Vegan Hampton Roads

When I seek out greasy, bloat-inducing Chinese food I usually dial up Kin’s Wok on 21st Street in Ghent for some General Tso’s Tofu. But every once in a while I crave Dragon City and their faux meat dishes. Kin’s Wok doesn’t serve any faux meat or seitan - only tofu - but Dragon City offers on its menu “veg beef, veg chicken, and veg shrimp.” There is a separate menu called “Health Food” with all of the faux meat dishes, however I’ve found that you can often just request anything on the menu but ask for it with one of the vegetarian meat substitutes. Oh, and I wouldn’t call any of this health food.

On a recent weekend night, a friend of mine and I decided to get some Dragon City, stuff our faces and watch episodes of Dexter at her place. I went to the restaurant, which looks like your typical take-out Chinese place with friendly staff. I ordered faux shrimp lo mein for her and faux general tso’s chicken for me and two spring rolls.

The faux shrimp lo mein is eerily like real shrimp. The shrimps themselves had little flavor, but the lo mein was delicious. My dish was tasty, but a little disappointing. The General Tso’s sauce was very thick, like someone had added a little too much corn starch. The faux chicken pieces are deep-fried. I enjoyed the dish overall, which was served with perfectly cooked broccoli and white rice, but could have used more sauce and a less viscous version.

Not all of the faux meats are deep-fried like the General Tso’s Chicken. I’ve had other dishes where the faux meat has been steamed or sauteed. I’ve yet to try the faux beef. And I would skip the spring rolls next time. The only filling was cabbage and not worth it to me.

Like faux meat, Dragon City is a novelty in Norfolk. It’s not somewhere I order all the time, but I’m really happy to have it around when I want to indulge. And there are plenty of people out there that would call Dragon City their favorite over Kin’s Wok.

Dragon City
2301 D Colley Ave.
Norfolk, VA 23517
(757) 664-7900
Open 7 days a week: Mon-Thurs 11:00 a.m. - 10:30 p.m., Fri-Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m., Sun. 12:00 noon - 10:00 p.m.
Delivery, take-out and dine-in (there’s a table and some chairs at which I’m assuming you can eat your meal)

Okay, I’m just going to come right out and say it. Red Dog Saloon on Colley Avenue in the Ghent section of Norfolk makes the best damn vegan cheese pizza in town. Seriously. Though it’s not hard to make the top of the list considering there are only two restaurants in the area serving pizza with vegan cheese.

The crust is well-cooked, but not hard as a rock. The vegetable toppings are rich and flavorful (spinach, big sun dried tomatoes, olives). The sauce is tasty. And the vegan cheese doesn’t taste like chalk/rubber/etc.

I’m pretty sure Red Dog is using Follow Your Heart vegan cheese, known for its meltiness, but there’s just something about the vegan cheese alongside everything else this great pizza has going for it that has me craving it!

And there’s even more great news…if you don’t want to order a whole pie, Red Dog will sell them by the slice. Known for its happy hour specials, Red Dog is used to catering to thirsty visitors just looking for munchies to absorb the alcohol, so they don’t force you into the entire pizza unless you want it. I really appreciate that! And not to mention the slices are gigantic - almost the size of two slices, if you ask me. A slice will run you close to four dollars, but keep in ming it is pretty much the size of two normal slices and it comes with vegan cheese.

On a recent trip with friends we tried the vegan chicken tenders as well, which are basically deep fried chunks of Chickette roll served with some sort of mango mustard dipping sauce. The sweetness of the mango serves as a great replacement to the typical honey mustard sauce served with chicken fingers.

I’ve heard the vegan chicken sandwich is great there as well. A larger piece of chickette roll, deep fried and served sandwich style with the fixin’s.

Red Dog is a saloon and there is smoking, but if it’s nice a nice day and not too crowded you can usually luck out with a seat outdoors. There’s not really a great ambiance to Red Dog. I wouldn’t bring a family there at night on the weekends and I’d be a little upset if a date ever brought me there, but we’re just talking about vegan pizza and chicken tenders here.

Full disclosure: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” plays almost every hour at Red Dog (or at least it seems that way). You have been warned.

Red Dog Saloon
1421 Colley Ave
Norfolk, VA 23517
(757) 625-4674

Couldn’t find a listing of their hours, but I know they’re open for lunch and I’ve been there for last call on a number of occasions. So, my educated guess would be most likely 11:30/12 until 2 a.m.

When you think of vegan Indian food in Hampton Roads, no doubt Rajput in Ghent comes to mind. But that’s a review for another day.

Before Rajput hit the scene, there was Nawab and the restaurant, with its four location, is still going strong. When I first tried Indian food it was at Nawab’s famous lunch buffet. I was hooked.

While their vegan selections aren’t as extensive as Rajput’s menu (supposedly the largest vegan menu in Virginia), the dishes they do offer are to die for. My current favorite is the Goan Curry, a coconut-infused, creamy mixed vegetable dish. When it’s brought to your table it smells like the coconut will overpower the dish. Shredded coconut is garnished on top. But the coconut flavor is just right. I tend to order my Indian food medium to medium-hot and this dish has just enough creaminess to cut the heat.

If you’re not a coconut fan, the Eggplant Bartha, a spicy mashed eggplant dish punctuated with green peas, is also great. It was my favorite for quite a while. Other vegan dishes offered are Vegetable Jhalfrazie and Chana Masala.

All dishes are served with perfectly-cooked jasmine rice. Indian food is traditionally served with a bread known as naan, however naan is not vegan. The roti, a vegan, unleavened whole wheat bread, is great at Nawab. Roti tends to have a more cracker-like texture, but the roti at Nawab is fluffy and tender.

And I always order a side of mint chutney to slather onto my roti. It’s my favorite part of the meal, truth be told.

Nawab does offer lunch buffets, though there usually only tends to be one vegan entree. I always check with the servers about what’s vegan before deciding whether to order from the menu.

Another great thing about Nawab? Four locations! I know, most of my reviews have been of Norfolk restaurants, but I’m trying to expand. Nawab has locations at Hilltop in Virginia Beach, at Military Circle in Norfolk, on Jefferson Avenue in Newport News and one in Williamsburg.

Rather than list all the details of every location, you can visit Nawab’s Web site here.

We have a long list of places to review for VHR, but we want to hear from you about places we should check out, especially ones outside of Norfolk and specifically Ghent. Norfolk has a ton of great vegan options, but they exist in other cities as well and we want this to be a regional blog. So if there’s a place with vegan options, even if it’s a really good veggie burger, let us know!

There’s not much to say about this one, only that if you’re looking for a vegan pizza you can get it here. Bella carries Follow Your Heart vegan cheese, which I consider one of the most melty vegan cheeses around. I’ve ordered takeout from Bella and dined in and the pizza is much better in person - trust me. It’s not horrible on delivery, but their crust is much better fresh and I’ve found they give you more vegan cheese when you dine in. It’s a little skimpy when you order delivery.

The waitress at the restaurant said they only serve the vegan cheese with the pizzas, but I’m sure with some prodding you could get it on a veggie sub as well, which they also serve.

The restaurant is a typical family place with some al fresco seating along Colley Avenue in the warmer months. They also sell pastas, salads, sandwiches and beer.

This is the only vegan cheese pizza I’ve had in town, but, word is Red Dog’s new vegan menu includes a mean pizza. The last few times I’ve hit Red Dog it’s been for drinks only, but it’s on my list!

You all know what pizza looks like, but here’s a shot from my most recent visit. A pie with vegan cheese, black olives, garlic, onions and tomatoes.

I will update this post with prices as soon as I track down that take-out menu, but be warned they charge almost a dollar per topping, so check out the menu for topping specials. And they charge an extra fee for the vegan cheese, but you should have expected that.

The details:

Bella Pizzeria
1308 Colley Ave
Norfolk, VA 23517
(757) 625-3525

Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m; Friday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Dine-in, take-out or delivery
Accepts cash and major credit cards.

Wow, this place came out of nowhere! Well, not really. They’ve had a location at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront for seven years or so, but they recently opened a Ghent location and added a large number of vegan items to their menu.

Nearly every item on their menu can be made vegan – even their famous fish tacos – for an additional 20 percent. After numerous visits in the last month (I think I’m addicted), the fish tacos have to be my favorite. And to tell you the truth, when I considered a vegan fish taco, I wasn’t too excited. I was picturing scary, rubbery, faux fish.

Vegan fish taco from Pelon's.

Continue reading ‘Pelon’s Baja Grill in Ghent’

Sorry for the lengthy hiatus.

We launched this blog in the middle of a lot of other things and just couldn’t get it together, but we’re back and hungry for delicious vegan eats. And wow, in less than a year, Hampton Roads seems to have started getting its act together in the way of options for vegans and vegetarians. There are plenty of great reviews slated, but if you have a recommendation please contact us here.

On deck are two Ghent eateries that have pulled out all the stops for vegans…look for those reviews this week and next!

PS: There were a ton of comments in moderation - mostly spam - so if yours was marked as such on accident, our apologies!

Sushi is something usually reserved for the meat-eaters among us, not vegetarians and vegans. But Kotobuki in the Ghent section of Norfolk has changed that with its extensive, and sometimes startling (vegetarian shrimp, anyone?), vegetarian menu. The owners even launched a monthly vegetarian lunch special, but you’ll need to ask for that when the server brings you a menu.

I’m usually a fan of the vegetable maki (hand rolls). I always get fried sweet potato and avocado rolls, and I always preface it with a bowl of miso soup. Their miso soup is one of my favorites and the owners assured me its fish flake free.

But when I want something to stick to my ribs, I go for the Vegetarian Sesame Chicken. The chicken pieces have a truly meaty texture and are fried and drenched in a sweet sesame sauce atop a bed of lettuce. In the bento tray, you also receive a salad with a terribly addictive dressing, a tiny fried spring roll and potato cake, and of course rice. And like most meals at the restaurant, it comes with a miso soup appetizer. Also not featured on the menu is brown rice, but they usually have it on hand for the vegetarian specials, so ask for it if you like.

The veg sesame chicken is a favorite among friends, but I’ve also tried the veg chicken teryaki and the veg chicken and broccoli. The teryaki has a great sauce, but the “meat” is a turn off - half moon shaped and cooked to a crisp, it’s pretty hard to tear your teeth through. The chicken and broccoli was the least enjoyable with an off-tasting gravy.

There are still a number of the restaurant’s faux meat dishes I’ve yet to try, such as the tofu steak or the eggplant “ham” platter, which won an award from PETA in 2006 for the best vegetarian meal in Hampton Roads

You may like these dishes, but if you’re going for the first time and want something spot-on, go for the veg sesame chicken.

And don’t forget the wealth of vegetable maki available, from vegetarian shrimp tempura rolls to spinach, fried tofu and asparagus rolls. Kotobuki also offers a number of veggie-friendly appetizers.

The details:

Kotobuki Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar
721 W. 21st Street
Norfolk
Phone: (757) 628-1025

Hours:
Lunch: Mon - Fri, 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.; Sat - Sun, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Dinner: Mon - Thur, 5 - 10 p.m.; Fri - Sat, 5 - 11 p.m.; Sun, 4:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Dine in or take out.
Accepts cash and major credit cards

Ah, Chinese takeout. It’s greasy, salty and there’s enough for dinner and lunch the next day.

Kin’s Wok on West 21st Street in Norfolk is my favorite pick for a quick and filling dinner. Kin’s Wok isn’t a vegetarian restaurant by any means, but they serve some great tofu. My favorite is the orange flavored tofu ($8.25). The dish comes with white rice and a plastic container full to the brim with fried tofu glazed in a sauce of red chile and orange - there are even chunks of orange peel in the dish. And to make it slightly healthier, the orange tofu is served alongside some steamed broccoli. The sauce is very sweet with a hint of heat, but you can request it spicier, which I prefer.

If you visit Kin’s Wok, make sure you bring cash! You can dine in, takeout or have food delivered, but it’s all cash only.

There is a “vegetarian” section of the menu, but the name isn’t accurate. For example, one of the dishes is Tofu with Loster Sauce….not vegetarian. But there are other options in the vegetarian, health food, tofu and vegetable sections of the menu. It’s a huge menu, so look around.

Watch out for dishes containing egg - you may want to double check before ordering. The vegetarian combo dinners come with fried rice and an egg roll, neither of which are vegan.

You can add steamed or crispy tofu for an extra $1.00 to any of the vegetable dishes (avoid the String Bean w. Garlic Sauce - it contains minced pork).

If you’re around for lunch, check out the lunch specials. There are a few mixed vegetable dishes - all for less than $5.00. The lunch combos come with rice, but make sure you specify white rice.

As with any restaurant that serves meat, eggs and other non-vegan things, double check if you’re unsure of the ingredients. Just because something appears on the tofu menu, doesn’t mean it’s vegetarian or vegan.

Here’s a shot of a recent takeout order of orange flavored tofu:

The details:

Kin’s Wok
21st Street Pavilion Shopping Center
222 West 21st Street
Norfolk
Phone: (757) 623-2933 / 623-8025

Hours: Sunday to Thursday 11 am - 11 pm ;
Friday and Saturday 11 am to 11:30 pm

Dine in, take out or delivery (minimum $10)
Remember, cash only!

Vegan dining options in Hampton Roads aren’t abundant, but they do exist!

This site will offer weekly reviews of restaurants in the Hampton Roads region of Southeast Virginia that have recognized the need to cater to diners with dietary restrictions and food allergies. In addition to reviews, VeganHamptonRoads.com will arm customers with tips for dining out and resources for those in the restaurant and hospitality industry looking to make their menu offerings friendly to vegans, vegetarians and anyone else with dietary restrictions.

Want to recommend a restaurant for review? E-mail us at veganhamptonroads@gmail.com