i was known as aes2 for a while but just trying to log in it seems my account no longer works so i had to reregister. anyways, i just got laid off on saturday, and was offered my same job with my company for the same money in houston, tx, which has a very very low cost of living compared to new england (where we live now) and given the current job market we've decided to take the job out in houston and move.

thing is we don't know anyone in houston yet. we know there are 4 whole foods (bread and circus) grocery stores there and some vegan indian restaurants and such but that's it. if we could meet some other veg*ns out there it would make the transition a lot less painfull.

feel free to e-mail me at aeserwork@hotmail.com

Hi ae5, I'm not from Houston .. I did have one vegan friend in Houston, but he went back, said it was making him sick so he had to. :(
I just took a look to find they do have a veg*n society with a promising website (http://www.vshouston.org/). There's also
vegan meetup (http://vegan.meetup.com/members/196) which has 11 members there. Maybe you can find more info and contacts through those sites, and yes, this one too when the Houston folks come back to this thread.
Goodluck with the move and finding new like minded friends there! :D

hey there!
I live in Houston! It's a pretty great place really. Its a big city though, so when you first get here, you might think its lame. but it just means you haven't found the right spot yet.

Do you know where you are going to move within the city? Do you need advice on which areas are more vegan friendly, etc? If you give me some idea of what things are important to you, I can give you an idea of what area of town would fit with you more. This is a really big place, and in my opinion, where you live drastically changes your opinion of Houston and what its about.

I lived in Boston for a summer. Houston is very different than New England, but I think there are positives to both.

Perhaps one of the greatest things about Houston is your access to many different interesting places to visit. Galveston and some of the bay towns are close by, San Antonio (for the Riverwalk and cheesy things like the Alamo) is 3 hrs away, and heaven on earth (otherwise known as Austin) is 3 hrs away.

Being a vegan here is very easy. It is NOT easy in Dallas....don't go there. they have hardly heard the world "vegetarian" let alone "vegan." Aside from finding vegan things at Whole Foods, there are Krogers with a whole natural foods section full of vegan selections (which I utilize more often as Whole Foods breaks my bank). There are many vegetarian restaurants, and veggie friendly restaurants. There is a very active Animal Rights group in town, and I have a buddy who knows all the ins and outs of that scene if you are interested to know more.

Also, Houston is famous for its museums and fine arts. There is a lot working in its favor. The worst thing I could say about Houston is the polution and overall city vibe is pretty hardcore. But the vegan scene is alive and kickin.

Please feel free to email me if you want to know more.
DakiniRawk@aol.com

XOXO
Beth

dakinirawk - where abouts are ya in Houston?? I am in Katy. I would luvvv to know more about places that support being vegan. I am knew to all of this and would love some help navigating my way around my own city. I agree with you about some Kroger's having nice natural food sections and I just discovered (after living here all my life) the Whole Foods on Kirby. That is one large store and the items are nicer than at the other WF locations. I normally shop at the Westheimer location or at Sandy's produce market on I-10. If you know of any restaurants near me that would be pleasing even to omni's (got to think of the hubby), please share. It's always nice to have a change of pace. Katy finally got a Pao-pao's, which serves a couple of veggie dishes. Also, one of my favorite chinese rest., Orient Express, has veggie dishes that are pretty good. There is a mexican place, Casadores - off Pin Oak Rd (near old Katy medical area) - they are really good about my strange requests. They have a potato nacho that is wonderful. They look at me funny when I request that everything be removed except for the veggies, but they always get the order right. They even have guacamole tacos on the menu.

Anyway, it's nice to know someone is in my neck of the woods. I do agree with you, Houston is famous for their Arts - I personally love the Houston Ballet. My daughter and I just went this past Sept. to see Sleeping Beauty at the Wortham. It was wonderful! Anyway...perhaps we'll bump into one another some time in a Whole Foods. :)

This morning I noticed in HEB's ad that they now have their own store brand version of soymilk. I guess they are trying to compete with Silk. Have any of you tried it yet?
I think it's a positive sign that HEB is noticing that there is a market for soy products.

That's nice to know, MM. My HEB stores don't carry very much soy or healthy products. As much as I like shopping there for produce, I have to go to places like Kroger and Whole Foods if I want to find anything natural.

Just checking to see if any of my Houston friends are safe from this nasty weather we are having. I had some water make it into my living room, but I managed to lay some blankets down and soak most of it up. I hope that none of you were stuck in the floods or were a victim of the tornados. If anyone needs help with something, let me know.

Hey there peeps. I'm new here, I'm vegan, and I live in North Dallas. :D

I'm so glad there is such a nice mixture of us Texas people here. So many people in Texas are so dead set on eating dead animals. I dunno. What can I say. My husband is one of them really. :wall:

Anyhoo, I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone!

See you guys around :rockon:

What happened to all the people??

It sorta comes in waves, Twink. One minute there's a zillion messages, and the next minute, no one writes. I guess this is one of those quiet moments.

That's cool. Thanks at least for the reply. :hi:

I live in Ft Worth if anyone lives around there :D

I'll be visiting Grapevine, TX in the spring for a conference. Is anyone near there?

so im going to houston again next weekend...

can anyone reccomend any great vegan-friendly places besides those 2 asian buffet places on westheimer???

thanks

Scarey - what part of Houston will you be visiting? Since Houston is so big, the location matters, as I don't think you want to travel from one end of town to the next in our lovely traffic. Let me know and I will give it some thought. I live in Katy, which is on the west side of Houston, and I bet if I do some digging, I can find some nummy places for you.

i know where katy is, i enjoy shopping at katy mills
and ikea is on katy freeway
(whats up with "katy" and texas?)

and im driving from new orleans, so one side of the city versus another after the drive from here doesnt really mean a damn to me

any suggestions would be great
as long as you are sure they have vegan food
and its not crappy health food ("creative" salads, humus sandwhiches, smoothies)

thanks!!!!

I live in Damon, TX. It is a little cotton/cattle town near Houston.

Scareyvegan,
There are SO many great restaurants in houston. Here are a few I like.

MAI'S vietnamese- located on Milam St. its open 24 hours, and it gets all kind of "best of" awards. really awesome food. the salt toasted tofu, tofu vermicelli bowl, and lemongrass tofu with chili are all awesome choices. there are a lot of options at this restaurant for vegans. also their tofu spring rolls are fantastic.

Niko Niko's greek- on montrose. this is like greek fast food. awesome falafels, greek salad (without feta of course), and their fries are AMAZING. definetly not health food though :)

Auntie Chang's Dumpling House- on the corner of westheimer and shepherd in the randall's shopping center- great asian food. the spinach dumplings rock my world. and if you go downstairs afterward to the TEAHOUSE below, you can get some rockin bubble tea. the staff there are really good about making vegan bubble tea with soymilk. You can't go wrong with the #3 (green tea with soymilk and tapioca). We play Scrabble there all the time :)

The Hobbit Cafe- on Richmond between Shepherd and Kirby, awesome food. they have a great homemade soy burger patty, great smoothies, an awesome atmosphere (a little hobbit-ish house) and fantastic sandwiches. its not one of those annoying super health food places though. all kinds of options here. very unique.

Cafe Adobe- great mexican food. on Westheimer just past Shepherd (almost on the corner but its a little obscured by trees and such). its across the street from a big church. this place is always packed because it has great margaritas, great happy hour specials, and great food. I order Dos Chalupas without cheese and sour cream. Very good stuff.

The Golden Room- on Montrose near the Texas Art Supply- great Thai food and they are very cool about working with vegans. I had a vegan pad thai when I was there (they just took out the egg). VERY cool place for Thai food.

Collina's- (a few locations, one in the Rice village, one is in the Heights area, one near the Edward's cinema on Westlayan)- AWESOME italian food. They have a dish with capers in it thats vegan and VERY good. the great thing about Collina's is that most locations do not have a liquor liscense so you can bring your own wine. Really cool if you want to have a nice dinner out but not spend a ton on wine for your meal.

Did I cover all the genres of food? :) hehehe. I also really love Ethiopian food in this town but I'm not guaranteed its totally vegan as they sometimes cook with a spiced butter. also, those restaurants move around like CRAZY. they are always closing down and opening up somewhere else :) I started buying the Injeera bread at an ethiopian grocery store in bellaire and then making my own ethiopian stews at home that are assuredly vegan.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy houston. I think its actually not that bad of a place if you know where to go.

Good luck!
XOXOXO
Beth

SallyK,
Grapevine is a small town near Dallas. Some of my college friends were from there. Ive been there twice. For veg*n food, your best bet is probably a chain restaurant that you know and can make substitutions at, or Burger King's BK veggie. Dallas is notoriously bad for vegetarians. Cowboys and meat eaters there. Of course Asian food is always an option. They usually can do vegetarian dishes. My brother lives in Richardson, another suburb and they have some great vietnamese places there...but not always easy to find if you don't know the area.
XOXOXO
Beth

aarealski!
sorry for not writin you back. I missed your post somehow. I just came back to this board after being gone awhile. Didn't mean to diss ya :) You should check out some of the restaurants I suggested to scarey....they are all great.

Do you like living in Katy? I live in Lazybrook right at the intersection of 610 and 290.
XOXOX
Beth

Hey Dak - I live off of S. Mason . I know your general area. I really like Katy, I just wished they had better HFS. They need to build a WF's here really bad.

Scarey - There is a restaurant called Casadores here in Katy. It's located on S. Pin Oak road, which is the road right past Katy Mills Mall. They are good about fixing what you request. I like to get their potato nachos and have them put beans on it with guacamole, lettuce and tomatoes and I love their pickled carrots that come with the jalapenos. I have had them make me guacamole tacos, which by the way, are now on the menu. They have things like spinach and squash enchiladas. You can request no cheese to be put on them.

One of the other restaurants that I like is Tien Ren off of Westheimer, but you mentioned you were looking for something other than the buffet places. What about Souper Salad or Fuddrucker's? Are the veggie burgers at Fuddreckers safe??

Dak gave some great ideas, so I will have to think some more. I'll let you know what I come up with. Oh...what about Chipotle's? I believe they are vegan. And the Outback - I order the grilled veggies and eat them inside a baked potato. It's really good. I also love their baked sweet potatoes, too. You just have to let them know you don't want them to use any butter.

im pretty anal retentive when it comes to vegan food

so if its cooked on the same grill... its not vegan
if its fried in the same fryer... its not vegan

im fine with buffet places, im just wondering about More choices
dont get me wrong, theres one buffet place i LOVE in houston on westheimer called something like garden vegetarian restuarant (9013 westheimer)
and it is the best ever

im going to have to check out that vietnamese place, i love vietnamese food

i noticed a few trips ago that there is a Kim Son in houston, also on westheimer i believe
im wondering if that is part of a chain of Kim Sons... because we have one outside of new orleans that is beyond vegan friendly
have any of you been there?

there are Kim Sons all over Houston. yes, I've eaten there, but it pales in comparison to Mai's.

XOXO
beth

Hello- I am in Houston as well. I am a new vegetarian. I just wrote down all the interesting resteraunts you peeps gave, thanks.

I am in Spring Branch, kinda by Memorial City Mall!

Great to see other Houston, Katy people here! Cool- If I have any ?'s I know who to ask.

Mucho Amor, :sunny:
Megan (MJ)

Guera - hey...you are close to my belly dance school. You should check it out some time. The name of the school is Adagio International. It's in the Calliope center at Dairy Ashford and Memorial. If you were to take DA to Memorial from I-10, you would take a left and the studio is in the shopping center to your left. I take class on Saturday at 11 am. I would love to have you pop in some time if for no other reason than to meet another fellow veggie in our area!