The Subtle Vegetarian

One of my first posts on this blog applauded TGI Friday’s for not only adding a vegetarian entree but naming it something subtle: The Tuscan Portobello Melt was a nice grilled cheese sandwich with mushrooms and came with a vegetarian red pepper soup. It was really nice to have an option at a mainstream restaurant other than “the chicken pasta without the chicken”.

But alas, the Tuscan is no more. TGI Friday’s has removed it from the menu, and the restaurant I found myself at this week couldn’t make it anymore. There are no vegetarian items on the TGI Friday’s menu any longer.

I am so frustrated with this. I’m not picky – I just want one option. Would that kill them? Instead I had to pay $13 for a mediocre bowl of Bruschetta Pasta without the chicken. No more Friday’s for me!

I’ve got a signature dish that I order at most restaurants – something that really shows off the abilities of the kitchen. I usually pick something that is somewhat subtle – anyone can make a firey Arrabiata, but only a great restaurant can make a great Pomodoro!

My Thai signature dish is Pad Thai, but this one can be tricky for vegetarians (and vegans). Ask whether they use fish sauce (nam pla), other seafood ingredients, or egg. Many Thai restaurants will happily modify their ingredients since this dish is always prepared to order, but they may scratch their heads about the nam pla since it’s such a staple of local cuisine!

The excellent pictured Pad Thai was the creation of Pacific Thai, located on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, CA. It exhibited just what I’m looking for in a great Pad Thai:

• Light and delicate but still somewhat sticky sauce
• Al dente (but not chewy) noodles and veggies
• Good firm tofu with light seasoning
• No overpowering ingredients – the flavor of the peanuts, sauce, veggies, noodles, tofu and sprouts were all evident, and none overpowered a quick squeeze of fresh lime

I ordered this with a smoothie made of green tea ice cream and tapioca pearls. This was delicious, too – I became a fan of green tea ice cream after trying some at Steve’s (now Herrell’s) in Northampton, MA years ago. I first encountered tapioca pearls as a drink ingredient in a Taiwanese pearl milk tea I was fond of at EO Noodle in Framingham, MA. Combining the two was a pleasure!

We were fortunate to have a Thai au pair join our family for a year, and I was surprised to learn that the Pad Thai she was used to was quite different from my (Americanized?) concept. Hers was much more noodle-centric, with very little sauciness, no veggies, and a stronger flavor. Not to mention much spicier, as was everything she cooked!

But comparing it to my American ideal, Pacific Thai’s Pad Thai is an excellent dish. Not quite as good as the old Thai Coconut in Marlborough, MA, but nothing else has been!

Pacific Thai Santa Cruz
1319 Pacific Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Frank, over at A Vegan’s Life in Southern California did a little Subtle Vegetarian-style snooping about veggie foods at Trader Joe’s and The Cheesecake Factory, and I wanted to point to his site for the info…

As expected, Trader Joe’s has lots of great vegetarian and vegan foods, and all of their cosmetic products are free of animal testing!  I love that place, but we found it hard to do all of our family shopping there.  Plus, they’re sparse here in Ohio…

As for The Cheesecake Factory, they’ve got a few veggie choices to trumpet, as well as excellent customer service from the staff and kitchen.  I love their portobello sandwich – have been getting it for years!  It’s most certainly not vegan, but the lettuce wraps (sans chicken) are a great vegan choice, too.  Watch out for the strong Long Island Iced Teas!

Alas, TGI Friday’s no longer has any vegetarian items on the menu!

Yup, Friday’s, which has long been an on-again off-again destination for vegetarians, is back now, with a Tuscan Portobello Melt sandwich appearing on the menu. It has cheese, as does just about everything at Friday’s, so it’s still off limits to vegans.

Essentially identical to the Tuscan Chicken Melt, it’s got portobello mushrooms, grilled onions and tomato bits, and provolone and jack cheese. It’s served on toast, buttery and grilled for all that’s worth. The sandwich was bland but not bad, certainly not a destination dish, but earns extra points for its innocuous name, presentation, and menu placement. No need to violate the subtlety when ordering this one.

The sandwich comes with a fire roasted pepper soup (think tomato soup, actually) which is also (said to be) vegetarian. It was also (typically) bland, an amazing feat considering it contains roasted red peppers, but again not bad. You can order a bowl of it if you want, but it’s not listed on the menu except as an accompaniment to the Tuscan sandwiches.

All told, it’s great to have Friday’s back in the fold of restaurants not openly antagonistic to their vegetarian customers. You can also resort to appetizer ordering with the potato skins (available without bacon on request), fried mozzarella, fried mac & cheese, spinach dip, or the tasty green bean fries thankfully added to the US menu after much success in Europe. And the Long Island Iced Tea is still buzzingly strong!

Of note is the fact that their kids menu still includes a grilled cheese sandwich and mac & cheese for those little veggies among us.

Apologies for the dim photo. Dim is still part of Friday’s decor…