Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Hey all, I'm hoping that there are some people here from the ohio area. My band is doing a five day tour and three days are in ohio, columbus, athens, cleveland. I've never been to any of these cities so I have no grounding on what to look for. If you can help any way that would be super! I'm down on greasy faux american food and thai. Thanks!

-gnat

In Columbus, Hal & Al's is really good. Bar food like vegan corndogs, sauerkraut balls, tacos. Great selection of beers though not all of them are vegan. If you have a chance to hit up Pattycake while you are in Columbus for some cupcakes or cookies, it is a must!

In Cleveland, I have heard great things about Melt Bar and Grilled but have not been there myself.

happycow.net is a great resource looking for different places that are vegetarian/vegan friendly. That is my go to resource whenever I'm travelling. In columbus I really liked MadMex. It's a tex-mex kinda place with lots of vegan options. My lady got some tofu tacos there, which were stellar! They have tofu sour cream and everything.

I lived in Ohio for almost 9 years, mostly in Columbus and Athens. There's a lot of fun stuff to do in both of those places. There's also a biggish thread on Ohio in the regular Square section. As for food, I lived in Athens most recently, so I'll talk about that. You won't get any thai food here, but there is a lot of yummy, local vegetarian/vegan food here. No entirely vegetarian restaurants here though. It's a small college town with a hippie-type vibe plopped down in the heart of Appalachia. Go Casa Nueva for dinner/drinks or breakfast. Maybe your band is playing here or at Jackie Os. It's a Mexican inspired, worker owned cooperative that has a big bar area and smallish restaurant area. I used to work there. There can be a long wait, during which you are expected to sit in the bar (Cantina) and order drinks or appetizers if you like. Almost everything can be made vegan. They have a nooch cheese sauce that can be subbed for cheese and tofu or vegetables as filling choices (also meat choices). The menu can be overwhelming. For breakfast, I recommend the vegan scrambler and for dinner, the #2, a vegan dinner combination that is a great value (I hope it's still there!). Or the vegan burrito with salsa baked on top. Or one of the seasonal choices.

Have fun on your Ohio tour and check out the other thread!

Well, I live in Cleveland and I can definitely direct you to some awesome food-places.

--The Root Cafe (west of downtown, in Lakewood) is a great coffeeshop with an all-vegetarian kitchen and a bakery case stocked full with both traditional and vegan options. the quality of the coffee, food, and even the people working there is top-notch.


--Tommy's restaurant is on the east side, on the trendy-lively Coventry road district-- its menu is HUGE and has a ton of vegan options, including vegan milkshakes, with either a soy or rice base!

--The Greenhouse Tavern is an upscale-ish restaurant downtown that's really been making an effort to accommodate vegans. Their curry spaghetti squash is awesome.

--There are tons of ethnic restaurants around- Ty Fun on the near west side of downtown is great for thai food, as well as the Mint Cafe (on Coventry) and there are two Pho places on Superior Avenue downtown- although I think only one of them offers a veggie broth. Out in Lakewood, on the west side, India Garden is famous for offering vegan options. Just ask-- a lot of places are quick to offer help!

--for a quick bite, there's a place right downtown called The Flaming Ice Cube that offers nothing but vegan food and drinks- I definitely recommend checking out the menu online, but again, it's not a very sit-down type place (although they do have a few tables)

When you pass through Akron (from Columbus to Cleveland), I would recommend either VegiTerranean (an all-vegan restaurant) or Cilantro Thai & Sushi restaurant. Both are on the fancy-casual end, but delicious and acceptable for jeans-wearers.

West Side Bakery in Akron also has FABULOUS desserts. :)

I give a second vote for Pattycake Vegan Bakery in Columbus. You should also try the Whole World Bakery and Restaurant; while they're a vegetarian restaurant, they have many dishes that are either vegan straight-up, or that can be veganized. If you go there, try the vegan BLT - it's wonderful! There is also a great vegan hot dog stand called Rad Dog; I think he's usually parked somewhere downtown, but sometimes he sets up his stand outside of our co-op (Clintonville Community Market). And the co-op is a good place to stock up on all kinds of vegan essentials.