Veg Week: Authentic Chinese With No Meat

My key for Chinese food is to stay on the authentic menus -- even if we're eating vegetarian.

We took two vegetarian friends to Red Pearl in Columbia and ate our way across the menu. We wanted broad menus so that they would have choices, and, with Mango Grove temporarily closed, Chinese and Italian seemed like the best options.

Mu shu vegetables was certainly fine. There is a memory of college that bubbles up with those pancakes and the plum sauce. Something about the fun of eating.  But the really delicious items all came from the authentic menus.

Start with dan dan noodles -- noodles in a bowl topped with minced pickled vegetables.  You stir the dish to mix the spicy sauce hidden underneath.  That's a clean, spicy flavor and one of my favorite items on the Red Pearl menu.

Continue on the Sichuan menu to the ma po tofu.  This is steamed tofu that they called Chengdu style.  We filled the table with a special Chinese broccoli with garlic sauce.  They cook vegetables perfectly -- tender, but still firm.  To me, the sauces from the Sichuan menu and the specials always seem brightest.

If you can get to weekday lunch, you could try Red Pearl's dim sum for vegetarian options.  It's harder because lots of the choices have pork or shrimp.  But they're responsive.  Look for vegetarian dumplings with a pea on top.  There are also vegetables like a Chinese broccoli, and you can always end with the fried sesame balls with sweet filing for dessert.


This is part of Veg Week here at HowChow. With Mango Grove temporarily closed as it relocates, we're suggesting some other spots where you could please a vegetarian friend or please yourself. Obviously, any local vegetarian should check out the vegan kitchen at Great Sage in Clarksville. Or click on all the HowChow posts that we have marked on the theme.

Veg Week: Pizza Popping From Coal-Fired Oven

The beauty of pizza is that picky people don't stand out.

Do you want just tomatoes and cheese?  Fine.  You want to add pepperoni?  Fine.  Half onions, half mushrooms?  Hot peppers?  Fine.  People expect you to list the exact ingredients you want in your meal. 

That makes the vegetarian options almost limitless at pizza places like Coal Fire in Ellicott City.  We last went to Coal Fire on a Friday when friends spent a night near BWI en route to New York City.  Late night, no reservations, two kids?  No problem.  Coal Fire was the perfect place to fill a back booth and fill ourselves with pizza.

The basic pizza at Coal Fire makes a great vegetarian option because you'll get an entire meal's flavor from the slightly spicy sauce and the slightly charred crust. Coal Fire's gimmick is an extremely-hot oven that turns out thin, crisp pies, and it's best move may be the light layer of mozzarella, which used to be made in-house and is still delicious wherever they're making it.  Done right, the pizzas are full of flavor without grease or heaviness.

As I mentioned, you can outfit your pie with your own toppings.  Even a vegetarian can split a pizza with a meat-eating friend if you split the toppings as well.  Coal Fire is a hybrid place -- a restaurant aimed at unusual food that wanted to be a chain from the beginning.  So it's run by teenagers. Boys make pizzas. Girls wait tables. At least that's what I have always noticed.

The girls have always been nice, and it's a very kid-friendly atmosphere.  But the boys' work can be variable.  Often great, but I stayed away for a while after getting a few pizzas where the crust just wasn't good.  Don't make my mistake.  Don't eat a burnt or badly cooked pie.  Talk to your waiter because I think Coal Fire is the kind of place where they want to put out skilled food, and they'll try to make your happy.

This is part of Veg Week here at HowChow. With Mango Grove temporarily closed as it relocates, we're suggesting some other spots where you could please a vegetarian friend or please yourself. Obviously, any local vegetarian should check out the vegan kitchen at Great Sage in Clarksville. Or click on all the HowChow posts that we have marked on the theme.

Veg Week: Vegetarian Bibimbop At Shin Chon

Korean barbecue may not be the first idea for vegetarians, but Shin Chon Garden can serve up great flavor even if you're passing on the char of grilled bulgogi.

Our meatless meals at Shin Chon Garden in Ellicott City have been based around vegetarian dolset bi bim bop -- basically a heated stone pot filling with rice, then layered with a bunch of different vegetables, including carrots, sprouts, daikon radish, and others.  Mix in some of the spicy sauce.  The first servings are a delicious mix of rice and vegetables.  The second set get even better as the hot pot sizzles and crisps the rice.

If you eat meat, then I'd recommend the normal dolset bi bim bop because the beef adds an unctuous taste.  But it doesn't really change the dish, and vegetarians can eat well even in a place that specializes in grill-you-own meat.

The beauty of Korean for a vegetarian is that each table comes with a half dozen meat-free dishes.  Shin Chon serves the small plates called panchan with every meal, and they cycle through items like kimchi, other pickled vegetables, seaweeds, and potato salad.  Look out for tiny silvery fish, and look out for octopus tentacles -- the rare meat panchan that are usually obvious to everyone.

You fill out the rest of the table with a few well-picked entrees.  Chapchae are sweet potato noodles stirfried with vegetables.  The pancakes are plate-sized savory spreads with green onions.  The Shin Chon folks are sophisticated.  Explain that you're a vegetarian.  Explain how much you like hot peppers, and they'll put together a plate for you.

This is part of Veg Week here at HowChow.  With Mango Grove temporarily closed as it relocates, we're suggesting some other spots where you could please a vegetarian friend or please yourself.  Obviously, any local vegetarian should check out the vegan kitchen at Great Sage in Clarksville.  Or click on all the HowChow posts that we have marked on the theme.

Veg Week: The Vegetarian Roll At Sushi Sono

The vegetarian options in a sushi place often range from non-existant to uninspiring, but Sushi Sono delivers a special option that would anchor a fine meal.

The vegetarian roll comes out wrapped in pink.  That's fun on its own, but you order the vegetarian roll for the same unique balancing of flavors that make all of the unique "chefs" rolls and that make Sushi Sono one of the best restaurants in Howard County.

The pink soy wrapper contains distinct bands of seaweed salad, mushrooms, pickled carrot, fried sweet potato, and avocado.  The textures make the roll something special --  crunchy, tart pickles, crisp carrots and the smoothness of avocado.

I'd recommend the vegetarian roll for anyone because those flavors contrast nicely with the fish and spiciness that dominate so many other special rolls.  We paired it with the No. 14 roll and the "sushi nugget" roll.

For the vegetarian, I'd recommend starting with edamame and then supplementing the pink special roll with the agedofu appetizer, seaweed salad or a few smaller vegetable rolls like shittake and asparagus or asparagus, cucumber and avocado.  Ask what they recommend because Sushi Sono's chefs will make special rolls if you suggest ingredients.

Of course, vegetarians could always go with vegetable tempura, but I don't eat many meals these days of fried anything.  I'm sure that Sushi Sono makes light tempura, but I have never felt drawn away from rolls when I see tempura on another table.

This is part of Veg Week here at HowChow.  With Mango Grove temporarily closed as it relocates, we're suggesting some other spots where you could please a vegetarian friend or please yourself.  Obviously, any local vegetarian should check out the vegan kitchen at Great Sage in Clarksville.  Or click on all the HowChow posts that we have marked on the theme.