FOODIES

I should put “Oh Yeah” in all of my blog posts. LOL. Kidding aside, “Oh Yeah” is actually the name of the restaurant in this case. It used to be called Zen Vegetarian, this awesome vegetarian restaurant in town. They’ve decided to broaden their horizons and offer meat dishes as well. They also have wine and alcoholic beverages now, which is a winning combination. Before you had all this great food, but couldn’t have an adult beverage. Now, you can have both at the same place.

I took one of my coworkers there to lunch the other day and it was great. I remembered their food being so yummy that you didn’t realize you were eating vegetarian fare. I couldn’t really imagine what the same food would taste like with meat in them. I was not disappointed. It’s like nirvana in your mouth!

One of the best things about Zen was the extensive selection of juices. Oh Yeah continues this tradition. I know a lot of people really pushed for them to offer alcoholic beverages but, honestly — just between you and me (and the rest of the interweb, I suppose) — who needs wine or beer when you can have a delicious fruity concoction from their extensive non-alcoholic drink menu? They have a page’s worth of drinks from regular fruit juices to smoothies to boba teas, and just about everything else (e.g. soda, etc.) that you would get at other places.

My friend and I ordered some boba teas. She had the coconut milk tea and I had the mango milk tea. You all know how much I love mango juice. And I have a special place in my heart for bobas because I had them in the Philippines growing up. We called them sago, though. I think it is the same thing. The texture and flavor are similar so it’s got to be the same thing, just named differently. I love bobas because they’re not only yummy, but they also feel good in your mouth. Nom, nom, nom.

Their lunch combinations are a pretty good value. You get your entree with cream cheese rangoon, egg roll, vegetable tempura and your choice of soup. Not bad for about $9. Their lunch portions are huge also, so a couple of people can actually share. If you skip drinks and share your meal, then a couple of people could actually eat for about $10 (after taxes but before gratuity). Anyway, I’m looking forward to taking Brian there soon.

So I took Brian to Zen Vegetarian a couple of weeks ago, and he actually liked it!

They were out of mango that day so they couldn’t make me a mango lemonade. We both ended up drinking pineapple lemonade instead. Brian doesn’t like pineapples, but he discovered that he liked pineapple juice when we were in Jamaica three years ago.

We had vegetarian spring rolls to start and also potato croquettes. The spring rolls were good, but not as good as lumpia. The potato croquettes were yummy. I would have those again.

And then we shared the Zen Famous Fried Rice, which is their signature fried rice dish. It’s enough for two people to share.

What I love most about Zen is that the dishes don’t taste “meatless” (for lack of a better description). Their food is so full of flavor that you don’t even miss the meat. I’m serious.

The only thing we didn’t like was the dessert we ordered. It was just like any regular frozen pie. After having all of that delicious food, it was quite a disappointment.

We still liked the restaurant enough to bring our friend Misty there, though. We went this past Sunday before doing the “parade of homes” thing.

I ordered edamame to start. Brian ordered these jalapeno potato things. I didn’t think they were very good. I didn’t care for the flavor and they were kind of greasy. Other than the pie thing from the week before, this was the only thing at Zen that I’ve disliked.

I got Zen Fried Rice again because I really, really like it.

Misty got the yakisoba. It had kind of a sweet flavor to it.

Brian got some sort of veggie and rice wrap, which was surprisingly very good, and a salad. I didn’t take a picture of the salad because it looked like a regular salad with rice noodles on it. Brian said the salad dressing had great flavor to it, though. He said it was sweet. Kind of like a sweet Italian ranch dressing. It sounds kind of weird to hear him describe it. I didn’t taste it, though, so I can’t tell you one way or another. I did try a bite of the wrap thing, which I thought was pretty darn good. The Zen Fried Rice is still my favorite dish to get there, though.

You all should give Zen a try when you get a chance. You’ll be surprised. I know I was the first time. I didn’t think I’d like it, but I did. That was the amazing part.

I was so impressed with the quality of the food on that first visit that I almost turned into a vegetarian right then and there. If this is what vegetarian fare tastes like, who needs meat?