Well I'm guessing that you're somewhere in Arizona, but narrowing it down might help a bit with the suggestions... ;)

Well I'm guessing that you're somewhere in Arizona, but narrowing it down might help a bit with the suggestions... ;)

Ahhh, sorry, I had posted before that I was from Phoenix (I think). Anyway it was late last night and I just figured that everyone had read the whole thread. Anyway, I live in Phoenix, well Surprise really, but in the Phoenix area.

Heh -- I have read the whole thread, just not recently.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with Phoenix (I can get there, but that's about it) so can't give any recommendations.

Zorro, have you tried azvegan.com (http://www.azvegan.com)? Tons of restaurant listings there.

I need to check out what has changed at a greek place I frequent in Tempe. The recently changed some things, so I have been meaning to call them and find out about the pita and falafel.

I used to love the Ethiopian restaurant in Tempe. The name escapes me at the moment...

Chicago may have more vegetarian restaurants but when you're in mixed company (as most people usually are!) it's a lot more convenient to have somewhere everybody will be happy with that has options. Chicago is really, REALLY bad about that.

But yeah, I like Tucson a lot.

Hi. Just moved to Tucson in August from Chicago. Lived in Chicago for 6 years and was a much happier vegan then. In fact, I am going back before christmas to fill up on all the things I miss.

Not true. Chicago has everything, from mostly vegan/primarily vegetarian, to things that are here -- restaurants with vege entres. The only thing it doesn't have -- a chinese vegetarian restaurant-- something like the suma international vegetarian house in Phoenix.

And vegan supplies are abundant. I particular enjoy getting to go to fresh produce stores that don't subject me to meat aisles. This place... If anybody know any store in Tucson that carries good vege and supplies without also carrying meat, pleast let me know.

It has been hard in Tucson. There are places to go, true. But quality, quantity, however you slice it.. doesn't hold a candle to Chicago.

I do 98% of my shopping at the food co-op on fourth avenue. There's really very little that I buy that I can't find there. They don't carry any fresh meat, but there is frozen meat. I'm guessing that you're avoiding the smell (which is my main reason for holding my breath when walking anywhere near the vicinity of the meat counter) so frozen shouldn't be a problem.

Of course I should mention that my diet is boring and repetitive by many people's standards...

Not true. Chicago has everything, from mostly vegan/primarily vegetarian, to things that are here -- restaurants with vege entres. The only thing it doesn't have -- a chinese vegetarian restaurant-- something like the suma international vegetarian house in Phoenix.



Actually, I was in Chicago last week and ate at a veg Asian restaurant there. It's called Alice and Friends. It's soooo good! :drool:

And yeah, I plan on trying the Suma Ching Hai International blah blah next week! I'm excited! I hope it's just as good as the veg Asian restaurants I've been to. The top one, so far, is The Golden Era in San Francisco. :drool: EVERYTHING there is good.

I do 98% of my shopping at the food co-op on fourth avenue. There's really very little that I buy that I can't find there. They don't carry any fresh meat, but there is frozen meat. I'm guessing that you're avoiding the smell (which is my main reason for holding my breath when walking anywhere near the vicinity of the meat counter) so frozen shouldn't be a problem.

Of course I should mention that my diet is boring and repetitive by many people's standards...


Doesn't Tucson have Trader Joe's and Wild Oats? Try those out!

Tucson has both, but really I have found that there's very little that I eat that the co-op doesn't already carry. The co-op is also very close to my house, and both Trader Joe's and Wild Oats are a bit of a drive. Not a huge hour long commute or anything, but enough to make me prefer the co-op.

The co-op is also a lot more understanding about the whole "reusing" thing. I frequently see people shopping at the co-op using their own containers. I never see that at TJ's or Wild Oats.

And speaking of which, I need to go shopping... almost forgot.

You guys in Tucson are lucky. There's a restaraunt near my brother's frat, called Sinbad's I think. Best food EVER. I'm never going there again without making him take me there.

Actually, I was in Chicago last week and ate at a veg Asian restaurant there. It's called Alice and Friends. It's soooo good! :drool:

And yeah, I plan on trying the Suma Ching Hai International blah blah next week! I'm excited! I hope it's just as good as the veg Asian restaurants I've been to. The top one, so far, is The Golden Era in San Francisco. :drool: EVERYTHING there is good.

Yeah. I have been there (Alice and Friends). Expensive and err... I am chinese. So, I am not very impressed with what they have. Plus, they seem to have problem making things without whey. The lady who owns the store actually told me so.

It's mostly Korean oriented. There is another Korean place.. err.. Amitabul. I find it weird. But mostly we went nuts and ordered everything super spicy. We were almost in tears by the end of the meal. I am Malaysian and my husband is Indian. So, we have high spice tolerance. Even then...

If anybody is a big fan of Ethiopian food, Chicago has quite a few really good ones. There are two that we always go to and will definitely pig out there again when we go back for Christmas. The ones we tried out in Tucson and Phoenix... have really weird tasting injera.

And the Indian town in Chicago... Very vege friendly. They might have a problem understanding why you don't want yogurt chutney. But they respect your decisions :-)

That SUMA Ching Hai place *IS* good, even for a picky chinese like me :up: I have one problem though -- they *really* try to make things look real. I ordered the duck with ginger sauce and was a bit freaked out by how much it looks like real duck..

Tucson has both, but really I have found that there's very little that I eat that the co-op doesn't already carry. The co-op is also very close to my house, and both Trader Joe's and Wild Oats are a bit of a drive. Not a huge hour long commute or anything, but enough to make me prefer the co-op.

The co-op is also a lot more understanding about the whole "reusing" thing. I frequently see people shopping at the co-op using their own containers. I never see that at TJ's or Wild Oats.

And speaking of which, I need to go shopping... almost forgot.

Hmm... I guess co-op doesn't carry much of the stuff we use. We need lots of fresh produce. Not just for us. We have two bunnies to feed :p

Trader Joe is a bit far for us too. Again, not very good for fresh produce. Lots of interesting processed food. Wild Oats is alright. We go there at least once a week. They have stuff my bunnies like to eat that are either expensive elsewhere or not available elsewhere.

But Wild Oats have meat aisle. I don't remember what TJ has. I mostly go there for their huge 1 pound bar of chocolate. The smell of meat/fish etc. bothers me. But the sight gross me out too... which is a bit weird for somebody like me who grow up watching people killing chicken and ducks, and skinning frogs and gutting fish. Lots of people say chinese eats anything that moves. I wasn't even vegetarian before I become vegan. It was just one day.. bam.. meat grossed me out.

I am surprised with what you said though. Lots of shoppers at Wild Oats at least, bring their own canvas bags. In fact, all stores appreciate that, even Safeway. We bring canvas bags everywhere we go.

Oh oh!! My bunny friend (whom I haven't met actually) told me about Sunflower Market. We checked it out once and it is very good for fresh produce. Don't recall seeing meat. But I could just be too happy skipping around with the abundance of fresh produce. We are going there again today. It's a bit far though. Both stores are near the east side.

Yeah. I have been there (Alice and Friends). Expensive and err... I am chinese. So, I am not very impressed with what they have. Plus, they seem to have problem making things without whey. The lady who owns the store actually told me so.

That SUMA Ching Hai place *IS* good, even for a picky chinese like me :up: I have one problem though -- they *really* try to make things look real. I ordered the duck with ginger sauce and was a bit freaked out by how much it looks like real duck..


Well, I went to Alice and Friends with my Asian boyfriend and his sister. I dunno.. Maybe it just depends on the person. *shrug* The woman there assured us that things we ordered were vegan. So.. Hm. I dunno. :(

Thanks for the info on the Suma Ching Hai place. I am going there next week, and I hoped for a good experience. If it's anything like The Golden Era (in SF), which is like 50 times better than Alice and Friends, then I'll be happy.

I heard they have vegan flan! I love flan! :smitten:

Oh, and Sunflower Market rocks!! There is one in Tempe that I frequent. Unfortunately they do sell meat. :( But their produce section is HUGE and they have SO many vegan products.. Maybe more than the Tempe Whole Foods! The store is the largest HFS I've ever seen.

Thanks for the info on the Suma Ching Hai place. I am going there next week, and I hoped for a good experience. If it's anything like The Golden Era (in SF), which is like 50 times better than Alice and Friends, then I'll be happy.

I heard they have vegan flan! I love flan! :smitten:

I don't know whether I went to the Golden Era. Been to SF once and there was a restaurant in chinatown that had vegan dim sum buffet!! $8 a person!! So, we didn't go to other stores. Pretty much just camped in there :D But I heard that store went out of business :(

The SUMA place is a bit different from most chinese vege place I have been to. I mean.. chinese vegetarian food is almost like a different cuisine -- different techniques, different ingredients, different dishes... from regular chinese cuisine (independent of ethnic group). The food at the SUMA place is almost like *regular* chinese cuisine (without animal products). So, you don't find typical chinese vegetarian stuff there. And if you do, they make it differently.

They have flan?!? I should look at the menu more carefully next time. I love flan too.

The Golden Era, actually, is Vietnamese. But everyone who ate there was amazed by it. I ended up eating there 4 times in 3 days. :o

Now, I can't wait to try Suma Ching Hai. Rawr! :D

Anyone else as cold as I am? Sheesh! AZ isn't normally cold. :mad: Maybe it's just my house, though, it's warmer upstairs because the vents down here don't work right. :rolleyes:

Has anyone tried Veggie Fun? I heard it's all vegan... It's pretty out of the way for me.. So, I'm curious.

Hmm... I guess co-op doesn't carry much of the stuff we use. We need lots of fresh produce. Not just for us. We have two bunnies to feed :p
I don't eat a lot of produce, and what I do eat is pretty typical. Potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, apples... that sort of thing. I do occasionally get dandelion greens for the tortoise, also. But I can see how it might be less than perfect for someone who does eat a lot of produce. As I said, my diet is dull and repetitive.
Trader Joe is a bit far for us too. Again, not very good for fresh produce.
...
But Wild Oats have meat aisle. I don't remember what TJ has.
Trader Joe's is, in my opinion, terrible for produce. I've had a hard time finding even my basic necessities there. And I've also seen more than one type of produce on styrofoam trays with plastic wrap. Really -- green peppers don't need the extra packaging.

Trader Joe's doesn't have much fresh meat, and what they do have is pretty well packaged -- I don't smell it when I walk by. In fact at first I thought they didn't carry any fresh meat at all, then remembered that they do in fact have some.
I am surprised with what you said though. Lots of shoppers at Wild Oats at least, bring their own canvas bags. In fact, all stores appreciate that, even Safeway. We bring canvas bags everywhere we go.
I guess I misrepresented what I wanted to say, actually. I've been to Wild Oats a few times (probably less than ten times) so saying that I've never seen shoppers there with canvas bags isn't saying much.

If I do end up at a big chain market, it's Albertson's. And they like to double and triple bag things, even when I bring my own bags. I've gotten really fond of the self-checkout stations there, because I never have much in the way of groceries and I can bag it the way I want. One time a bagger dropped the few groceries I had into two plastic bags (as in, one or two items per bag). When I pointed out that I had a bag already, he dropped everything into my canvas bag. Including the plastic bags. *sigh* Can you say missing the point?
Oh oh!! My bunny friend (whom I haven't met actually) told me about Sunflower Market. We checked it out once and it is very good for fresh produce. Don't recall seeing meat. But I could just be too happy skipping around with the abundance of fresh produce. We are going there again today. It's a bit far though. Both stores are near the east side.
I've heard that it's supposed to be really good, but haven't tried it myself. The only one I know of is on Speedway and Swan, which isn't really any closer to me than Trader Joe's on Grant and Swan. You're saying there's another location?

Anyone else as cold as I am? Sheesh! AZ isn't normally cold. :mad: Maybe it's just my house, though, it's warmer upstairs because the vents down here don't work right. :rolleyes:
I'm freezing. And I get no sympathy from people who don't live in the state.

"Oh, it's 43ºF ? You poor dear! :rolleyes: " (yeah, I can actually hear them roll their eyes. :) )

My bedroom is the warmest place in the house, due to poor ventilation. But all things considered, that's not bad. My computer's in my room, so that's where I spend the majority of my time anyway.

Yes, it has been very cold for me lately...

Sunflower Market is fairly good for produce, but I wasn't overly impressed with their dry goods--very expensive with few sales. They're also pretty far from me.

Have any of you been to the 17th St. Market in Tucson? Wonderful produce, plus lots of foods from around the world. It's probably my favorite place to shop in town, but I don't go there frequently because it's kind of far. If you go, bring a sweater because they keep the produce section freezing.

I bring my own bags everywhere, from Wild Oats to TJ's to Albertson's, and never have a problem. I just make sure to tell them before they start checking things.

FYI for Tucsonans, I ate at Blue Willow last week and found a piece of meat in my tofu scramble. They were profusely apologetic about it and gave me another for free, but still...

Our heat isn't fixed yet... :( Even in North Dakota we turned on the heat when it was this temp. Our apartment is FREEZING in the morning (49 degreesedit... opps just checked it is 56 in here right now, so it is better than this morning). You would think for 1000 a month, they would fix the heat faster grrrrr!

Oh yeah and mmmm can't wait til next week for Suma Ching Hai with frafa!

Oh yeah and mmmm can't wait til next week for Suma Ching Hai with frafa!

^_^

I'm excited! :D

Anyone else as cold as I am? Sheesh! AZ isn't normally cold. :mad: Maybe it's just my house, though, it's warmer upstairs because the vents down here don't work right. :rolleyes:



Bah! I live in Flagstaff :nigel:

Yeah, well we're not used to it being cold so :p

People don't think we get cold at 40, but when you're used to 100 degree weather, it's damn cold!