Kaya's Kitchen, Belmar NJ

Kaya's Meetup
Originally uploaded by jomarb

What better way to start off Vegan Mofo 2009 than with a big fat picture of my youngest stuffing her face with a vegan periogie from Kaya's Kitchen in Belmar, NJ. http://www.kayaskitchennj.com/ ? Kaya's is one of our favorite restaurants. This past Sunday my family and about 14 other PPKer's descended upon the all you can eat buffet and put a serious hurting on some delicious vegan food. Kaya's is a full service restaurant serving vegetarian and vegan food for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday's feature a vegan brunch during the season (that's April through Oct for you non-Jersey Shorians) and an all you can eat buffet year round. This week featured: A massive salad with their incredible house dressing, Barbecued Seitan "Ribs", Jambalaya, Veag Loaf, the best Mashed Potatoes and Gravy ANYWHERE, Sauteed Broccoli and Kale, Brown Rice and the above pictured Potatoe and Spinach Pierogis! Beverages and desserts are also available. My lovely pumpkin had a Banana Creme Cupcake --all baked products are vegan-- which she graciously allowed me to sample. YUM! The regular menu items I can whole heartedly recommend in addition to the buffet items are Tempallo Wings..again the best wing sauce ANYWHERE, The Philly Sandwich and Country Fried Gluten. The Onion Rings are nothing to sneeze at either. I cannot say enough about the quality and flavor of the food at Kaya's. If you have never been there...what are you waiting for?

Vegan Ballpark 1: Lakewood Blue Claws Stadium, Lakewood, NJ

This Memorial Day three generations of my family decided to spend it enjoying "America's Favorite Pastime" Minor League Baseball.

The game was a lot of fun despite a rain out in the 7th inning. Before we left it entered into my mind that the whole family was planning one eating at the stadium and I was not certain what would be available for my vegan teen and I so I decided to explore and share the options with you! Some typical baseball snack foods of course immediately came to mind like peanuts,
popcorn and cotton candy.

French Fries would be fine although not likely to have been fried in seperate oil from the chicken fingers for those who mind that sort of thing. Further hunting revealed actual mesclun mix salads and fresh fruit salads so an actual healthy meal could be had without harming our animal friends.

As if that weren't enough excitement for me..my favorite vegan beer Yeungling is available on tap.

All in all a vegan can enjoy a fairly diverse menu here in Lakewood. Coming up this Summer we intend to go to a Trenton Thunder game, NY Yankee minor league affiliates(Now you're talking!) I'll report on the vegan offerings there in a future post.

BONUS! Dancing Mascots:

And Ballplayers!

Vegan Eats Rutherford NJ Part Deux

Cupcakes
Originally uploaded by jomarb

Behold the beauty that is the cupcakes from Sweet Avenue Bakeshop. Also located on Park Avenue in Rutherford, NJ. What is better after pancakes and tofu scramble? Why vegan cupcakes of course. The beauties in the photo are my family's Mother's Day desert that didn't quite make it until Mother's Day. The flavors are: Strawberry Fields, Lemon Rasberry(my choice), Carrot Cake and Jet Black(dark chocolate cake, dark chocolate icing and vermicelli). They were all incredibly rich and moist. I think the lemon frosting may be the best I have ever tasted! Sweet Avenue is open daily and features a different menu of flavors each day which is posted on their website, and can be tweeted to you if you follow them @sweet_avenue. These cupcakes were purchased the day of the PPK meet up which is now immortalized on the Sweet Avenue blog. http://www.sweetavenuebakeshop.com/. See they are not only bakers but new media darlings! Also they now feature gluten and soy free products. Every Friday and Saturday there are 2 gluten and soy free flavors available.

Vegan Eats Rutherford NJ

Chili Con Fu Tofu Scramble
Originally uploaded by jomarb

A newly opened pancake house in Rutherford, NJ...Aptly named the Rutherford Pancake House on 40 Park Avenue http://www.rutherfordpancakehouse.com/ has been featuring a Vegan Menu! So about 20 vegans from the PPK including me, descended upon them last Saturday to sample and compare their menu items. I had the Chili Con Fu which is a tofu scramble covered with Chili and served with homefires and multigrain toast. It was absolutely fantastic! Also featured on the menu were Vegan Pancakes which could feature a variety of fruits, pecans and/or toasted coconut. I tasted the banana with toasted coconut as ordered by my friend Tofulish and was suitably impressed. The full vegan menu is here http://www.rutherfordpancakehouse.com/RPH%20Vegan%20Menu.pdf. The restaurant has been open about 3 weeks and currently features the vegan items on a seperate menu available upon request. The owners tell us the overwhelmingly positive reactions to this menu by vegans and the health concious has led them to move toward incorporating the vegan menu into their regular menu. Frequent this place...these guys are wonderful! next up is Vegan Eats Rutherford part deux, Sweet Avenue Bakeshop!