Vegan Lunch at Deagan's Kitchen

Living on the east side of Cleveland, I often feel like I'm on the "wrong" side of town.  Although I've done plenty of exploring in and around my neighborhood, I normally can't find restaurants or bars that I like as much as places across the river. Although it's almost blasphemous for an east sider to make the trek to the west side, I'm glad that I'm able to venture out that-a-way once in awhile.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to "lunch" with some of my lady friends at Deagan's Kitchen and Bar in Lakewood.  Any "mainstream" restaurant that offers a vegan entree on their lunch menu (in addition to a weekly vegan and vegetarian night - Wednesday, if you're into that sort of thing) seems pretty exciting to me, so I was happy to have a reason to head west and check this place out.

I'd walked past Deagan's plenty of times, but I'd never bothered to look inside.  It's a neat space with exposed brick, beautiful wood floors, and a nice sized - but not intrusive - bar.  When we arrived at noon, the restaurant was sort of empty-ish, but when we left near 2:00 pm, it was hopping with people watching sports and families having brunch.  You might not expect those two things to go together, but in Deagan's, it works.

Any chance I get to order vegan food, I do, so I ordered the vegan orecchiette pasta.

 

It tasted even better than it looks.

It was a nice mix of sun dried tomatoes, chick peas, pasta, and EVOO that was surprisingly flavorful.  A tad heavy on the oil, but...overall a good meal.  For a girl with a hearty appetite, this meal left me feeling satisfied but not disgusting for eating the entire portion.  I'd call that a win.

One of my friends had one of the vegetarian entrees - the crisp eggplant - Deagans' take on eggplant rollatini.  I had a little entree envy, since I absolutely love eggplant, and I definitely think I'd try that dish the next time.  She nearly cleaned her plate, so I take that as a sign that it was good!  My other friends had the tomato soup and really enjoyed it.  I didn't get a chance to ask if it's vegetarian friendly, but if it is, it's probably worth a try.  One of my lady friends liked it so much, she took a to-go order home to her very hung-over husband.  (NCAA tourney!  woo!)

I love supporting local businesses - especially if they like supporting my vegetarian lifestyle!  If you're in the area, you owe it to yourself to check out this great new-ish restaurant.  Be sure to check out the Deagan's Kitchen and Bar Facebook page before you make the trip to read all about their great daily specials.  (I think Deagan's is doing an amazing job using social media to promote the restaurant, BTW)

My new favorite vegetarian magazine that I haven't completely read yet - Veg News

On my recent trip to Youngstown, I discovered a vegetarian magazine called VegNews. The motto for the magazine is "Vegetarian. Eat. Think. Thrive." I can dig that. While waiting for my take out from The Flaming Ice Cube, I leafed through the April issue. It seemed like a really well put together magazine with information on everything from vegetarian travel to cooking to social issues. I would have bought it and read through it more closely if I'd realized that the next issue doesn't come out until June - d'oh!

I used to be a big fan of Vegetarian Times. I mean, it's the pioneer of vegetarian lifestyle magazines. But like many other things that seemed cooler when I was younger, VT has gone more commercial. I was sharing a subscription with my mother for awhile (big mistake) and when she'd finally give me an issue 6 months after she'd read it, I really didn't find anything that I was dying to read about in most of the articles.

I purchased an annual subscription to the magazine for only $20. I consider that to be a reasonable price, especially considering that it's produced every other month. Now I just have to wait for the next issue to be delivered to my doorstep! Stay tuned for my thoughts on the mag once I actually get to sit down and read it...