VegWorcester.com

This week’s issue of Worcester Magazine (Oct 23-29, 2008) has a number of pleasant surprises. Mike Benedetti from PieandCoffee.org (and occasional VegWorcester.com blogger) criticized this week’s issue of being ignorant of internet culture, but I think he might agree with me that the WoMag staff may have redeemed themselves by doing such a great job of featuring vegetarianism in this issue.

Let’s see. Where to start…

In the Eat Beat section, Gina Salvadori features a ton of veg-friendly restaurants, including VegWorcester.com favs: Tortilla Sam’s, Buddha Hut, Nancy Chang’s, One Love, and Shiraz. When I came to the end of that section, she had me convinced me to check out a couple of places that I haven’t tried yet, like Morocco Restaurant & Bar at 172 Shrewsbury Street (map) and El Basha at 424 Belmont Street (map). Maybe I’ll post a review in a few days.

Definitely the best part of this week’s WoMag is the 2008 Food Book that they have inserted into every copy. The very first article is entitled, “Vegetarian Options Abound if Meat’s not your Treat” and profiles a number of choice dining options for vegetarians in the Worcester area. Sweet! In the article, Tim O’Keefe lists his top 10 “dining destinations that will satisfy your hunger as well as your lifestyle choice.” Looks like they haven’t posted the 2008 Food Book online yet, but they do have last year’s up. That seems to indicate that they’ll put up this year’s eventually.

So definitely pick up a copy of the paper and check out the article in the Food Book. In the meantime, here’s restaurants listed in it:

• The Boynton - 117 Highland Ave (map)
• The Q Cafe 362 Chandler Ave (map)
• The Flying Rhino 268 Shrewsbury Street (map)
• Tortilla Sam’s - 107 Highland Street (map)
• Bocado Tapas and Wine Bar - 82 Winter Street (map)
• Da Lat - 425 Park Avenue (map)
• Piccolo’s - 157 Shrewsbury Street (map)
• Baba Sushi - 209 Park Avenue (map)
• El Basha - 424 Belmont Street (map)

I’m pysched that vegetarian dining in Worcester is getting so much play. The praise is long overdue. Man, I love Worcester.

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The voting is now open for this year’s most veg friendly college competition. The bad news is that not one school in Worcester made it into the finals this year. The closest colleges that did make it, geographically speaking, are Wesleyan in Middletown, Connecticut and University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI. Yale and Brandeis also made it onto the short-list; Brandeis is just outside Boston and Yale’s down in New Haven.

It’s a shame that no school in Worcester made it onto the list. We do have 13 colleges in town, one of them has a pretty well known vegetarian culinary arts program. If you didn’t click that link yet, here’s a hint: it’s the Seventh Day Adventist one. WPI and Clark have both made major strides in recent years to accommodate the growing number of vegetarians.

Clark’s cafeteria is great. They have some seriously good veg entrees. And if you’re lucky they’ll have some vegan cakes too. I’ve also heard rumors that Assumption College is taking some big steps towards improving the vegan selection on campus.

So, what do you think about the college food situation in Worcester? We can definitely do better, but come on! The veg options at WPI and Clark must be better than the University of Montana. Come on! Even they made it into the semi-finals.

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Sweet! Next month’s vegan meetup is coinciding with Maple Farm Animal Sanctuary’s 3rd Annual Open House. This open house is sounding more and more like it’ll be a rocking good time.

Remember, it’s on November 2, from 1pm to 5pm.

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Maple Farm Animal Sanctuary is having their 3rd annual open house pretty soon. It’s on November 2 at the farm in Mendon. That’s about a 20 minute drive from Worcester.

From MapleFarmSanctuary.org:

3rd Annual Open House

Sunday, November 2, 2008
1:00 - 5:00 pm
at Maple Farm Sanctuary, 101 North Ave Mendon, MA

Please join us for a day of fun on Sunday, November 2, 2008 to help support the Farm. It will be an afternoon to enjoy the beautiful farm, foliage, music, speakers, food, friends and of course the animals!

For a $10.00 donation per adult (children under 12 free) you can come and picnic in the fields behind the barn (bring your own lunch and blanket or chairs). There will be some sandwiches, drinks and desserts as well, but make sure you get there early as we may run out!

There will be scheduled barn tours every hour to meet the animals and hear their stories. Make sure you sign-up for a tour when you check in as they are limited to 10 people per tour!

Join the facebook event.

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This past Sunday, the Telegram and Gazette featured a lengthy review of Buddha Hut, Worcester’s fanciest vegan restaurant. The T&G gave Buddha Hut a 3.5 out of 4 stars. Personally, I would give them the full 4 out of 4. It’s a pretty rad place. If you want to read my thoughts on Buddha Hut, you can read the review I posted when the restaurant first opened.

The menu has changed slightly since then, but only for the better. They now offer General Tso’s Chicken and a couple of other new entrees.

From Telegram.com

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Buddha Hut will have you rubbing your belly with joy

Many Chinese menu staples are available at Buddha Hut, yet as familiar as the entrees sound, no beast, fish or fowl is served. Without a doubt it’s a cleaner Chinese meal than you’re likely to lap up at the neighborhood buffet, and the flavorful vegetarian experience left us feeling a lighter shade of full.

The Buddha Hut hints of being different the moment you enter, with its foot-square tile flooring, indoor plants and…

(more)

If you haven’t been there yet or it’s been a while, definitely stop by for lunch sometime soon. You won’t regret it.

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Check it out. We have a new postcard for promoting VegWorcester:

Download this as a printable pdf. Download this as a word document.

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Yeah, I know. I’m beating this to death. I know I already asked you to request soymilk at Worcester Dunkin Donuts, but this time you can get some free ice coffee for doing it.

All day today Dunkin Donuts is giving away free iced coffees at all of their locations. What better time to ask for soymilk? DC-based animal rights group, Compassion Over Killing, is taking this give-away as an opportunity for some veg advocacy. They’re asking people across the country to stop by their local Dunkin Donuts, pick up a free iced coffee and remember to ask their local store to get with the times and offer soymilk. There’s even a facebook group about it.

You’re living under a rock if you didn’t already know that there over a dozen Dunkin Donuts in Worcester. If you’re a serious coffee addict you could probably even hit up a couple of locations.

Get ‘er done!

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Johnny Rockets and PETA are teaming up for a Buy One Get One Free veggie burger giveaway to celebrate World Vegetarian Week (May 19-25).

Johnny Rockets has been offering their Steamliner veggie burger for a couple of years now. They’re good! Unfortunately, there aren’t any Johnny Rockets in Worcester but there’s one in the Natick Mall, just off of Route 9. Johnny Rocket’s website also lists ones in the Boston Logan Airport, the Burlington Mall in Burlington and at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree. So if you’re planning to be in any of those places, you should stop by the Johnny Rockets with a friend and get a couple of Steamliners.

Johnny Rockets is cool and all, but Worcester is the home of the diner. We have a ton of diners in Worcester and there are a handful that stock veggie burger. Ralph’s Diner at 148 Grove Street is good choice. Ralph’s also hosts shows pretty regularly, so if you go at the right time you might get some music to go with your burger.

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My friend Cindy will be delivering homemade vegan cookies by bike this Saturday to anyone who contributes $5 or more to sponsor her in her super-long 60+ mile bike ride fundraiser for Bikes Not Bombs.

So if you want a pouch of yummy vegan cookies delivered to you this weekend, call 860-218-4276 and ask for Cindy.

(The picture on the right was from when Cindy, Nick, Jackie and I biked from Worcester to Boston to get some vegan pizza from TJ Scallywaggle’s, Boston’s vegan house of pizza and subs.)

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First New York City had a Dunkin Donuts offering soymilk, then 2 DC area Dunkin Donuts added it as an option too. Now let’s put Worcester on the map and get some of our local DD’s to start stocking the good stuff.

We have somewhere around 15 Dunkin Donuts stores in Worcester and a bunch more in the surrounding towns and cities. We can definitely get a few to start offering soymilk. Hopefully Dunkin Donuts will see how much demand there is for soymilk and add it to all of theie 5,500 stores.

So how about this, look at the list below and pick a location that’s close to where you live. Or if there isn’t one close to you, just pick any one. Give them a call or stop by the store and ask to talk to the manager. Ask him or her if they would start offering soymilk. Make sure you mention that there are other Dunkin Donuts that already offer soymilk. It’s that simple. Whaddya say?

Here are 15 Dunkin Donuts in Worcester:

100 Institute Rd Worcester, MA 01609
508-831-5693
340 Grove St Worcester, MA 01605
508-363-4901
67 W. Boylston St Worcester, MA 01606
508-854-8011
211 Chandler St Worcester, MA 01609
508-798-8354
421-427 Main St Worcester, MA 01608
508-791-5053
104 Belmont St Worcester, MA 01605
508-756-3274
123 Summer St Worcester, MA 01608
508-797-1329
845 Main St Worcester, MA 01610
617-753-9555
648 Chandler St Worcester, MA 01602
508-767-0341
185 Madison St Worcester, MA 01610
508-757-3991
295 Shrewsbury St Worcester, MA 01604
508-757-6168
263 Grafton St Worcester, MA 01604
508-754-0541
610 Park Ave Worcester, MA 01605
508-753-9696
107 Ward St Worcester, MA 01610
508-752-3350
490 Lincoln St Worcester, MA 01605
508-852-0953

Let me know how it goes!

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