Vegan in DC

As you know from my previous post, I went to Washington, D.C. this weekend with some friends (another vegan and 2 omnis) for the National Equality March. I just want to talk about all the awesome food I had while down there.

Our first stop was Rockville, MD to visit Pangea, an online store that sells lots of awesome vegan stuff and has a small storefront in Rockville. I got some vanilla chai body lotion & chai chapstick (I love chai!), mozzarella Teese to make tempeh wing pizza (hopefully Friday!), some chocolates, and a button that says “Vegan girls rock.”

They also had a free booklet, “The Vegetarian Guide to Washington, D.C. and Surrounding Areas,” that had more than 350 listings and really came in handy when we were deciding where to eat.

We ended up eating dinner at California Tortilla in Rockville, which from the description sounded a lot like Cali Burrito (one of my top 10 vegan-friendly restaurants in the valley). Verdict: Cali Burrito is WAY better. This place wasn’t horrible, just nothing awesome. Jen, Rob, and I got veggie burritos with guacamole. Rob’s was so big, it stood up by itself (insert obligatory “that’s what she said” joke)!

Breakfast on Sunday morning was a Sticky Fingers cinnamon bun and coffee. The coffee came in a real mug, which would’ve pleased my mom.

All day Sunday was spent marching and rallying, so we didn’t have time to eat again until a late dinner. The rally ended at about 6pm, and Jess and I were both hungry for pizza so we went back to Columbia Heights for some Pete’s Apizza. The four of us shared a soy cheese pizza with eggplant, and everyone (including the omnis) loved it!

The eggplant on top was crispy, like eggplant chips. I didn’t ask, but the cheese tasted just like Teese… making me thankful that I bought some Teese at Pangea with which to make pizza, since I experienced how awesome it was. Go Pete’s!

When we got back to the hotel, it was time for some gaycake (see previous post here). Now the gaycake is actually in DC! Errr… Arlington, anyway.

It was enjoyed by all, and Jess even had some for breakfast on Monday morning.

On Monday we checked out of the hotel and drove into DC for lunch. We found ourselves in Georgetown, where we ate at a pan-Asian restaurant called Harmony. The menu was awesome, because practically everything could be veganised by replacing the meat with faux meat. I got sweet & sour “chicken,” which was the only Chinese food I ever ate back before going vegetarian (I was never a big fan of Chinese). It was awesome!

We then hopped on the metro at Foggy Bottom and went back up to Colombia Heights to visit Sticky Fingers again. I got a delicious mocha cupcake.

I also got a cranberry orange scone, even though I don’t generally like cranberries. Lisa is always raving about the scones at Sticky Fingers, so I had to try one. I ate it earlier today with some Earl Grey, and it was to die for! Moral of the story: Always listen to pandas with cookies (and scones).

On our way home, we decided to stop in Gettysburg, PA for dinner because we were running rather late. We stopped in a used car parking lot to decide where we would go, but when I tried starting my car again… it wouldn’t. We ended up walking down the highway a bit to Ruby Tuesday, because it was a hell of a lot better choice than McDonald’s. The waitress was really nice, and put up with all our questions even though she had only been working there for 2 weeks. We found out that the guacamole was vegan, so Jen & I shared the appetizer. It was really good, but I was tired & worried about Chloe (my car) so it didn’t even cross my mind to take a picture.

There was so much vegan food in DC that we didn’t get a chance to try it all (including quesadillas at Sticky Fingers or anything at Soul Veg), but I had such a great time & love activism so much that I have a feeling I’ll end up back again sometime! Although, maybe I’ll take a different car (in case you were wondering, Chloe eventually made it home okay… just a little later than the rest of us did).