Being a vegetarian in the Midwest sucks.

Why are my ONLY options carbs!!?!? Why are there NO options at ANY restaurants in the state of Wisconsin that offer decent veg options!??!

I just want to be able to eat out once in a while.

Thank you for listening to me. I had to get that off my chest.

I can spell, really.

It does sometimes. x(

wisconsin is actually a very beautiful state.

i think places like madison would have some veggie-friendly places.

depending on how close you are to chicago might help too.

;)

Are you in a city? You'd think Madison and/or Milwaukee would have decent vegetarian fare.

Milwaukee is pretty good but getting better. Go to most any other city and you are screwed. I live in Oshkosh and it is horrible. I feel for you. Are you vegan? That would be decidedly harder. I am ovo-lacto so I still get to partake in cheese curds.

on edit: I forgot to add that I grew up in North Dakota and was a vegetarian there for 5 years; if it is any solace to you, it sucks even worse there.

People seem to think I can live off iceburg lettuce and bread, LOL!

Maggie, I know I probably already told you about them, but try the Thai Moon if you like Asian-style veggies!

Otherwise you are right...if it aint meat and potatoes you are SOL!

Taj Mahal has my favorite - eggplant bhartha. There are vegetarian options, but they are few and far between, and it's often difficult to convince a group of friends to try an off-the-beaten-path restaurant.

Mostly they want to go to North Country...lol!

I am 99 percent veggie too. Excepy when I am craving a protien fix and have some tuna.

it has most of the veggie NY resturants that i know, so i assume it would be good for the midwest...:hi:

http://www.vegdining.com/GetRestList.cfm?rgk=NA-US

and another good one:
http://www.happycow.net/north_america/usa/index.html

I'd never have known there was a completely vegan restraunt (we don't even have those here in Sacramento!) in the next town over otherwise.

I will definitly be using them on my next trip ANYWHERE! :hi:

:hi:

and welcome to DU! :hi:

I love the pic in your sig line :smoke:.

:smoke::smoke:

Reminded me of a couple of places that slipped below my radar. :)

Heck, the only 100% vegan grocery store and restraunt I've ever been to was in some little podunk town in Ohio.

Sorry you're running into issues in your neck of the woods- is there a reason you're concerned about the amount of carbohydrates in your food? Seems like that'd really limit your options.

I travel to Texas a lot and have been really shocked by "green salads" that seem to consist of a handful of iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato and giant piles of egg and cheese. :D

"green salads" that seem to consist of a handful of iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato and giant piles of egg and cheese.

Come on, can I MAYBE get some romaine?

...however, it may be more difficult for a vegan ?

but it's a pain in the ass when I don't know a place well enough to know the good restraunts and I have to ask the waitstaff a million questions (which I hate doing) or get stuff made with a lot of alterations (ditto.)

we got plenty o' veggies out here...

:hi: and welcome to DU, btw!!

:thumbsup:

Applebee's has some decent fish plates...


If you're a strict vegetarian or vegan, I don't know what to tell you. I couldn't do it, even as bad as I feel when I see those horrible videos on factory farming. :cry:

We do try to eat less meat and get it from places that are supposedly more humane...

. . ., there are very few vegetarian restaurants worth a shit, anywhere.

Why do you want to eat out, anyway?

I live in a fairly rural area, although a small city is about 20 miles away. I've found that in many places I'm relegated to the "appetizer sampler" (deep fried junk food), nachos with cheese sauce, or a conglomeration of side dishes. When I'm lucky enough the place might have the ubiquitous veggie burger and fries, which seems to be the one vegetarian offering places put in the effort to make.

There are signs of hope however. If you have an Outback nearby they have a delectable pasta dish called Wallhala Pasta. It is fettucini with alfredo sauce, broccoli, squash, carrots and snow peas. They also have some big dinner salads that you could order without the meat if you wanted. Ruby Tuesday, I believe, has a huge "all you can eat" salad bar where you can have your fill of a great variety of foods.

You might check the online menus of restaurants you know you have in your area. Many of the chain sit-down restaurants provide this service. That way you can see what they have before you actually go there and end up disappointed.

Good luck to you! :hug:

I live in Milwaukee. I am not a vegetarian, but I sometimes do eat vegetarian at restaurants. Restaurants with decent veg options include:

• Every single Indian restaurant in the state. My favorite is Saffron Indian Bistro in Brookfield. Maharaja on the East Side is good, too -- and they are great with kids, if that's a factor for you. Bombay Sweets on Milwaukee's south side is cheap, and entirely vegetarian, lots o' vegan.
• Every single Japanese restaurant offers a variety of veg options, especially if you get their veg rolls and/or appetizers. Some restaurants (Hama in Bayside comes to mind, but that may be wrong) offer brown rice as an option in the rolls.
• Most Chinese places are good in this respect. My favorites are Peony on Hwy 100, and Emperor of China on Brady.
• Ditto for Thai places. Most noodle dishes and many soups can be made vegetarian. (Do watch out for fish sauce, and ASK before ordering.)
• Like Middle Eastern? The newly resurrected Alladin on Brady has a completely vegetarian lunch buffet, and many non-meat items on their regular menu. A few doors down, Au Bon Appetit has some great hummus/falafel/etc. combinations. Ditto for Abu's on Farwell.
• Most of the Mexican restaurants in the area no longer use lard in their beans, so youve got good options there. My favorite taqueria is La Estacion in Waukesha. They serve breakfast all day. Try the "juevos divorciados" if you eat eggs. My favorite dish at a Mexican restaurant ever is "Circa del Cielo" at Cempazuchi on Brady. It's masa cakes, beans, and a boatload of vegetables with a sauce.
• Every single Italian place offers vegetarian pastas and most of them offer pizzas. My favorite pizza is Pizzeria Piccola in Wauwatosa. You can get the pizza without cheese if you want. You can also get whole-wheat pasta there if you don't want the white stuff.
• We do have several restaurants specializing in organic and/or local food, which naturally will have vegetarian options beyond a steamed veggie plate: Barossa, Roots, Riverwest Co-op (all vegetarian), Outpost (deli), Beans and Barley.
• If you're interested in fine dining -- Sanford, Lake Park Bistro, etc. -- CALL AND ASK. There's usually something decent on the menu, but if there isn't -- most fine-dining chefs will respect any dietary restrictions (with the possible exception of kosher, because their kitchens aren't) with notice.
• You want American comfort food? Palomino in Bay View, Fuel in Riverwest, and Comet on the East side have lots of veg and vegan items, plus many of their normally meat items can be made vegan. Cafe Lulu in Bay View has great salads and sandwiches. The deli at Koppas has some interesting sandwiches, too.

Most of the "family restaurants" are crap, I'll give you that. And steakhouses might offer to make you a side plate, with creamed spinach, baked potato and maybe asparagus, which isn't ideal, I know.

Methinks if you live in Milwaukee or Madison (or near enough), and you can't find vegetarian options, you're not trying.

And please get it out of your head that "carbs" are bad, ESPECIALLY if you're vegetarian. Probably three billion people in the world live primarily on rice (a carb). I understand you don't want a big plate of spaghetti alfredo, or the ubiquitous "steamed veggies over rice" (neither do I), but there is a good deal of diversity in Wisconsin restaurants.

Signed,
A proud Milwaukee and Wisconsin booster

No puedo deletrear hoy.

(And I'm relying on Babelfish, so if "deletrear" =/= "spell," I apologize.)

:o

That's all. :D

Thanks!

Yes, I think I end up at too many "family restaurants" like you mentioned and need to start to explore that a bit. With your help, I've got a great list of places to start.

I am out in Oconomowoc, so Madison and Milwaukee are both within reason for me.

I know carbs aren't "bad" for me, I just want something more than potatoes or pasta. Thankfully there ARE portebella mushroom options a lot of places. mmmm....

Don't get me wrong, I love it here, I was just frustrated last night at the lack of options I was faced with. I took a broad-brush swing I shouldn't have.

Thanks again for your help! :hi:

to eat? There are TONS of places in Wisconsin that offer vegetarian fare.

You don't live on a cow farm or something do you, because that could be part of the problem. ;)

I do know what you mean though. Depending on where you go to eat, even here you get stuck with salad or nothing a lot of the time and that can get old. (I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat meat very often and almost never if I'm eating out.)

I am out in Oconomowoc. Madison and Milwaukee are within reason for me. eyesroll has opened my eyes and offered me a fabulous list of ideas and places.

Thanks everyone!!
:hi:

And you can make a quick stop at one of the Outposts too to take stuff home if you hit up Milwaukee.

I'm bookmarking this thread for that list from eyesroll--it's a great list!

In Wisconsin your salad comes in a martini glass.

Milwaukee and Cleveland are pretty much the same thing. ;)

most big cities have pretty good vegetarian and often vegan options. THere are even kosher vegetarian restaurants where I live.

good luck.

It's a lot better than in the old days let me tell you, when we had only one vegetarian rest. in the whole city!

All is not lost.

:hi:

And glad to see another Dead Like Me fan!

Great show, wasn't it??

Illinois is a real meat and potatoes state. ugh

the Chicago Diner on Halsted is wonderful.

Several real-life things that have happened to me:

1. "Oh, you're a vegetarian? My cousin was, too. He smoked a lot of pot, ended up ODing."

2. Person proceeds to moan and lick their meat and dangle it in front of my face, thinking it grosses me out to even see it and thinking they are funny. (It doesn't gross me out to see it, again I live in TEXAS.)

3. "You're gonna get SICK!"

4. "I bet you're anemic."

5. "Must be some religious thing."

6. "DON'T TELL ME YOU BELONG TO PETA? THOSE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!" (I don't, btw.)

7. I ate a roll and cole slaw at a luncheon once, because that's literally all I could eat that didn't have meat in it. Even the corn casserole had chicken in it.

8. Make that a few times, with any combination of corn chips, cole slaw, bread, and POSSIBLY some veggies.

9. Said in a bitter, sneering voice: "Well you'll just have to EXCUSE ME if I happen to like it."

(I really don't care what other people eat. I truly don't. Just leave me alone about what I eat, that's all I ask.)

I don't bring up that I'm vegetarian, because usually I just want to eat my meal in peace and not be hassled with stuff like that. But I get questions about why I didn't get the brisket, etc and I just say "I don't eat meat." Then it starts.

I just found a neat little Thai place near my house that is incredible and I have a feeling I'll be going there more often. The advantage to being vegetarian in Texas is the Tex-Mex food. I can always get some black bean tacos, etc.

It'll get easier, just start checking out more out of the way places, and cuisine from different countries.

Though, I'd bet you get it a lot worse down there than I do here.

Thanks for the support and suggestions, I am definitely seeing things differently than I was the other night.

and Asian restaurants. Indian, Thai, and Chinese restaurants, and even Italian restaurants, usually have veggie options. Applebee's and Denny's usually do not. Nor does your local main street lunch counter.

Or, you can come to the Twin Cities and get every imaginable type of cuisine.

You wanna know where it's REALLY hard to be a vegetarian? Mississippi.

I'm not a vegetarian, but I was just down there with a church group doing relief work, and the three vegetarians in the group were extremely frustrated with the options dished out to the volunteers at mealtime. They ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches.