a spinach Swiss cheese quiche and Fall's favorite drink, apple cider, at Abram Demaree's quaint patio overlooking land that has been farmed since the 1750s. The soup: vegetarian split pea, my dining companion, my lovely mother.

At a cozy French cafe, with Edith Piaf piping from the sound system. Add crusty bread, olive oil for dipping, and a bottle of tap water. This tomato basil soup was savored at a now shuttered cafe in the Chelsea section of New York City.


With salad, this one topped with blackberries and candied cashews, and a buttermilk herb scone from Rolling Pin Cafe in Westwood, NJ. The soup, dairy-free butternut squash soup.

With a Mexican flair, and loaded with protein and fiber rich beans. The black bean soup at La Batalla in Bergenfield, NJ, is hearty enough for a meal. Their homemade flan, so hard to resist.

With a touch of Asia. At Empire Hunan in Fair Lawn, NJ, a cup of miso soup. The perfect starter to feasts of steamed vegetable dumplings and brown rice or bean curd with veggies. Lychee fruit to end for dessert. I haven't been here in far too long.

With soup's best good friend: Saltines. Some would say tomato soup's soulmate is grilled cheese. The tomato soup here, Campbell's, from Conrad's Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant (open May through Labor Day; after which it stays open as a chocolate shop, which it is year-round).


An aside, the last time I dined at Conrad's counter, where I enjoyed a strawberry sorbet on a sweltering summer day, a man beside me told the owner the last time he was in was in 1957, and the place hadn't changed at all. There's something to be said for that in the age of obsession over modernizing and upgrading to the next best thing. There's comfort in the constant.

One thing that will never change, the comfort to body and soul soup always provides.

A Chinese Feast at Empire Hunan

While I'm brown-bagging lunch every day and dining out for dinner less often like many to save money, I do still support eating out occasionally. For one, restaurant portions are so huge, eating out at a reasonably priced, local establishment can garner two or three meals if you include leftovers. I also don't want to deprive foodservice workers of an income. I wore the waitress uniform many years myself, and have the utmost respect for waiters...and just about anyone who has to deal with the general public.

One of my favorite places for a Chinese meal is Empire Hunan in Fair Lawn. Prices are very modest, and the atmosphere and presentation have never been a disappointment.

Here's a recap of my last visit there. A cup of miso soup, $1.80. They also serve complimentary Asian slaw.


Steamed vegetable dumplings ($4.50 for six) and vegetable roll ($1.60)

Bean curd with vegetables and brown rice, $8.95. Enough for at least two portions.

Lychee fruit...my favorite way to a meal here. $3.95


Visit them at 38-16 Broadway, Fair Lawn, NJ or 444 Cedar Lane, Teaneck, NJ.