How Vegan-Friendly is Albuquerque?

[Kesira]

I'm going to be moving to Albuquerque in April....just wondering how vegan friendly it is. Are there many health food stores and restaurants around? I saw the thread about the veg meet-ups---do a lot of people go to those? I'm going to need to make some new friends once I get down there!

Oh, and what abouut dog parks? Are there any around?

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

I know Froggy's gonna answer this if he isn't doing so right now. He is the absolute authority on everything Vegan n Albuquerque.
I just wanted to say though, that Ab'q. is SUPER SUPER veg-friendly - many restaurants have veggie options, and there's Whole Foods, Trader Joes and several Co-Ops. Better choices than I have and I live close to Seattle!!
Froggy runs a Veg. Abq. Meet-Up group and they seem to be very active and have all sorts of get-togethers and fun potlucks and stuff.
And yes, nice dog parks too, though you'll have to ask Froggy - I don't know the names of them or whatever! You'll love it! I visit as often as I can (OK, admittedly NOT just for the veg-friendly places... *ahem*) and am amazed each time with all the nice options for veg people!!

[froggythefrog]

Hello, Kesira: Glad you asked. I consider Albuquerque to be vegan-friendly if you're not moving to here from places like San Diego or Olympia. Compared to the vast majority of the US, Albuquerque is a vegetarian Mecca.

Healthfood Stores:
La Montanita Coop (http://www.lamontanita.coop/) -- 2 locations
Whole Foods - 4 or 5 locations throughout town
Sunflower Market (http://www.sfmarkets.com/) -- 2 locations
Vitamin Cottage (http://www.vitamincottage.com/) -- 1 location
Trader Joe's -- 1 location

Annapurna Chai House -- Great Ayurvedic Cuisine, primarily vegan, run by a passionate Indian couple.

Fei's Cafe -- A family run Chinese mock meats restaurant.

There are a lot of vegan-friendly places but you must speak up and not be afraid to tell them what you want!
Tomato Cafe puts out an Italian buffet that you can eat pastas, salad, and a couple of the sauces from. Want a cheeseless pizza? Just request it.
Orchid Thai Cuisine understands what a vegan is and has quite a few vegan selections on their menu. Most of the Thai places are good.
Huong Thao is an awesome Vietnamese restaurant that offers tofu and gluten in many of their dishes. They make the best spring rolls ever.
La Salita is a classic, noisy New Mexican place that can serve many of their entrees vegan. I recommend one (just one) vegetarian stuffed sopapilla with beans and rice (inside the sopapilla) topped with green chile sauce, hold the cheese.
The India Kitchen and Rasoi are both very vegan-friendly Indian restaurants. Just tell them you're vegan and they will get you there the rest of the way with plenty of choices from the menu and no ghee!
There are many more places out there waiting to be discovered by you (or you can always just shoot me a line telling me what sort of place you'd like to go to and I can make a recommendation.)
Albuquerque has at least 3 or 4 dog parks if not more. _click for map_ (http://www.cabq.gov/parks/dogparks.html)

I highly recommend joining the ABQVEG Meetup (http://www.meetup.com/ABQVEG), which is run by yours truly. We have anywhere from 5 to 35 members showing up at any meeting. (Don't get discouraged if your first meeting features 5 whole members. We fluctuate.)

Of course, there's the Raw Food Meetup you read about run by Kaylee Tejeda which is well-attended too.

Albuquerque is only an hour from Santa Fe, so there's events to attend in Santa Fe as well. The only reason to be a lonely vegan in Albuquerque is because you did not seek out the company of other vegans. I hope this helps!

[froggythefrog]

Oh yes.... and we have a CSA: Los Poblanos Organics (http://lospoblanosorganics.com/)

[Kesira]

Thanks guys! I'm really excited to move out there! That CSA looks interesting---I'm considering giving that a try! And 4-5 Whole Foods around?? The closest one to me is about an hour away! I have a health food store closer, but I love Whole Foods for their bigger selection and better prices!

I'll be sure to come to a meet-up once I get moved out and settled in. I won't know anyone except my brother (who is moving with me) and am going to need some new friends--preferably veggie ones to show me all the good places!

[Kiran]

Hi Kesira,
We're moving to ABQ in about 6-8 months but we often visit and find it incredibly vegan friendly. Annapurna is awesome and the number of natural food stores is incredible!

[Kesira]

Hi Kesira,
We're moving to ABQ in about 6-8 months but we often visit and find it incredibly vegan friendly. Annapurna is awesome and the number of natural food stores is incredible!

Annapurna's "Indian" food is vile and NOTHING like Indian food. Makes me not even want to try anything else on their menu. I was VERY disappointed with them.

[froggythefrog]

Hi Kesira:

I don't really think of Annapurna as Indian food -- at least not in the sense of other Indian restaurants. I am curious, what did you have? (I love the place, but I've always expected my friends to have reactions much like yours. I am actually surprised how many people like it right along with me.)

Froggy

[Kesira]

Hi Kesira:

I don't really think of Annapurna as Indian food -- at least not in the sense of other Indian restaurants. I am curious, what did you have? (I love the place, but I've always expected my friends to have reactions much like yours. I am actually surprised how many people like it right along with me.)

Froggy

I had a "masala dosa with sambar" and something else equally as bland. I put that in quotes because that's what they call it, not what it really is. I've had plenty of masala dosas from a REAL Indian restaurant. Their dosa was like white instead of golden brown, kinda hard instead of soft, and the filling, well, I don't know what it was, but it was NOT masala dosa filling! The sambar was thin and watery and tasted like vegetable soup instead of being thick and chunky and spicy. The other thing I ordered was not Indian tasting at ALL (and it WAS supposed to be an Indian food).

Maybe their non-Indian food is good. Maybe someday I'll give them another chance. But for now, if I want Indian food, I'll go next door to Rasoi!!!!!!

[froggythefrog]

Rasoi is really good. :) Yeah, I would probably steer clear of Annapurna in your case. I have a feeling that the dosa is the way it is in part to being gluten-free. The sambhar I can't explain.

[Kesira]

Rasoi is really good. :) Yeah, I would probably steer clear of Annapurna in your case. I have a feeling that the dosa is the way it is in part to being gluten-free. The sambhar I can't explain.

I'm glad I e-mailed Rasoi before I went. Apparently they garnish everything with ghee, so I had to specifically ask for it to be ghee-free to make it vegan. The server was awesome, though. When I said I was vegan, he went in back to make sure the bread (naan, I believe) was vegan without me even asking. He came back and said there was milk in the dough, and said the other bread (I forget the name) was vegan and brought me that instead!

Saw an ad for masala dosa on the table, and e-mailed to make sure that was vegan. Apparently it is if you get it without the ghee garnish!

[froggythefrog]

Yeah, you want roti or parathas (stuffed rotis) but not naan. They are good about not including ghee as long as you remind them.