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Vegan and Vegetarian in Nashville & Middle Tennessee

Archive for the ‘Local’ category

Vegan in Coolsprings – Brixx: Wood Fired Pizza

August 31st, 2011

A new vegan option has cropped up in the Coolsprings area. Brixx:Wood Fired Pizza has opened on McEwen Drive next to Whole Foods and behind Bricktops. I managed to get a pre-opening invite to enjoy dinner while they practiced their daily motions thanks to Coolsprings.com.

The website and menu clearly states many of their items can be made vegan and that they offer vegan cheese as a substitute for regular cheese at no extra charge which is uncommon as there is typically an extra cost for this which most restaurants adopt. Brixx uses Follow Your Heart mozzarella so you’ll be getting a quality vegan cheese and it’s truly vegan so no worries about whether it contains casein.

Our complimentary dinner included one appetizer, a salad, two pizzas, a sandwich and a pasta dish.

We chose the Wood Fired Pita Chips and Three Dips as our appetizer. It was served on a large plate with three small scoops of hummus: black bean hummus, roasted red pepper hummus and traditional hummus. The hummus was served on a bed of greens and topped with roasted red peppers and cumin. Pita triangles, the equivalent of about three pitas, that had been toasted in the pizza oven were served around the perimeter of the plate. The hummus was very thick which made dipping a bit hard but flavorful and at $5.95 was a good appetizer though I would like a little more hummus. I didn’t get to eat much of this one as the kid really enjoyed it and decided to take it for her own. That’s a positive vote for the hummus.

Brixx Salad - No Cheese

Our salad was a modified Brixx Salad. We modified this one by simply leaving off the goat cheese. The salad is a spring mix topped with croutons and pistachios and served with a balsamic vinaigrette. It’s served with a large piece of focaccia which looked to have cheese toasted onto it so we just ignored the bread. I’ll be sure to inquire next time about it as it did look very inviting sitting on the edge of the plate. Another $5.95 selection and worth it. I would consider it a big salad. It’s enough to share if you’re having an entree as well.

We chose two pizzas, the Artichoke which is served with a basil pesto instead of red sauce. We asked our server if the pesto contained cheese and she quickly ran back to the kitchen to ask. She returned to tell us it did and we substituted red sauce instead. Substituting seems to be welcome at Brixx and didn’t throw any confusion into the process so have at it if need be. The Artichoke pizza is topped with artichokes, roasted red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes. This pizza could be named the 80′s pizza. Anything with sun-dried tomatoes belongs in the 80′s. Not that I’m complaining about sun-dried tomatoes, I love them. Then again I love the 80′s, so there. Of course, we also substituted the mozzarella for Follow Your Heart cheese. Our second pizza was the Wood-Roasted Vegetable. This was more of a typical veggie pizza with mushrooms I couldn’t tell which type exactly, broccoli, bell peppers and onion. Substituting Follow Your Heart cheese this was also a very good pizza but I think I pick the Artichoke pizza as my favorite of the two. I just really like artichokes on a pizza and then there’s that 80′s thing. The kid got her own kid-sized pizza with red sauce and vegan cheese. She devoured the entire pizza, a good mark as this kid is a very picky eater.

Wood-Roasted Vegetable Pizza with Follow Your Heart Mozzarella

All of Brixx’s pizzas are on a thin, crisp crust and baked in a wood oven. The crust is available in original white flour or whole wheat and both contain nothing animal-derived right down to the turbinado sugar used. These are 100% vegan pizzas when ordered with Follow Your Heart vegan cheese. Brixx also serves pizzas with a gluten-free crust option at a $2 upcharge giving the gluten-challenged a pizza beacon that some may have missed for some time. Prices for the pizzas range from $8.95 to $11.95 though a pizza without all of the animal accoutrements will be in the $8.95-$9.95 range. These are 10-inch pizzas, six slices per pizza and with a good dose of toppings. Another note to keep in mind, after 10pm all pizzas and appetizers are 2-for-1. Get your late-night munchies on!

Artichoke Pizza with Follow Your Heart vegan cheese

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The Kid's pizza selection: A Vegan Cheese Pizza

We also ordered a Wild Mushroom Wrap. I expected the typical wrap: fillings in a run-of-the-mill tortilla. I don’t know why I expected that but that’s the typical wrap these days. That’s not what we got. We were served a mix of portobello, shitake and white mushrooms, spinach and Follow Your Heart cheese wrapped in a slightly toasted pizza crust. One of the franchisees came to our table and explained that they put the pizza crust in the oven for two minutes and then wrap the fillings in it. This is a great wrap. The pizza crust made this wrap superb not to mention the fresh, tasty fillings. If you’re ordering this as a vegan be sure to leave off the sun-dried tomato (80′s) aioli and substitute the Gorgonzola cheese. $7.95 for the Wild Mushroom Wrap. All sandwiches and wraps are served with a choice of pasta salad, bean salad, fresh fruit or chips.

Brixx Wild Mushroom Wrap with Follow Your Heart cheese and no sun-dried tomato aioli

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Brixx Wild Mushroom Wrap with Follow Your Heart cheese and no sun-dried tomato aioli

We didn’t get a pasta as we were already feeling like pigs. There are vegan options on the pasta menu and whole wheat pastas are available as well.

Brixx also has a wide range of beers on tap including Abita Root Beer for the sugar-fiends. With the 2-for-1 pizza deal and array of brews look for Brixx to be busy late nights and with the delicious food they should keep a good crowd at all other times. I’m proud to have a new vegan option in Coolsprings.

(Brixx also has a location in Hendersonville at 300 North Indian Lake Boulevard.)

Brixx: Wood Fired Pizza
1550 West McEwen Drive Suite 10
Franklin, Tennessee 37067
(615) 771-7797

Hours: Monday – Saturday 11am-1am, Sunday 11am-11pm

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Posted in Cheese, Coolsprings, Dining Out, Food, Franklin, Local, McEwen, Nashville, Pizza, Restaurants

Burger Up from Frothy Monkey

March 16th, 2010

UPDATE: Burger Up is now open. If you have made a visit please take the time to let me know what you thought in the comments.

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I have been reading of the new black bean/quinoa burger at Frothy Monkey for a few weeks on Twitter and had a standing reservation for one form Miranda, the owner, for some time but never could make it because of other obligations. This weekend we finally made it on the last day they would be available before the opening of Burger Up just down the street.

My trips to Frothy Monkey have only been for coffee in the past I have never really looked at their menu which has a few vegan selections. The burgers are not on the menu but were on a spur of the moment availability. The burgers can be ordered with a wheat bun or sourdough bread. Those working were unsure if the wheat bun contained honey so we opted for the sourdough. Our burgers were served topped with tomato slices and hummus and a side of tortilla chips and salsa. I’m not a big fan of the black bean veggie burger variety. Usually they are over-spiced with cumin to the point there’s no other flavor but these burgers were great. No over-powering spice and they held together very well, something not easily found in housemade veggie burgers. The hummus was a very nice addition.

Burger Up Black Bean Quinoa Burger

We were told by Miranda, the owner, that Burger Up will hopefully open by April 1st. They will also be serving baked fries for those who prefer something hot and crispy on the side.

Future Location of Burger Up:

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Posted in Dining Out, Local, Nashville, Restaurants, Veggie Burgers

Tags: Burger Up Dining Out Frothy Monkey Nashville Veggie Burgers

Taco Mamacita’s New Vegan Menu

March 4th, 2010

Fresh Mexican-inspired food is always good. It is even better when it is vegan. I got the word yesterday that Taco Mamacita’s would be rolling out a new vegan menu this week and also a copy of the menu. This happened around lunch time so where else should I head off to?

I was told the servers may not be aware of the new menu and to take it along. After reading over the menu I was given I quickly realized that there were no vegan options and asked my server, Meredith, if she knew of the vegan choices. She told me she was also vegan and began showing me options on the menu by substituting and adding. Then I asked if she knew of the new vegan menu to which I got a “No”, so I pulled out my Droid which I had the menu on and showed her. Of course, being vegan also she was quite excited.

Vegan Tortilla Soup & Vegan Jerk Taco

I ordered a cup of the Vegan Tortilla Soup and a Vegan Jerk Taco. The soup was poured at the table over fresh slices of avocado and cilantro with a side of tortilla chip crumbles and the taco was filled with one of my favorite delicacies, fried plantains, as well as fresh mango, beans and cabbage. Everything tasted extremely fresh but I thought the soup could have used a little spice as it was a bit flat.

Overall, it was a good lunch, fresh and healthy tasting. The only thing I would like to see improved from what I ordered would be some flavor added to the soup in the way of spice. I left still hungry though I was thoroughly impressed with the freshness of everything. My next visit I will try something else and see if leaving stuffed is possible.

Taco Mamacita's Vegan Menu (Click to view)

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Taco Mamacita
1200 Villa Place
Nashville, TN
(615) 730-8552

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Posted in Dining Out, Food, Local, Mexican, Nashville, plantains, Restaurants

Tags: Dining Out Mexican Nashville Restaurants Taco Mamacita vegan

Cut (Out) The Cheese

May 15th, 2008

One of the hardest things to give up when I became vegan was cheese. I think that goes for most vegans I have talked with and most vegetarians name cheese as the one thing keeping them from being vegan. Begin a “strict-vegetarian” and eating cheese must be met with reading labels and investigating for cheeses that do not contain animal rennet. Most brands now use vegetable rennet as a coagulant but some smaller companies still employ the calf-intestine enzyme to set their cheeses. You’ll find it in almost every hard cheese such as parmesan.

What is rennet and how is it produced?

From Wikipedia:

Traditional method

Dried and cleaned stomachs of young calves are sliced into small pieces and then put into saltwater or whey, together with some vinegar or wine to lower the pH of the solution. After some time (overnight or several days), the solution is filtered. The crude rennet that remains in the filtered solution can then be used to coagulate milk. About 1 gram of this solution can normally coagulate 2000 to 4000 grams of milk.

Modern method

Deep-frozen stomachs are milled and put into an enzyme-extracting solution. The crude rennet extract is then activated by adding acid; the enzymes in the stomach are produced in an inactive preform and are activated by the stomach acid. After neutralization of the acid, the rennet extract is filtered in several stages and concentrated until reaching the required potency: about 1:15000 (1 kg of rennet would have the ability to coagulate 15000 litres of milk).

Calf stomachs used for rennet production

So, you may be enjoying a bit of calf-stomach scrapings with that hunk of cheddar. Considering that and the fact you’re just eating dried, moldy bovine-secretions why keep on eating it? There are some good soy and rice cheeses on the market. True, some are just like eating waxed paper but a few stand out. Follow Your Heart makes excellent Cheddar and Mozzarella, both melt great and the Cheddar can make a mean mac and cheese. Galaxy makes a good rice Parmesan and individual slice, but be sure to read the label as some of their products contain casein, a milk protein aids in melting. Follow Your Heart cheese do not contain casein and melt just fine.

Also, don’t think all of those dairy cows live a great life just being milked daily. They are kept pregnant and live short lives, average being 4 years. Are you contributing to the cruel farming of animals by just eating dairy cheese? Yes.

All of this leads up to a news story I saw today. Sweetwater Valley Farm, a local Tennesssee cheese maker, has issued a statement saying one type of it’s cheese should not be eaten as it may contain Listeria. Seems like a worthy risk to eat that nice cheesy sandwich or casserole topped with stringy goodness, doesn’t it? Listeria can cause death in the young or elderly. Healthy adults may be inconvenienced by headaches, cramping, vomiting and diarrhea. No big deal. Teh story also mentions that if you have some of this cheese you may return it for a replacement. Something doesn’t sound right about that. “Here’s my chunk of Listeria, may I have another that has less bacteria?”

While were on the subject of cheese, don’t forget about Cazu Marzu!