Restaurant Review: The Garden Grille Is a Vegan Eden!

Location: 727 East Avenue, Pawtucket, Rhode Island 02860 (at the start of Blackstone Blvd.)

Before I went vegetarian, I loved going out for ethnic food. Gosht Shahi Korma (lamb in saffron-cashew sauce) at the Indian place with the fancy table linens? I'm there. Bun Thit Nuong (rice vermicelli with grilled pork) at that pan-Asian hole-in-the-wall? Count me in.

After I became vegetarian, I not only loved ethnic food, but my appreciation increased immensely—given that mainstream "American" restaurants were now, for the most part, dietarily useless to me. I kept going to the same ethnic places, only instead of lamb and pork I was ordering things like Paneer Korma (made with cheese) or Veggie Pad Thai (with its requisite egg).

Once I turned vegan, however, everything changed. It's not that I stopped loving ethnic food. On the contrary, added to the love and appreciation I'd long felt was something entirely new: dependency. With cheese pizza and eggplant parmesan removed from the equation, ethnic restaurants suddenly became my only reliable option when I wanted a meal away from home.

And then I discovered (or really, re-discovered) the Garden Grille Vegetarian Cafe. With its eclectic (yet accessible) menu, the Garden Grille has become the answer to my family's restaurant rut. Basically, our dining-out choices had whittled down to just four options: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, or Middle Eastern. Don't get me wrong—I'm thrilled to live in an area where we have relatively easy access to Baingan Bharta, Szechuan Tofu, Avocado Maki, and Falafel. But after many, many months of noshing exclusively on the ethnic circuit, we felt frustrated that there wasn't a place with "regular" vegan food. This was especially important if we wanted to dine out with people, like our parents, whose palates fall decidedly in the conservative camp.

Which is why my husband and I, after several lip-smacking visits, felt secure in taking his parents out to lunch at the Garden Grille one recent weekend. With its 100% vegetarian (and highly vegan-centric) menu, we knew it was a place that would satisfy us (and give us a break from the ethnic-food merry-go-round), while at the same time would please (and not freak out) our guests. So here's the lowdown on the Garden Grille, where hardcore vegans and mainstream eaters alike can find culinary contentment:

Decor:
Contemporary and warm, with a slightly upscale feel that is in stark contrast to the low-budget, slightly dinged-up aesthetic so common in veg-friendly nosheries. There are seven roomy booths (two of which look out over the large front window) and six smaller tables, as well as an attractive L-shaped bar that seats 10. The bright, polished wood tabletops make a nice backdrop for the clean lines of the white ceramic dinnerware and clear glassware (nothing plastic here). In all, it's an appealing blend of casual-posh; you'd be at home showing up in shorts after a day at the beach, but you'd also feel fine trying to impress a first date.

Clientele:
The mix of customers is one of my favorite things about the Garden Grille. I knew my in-laws wouldn't be comfortable in a place where they were the only senior citizens, and even I am old enough to feel awkwardly uncool when everyone around me is a 20-something hipster with multiple facial piercings and resplendent dreads. Luckily, the Garden Grille is so popular among such a diverse cross-section of diners, that you feel at ease no matter your demographic. Every time I've dined there, I've been happy to see an amazing assortment of humanity—old and young, gay and straight, daters and loners, families with small children, families with adult children, you name it, everyone belongs.

Food:
When Garden Grille first opened in 1996, I lived only 3 streets away. Back then, it was a much more humble affair; what I remember is it being mostly a juice bar whose menu consisted mainly of a few wraps. Imagine my surprise when, returning to my old stomping grounds 15 years later, I find that this once-modest smoothie shop has transformed, Cinderella-like, into a full-scale eatery.

Cashew and Nori Crusted Tofu

Appetizers (called "small plates") range from $6 to $10. Highlights include Reggie’s Raw Heaven ($10), a gorgeous arugula salad artfully arrayed with slices of mango, grapefruit, and avocado, and topped with beet-infused jicama matchsticks and cashew gamasio. A far cry from the insipid "garden salad" we vegans are too often stuck with, it's a dish I order almost every time I go. Another must-try appetizer is the Chipotle Seitan ($7) served with a sinus-clearing wasabi mustard; this tangy, toothsome delight got raves from both my vegan husband and his carnivore father.

Entreés ("large plates") run from $9 to $12 at lunch and from $9 to $17 at dinner. The Grilled Vegetable Wrap ($8) was a safe choice for my never-to-be-mistaken-for-a-foodie mother-in-law. Stuffed with portabella, asparagus, roasted red pepper, caramelized onions, and arugula, with a touch of tarragon aioli, it's pretty much a classic vegan starter dish—familiar enough not to be off-putting to the average eater, but nothing special to a longtime vegan. (With so many more interesting items on the menu, I doubt I'll ever order it.)

There's a bit more creativity in the Vietnamese Tofu Sandwich ($9), which features tofu covered in a sweet chili glaze, alongside pickled carrots, jalapeno, red onions, lettuce, and a cilantro-mint aioli. Both my husband and my father-in-law had this dish (on separate occasions) and pronounced it very good.

Two of my favorite sandwiches at the Garden Grille are vegan twists on classic favorites: the Tofu BLT ($7) and the Tempeh Reuben ($8). The BLT features crisp, salty tofu "bacon" (love!), and for an extra $2 you can add avocado (which I always do). The Reuben is a delectable combination of grilled tempeh, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, caramelized onions, and thousand island dressing on rye bread. If you're a vegan who misses the Reuben experience (but not the corned beef), this is one highly gratifying concoction.

The Garden Grille's fancier entreés are found at dinnertime, and they do not disappoint, either in appearance or taste. I recently tried the Korean Barbeque Tempeh ($16), which featured two substantial pieces of millet-crusted tempeh on a bed of grilled bok choy and shiitake sesame rice, garnished with toasted edamame and nori, with a lovely drizzle of scallion oil. On the same night, my husband ordered an entreé from the Specials menu: Cashew and Nori Crusted Tofu ($15) served on a bed of pan-fried udon noodles. Both dishes were elegant to look at and delectable to eat.

Other dinner entreés that we have yet to try, but are looking forward to, include Eggplant Rollatini ($15), Cauliflower Steak ($16), and Mushroom Risotto Cakes ($17).

Wildflour bakery

The Garden Grille does have a dessert menu, but I've never ordered from it. Why? Well, it turns out that the owners have opened a new all-vegan bakery, Wildflour, just two doors down from the restaurant. So hubby and I make it a habit to visit there after finishing our meals at Garden Grille. If you're a vegan who has never been to a vegan bakery (as we hadn't until we discovered Wildflour), it's an almost out-of-body experience. There, right in front of your eyes, are all the pastries, cookies, brownies, tarts, and cakes of the finest French boulangerie you can imagine—and yet every single morsel is vegan!

Bottom Line:
The Garden Grille Vegetarian Cafe offers delicious, creative food that satisfies the most hardcore vegan without putting off their meat-eating friends. It takes well over an hour for me to get there, but it's always worth it. Highly recommended...and do not visit without checking out their new sister business, the gorgeous Wildflour vegan bakery!

A Must-See Video

This 12-minute video is so important. It helped to remind me why I'm a vegan, and why consuming milk, cheese, and butter is anything but a benign activity.

Unlike many animal abuse videos, which are too gruesome for many people to watch, this one tells the truth about the "dairy" industry without graphic images. Suitable for everyone...please watch and share!

Elephant hunting

With the new film Water for Elephants arriving in theaters, it's a good time to reflect on how elephants actually make their way from the wild into captivity.

Here's an excerpt from Derrick Jensen's book, Thought to Exist in the Wild:

"The traditional method for capturing many social creatures, including elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, and many others, was—and remains—to kill the mothers. About elephants it was said, "The only way to capture a living animal was to kill the suckling females or the herd's leaders. Hagenbeck [a famous circus man] found himself 'too often obliged to kill' elephants who were protecting their young by using their bodies as shields."

And from Nigel Rothfels book Savages and Beasts:

"Soon Dominick [an elephant capturer] encountered a female with a young calf; after several shots…the female was dispatched with a shot in the left eye. The calf was roped to a tree, where it 'churned up the soil with its small tusks, bellowed and moaned, charged backwards, stood on its head, and foamed at the mouth in rage as bloodshot eyes protruded from its head.' Three remaining calves were soon captured as well, one dying of suffocation after having its trunk pulled between its forelegs and tied to its rear legs so that it 'breathed with difficulty and lay on the ground like a large gray sack.' Another calf died during the night of wounds sustained in the capture, but Dominick had still managed to secure two calves from the herd and soon added three more to his collection. Two died a month later, but the remaining three apparently thrived [sic] in their new environment, and one found its way through Hagenbeck to the Berlin Zoo."

Another account of a specific hunt, from John George Wood:

"One of the wild elephants in the struggle got half-drowned, and then entirely strangled; she just staggered to the shore, and then dropped dead without a struggle. It was really quite piteous to see her poor little young one, about ten days old; she kept walking round the body, pushing it and trying to coax her dead mother to rise up; then uttering the most heart-rending cries, and lying down by her side, as it were to comfort her." 

And here's an all-too-similar story about the capture of the world's most famous elephant, Jumbo:

"A hunter, Hermann Schomburgk, shot his mother. He describes it himself: 'She collapsed in the rear and gave me the opportunity to jump quickly sideways and bring to bear a deadly shot, after which she immediately died. Obeying the laws of nature, the young animal remained standing beside its [sic] mother….Until my men arrived, I observed how the pitiful little baby continuously ran about its mother while hitting her with his trunk as if he wanted to wake her and make their escape'."

Needless to say, I will not be seeing the movie Water for Elephants.  It's 45-year-old "star" elephant, Tai, was captured in the wild in 1966. Does she remember seeing her mother slaughtered in front of her eyes? Did she try in vain to a rouse her mother from death? What was it like for her to be roped and chained and shipped to the other side of the world, so she could used as "entertainment"?

Vegosphere's take on "Photogate": The VegNews scandal that's rocked the vegan community

VegNews, the premier vegan magazine in the U.S., has been outed by the blog quarrygirl for publishing phony photos of meatless meals. Yes, the publication whose stated goal is to "help you live your best veg life ever" has apparently been deceiving its readership for years by passing off stock images of animal-based food as vegan.

Food Fraud Exposed

If you've ever read VegNews, whether in print or online, then you've seen the images I'm talking about. Colorful and yummy-looking, they're designed to showcase just how appetizing vegan eating can be. Sometimes these photos accompany a recipe, such as this one for a "soul-satisfying" dish of "veganized Brunswick stew": 

According to VN, what the picture shows is a hearty, 100% meat-free stew made with vegan sausage links, vegan burger crumbles, and assorted vegetables and spices. But here's the catch: the picture is a hoax. Not only is it not vegan, it's not even Brunswick stew!

Instead, it's a ready-made picture of chicken stew that VegNews purchased from iStockphoto:

The same chicanery occurs not just with recipes, but throughout VN in general. For example, in the first installment of their Vegan 101 series (which claims to focus on "one of the best things about being vegan: the food!") there's a photo of a juicy-looking burger that readers would, quite naturally, assume to be a veggie burger: 

But this, too, is a con. The photo is just another regular hamburger (aka ground up dead cow burger), acquired from the same stock photography site:

In one of the most egregious examples of VN's deception, they've not only used non-vegan pictures to illustrate vegan dishes, but they've even doctored photos to disguise the animal parts. Here's the original stock photo of the spare ribs (note the clearly visible bones):

And here's the same photo used by VN, with the bones conveniently Photoshopped out:

VegNews Responds

In response to the public outcry over its deceptive practices, VN has posted an open letter to its readers. In the letter, VegNews states that they are "deeply saddened"—not by their own misconduct, as one might expect, but by "the dialogue that has transpired" since their fraud was exposed.

The letter's first 3 paragraphs are a strange mix of self-congratulatory and woe-is-me prose. Readers are reminded that the "labor of love" known as VegNews has "won numerous major magazine awards" (impressed yet?), and that it's accomplished this with "no funding or investors" to help cover its "exorbitant costs" (get out your hankies).

It's not until the fourth paragraph that VegNews addresses the revelations about its duplicity. Except it doesn't. Rather, they complain about how it's "not financially feasible" to use "custom-shot photography for every spread," and how stock companies offer "very few specifically vegan images."

But this misses the point entirely. The vegan readers of VegNews aren't asking the magazine to go bankrupt, or insisting that every photograph appearing in its pages be custom-shot for that particular story.

No, what readers are expecting is simply this: That a vegan publication not use pictures of animal-based foods. For that, we can turn to Bon Appétit or Martha Stewart Living or even Vegetarian Times.

Even if VegNews feels they must use such images (which is highly debatable), to do so in secrecy is downright dishonest. If ever there was a situation crying out for a disclaimer, it's this one.

(Speaking of which, one of the things that's long bothered me about VN is the snobby disclaimer that accompanies the monthly I Can't Believe It's Vegan column. For those not familiar with this regular item, it usually features vegan "junk" food such as Charms Blow Pops or Ore-Ida Tater Tots. And every month, a disclaimer appears beneath the article that reads: All foods mentioned in this article are vegan, but not necessarily good for your health —or ethics. Such paternalism always seemed out of place. If VN really thinks the food is that bad, then why feature it at all? And if it is featured, then why the self-serving disclaimer? Readers are certainly smart enough to understand the difference between Sour Patch Kids and Organic Three Grain Tempeh, aren't they?)

How "Photogate" Hurts the Vegan Cause

The issue isn't merely that VegNews misled readers and betrayed their trust, which is plenty bad enough. But by substituting animal-based food photos for plant-based ones, veganism itself is harmed. That's because VN's actions imply that vegan dishes just aren't attractive or appealing.

What the world needs to know, and to see, is that vegan foods look and taste delicious. If the number-one, mainstream-style vegan magazine has to resort to using flesh, eggs, and dairy to "portray" vegan fare, then how is the average person supposed to believe that veganism works—for the palate as well as for the planet and its inhabitants?

The message that VegNews has unwittingly conveyed is that vegan food can't hold a candle to "real" animal-based food. Of course this is not true, as proven by the many gorgeous, non-deceptive food photos featured on countless vegan websites and blogs.

But until VegNews changes its photographic practices, it's going to continue to make veganism look like an impossible ideal instead of a feasible option. If VN really wants to "create a more compassionate future" as it claims, it needs to start by offering a true apology for its deceit and by making sure that all its future artwork accurately and truthfully represents the the beautiful, viable lifestyle that is veganism.

Please sign the petition to help this captive tiger

Click here for the petition. 

In honor of World Day for Animals in Laboratories

Is animal testing necessary, or even effective? 

Here's what doctor Adrian Stallwood has to say about animal research:

That animals suffer in such research is beyond question. The clinical reports detail a massive catalogue of misery. Removing parts of the brains of marmosets and depriving them of food and water to ’research‘ Parkinson’s disease; millions of mice ’given‘ cancer by poison, irradiation, injection with tumours or genetic tinkering; dogs with their coronary arteries tied off to ’simulate‘ heart attacks by attempting to mimic the fat-laden arteries from which humans suffer and animals naturally do not.

Advocates for animal testing claim that it’s a trade-off: we need some animals to suffer in gruesome ways so we can find a cure for this or that serious disease in humans. But however appealing this mantra may be to the general public, it is completely untrue. The experiments are almost always futile and tell us nothing we did not know already or could not have discovered by other means. Neither should we think it strange when Animal Aid declares that animals are poor surrogates for people. It is obvious that there are significant, intractable inter-species differences. Even more worryingly, there is a wealth of evidence that animal experiments are at best delaying medical progress, and at worst making medical practice positively dangerous. 

Thirty-six states in the U.S. allow stray dogs and cats to be sold to research facilities if they are scheduled for euthanasia at animal shelters. Read more here. For more about World Day for Animals in Laboratories, click here. 

Great work day at Sunny Meadow Sanctuary!

Annie, the rescued dairy cow. (Read her story below.)

Sunny Meadow Sanctuary is a safe haven for rescued farm animals in Central Massachusetts.

Today was a work day at the sanctuary, where nearly 20 volunteers came together to make improvements to help the animals and then share a delicious potluck vegan meal.

This was the first chance for Tim and me to visit the sanctuary and to meet Helen and Steve, who are not only the caretakers and guardians of the animals, but also the founders of MARC, the Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition. MARC is the largest and most active animal rights group in Massachusetts, with over 2600 members.

Spring crocuses at Sunny Meadow Sanctuary.

It was a beautiful day for working outside—sunny and brisk, with a hint of spring in the air. We first were introduced to the Sanctuary's furry, feathered, and scaly residents, including the most recent rescues: Annie the cow, Nelly the donkey, and Cisco the horse.

Nelly, the donkey. (Read her story below.)

Cisco, the horse. (Read his story below.)

Then we began to work. The job requiring the most hands was first installing a platform/shelter in the new, larger goat yard, and then fencing it in. But with so many people helping out, these jobs were completed in no time!

Installing the new fencing.

New ramps and platform for the goats, with new barn in the background.

Hannah and Ivy enjoying fresh spring greens in their new goat yard.

A fun and satisfying day was had by all!

About the newest rescues

Nelly's Story. If ever an animal needed sanctuary, it was Nelly. She may have originally been a BLM burro but then she went somewhere where a man beat her badly to get her to work. Then she ended up somehow at her current barn. From what could be gathered, they were trying to run an animal buying/selling/boarding/breeding operation that went totally haywire. 

Consequently, the donkey is very shy and scared of new people, especially men, but she seemed ok with Helen and Steve after a while. And she is not aggressive at all. 

Only Sunny Meadow and a logging company in Maine, where she would haul logs for the rest of her life, were interested in her. She is such a smart, sensitive animal that it's hard to imagine what could be worse for her than if these people sold her to the loggers. Poor animal, she's had 5 foals in under 6 years. 

When she came to the Sanctuary she was totally terrified. Throughout the day, she wasn't calming down at all—shaking, covered with sweat, wouldn't eat, etc. (Although she ate grain but only if Helen hand fed her.) 

Nelly is eating now and taking treats—she loves bread and horse treats—that is helping her calm down too. Whatever happened to this poor animal was really, really traumatic. And donkeys are really smart and never forget.

Cisco's Story. While Nelly's rescue was in progress, a horse rescuer contacted Helen and Steve about a rescued gelding who had been starved for 2 1/2 months (the police found him almost dead after receiving a tip) but who was ready to leave the rehab barn and who was currently living with a donkey. When Helen and Steve emailed the rescuer about the situation, she offered to bring Cisco to be a companion to Nelly, right away. Amazingly, as soon as Cisco was in the stall next to Nelly, she settled down. 

Although Cisco was severely underweight when he arrived at Sunny Meadow, he has been getting the best of care and this good boy is well on his way back to good health.

Annie's Story. Annie is almost six and has been impregnated every year since she was able to be and milked on a milk machine continuously when she wasn't pregnant. She recenty had a calf but she barely had enough milk. (Her previous owners kept breeding and milking her as long as they could to get every penny out of her.) Sunny Meadow had no hope of getting her baby but was able to save her. 

Her transition to the Sanctuary went as well as could be expected, given that this poor sweet cow was being taken from her baby. She was so sweet, even in her sorrow and longing for her baby. She was incredibly gentle and even came to Helen and Steve for comfort, but her mooing was so sad. They consoled her with petting and treats, and the other rescued mom, Nellie the donkey, helped, but nothing could take away her agony completely. 

This agony of loss is the dark, hidden side of dairy consumption—this happens to every single dairy cow every single year—until she is sold at a very young age to become hamburgers or dog food. Her female babies become future dairy slaves and the males are killed almost immediately for veal.

If you have not gone vegan yet, please, in honor of this and the millions of other poor mother cows, do so.