Any DC vegetarians here? Need recs for my sister.

[KJT]

My vegetarian sister and her husband will be in town next week and I'd like to buy them dinner at a vegetarian specific restaurant in DC. She is a strange vegetarian in that she doesn't really like vegetables all that much. She much prefers pastas, cheese, cream, etc. As I'm writing this I'm thinking maybe I should just send them to a good Italian place. So what are some good Vegetarian or Italian places here in DC? They're not very refined - her husband wears black tennis shoes with his suit,

so it doesn't have to be fancy. This is more to get them out of the house for a while so we can have a little alone time. Sorry for the random post and thanks for the advice.

 

[random-adam]

Can't speak for Italian, but my veggie/vegan friends cannot stop raving about Mandalay in Silver Spring... and their meat dishes kick ass too. 7-minute walk from the SS metro station.

For specific recs I'd ctrl-F around past WashPost discussions with their food critic.

 

[Wackadoodle]

Do they like Asian cuisine?

In Rockville, there's Yuan Fu and The Vegetable Garden, both on Rockville Pike and both have plenty of fried tofu/pasta options that are light on the vegetables and pretty palatable for carnivores.

Besides that, DC Veg fare is embarrassingly bad, despite PETA ranking it No. 1 for veggie friendly (but they're assholes so, big surprise there). The only other one's we've been to are Java Green b/w K & L Sts. NW, Vegetate (which is hip, but not that great) The Diner in Adams Morgan and La Tasca in Chinatown. Neither of the latter two were stricly veg, but they were a decent meal, nothing to write home about.

 

[scurvyfreedman]

Originally Posted by Wackadoodle

Do they like Asian cuisine?

In Rockville, there's Yuan Fu and The Vegetable Garden, both on Rockville Pike and both have plenty of fried tofu/pasta options that are light on the vegetables and pretty palatable for carnivores.

Yuan Fu is outstanding. Their General Tsao's Chik'n is better than the real thing. The same goes for most of their soy based "meat" products. Their duck rolls also are incredible.

It's a suburban, strip mall so casual is the order of the day. It's pretty far out from downtown though.

And, if it's any indication, more than 50% of their clientele appear to be of Chinese decent.

 

[Slopho]

Is Planet X still open?

 

[shoreman1782]

Originally Posted by KJT

My vegetarian sister and her husband will be in town next week and I'd like to buy them dinner at a vegetarian specific restaurant in DC.

She is a strange vegetarian in that she doesn't really like vegetables all that much. She much prefers pastas, cheese, cream, etc. As I'm writing this I'm thinking maybe I should just send them to a good Italian place.

So what are some good Vegetarian or Italian places here in DC? They're not very refined - her husband wears black tennis shoes with his suit,

so it doesn't have to be fancy. This is more to get them out of the house for a while so we can have a little alone time.

Sorry for the random post and thanks for the advice.

Ah, she's a "Prince Fielder" type veg.

 

[random-adam]

Originally Posted by Slopho

Is Planet X still open?

Not since, like, 1998.

 

[pebblegrain]

any Ethiopian

or

Filomena (Italian

 

[gort]

Can vegetarians who don't like vegetables eat a diet consisting entirely of donuts and other junk foods?

 

[sho'nuff]

i would love to be a vegetarian. trying to be one but it's hard when i like to eat meat from time to time. i dont mind cutting out red meat completely, i won't miss it. but what if i want to eat the occasional salmon/fish and/or chicken?

 

[KJT]

Originally Posted by gort

Can vegetarians who don't like vegetables eat a diet consisting entirely of donuts and other junk foods?

Pretty much. That and all sorts of pasta. She's really unhealthy.

Thanks for all the replies everyone - turns out their schedule while here in town won't allow it, but I will keep this as a reference for the next time.

 

[Wackadoodle]

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

i would love to be a vegetarian. trying to be one but it's hard when i like to eat meat from time to time. i dont mind cutting out red meat completely, i won't miss it. but what if i want to eat the occasional salmon/fish and/or chicken?

Couldn't you just not eat red meat? There are people out there who are capital V "Vegetarians", who make a big deal out of vegetarianism as a moral issue and a point of pride. But more than that, are the people who just make it a lifestyle choice, the assholier-than thou vegetarians tend not to stick with it because they lose all their friends and suddenly decide "meat just tastes so good". But you can make a lifestyle choice not to eat certain foods and forgo the label, unless its a dealbreaker with someone you're trying to ****.

 

[sho'nuff]

well, i can just eat no red meat, but i like the label vegetarian and what it can afford me.

i want an opportunity to say "wtf? how dare you ask me.. im vegetarian"
when someone asks me if i like bbq or something.

 

[Nosu3]

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

i would love to be a vegetarian. trying to be one but it's hard when i like to eat meat from time to time. i dont mind cutting out red meat completely, i won't miss it. but what if i want to eat the occasional salmon/fish and/or chicken?

I've done the same thing and only use chicken. I have overactive taste buds so I don't like the taste of vegetables. It's called partial vegetarian, so you can have a label.

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by Nosu3

I've done the same thing and only use chicken. I have overactive taste buds so I don't like the taste of vegetables. It's called partial vegetarian, so you can have a label.

nice . thanks.
that is what i will say now, sometimes people ask me what i did to lose weight or get lean and i would describe my diet and they would ask if im a vegetarian and i would be at a loss what to tell them. i would be like, no, i eat fish and chicken , but yeah, i am pretty vegetarian other than that. i dont have any qualms about eating red meat if im at a party or dinner with people, but won't personally look for it myself on a daily basis.