Post Punk Kitchen Forum

just wanted to post some vegan-friendly places in richmond, va - here's what i've got so far...

821 bakery cafe - vegan chili, grits, breakfast burrito, daily specials, vegan burger, rosemary potatoes, and mucho more! 825 w cary st

aziza’s on main - best roasted veggie sammie (pre-xgfx days) & it comes already vegan! ask 'em what's vegan that day and you'll get lots of options & they boast a deli counter filled with vegan yummies you can take home to gobble up later. 2110 east main st

banditos - home of faco meat & deeeelicious mexi eatz. 2905 patterson ave

belly timber tavern - vegan sloppy joes, wood-fired pizzas with vegan cheeze, tempeh sammie, noochy tofu appetizer, salads. awesome. 1501 w. main st

china panda - last time i ordered from them almost everthing omni they also offered vegan. ooooooh, so good! 616 n sheppard st

cous cous - so many vegan options and all of them are oh-so amazing! i can’t pick a favorite – go! 900 w franklin st #3

crossroad’s coffee & icecream - they’ve got tons of vegan & veganizable yummies, all of their sides are vegan friendly, they usually offer a vegan dessert or two (cookies, biscuits, coffee cake, etc.) and their black bean burger & tempeh cheezesteak (just ask for vegan cheeze) are both damn delicious! 2 locations - 26 N morris st & 3600 forest hill ave (the morris street location has more options as they rock the larger kitchen, but forest hill has lots as well!)

da lat - vietnamese that’s pretty much the best ever. 9125-L w broad st

edo’s squid – italian dishes that will rock your world! tell them your vegan and they’ll help hook it up for you. their pasta noodles ‘n bread (which are both fantastical) are vegan, and if they have the baked cabbage or lentil soup on the menu that night – give them both a whirl – especially the cabbage! (reservations recommended) 411 n harrison st

ellwood thompson’s & ellwood thomspon’s coffee shop[/url] – natural and organic grocery store. vegan baked goods, gluten-free vegan yummies, a deli full of vegan yummies, the best salad bar in town, and a hot bar with tons o’ tasty vegan grub (including vegan breakfast options if you’re up early enough). the coffee shop is just across the parking lot and they always offer a few vegan desserts and a sammie or two. 4 n thompson st

fresca on addison - everything but the egg salad on the menu can be veganized. it's amazing & awesome & all things squeeeeee. trust me! 22 s. addison st.

good foods grocery - a natural & organic grocery store south of the james river. i love 'em because their bulk section is the best in town, they offer a few on-the-go vegan eats in the refrigerated section, and they always hook it up with offering local awesomeness. 2 locations: 3062 stony point road & 1312 gaskins rd

harrison street coffee shop - cheap vegan eatz that will make you most happyfaced! so many vegan options your head will be spinning. fo ‘sho! try the falafel sammie, bbq tofu sammie, and the beer battered tofu steak sammie. did we mention they offer all kinds of vegan desserts? (closed on sundays. sadface.) 402 n harrison st

ipanema - veggie & vegan (unfortunately they offer a fish dish sometimes. supersadface.). one of our absolute favorite places to eat. vegan desserts are always on the menu – and they serve brunch with tons of vegan options. it’s glorious – go to there! 917 w grace st

mama zu’s - same owners are edo’s and plenty of italian greatness to enjoy. tell the server you’re vegan and they’ll make it happen. lots ‘o options and one happy belly! reservations are strongly recommended. as i recall mama zu’s only accepts amex, master card, or cash – consider yourselves warned. 501 south pine st

mekong - the pho isn’t veggie, but they’ve got a ton of veganizable tofu and veggie dishes that will make you wish you saved some for leftovers so you could enjoy 'em again. the most impressive selection of beer we've seen. 6004 w broad st

mom’s siam - damn fine ‘n dandy thai food that’s so yummers! ask for your veggie options without fish sauce and they’ll make it happen. 2811 w cary st

the nile - ethiopian yummies!!! all the veggie options are vegan AND gluten-free (yes, including the injera!). that goes for their ridiculously super stellar injera. we promise you won’t be disappointed! 309 n laurel st

panda veg/panda garden (its name changes from time to time) – they offer an all vegan chinese foodz buffet fri. nights to sunday & an entire vegan menu (they do have a "traditional menu, so specify vegan). just ask! need we say more? stuff yourself silly. 948 w grace st

the phoenician - in our opinion, best hummus & musaka in town. their dolmas rock socks and so do the falafels ‘n baba ganoush. 4401 w broad st

pizza fusion - an organic ‘n sustainable chain pizza joint that offers vegan pizza (made with follow your heart cheeze) & gluten-free vegan brownies. w00t! (note: their gluten-free pizza crust is now vegan!!!) 11331 #131 w broad st (conveniently located near the whole foods 'n trader joes)

sticky rice – a ridiculous amount of vegan sushi (& veganizable veggie sushi), they’ve also got vegan noodle bowls, vegan miso soup, vegan tempura. yeah, they’re amazing. across the street "sticky to-go-go" - a call in & carry-out joint. get your sushi on. 2232 w main st

strange matter - almost everything on the menu can be veganized & they offer vegan brunch, too. oh yeah - and video games. w00t! 929 w. grace st

thai ginger taste - our favoritest thai place. ask for no fishies sauce and you'll be g-t-g (good to go). be daring and order thai hot. :) 3145 w cary st

xtras cafe - a lovely cafe with one awesome balcony. a few vegan options and they are delicious! 3322-B west cary st

other vegan friendly establishments that we haven’t been to just yet(but will!):

café gutenburg – european with a few vegan options (vegan waffles, anyone?) – also can be gluten friendly, we hear. 1700 e main st

cary street café - delicious and inexpensive – lots of live music, too. 2631 west cary st

pearl's cupcake shoppe - vegan cupcakes offered every day. 5812 grove ave

savor – always offering a vegan option and a dessert or two. 201 w 7th st

Harrison Street Coffee and Sticky Rice are definitely my favorites!

awesome! I visit some friends in Richmond yearly and we usually just eat at their house, but we have gotten take out a few times, so this will be good to know!

Thanks! We go through richmond from time to time and it's great to know the local stuff.

Thank you for that list! I'm heading to richmond for new years eve, and now we'll have lots of options. You've saved me a big search! :)

ipanema: their vegan caesar salad is to die for. MmmmmmmmmMM

Went to a lab lunch at Cafe Gutenburg last week and it was amazing. I'll definitely go back.

On a side note, do any of the RVA people happen to know which tattoo shops in town have vegan ink?

I'm from Norfolk, Va. and went to Richmond all the time when I lived there. I wanted to add that Sheba's, an Ethiopian place, has vegan stuff! I've eaten there. It was good (but Nile is definitely my favorite).

you might wanna call up River City Tattoo (http://rctattoo.com/home.html). i know a kid who used to work there and he was vegan. figured he'd only use vegan ink, but that's just assuming. give 'em a call though - i hear awesome things about them!

Yay! Thank you. I'll give them a call.

I lived in Norfolk for 7 years and spent a decent amount of time getting tattooed in Richmond. I'd highly recommend giving Absolute Art Tattoo on Grace Street a call and asking about the inks they use. The shop's number is (804) 355-8001. I've been tattooed by Josh Brown, Brian Bruno, and Timothy Hoyer (before he moved to New York) there. Josh opened up a shop of his own in Lynchburg but he may still be tattooing at Absolute as well. There are picture of my tattoos in the tattoo thread in the Living Room if you want to see the work I've had done there.

You could also try Amy Black at Trademark Tattoo on Cary Street.

Which of these places would be considered family friendly? My sister is moving to Richmond, and I want to get her a gift certificate for one, but she has a sometimes loud three year-old daughter.

Anybody? My sister's birthday is in two days!

I was in Richmond last week and we went to both Ipanema, which was truly awesome (I had the tofu sandwich, which was hands down the best tofu sandwich I've ever eaten and the peanut butter pie, which was also crazy good) and Sticky Rice (I'm not a huge fan of going out for sushi. I find I end up hungry despite the fact I spent more than a more substantial meal elsewhere. However, the food was good and bit greasy--seemingly, they put tempura in many of their speciality veggie sushi).

We also stopped by Carytown Cupcakes where they had two vegan cupcakes-- chocolate cherry and lemon thyme. These were amazing. My favorite being the lemon thyme, the boy preferring the chocolate cherry. Highly recommend this place. They apparently have at least one vegan flavor every day. I was really psyched to find two on the day we were there.

Thanks to this list I ate at crossroads yesterday with a group of non vegans and kids and everyone loved it and I had super rad french toast and a side of vegan sausage. The sausage was soo good. It tastes housemade. I am going to write them and ask what it was made of cause the guy at the counter didn't know. My husband had the scramble burrito and said it was good, too. Yum!

This makes me sad that I've never been anywhere vegan and good in Richmond. Nobody was ever willing to drive from the suburbs.

Tangent: the Richmond Science Museum is pretty nice.

LW, how far from Richmond are you? I don't think the friends I visit yearly technically live in the city, but it's only maybe a 20 minute drive.

I used to spend a lot of time in Midlothian, so about 30 minutes.

I'm about 90 minutes away now.

i just learned about the existence of midlothian the other day! i was like how come no one ever told me there's a place from LOTR in VA?! apparently when dance dance revolution came out, and my husband was living in richmond, they had to go to a dave and busters in midlothian to play it.

It's very unexciting. It's as boring, bland, shopping center suburbia as you can get. With extra traffic.

extra traffic, indeed. we live in chesterfield and i drive to work in midlothian. some days the traffic makes me supersadfaced.

i'm so glad you all like crossroads, ijustdiedinside. i'd be more than willing to bet their sausage is Twin Oaks brand (it's kinda local here and many veg-friendly restaurants use their products).

ooh, and there's an all-vegan (although they do offer honey) Vietnamese restaurant in town (on the north side): The Phoenix Garden. they've pho is divine! we've eaten there twice now and had absolutely loved everything we've tried. we're going to make our way through their menu. so yum!

Ooh, thanks for the sausage info! It was so delish! I'll check out that site. I really like richmond. So much more vegan friendly than I would have expected.

oh also, when I was in there, there was another vegan in there. probably a vcu art/design student who overheard me explaining to one of my friends why I don't eat honey and she seemed to be vegan based on her understanding/annoyance at having to explain the honey thing. I wonder if that was a ppker!

i love that! i bet it was another ppker. there are a few of us here. having to explain the honey issue with peeps drives me nuts, but i always feel like i need to go into an explaination when people ask me. rva wasn't always the most vegan-friendly, but it's getting there! more and more places are offering daiya and some non-craptastic vegan-friendly appetizers. and a bunch of places have something like "v.o." for vegan option on a lot of their menus. :D

(kinda off topic, but i got all excitedfaced and wanted to share: this afternoon a new client came in for a massage. we got to chatting during her consultation and she mentioned she worked at a restaurant; i asked her which one and it turns out she co-owns and bartends at a restaurant in Midlothian. we've been there before - they have like 1 vegan entree, at least 1 vegan-friendly appetizer special and usually another dish that can be tweaked to be vegan. i told her my spouse and i enjoy the fact that they offer something for vegans, that we've eaten there a few times and have always enjoyed ourselves. perhaps they'll add another vegan-friendly dish at some point. she was super friendly and i was glad i spoke up!)

yay rva!

Eat on S Pine Street has some vegan options (as well as a vegan brunch option on Sundays!). They also have some nice drink specials. Their beers rotate so you have to check if they are vegan or not.