Our Honor System

Our Honor System

HONOR SYSTEM

We are not a governing agency of any sort and have no ability to know with any degree of certainty whether a restaurant is fully in compliance with our vegan requests when we review their food. We have to rely on the honesty and integrity of our restauranteurs and chefs. We speak with their customers about their experiences, we speak to the restaurant staff and we visit the kitchen if at all possible. We and our staff make observations based on our experiences dining out as vegans. We feel we have  pretty well-developed BS barometers and can tell for the most part whether we are dealing with reputable establishments who are proud of the service they offer or…  not so much. To a large extent we have to depend on our instincts, the instincts of our wonderful veg-savvy reviewers and the honor of our restauranteurs.

When we find that we have been deceived, and this is bound to happen, we remove that restaurant from our blog. If any reader discovers animal products in a vegan meal we’ve approved, please let us know immediately so we can deal with the issue at once. It may have been an error of a new chef, it may have been a change in policy or menu, change in management or we may have been dealing with an unscrupulous chef or restauranteur. In any case, we’d like to know so we can alert our readers to the breakdown in the system and attempt to correct the problem. If it turns out we are dealing with an unscrupulous chef or restauranteur or a permanent menu change we will remove the restaurant in question from our blog.

We do our very best to provide our readers with a friendly, clean, animal-free dining experience. Look for our decal on doors and windows of restaurants that have earned our endorsement!

Veggin' Out and About Decal

This page is for YOU!  Please post the great vegan restaurants you have found that you would like to share with the rest of us.  You can check out our staff writers’ profiles at the end of each post to see which writer is covering the area you visited. If no writer is covering that area currently, contact me directly at danielle@vegginoutandabout.com and I will do my best to see that it is reviewed. Be sure to include the address of the restaurant, their telephone number, a description of the food they offer and anything else you think our readers would like to know. We will put them in our queue for restaurants to visit. Tell us who you are so we can give you full credit for the find!  Remember these restaurants should be healthy, clean, offer delicious food and have a friendly, accommodating staff!

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23 Comments

  1. Excellent article. Keep posting such kind of information on your site.
    Im really impressed by it.
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  2. Hi,

    Just discovered your site via Twitter. Although my husband and I are not vegan, we do eat primarily vegetarian meals. On a trip to Philadelphia last week, we had the most amazing vegan meal ever at Vedge (vedgerestaurant.com). The food was truly spectacular in both taste and presentation. If you get a chance, definitely plan to visit them in Philly.

    • Danielle Bussone

      Thanks, Merry! We are currently in New York City reviewing restaurants over the holidays. We’ll see if we can’t make a detour through Philly on the way back home. Great tip!!

      • Danielle, Vedge is definitely worth a stop, but if not, put it on a list for the future.

        • Danielle Bussone

          We certainly will. It looks like a short detour but I think we can manage it. Still too soon to tell. Thanks again!! Happy Holidays!

  3. Howdy!
    If you’re looking for a place that offers vegan options (vs being totally vegan only), then please check out The Farm Concessions in Keene, NH. They’re a food truck that offers vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free options using food from local and/or organic sources.

    • Danielle Bussone

      Thank you for the tip, Sarah! We will certainly check them out!

  4. Rhonda Kraft

    Be Raw (food and juice) in Dallas TX is my favorite local vegan restaurant. http://www.berawfoodandjuice.com
    Check it out and feel free to add it to your list. You will be doing the vegan traveler a great service to know about this place.

  5. Jenny Sopel

    If you are traveling through Charlotte, NC you must stop and enjoy the vegan cuisine from Luna’s Living Kitchen. Here is the website for refercence – http://www.lunaslivingkitchen.com/. Enjoy!!

    • Danielle

      Thank you, Jenny! We have heard about this restaurant and plan to make it a part of our next trip to Charlotte! If you or any of our readers would like to review this restaurant, we’d love to hear from you!

  6. I look forward to your review!

    • We made a trip to Asheville and visited the Laughing Seed. It was charming and the food was delicious! We’ll be posting it on Veggin’ Out and About very soon!

  7. My favorite Vegetarian/Vegan restaurant is the Laughing Seed in Asheville. My favorite there is the vegan Reuben Sandwich with their homemade purple sauerkraut and marinated tempeh on thier whole grain bread. It is to die for. Haven’t been there often but have always enjoyed anything I’ve tried.

    • Danielle

      Hi, Wendy! Thanks for the restaurant tip. Rich and I will plan a trip to Asheville soon and check it out. We look forward to sharing it with our readers!

      • If you guys make your way to Asheville, there are a TON of restaurants here that cater to the vegan population (as you may well know). Try to visit Plant, Green Sage Cafe, Firestorm Cafe, VegHeads, Rosetta’s Kitchen, Mellow Mushroom, Asheville Pizza & Brewing Co.. Green Life, Earth Fare, French Broad Food Co-op, and Grove Corner Market are all great groceries to stop by.. it’s hard to find a place here that WON’T cater to a vegan diet, actually. 🙂

        • Hi, Genna! Thanks for the great restaurant recommendations! We have visited several of the places you mentioned but some you’ve mentioned we have never heard of. Thanks, this is GREAT!! You can expect to see Rosetta’s Kitchen, Laughing Seed, and Plant on our blog very soon. We are planning a trip Green Sage Cafe as well. The others we will put on our list and get to them ASAP. We don’t tend to review restaurant chains, however. We’re all about promoting the local little guy. You’ve given us quite a list. Thanks so much!! Stay tuned!

  8. I saw the recipe from Mint for Aloo Baingan. It’s my favorite dish from there, so glad to see the recipe! Thanks!

  9. Hello! The Blue Ridge Bistro in Banner Elk is a great place to go for outstanding vegan and gluten-free options! We also serve fantastic fair trade coffee, smoothies, shakes, desserts, beer, and wine. We have many options on both our lunch and dinner menu, regularly stocking items like Vegannaise, but also specialize in Vegan & Gluten-Free brownies, cupcakes, and more. Our most popular dish currently(and even our non-vegan and gluten-free folks love it) is a quinoa bowl featuring roasted acorn squash (local when in season), carrots, onions, a coconut and curry sauce, and toasted pumpkin seeds. We use all organic and non-GMO foods and prepare most items in house from scratch. We fry our delicious fries in gluten-free and vegan oil too! BRB is also good to the environment… we use a green grease trap, recyclable and compostable to-go materials, offer incentives for reducing waste, and even recycle our oil into bio-diesel. We are a small, family owned business new to Banner Elk in 2012. Blue Ridge Bistro is open 11 AM-3 PM for lunch and 5 PM-9 PM for dinner (3-5 Coffee and Desserts ONLY)… FRI-MON for the winter (Tuesdays as well Spring, Summer, & Fall). Hope to see you all soon!! Thank you for spreading the word! We have had many of our regulars recommend your site to us! (828-898-3325)

  10. Hello! The Blue Ridge Bistro in Banner Elk is a great place to go for outstanding vegan and gluten-free options! We also serve fantastic fair trade coffee, smoothies, shakes, desserts, beer, and wine. We have many options on both our lunch and dinner menu, regularly stocking items like Vegannaise, but also specialize in Vegan & Gluten-Free brownies, cupcakes, and more. Our most popular dish currently(and even our non-vegan and gluten-free folks love it) is a quinoa bowl featuring roasted acorn squash (local when in season), carrots, onions, a coconut and curry sauce, and toasted pumpkin seeds. We use all organic and non-GMO foods and prepare most items in house from scratch. We fry our delicious fries in gluten-free and vegan oil too! BRB is also good to the environment… we use a green grease trap, recyclable and compostable to-go materials, offer incentives for reducing waste, and even recycle our oil into bio-diesel. We are a small, family owned business new to Banner Elk in 2012. Blue Ridge Bistro is open 11 AM-3 PM for lunch and 5 PM-9 PM for dinner (3-5 Coffee and Desserts ONLY)… FRI-MON for the winter (Tuesdays as well Spring, Summer, & Fall). Hope to see you all soon!! Thank you for spreading the word! We have had many of our regulars recommend your site to us!

  11. The Frog and the Monkey Restaurant in Banner Elk is one of our favorite places for lunch. They are many dishes that are or can be made vegan. Daiya cheese is available on any dish for an extra charge or just omit the dairy cheese. There are also gluten-free options. Some of our favorite sandwiches are the Tempeh Burger, the Walnut Shroom Burger and the Falafel. Other sandwiches that can be made vegan are the Portabella Burger and the Veggie Burger. All sandwiches come with a side dish. The vegan ones are the regular or sweet potato fries, the pasta salad (always made with Vegenaise), the beans and corn (spicy!), the kale salad and the bok choy. The service is exemplary and the owners, one is the chef, couldn’t be any nicer or more willing to help you find something suitable. There is one vegan dessert, delicious sorbet! Play Trivial Pursuit while you wait. Tell them VegBoone sent you! $ (0-10) · Sandwich Shop · Pizza Place · Greek Restaurant · Indian Restaurant
    128 Banner Road, Banner Elk, North Carolina 28604
    1 (828) 898-3764

    • Danielle

      Hi, Veganj!
      Thank you so much for your recommendation. I called the Frog and the Monkey to make an appointment to discuss adding them to our blog and was told by a manager in no uncertain terms that they cater to local clientele and are not interested in advertising outside their area. I found that rather hard to believe so I visited the restaurant and was told the same thing by the owner. The food was as good but, respecting their wishes, I’ll not include them on Veggin’ Out and About. If you happen to be in the area, it is a reasonable place to eat. The chef/owner is overwhelmed between the hours of 1pm – 3pm. Operating in a small kitchen as the sole chef, she has all the business she can handle.

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