Charlottesville Restaurant Update

With apologies to those of you who aren't from around here (and that's probably the majority of you), I thought I'd spend some time updating our restaurant post. This was prompted by our first dinner out since before baby was born. The last time we ate out was right before he was born. We went to Mesob, our local Ethiopian place that is sadly no longer in business. That was over 8 months ago and it was high time to head out again, so for Darlene's birthday recently we got a babysitter and headed to the downtown mall.

When Himalayan Fusion first opened we looked at the menu and it didn't really strike our fancy. It looked mostly Indian and though there were a number of vegetarian dishes it didn't seem particularly vegan-friendly. We've walked by there countless times since then and we finally got around to scoping out the menu again over the holidays. To our delight, 6 or 7 of the vegetarian options said "vegan option" next to them so we made it a point to give this place a try. Not only does the menu list what entrees are vegan but our waiter was knowledgeable about what appetizers and breads were vegan (the samosas and pakoras, and only the roti for the breads). Darlene's Aloo Palak (spinach and potatoes) was excellent, as was the Nepali-style dal that I had. We'll definitely be heading back here when time and finances allow (which unfortunately could be months from now).

We also managed to go out to eat recently (with baby in tow) at Eppie's, also on the downtown mall. Again, we had glanced at their menu in the past and not thought much of it, but someone gave us a gift certificate there so we tried it out. This is more of a cafeteria-style place and the main draw for us was their vegetable plates. They have numerous "veggies" that you can get in various combinations. My first thought was, "well we're in the South so all their veggies probably have a ham hock in them", but their menu clearly indicates which veggies are vegan. We each got a 3-veggie plate so we sampled almost everything that was vegan: collard greens, broccoli, sweet potato, cole slaw, black beans and brown rice. It was mostly basic food but tasty and good to get such a variety all at once.

Since I don't have any food pictures for this post will you be satisfied with kitten pictures instead? This is Ginger, the latest addition to our family. (And yes, that's a baby toy she's playing with.)