Raleigh, NC

Dates: February 17-20, 2006

I went to Raleigh for a weekend and thought I'd post about some of the vegan food in that city. It's not as easy as in NYC where there are so many veg restaurants, but there are still many options in Raleigh.

I had lunch one day at Neomonde, which serves Middle Eastern food at a deli-style counter. I was very pleased that they listed the ingredients on many of their dishes, making it really easy to figure out what's vegan. I couldn't decide what to get, so I ended up with a "sampler" plate where I got to choose 4 items. I had the chickpea salad, potato salad (made with lemon juice and olive oil), hummus, and falafel. I don't think I've ever had falafel with sesame seeds on it before, and they added some nice flavor. The hummus had a good consistency, but was a little bland. I would rate it as better than mass-produced store-bought, but not as good as homemade. The chickpea and potato salads were both really good.
Neomonde also sells Middle Eastern groceries, so you can stock up on pomegranate molasses, pickled radishes, sesame candy, etc. while you're there.

After a frustrating and fruitless search for a Caribbean restaurant called Trin-Bago, we ended up settling for Indian food for dinner at Royal India. It was pretty much just like any other decent Indian restaurant. I had the Jeera Aloo, which they claimed was a house specialty. The flavor was good, although too mild. But the texture wasn't so great -- the potatoes had the texture of having been frozen.
We did have the pleasure of sitting underneath a portrait of a man that was said to have had 70 wives, though.

Next was lunch at a cute little coffeeshop called the New World Coffeehouse. I had a hummus & veggie wrap that was very good. It came with sun chips which I learned are vegan...and delicious. They also have a peanut tofu wrap on the menu which sounded good, but they were out of it. They carry ABC Baking Co. vegan cookies, too.

I also went to Lilly's Pizza. They have vegan soy cheese, but it's vegan-rella, which I'm pretty sure I hate. So I had baked tofu on my pizza. I think this is actually the first time I've had tofu on pizza, and it was really good. Their pizza is delicious. It has a sweet crust, and they have tons of toppings to choose from. I remember from last time I was there that they have really good salads, too. This time I opted for a $6 pitcher of PBR instead of salad, though.
Not only does Lilly's have tofu and beer, but they also have a glowing Jesus in the corner.