Great Vegetarian Eats in Pittsburgh (Penn: house, restaurants, cost)

[MissShona]

I'm not a vegetarian, but I hesitate to eat meat out in restaurants. However I sort of keep going back to the same places for food. Just wondering if there are other recommendations that people can make for places that make great vegetarian/vegan dishes?

Also the place doesn't have to be strictly vegetarian!

Some of my favorites are:

The Double Wide Grill. They have a BBQ-Tofu skewer dish that is to die for (makes my mouth water just thinking about it). It comes with lots of veggies and rice...although the portion of rice is smaller than the veggies (I like that). They also have great cornbread as well!

The Shadow Lounge. The window of time for getting food is sort of narrow, but they have some Mexican fare on their menu which is excellent...and authentic! They have a tofu with mole sauce that is simply amazing. And you usually get some great music performances to go along with your meal as well!

Last night I went to New Amsterdam, where they had tofu tacos that were really yummy! They were flavorful...with black beans and pineapple and not smothered in any kind of messy sauce. I was very impressed (and I wasn't expecting to be)!

[Renaldo5000]

Quiet Storm - Although, I hear quality fluctuates.

Spak Brothers - They have vegan pizza shop options.

[MissShona]

Originally Posted by iwonderwhy2124

Quiet Storm - Although, I hear quality fluctuates.

I used to love the Quiet Storm when they first opened! But there has been a change of management. Now the service is so bad (at least it was 2 years ago when I last went there...perhaps someone else can debunk this?), I can't really recommend them to anyone now (and whatever the food tasted like was not so special as to make me forget the crappola service! )

Spak Brothers - They have vegan pizza shop options.

Never heard of them before. But Google is my friend. Thanks!

[steindle]

Spak's seitan hoagies are unbelievably delicious. Never had anything like them.

[greg42]

Some places I've actually been:

Quiet Storm: everything in there is veggie http://www.qspgh.com/

Spak Bros: sub and pizza shop but very whole ingredients and house-made meat substitutes; for instance you can get a sausage pizza that's vegan (if you get the soy cheese) http://www.spakbrothers.com/ Difficult to eat in here; better if you have somewhere to take out to.

Dinette: probably not an everyday-type stop given the cost but heck yeah; top non-traditional pizza in town, everything is fresh and flavorful http://www.dinette-pgh.com/

Yo Rita: generally several of the "taco" selections are veggie at any given time; try a cocktail too; fairly inexpensive for the creativity of the food http://www.yoritasouthside.com/

Kaya: I haven't had it with the newer chef, but every 3rd Wednesday they still do a vegetarian prix fixe dinner (I think it's 40 bucks) which was fantastic when we had it a couple years ago, maybe good for a splurge sometime (although if splurging is really infrequent just go to Salt of the Earth) http://www.bigburrito.com/kaya/

Double Wide is definitely a good option.

Mad Mex: you can get tofu in pretty much anything on the menu

Trying to think of what else. That's most of what I can think of in the city. We ate at Avenue B once, really good, enjoyed my dinner a lot, but I'm not sure good for veggie. (My usual dining companion generally will say she is veggie for most things but just as often will eat a fish dish when dining out, so sometimes that works out.) And I haven't been there yet, but of course, Salt of the Earth will cater to any veg/vegan needs. Although maybe since you're not strict you should throw that out the window when you eat there. If you're adventurous enough I think you have to try it at least once.

I'm not sure why you hesitate to eat meat out. Is seafood not your thing either? For example, Yo Rita does great things with fish you might try sometimes, and I would trust a lot of these places I listed with meat anyway. I mean, I don't know why I wouldn't trust Double Wide for meat vs non-meat. If you're concerned about the quality of meat, though, or hormone-free, local, not from a giant corp and that sort of thing (did you watch Food Inc recently? ), then yeah, apart from a couple of these places that might be a reasonable concern. But I wouldn't think handling would be a concern at any of them.

If you get way up to the north sticks near Zelie you should check out this place Burgh'ers I just learned about this week: http://www.burghersinc.com/

[fleetiebelle]

Most Asian and Middle Eastern restos have veggie options as well.

[groar]

salt of the earth has fantastic vegetarian food. it's also a lot less expensive than the meat dishes they have.

cafe raymond in the strip has really good vegetarian sandwiches, that's more of a takeout place though.

j'eet in bloomfield/lawrenceville has good vegetarian sandwiches and (i hear) crepes.

i heard 6 penn kitchen has some really good vegetarian options but i haven't been there. same with eleven.

and yeah, pretty much any chinese, thai, mexican or indian place will have good vegetarian options.

really, it's hard to find a restaurant in the city these days that doesn't have *something* that's vegetarian. and it's less and less common that there's only one vegetarian dish that's some uninspired thing like a portabella hoagie or pasta with red sauce or whatever. if you want fake meat specifically, that's a *little* harder to find, but not really.

[greg42]

Yeah, almost any of those, true, Thai, Chinese, Indian, even Mexican (sort of), etc.

Oh, Spice Island Tea House was a decent example of this, an eclectic Asian menu with origins in various locales: http://www.spiceislandteahouse.com/

Also Salem's Grill and Market in the Strip (does not seem to have its own web site) should some good options. Tons of good writeups, have not been myself.

[MissShona]

Originally Posted by groar

really, it's hard to find a restaurant in the city these days that doesn't have *something* that's vegetarian. and it's less and less common that there's only one vegetarian dish that's some uninspired thing like a portabella hoagie or pasta with red sauce or whatever. if you want fake meat specifically, that's a *little* harder to find, but not really.

This is true; but I would say that 'good' vegetarian is tough to find...in that the dish isn't some sort of run-of-the-mill afterthought (and something you actually look forward to having). Places like Chilis and what-not have vegetarian options. But it is not really high-quality food (IMHO).

Also I do love the more ethnic cuisines (Asian, Indian, etc.)...however I find that I am not always in the mood for Indian (or even Thai or Chinese food) everytime I want a vegetarian meal. Great insights though!

[greg42]

Originally Posted by MissShona

This is true; but I would say that 'good' vegetarian is tough to find...in that the dish isn't some sort of run-of-the-mill afterthought (and something you actually look forward to having). Places like Chilis and what-not have vegetarian options. But it is not really high-quality food (IMHO).

Yeah, this exactly. It's possible to get a veg dish about anywhere, but it's far less possible to get a purpose-designed, well thought out and tasty veg dish.

BTW we were not that impressed with Six Penn really veg-wise, but it's been a while. I dunno what's on the menu right now.

And just back to the fish idea one more time, Penn Avenue Fish Co, amazing stuff. Now serving dinner downtown too! http://www.pennavefishcompany.com/