The Vault
Well, Oct 26th and #6 on my Vegan Chef Challenge restaurant crawl was The Vault. Again, this was my first time visiting The Vault but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at this stop. As part of our Tulsa Vegan Meetup agenda, I was excited to see who would join us. For any of those who didn’t show, you missed some amazing food.
So, for starters, there is parking upstairs and downstairs. I happened to end up on the upper level but soon found that I could access the restaurant downstairs via elevator. And even though this is downtown, the parking is all free. The restaurant is very modern and clean and fun. There were a lot of lunch folks, I am assuming from local offices. Due to the lunch crowd and the high ceilings, it was pretty loud. The waitress was pleasant and made the effort to ask the chef questions I so frequently have.
My only complaint was that they only had one item on the Vegan Chef Challenge, a Korean BBQ Cauliflower Taco meal. One of our party ordered that and I took a tiny bite because cauliflower doesn’t like me in general…decided today was not the day to suffer! And they said that they enjoyed the tacos. However, much to my surprise, most of their menu is or can be made vegan! I tried their chicken sandwich and it was amazing! It was a thick piece of meat with practically no breading which is usually not the case. No one seemed to know the brand of the ‘chicken breast’ but I am on the hunt now. But I am sorry that the chicken sandwich was not on the Vegan Chef Challenge menu so I could have voted for it…it would have been my big winner!
I would recommend this restaurant mainly because of the many vegan options and if the chicken sandwich is any indication, I am assuming the rest of the menu is probably also pretty good. I will be finding out because I am going back!
Inheritance Juicery
Okay, Oct 27 and #7 on our Vegan Chef Challenge restaurant crawl. My sister, Carol, and I did our own vegan restaurant crawl in OKC about a year ago. This has been more fun because we’ve had so many friends along the way. This time we met at Inheritance Juicery, again, my first experience with this restaurant. It has street parking, high ceilings, it was nice and clean, the staff was pleasant and they had lots of interesting juices and drinks. The high ceilings made it rather noisy but we noticed that they have two areas that are more closed off and would have been better if you wanted to actually talk to the folks you’re eating with.
One of our group ordered the Cuban Sandwich with Roasted Herb Carrots and Garlic Mayo. It was made with a marinated jackfruit and they graciously allowed us each a small bite to sample. It was okay but I don’t think I would rave about it. The roasted carrots were delicious and the garlic mayo was amazing.
I ordered the Sriracha Mac N Cheese to share with the table. None of us cared for the Sriracha sauce on the top so it rather ruined the dish for us. If we had thought that through, we should have ordered the sauce on the side! The base was good but as in most vegan Mac N Cheese dishes, doesn’t totally taste like my Thanksgiving Southern Man N Cheese recipe (that I never make anymore!). It did not go to waste though…Carol took it home and her daughter ate every bite!
Once again, this restaurant has lots of vegan choices on their regular menu so I tried a quinoa bowl that was pretty good. I would definitely go again to try out some more of their vegan choices.
Egg it On
Finally, Oct 29, and #8 on our Vegan Chef Challenge restaurant crawl. We met at Egg It On in Broken Arrow, a very popular place with the locals. What is interesting is that the chef originally didn’t understand ‘vegan’ but she worked with Mark and Beverly and finally got it down. This place had lots of patrons while we were there and it was also noisy but not so much that we couldn’t hear one another. They also have a couple of meeting areas that I am sure you have to sign up for beforehand. It was simply decorated but cute. The staff was pleasant but very busy and kept missing or delaying some items. Like we had to ask for syrup and salsa…not served originally.
Now the most amazing and wonderful thing to me was that they had gone out of their way to put 5 new vegan choices on their menu. And they had a special menu printed just for the occasion which I thought was excellent. That being said, a couple of us got the Vegan Polenta Cakes and the rest of us got the Breakfast Tostada. I also got an order of the Fall Spice Pancake Stack to share with everyone.
So, let’s start with the Polenta Cakes. The folks who ordered it shared that it was just okay. They seemed to think that there were too many tomatoes poured over the top. I have heard others share previously that they thought they were divine…you will have to be the judge on that one. The Breakfast Tostada was really good but again, we had consumed over half of our meal before the salsa arrived.
Now, the Fall Spice Pancake Stack. I immediately did not like it because it had apple butter spread all over the top. However, my table mates were not deterred from consuming theirs…once the syrup arrived. All in all, a pleasant and fun breakfast meeting with friends.
Someone recently asked me what my favorite vegan restaurant is and I quickly replied, my kitchen! I love to cook and try new recipes and flavors. It has been a big part of the vegan experience for me. But as we finish up this Vegan Chef Challenge, I am impressed and pleased that Tulsa has so many choices for vegans. The restaurant crawl also gave me new ideas to try at home. I am already using Just Eggs now for an occasional morning omelet (Wild Fork), again I am on the hunt for that chicken patty (The Vault), and I may even try my hand at home made vegan sushi (Caribbean Sushi). Who knew?