Eating My Way Through DC: A Vegan Dinner

One of my favorite things about DC was the amazing food. Living in Albany my whole life had me sheltered. We have a few restaurants that I adore–but other than that, its pretty mundane. I love having options when it comes to dining out, and DC definitely did not lack options. Saturday night before the big race, Alicia and I googled our way to dinner. We decided on Busboys & Poets, a trendy restaurant near the Mount Vernon Triangle.

They seemed like the menu had vegetarian and options and they were also eco-friendly.

Everything on the menu looked great, and it was extremely hard for me to choose! I wanted to avoid any dairy the night before the race (to avoid stomach problems mid or post race), so I decided to make my dinner completely vegan.  And they had lots of options.

Alicia and I split the bruchetta for an appetizer. I was expecting small pieces of bread, but instead what could have been an entire meal for two came out. It was huge!

The bread was amazing, it was warm and doughy and reminded me of naan.

I played it safe for my meal an ordered the pan-seared basil tofu. It was served with a roasted red pepper risotto, all vegan! It was so good! Of course the risotto wasn’t creamy like regular risotto is, but it was still extremely flavorful. The tofu was cooked perfectly, with a crispy outside. I’m glad I went with this dish! I wasn’t left feeling gross and overly stuffed.

Busboys & Poets seemed like an awesome place to grab dinner, drinks and to just hang out. I was happy with it!

Alicia and I found our way back to the Metro and stopped back in Chinatown for dessert. My friend Jess who met us at the race expo and lunch earlier that day recommended Red Velvet Cupcakery.

The bakery was so small (Crumbs NYC -esque) and the line was out the door, but moving pretty fast.

They had lots of delicious looking cupcakes.

I decided to make my night 100% vegan and went with the Black Velvet: gluten free/vegan chocolate cupcake with chocolate “buttercream”.

“This light, moist chocolate cake uses the best Valrhona cocoa powder complemented by a chocolate “buttercream” to make a vegan, gluten-free cupcake truly like no other.”

It was moist and fluffy, but not as dense as other vegan cupcakes I’ve had. It was good–but I could definitely taste the difference. I actually prefer Xs to Os vegan cupcakes.

I love that I could eat a 100% vegan or vegetarian meal without much effort here in DC. It was awesome. It was another great day eating my way though this city! I love food. 😉