Okay, so what should I eat a very non-vegan restaurant?
Posted by SnowQueen690 on Aug 29, 2007 · Member since Jun 2005 · 1569 posts
I just accepted a lunch with a couple of people at this restaurant. AFTER I accepted the meeting I went online to look at their menu. There is not a single thing on there vegetarian, much less vegan! Well, this is kind of an important lunch, it is with the bosses, a "get to know you" type of thing with several others like myself. So what should I eat? I don't want to eat meat, I am not sure my stomach can handle that...yuk. Should I just get a cup of tea and watch everybody else eat? I did bring my lunch from home so not eating there is no big deal. I didn't even see salad on the menu! I say chick pea soup, but I can just bet that it has chicken broth.
Could you not telephone them and request something in particular? Surely, they must do salad and some vegetables?
big salad with oil and vinegar?
some pasta with oil and veggies
there has to be something Im sure
ugh, this is a fear of mine. Especially since you are with people you are trying to make an impression on...In the past, I have admitted defeat & ordered a crabcake sandwich. I plan on being stronger though. I met a strict vegan in person a couple months ago & asked her what she does in that situation and she said she orders a baked potato & a side of steamed veggies. I think that is what I would do, just find something you can eat. Maybe if you post the menu we could help more?
So what kind of restaurant is it? Surely it serves some type of veggies as side dishes. I would definitely eat something before hand, then when there I would ask the waiter/waitress about searing some veggies in vegetable oil for you. Maybe a baked potato? At the worst, some fries, although you may wish to find out what they're fried in. Or surely they offer some kind of salad. Make sure any meat and cheese is not added to yours, and have a vinaigrette or Italian dressing? Could you maybe go in few minutes early and talk with a server/manager about what you might order to give you (and maybe even them) a heads up so you don't have to take as much time figuring it out once you're there with your boss? Or even call in advance to find out what options/manipulations you can do.
I once ate at a place on a field trip with my geography class and literally the only thing for me to eat on the menu was a baked potato (with nothing on it because they didn't even have margarine--only butter and sour cream) and a crappy iceberg lettuce salad with a few raw veggies and Italian dressing. No steamed vegetables in sight, no pasta dishes, no rice. Only steak, chicken, burgers, fish, and the like and all their soups had meat in them. I understand your pain :'(
Can you post a link to their menu? Maybe we can put our veggie heads together and come up with a creative meal for you!
Here is their website:
http://www.carmelosrestaurant.com/maphou.html
It is an itallian restaurant only in Houston and Auston, TX. You guys have some excellent ideas by the way! The idea of pasta with steamed veggies and olive oil sounds very good. I called them and told the lady my situation and she assured me that many of the items on their menu can be made vegetarian if I tell the waiter/waitress that that is what I want. She seemed like it was something that happens fairly often.
Edit: Opps, here is the site of the menu, there are two menus one for Houston, and one for Auston: http://www.carmelosrestaurant.com/pdfs/houston-lunch.pdf
the penne pasta minus the shrimp (and ask about that broccoli raspiri (sp) since I have no idea what it is
also theres the asparagus salad minus the cheese
and the soup with the chickpea gnocci might be safe....so you could always ust do a soup and salad
also, im sure at a place like that, they will cater to your needs
as far as impressing your boss, is he/she really worth impressing if he/she wont respect your personal views?
edit - just read the rest of your post (jumped right into the menu link it seems), Im sure youre in the clear
oooh you'll be fine!!! I'd ask for either just linguine with marinara (maybe eggs in pasta though?) or the portabelo mushroom, "no shrimp please!"
I'd go with either the Salsiccia Italiana or sans sausage or the Portabello Mushroom sans shrimp.
I'd call them ahead of time to ask about how the food is prepared. For example, is anything sauteed when preparing either of those? If so, do they use butter or olive oil? Stuff like that, so when you get there you don't have to ask a lot of questions and look high maintenance. You can smoothly and efficiently modify your order so it doesn't become a big deal.
I wouldn't order any of the meat dishes, they will still charge you for the meat in most places which is the bulk of the price. The spaghetti with marinara looks harmless, call ahead and see if they use eggs in their noodles and if they use meat stock or cheese in their marinara.
Also, ask if their vinaigrettes have cheese in them, if not the dinner salad and "torre di pisa" salad look really good :) and if so you could ask for the salad with just oil and vinegar dressing, that most likely would be an easy request for them.
The tablecloth.
Your bosses will be floored by your ingenuity and ability to improvise.
The tablecloth.
Your bosses will be floored by your ingenuity and ability to improvise.
It depends on the color of the tablecloth - I'd suspect darker colors are heavier and, after all, this will be lunch. If it's maroon, I'd just eat your napkin. At a place like that it'd probably be oversized, so you could fill up on it with out being overly stuffed.
Remember, we're here to help.
Remember, we're here to help.
Whatever would people do without us? 8)
Snow Queen - definitely call on the day of and after figuring out what you're going to order ask the host/ess to give the chef a heads up. Then it shows your boss how organized you are!
Thank you all for your wonderful advice. But I did not eat the tablecloth, it looked like it would have been a bit chewy. But my napkin was maroon, but that looked too fattening so I passed on it too.
Anyway, the lunch went great. I told the waiter that I was vegetarian and he imediately had something he knew I would like. Steamved veggies with penne pasta and a red sauce. It was DELICIOUS, and vegan (I passed on the parmesan)! I sobbed up the remaining red sauce with some bread after eating the veggies and pasta. That went much better than I thought it would. It tasted just like my step-mom's cooking, who is from Italy. I miss her food. What is it different about italian red sauce and american red sauce? It tastes fresher, or something doesn't seem as heavy. Thanks you all, it went great.
Yea! I'm so glad it all worked out!!!
i dont know if anyone mentioned this, but ask to make sure that the pasta or the pasta "sauce" (like oil, veggies, etc) doesnt use chicken broth. even if they omit the actual meat, sometimes authenic italien places will flavor the pasta further by sauteing the veggies and pasta in broth. if you are worried about that.