Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I'm going to be in your city next week (Mon and Tues) and I'd love recommendations for food. The real problem is we'll be with an omni (I love her, but she pretty much refuses to have a meal without animal products, so no eating out at 100% veg restaurants for us) as well as a toddler (so no fancy places either), so we may be doing takeout a lot and eating (dinner at least) at our hotel.
The awesome thing is we are staying somewhere fancy (Marriott Custom House, McKinley Sq) with a kitchenette for heating up said takeout!

so, we have 2 dinners and 2 lunches. Pretty sure we will get takeout for dinners at least, so whats a great place to do that? (Omni sis-in-law will get her food elsewhere; that means driving to 2 different places for pick-up, which is a pain but we definitely want to experience some Boston veg goodness!!!)

annnd lunches...any pub-like places where we can all eat something decent and my poor harassed partner can have a pint?

thank you all!

For eating out, The Other Side Cafe would be a nice option - they have omni and veg food, plus lots of beer.

Flour Bakery is a really great place for everyone to grab a lunch or light dinner as it's mainly sandwiches. They clearly mark everything on the big chalkboard menu(not marked on the website) Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Nut Free, but they also have omni options as well(roast beef, chicken sandwich, etc). I'm not sure about any of their bakery items being vegan, but you can check if you go there. It's also not very far from your hotel.

Another great one, that I highly suggest, especially if you are going to have some time to do some shopping on Newbury street is The Other Side Cafe. They have AWESOME vegan options, as well as plenty of omni options. And beers!! Parking on Newbury is a pain, but since you will be there on weekdays, it should be ok. Or you could take the subway.

If you are going to be getting meals from seperate places for takeout and don't mind driving a little bit, there are some awesome all vegan options. Grasshopper is asain vegan in Allston. Shitty parking. But the food is awesome. Peace O Pie - all vegan pizzas and calzones and it's two doors down from Grasshopper.True Bistro in Somerville(we are having a PPK meetup there this weekend, too bad you won't be in town) is just plain awesome.

If all else fails, we have PLENTY of places to get burritos. Boloco is the best and they offer tofu as a filling.

Can only echo what's been said.

The Other Side Cafe
Flour (they do have vegan baked goods, too!)
Peace 'o' Pie!! (I think this is great pizza, period. Not just great vegan pizza, but honestly GOOD.)

Sorry I can't add anything new--I haven't been eating out much since becoming vegan. I will say that I heard Red Lentil has a http://www.theredlentil.com/ a vegan pumpkin cheesecake. I don't see it on the menu, but you might be able to pick up stuff there and find more omni stuff on the drive back to town.

Good luck and enjoy yourselves!

I really don't understand the Otherside love. Sure it's good in a pinch, but the food is only ok, and the service totally sucks. It might be ok for takeout (can you do that?), but I wouldn't want to bring a kid in there because it's a bit obnoxious.

Spike's has vegan veggie dogs and would be a fine place for kids. Tasty fries, and relatively cheap!

I think it fills the request pretty well - lunch, pub-like, something decent. There service can be spotty when it's very busy, but for lunch on a weekday it would be fine, at least it has been in my experience. (I work close by and get lunch there occasionally.) I like the food, especially the ability to get vegan dessert. Maybe I'm not that picky?

Another fast food-ish option is b.good. They have vegan veggie burgers and very tasty sweet potato fries.

One just opened on the south shore, and when I emailed to ask about the veggie burgers, they told me they weren't vegan.

Also just now checked the website and it says they're not vegan (they have eggs). In all caps, with multiple exclamation points, at that. And their bread has l-cysteine. Sorry!

Another vegan place, if you're getting away at all for vegan-only meals--Pulse Cafe! It's simple comfort food.

I'm backing up the recommendations for the Otherside isn't amazing, but it has solid vegan options, and a good beer selection.

If you guys like sushi, Genki Ya is another omni place, but has some of the most interesting veg options I've seen in Boston.

If your companions are game, there's also Ethiopian (Addis Red Sea has locations in Cambridge and downtown), or you could do Japanese at Fugakyu in Coolidge Corner, Brookline (a nice shopping area, with a great independent movie theater), which has a lot of vegan options. Or if you're in Harvard Square, there's 9 Tastes (Thai), Small Plates (tapas), Wagamama, or Grendel's, where you can get a good falafel. Of course, there are also about a billion good Indian restaurants (Kashmir on Newbury Street is really nice, and comes to mind if you're in that area; also Diva in Somerville) where you can get an excellent vegan meal while your omni chums get their meat fix. One of our favorite places to go is the River Gods in Cambridge - it's a bar, but a particularly good one, and it has a pretty extensive vegetarian/vegan menu, as well as a lot of omni stuff (if you go, get a Hendrick's gimlet!). Good luck, and enjoy your visit!

What the hell! I saw the newsletter where they announced that the burgers were now vegan, but apparently missed the one where they went back to using egg. I'm so bummed. :(

Aw. Well when was the newsletter from? I emailed them over the summer, because they didn't have ingredients listed then. Was it pre- or post-August? I'd love if they actually were vegan. But then there's the bread.

The newsletters aren't dated, but here is the one where they made the burgers vegan: http://www.bgood.com/ournewsletter.php?item=99

and here's the one where they went back (but I didn't see until now): http://www.bgood.com/newsletter_66.php

I didn't know about the l-cysteine, but can't that be synthetic as well? Or did they say specifically that theirs is from animal sources? Not that it matters anymore, since you can't put a burger in it.

you guys rule, I feel so lucky to have you as travel helpers!
I have actually been to the Other Side before and it was pretty ok. Would be a good middle ground for a lunch or something although I feel a little iffy about the toddler situation. Indian is actually a really good idea too for one dinner, and we also have always wanted to try Grasshopper, so maybe we'll make a trip to Allston one of the nights and get that for us and some omni whatever at a nearby place for my sis-in-law.
and ooh River Gods sounds great...I suppose if we were there early afternoon it wouldn't be such a big deal to have the toddler along (she is fine in nearly any situation, its other people's attitudes I worry about ha.)

you guys rule, I feel so lucky to have you as travel helpers!
I have actually been to the Other Side before and it was pretty ok. Would be a good middle ground for a lunch or something although I feel a little iffy about the toddler situation. Indian is actually a really good idea too for one dinner, and we also have always wanted to try Grasshopper, so maybe we'll make a trip to Allston one of the nights and get that for us and some omni whatever at a nearby place for my sis-in-law.
and ooh River Gods sounds great...I suppose if we were there early afternoon it wouldn't be such a big deal to have the toddler along (she is fine in nearly any situation, its other people's attitudes I worry about ha.)

Veggie Planet has vegan and vegetarian food there and I believe they also sell beer now. They have a kickass brunch on Sundays complete with a coffee bar. There's always families and kids in there and they play music sometimes.

Everyone likes pizza. You like pizza. I just know it. Go to Peace O' Pie.

I moved from Boston about a year and a half ago, so I don't know much about the new places, but:

I am going to have to go against the grain here and say that I would pretty much choose to ANYWHERE that is not Grasshopper. I actually don't even understand who people eat there let alone like it. The food is excessively greasy and salty. The restaurant smells like a bathroom.

The service at the Otherside is atrocious, but at least the food is edible.

The Oddlot at Veggie Planet is awesome.

Most of the places I like are kinda out of the way. I really like Spice and Rice in Inman Square, and Christopher's in Porter and CBC in Kendell are good pubs, though they don't have a ton of vegan options.

I don't hate Grasshopper but I do know what you mean, I guess. It's greasy but I think if you're in the mood for that it can be pretty good. When I first ate there it seriously underwhelmed me just because I've eaten at a lot of other asian fake meat places that I think are better, in other cities, but it's really grown on me lately. I got a bunch of the coupons when they had a special recently so I'm getting to try a bunch of dishes out.

The service is a lot better since this summer! They switched the way they staff tables.

If that's better, it must have been spectacularly shit-tastic before! I had to wait close to half an hour to order after I sat down last week.

Yes, that's better.

I've always like Grasshopper - it's not health food and it's not the classiest decor/atmosphere, but it's Chinese food, you know? I've never felt like it needs to be gourmet. The No-Name is delicious, and that's what matters.

I can also recommend Red Lentil - it's all-vegetarian but not all-vegan, so omnis might still find something they like. And a vegan place called True Bistro just opened up; I haven't gone, but it might be worth trying. And Diesel Cafe in Somerville has some good vegan soups and sandwiches, and Blue Shirt Cafe next door has a lot of vegan wraps, although it's not a great sit-down-to-eat atmosphere.

No Name is the best. And the wonton soup, at least the broth. I found a recipe for what looks like it could very similar to No Name. I am scared to make it because it will probably become the only thing I cook. Ever.

ok, everyone is going to hate me but I finally tried No Name and I was not blown away. I think maybe it's just cause I'm not a superfan of sweet and sour in general. But also the texture of the meat was a little dry, I thought, even under all that sauce.

No name was always my favorite, but the last time I had it it was really sweet and really garlicky, and not much else. I don't get there often so I don't know if it was just a bad day or if I've stopped loving it! Which would be sad. Still love the wontons and dumplings though.