Veggin’ Out in Chapel Hill
Veggin’ Out recently took a road trip to Chapel Hill for some championship-memorabilia shopping — and some great vegetarian eating. Chapel Hill has definitely become a VERY veggie-friendly town.
Lunch was at the Weathervane, the restaurant attached to the fabulous gourmet shop A Southern Season in University Mall. Because it was a weekend, they were serving their brunch menu. There were so many enticing dishes to choose from, but neither Julie nor I could pass up the Grilled Marinated Tofu with sauteed spinach, raisins, Medjool dates, pine nuts, and cardamom-ginger-carrot puree. It was every bit as delicious as we’d hoped, and the portion of grill-marked tofu was immense, at least half of a standard block, probably more.
The Weathervane’s menu changes occasionally, so if you have your heart set on something, make sure to check what’s available before you go.
While wandering along Franklin Street, we discovered Bliss Boutique Bakery in a lovely, not-as-busy-as-it-should-be courtyard near the Carrboro end of things. Bliss’ speciality is cupcakes, and we were happy to see that they feature a vegan variety each day along with the six staple kinds and two other daily specials. We were there for Saturday’s vegan version, Chocolate Pecan Coconut Fudge. Yum! Other rotating vegan flavors include Chocolate Cherry Pie, Chai Tea and Apple Spice. You can check the daily lineup on their Web site.
They make everything from scratch, and the kitchen is open to the seating area, so you can see the bakers in action.
It was hard not to go to Sage vegetarian restaurant for dinner, but we decided to give another place, Trilussa La Trattoría Italian restaurant, a try, because of their long vegetarian and vegan menu posted outside. (The menu we saw was different and more extensive than what is on the linked Web site.) It was good, and the portions were large, but I can’t say I was bowled over. (Demerits for serving little tubs of Country Crock with the bread instead of olive oil or butter!) However, their vegan gnocchi dish did completely reverse our negative opinion of gnocchi. Versions we’d had before were dense, heavy and unpleasant, but theirs was light and fluffy.
Dessert was a couple of Loco Pops—gourmet frozen popsicles—from the newly relocated shop in the small walkway beside Johnny T-Shirt. The chocolate hazelnut was particuarly delicious—too bad it’s a rotating flavor instead of a staple!
