Eating Out Can Be Hard to Do (When You’re Staying Away from Meat)

Even if you’re a raging carnivore who cannot fathom a day without bacon, you can still be an ally to those who choose not to eat meat and/or animal products. How? One way is by supporting eateries that are vegetarian and vegan-friendly (or even entirely vegetarian/vegan, if you’re feeling adventurous!).
 
By keeping places like that in business, you make it much easier for people who have chosen (for whatever reason) to limit their consumption of animal products to have dining options. In fact, you make it so that EVERYONE has easier access to vegetarian/vegan products. For some people, this access is really important: it can be an issue of ethics, as well as health (especially relevant when it comes to people with allergies to certain foods).
 
That’s great and all, but how do I know which places are veg-friendly if I, myself, am an omnivore (or a super-meat-enthusiastic-I-don’t-eat-anything-green-or-vegetable-like carnivore)? Well lucky for you, I’ve compiled a list of awesome places you should support! Now it should be easy-peasy.
 
Suggestions for vegan/veggie-friendly food-places in Rhode Island (mainly in Providence, unsurprisingly):

• FOO(d) – The AS220 Café
  • Super inexpensive AND delicious (one of my favorite things to get is their crispy chickpeas appetizer). Their priciest dishes are only $10, and they have a bunch of vegetarian and vegan options. The atmosphere is fun, though it can get loud when bands are playing in the AS220 performance space. If you like a hip joint with cheap and awesome food, definitely go. One of my favorite places in Rhode Island, hands down. The free WiFi is also nice, and there’s a bar located in the restaurant space too, if that’s your fancy. Depending on when you go, it can be a nice place to read and chill out. They also have outdoors seating, which is great when the air is cool.

• White Electric Coffeehouse
  • American deli style with a sweet artsy vibe. Some of my favorite items on the menu? Cranberry-walnut bread, hot chocolate, and cheddar/avocado sandwiches. Om nom nom. Also very decently-priced, and there’s free WiFi! Another great place to go to get some food and catch up on your reading. It’s fairly small, though, so it can’t seat large groups or anything.

• Fire+Ice Grill & Bar
  • Mongolian BBQ place where you choose your own raw ingredients (vegetarian ones are marked with a green label, and the staff can fry your foodstuff in a separate pan), put them all in a bowl, and then see them stir-fried right before your eyes. You can also taste the sauces before committing to one for your dish. It’s a fun place with bright colors, and it’s decently-priced. Mondays are college-nights and dinner is $10 with a valid college-ID. This place is good for big groups because it’s huge (seats 326!), unlike most of the others on this list, which are more medium/small-sized.

• United BBQ
  • Cheap food, with a variety of vegetarian AND vegan options, all in the style of a typical BBQ place. Check out their menu! If you hate the idea of BBQ places because, well, they do offer meat, maybe skip out. Otherwise, I recommend it. 

• Julian’s
  • One of my favorite places in Rhode Island, hands down. SO GOOD. SO DELICIOUS. There’s something for every price-range (e.g. dinner stuff ~$8-$28), the restaurant itself is charming and artsy, and the bathroom (yes, the bathroom) is adorable. Everything about this place is awesome. JUST GO. TRUST ME. They serve brunch & dinner, and they have a bar. GO GO GO.

• The Garden Grille
  • A small, casual restaurant that serves “American” vegetarian food and has vegan options. They’re also a juice-bar, if you’re into that. It’s one of the more expensive v-friendly restaurants in Rhode Island, but many say it’s worth it. Their priciest entrees are ~$15.

• The Like No Udder ice-cream truck (you can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook)
  • An adorable purple ice-cream truck with none of the dairy and ALL of the flavor. They serve smooth, smooth soft-serve (vanilla and/or chocolate, with a variety of toppings), shakes, floats, candy bars, and nachos. Everything is vegan AND kosher, and they don’t use any hydrogenated ingredients used. Be aware, though: they only take cash!

• Nice Slice Pizzeria
  • If you’re looking for a place that serves tasty, tasty vegetarian/vegan pizzas and has a super friendly staff, you’ve found the right place. Nice Slice offers vegan cheese and faux-meat toppings (“chicken, bacon, sausage, steak, and pepperoni”) for their pizzas, and they also serve vegan sandwiches. Awesomeness all-around, plus they deliver and stay open late.

 
Also, remember that many Indian and Middle-Eastern restaurants are vegetarian-friendly! I’ll specifically mention Kabob N’ Curry on Thayer St. because, not only is it DELICIOUS, but it has a sweet meatless buffet on Saturday mornings (11AM-3PM or so) for ~$9.
 
If you’re not lucky enough to live in the lovely city of Providence, RI, never fear! There are many online directories that can come to your aid in finding the perfect places to check out and are just a Google-search away. Some are specifically vegetarian- and vegan-oriented, but there are definitely more out there (usually as subsets of general restaurant and dining directories). The latter are most helpful when trying to get a diverse crowd of people together for a meal, since they list places that cater to an array of tastes (and thus people who hate tofu and seitan don’t have to get stuck eating something they dislike). One of my favorites is Happy Cow – The Compassionate Eating Guide because it is pretty comprehensive in terms of reviewing restaurants (listing location, website, basic info, price-range, type of food served, what veg-types it caters to, and more) AND it also lists health-food stores. Another option is VegGuide.org, which has a less crowded interface, and has similar information available.