Arizona Vegetarian Food Festival 2016

by Kitchen Shaman | Jan 19, 2016 | Festivals

The month of January rolls around and in Southern Arizona, it’s a chilly 40 degrees at 9 am. The time volunteers arrive and start setting up for the Arizona Vegetarian Food Festival.

This is the second year for this event run by U.S. Veg Corp, an event company out of New York City. They also produce the NYC Vegetarian Food Festival, and are working on adding a third event for Southern California next fall.

This was my second year volunteering. Last year I presented a Chef Demo, Breakfast in the Afternoon. This year, due to health issues, I was asked if I would give a talk in the Speaker’s Tent and if I could help run the tent. I said, “Of course.”

Denver Vegan Eats

by Kitchen Shaman | Aug 24, 2015 | Restaurants, Travel

I spent this summer on a 21-day road trip going from Phoenix to Topeka and back. We do this every summer and take different routes in order to explore all the beauty the country has to offer.

This year we returned to Denver after about three years. Denver has become a vegan eater’s nirvana. We’ve eaten in Denver before, but this time seemed different, a bit more adventurous and fun. Native Foods Café has expanded into Denver proper, there’s Beet Box, and a tiny little vegan grocery store, Nooch. And, of course, Watercourse and City O’ City.

Why Restaurants Fail

by Kitchen Shaman | Apr 10, 2015 | Restaurants

Restaurants come and go. Aspiring chefs, people who have money to invest, and those encouraged by friends and family with money to invest decide to open concept restaurants without researching the food and the area.

Usually these folks have no understanding of how the food industry works (if they aren’t an experienced chef). Whether it is due to high food cost, bad management, or an ill-conceived concept placed in a non-supportive or hard to get to location, they fail, and fail hard. Doors close as fast as they open. read more

A Bit of Vegan Heaven: 24 Carrots

by Kitchen Shaman | Mar 30, 2012 | Restaurant Reviews, Restaurants

Once in a great while, I come across food that doesn't just speak to my mouth, or just hums for me, it sings in my soul. On the quest for great quality vegan food that holds the flavors I'm looking for, I have been disappointed. Yes, there is great food out there, and the partner and I frequent the places where we can eat without too much hassle. Me; no corn, no peanuts, Her; no gluten, no dairy (in case we are in vegetarian places). But they've all seemed to miss one or two notes.

Along came 24 Carrots, in Chandler, Arizona.

Eating Green

by Kitchen Shaman | Oct 9, 2011 | Restaurant Reviews, Restaurants

There are days I am not cooking and on those days we get to eat out. There's a favorite restaurant of ours, Green New American Vegetarian, located in Tempe, AZ. Tempe is a college town, and the restaurant reflects the image. It's artsy, open, and in a strip mall. The clientele are college students and professors, and college dropouts who like to hang with the crowd. There's a little mix of other types, but mainly that's it.

To get to Green one has to know the football and baseball schedules of the University to avoid the traffic. And it is 15-20 minutes away from our house, depending on traffic and time of day. Early this summer we got wind that Chef Damon was going to open a Phoenix location. Phoenix is a big town, we could only hope it would be close to us. As the plans progressed we kept a watch on Facebook for any news. I actually figured out where the location was. I frequently drive down 7th st , and I kept noticing this same area under construction.

Vegan Food found in Orange County

by Kitchen Shaman | Apr 29, 2011 | Restaurant Reviews, Restaurants

Nestled in a monstrous outdoor shopping mall called The District, snuggled in next to a multiplex cinema and a clothing store is a little place called Native Foods Cafe. This seems to be the most unlikely of places for a vegan restaurant, let alone one that focuses on Southwestern food., but it is a great restaurant in Tustin, California.

Satisfying Southwest Soul in O.C.

by Kitchen Shaman | Apr 25, 2011 | Restaurants

The second in a series of Restaurant Reviews On My Trip to Orange County, and Los Angeles, CA. The first in the series was Is Gluten-Free Dairy Free Worth It.

I briefly resided in Tustin, CA at the tender age of 18. I worked at a donut shop and a drugstore respectively. I remember the food being passable, something about all the farms in and around Orange County. But I never looked for vegan food because, though I had been exposed to the idea of Veganism, I could never, ever, ever give up meat. read more

Tag: vegan restaurants