you want bean sprouts with that?

a little while ago nam and i were discussing random business ideas and we started talking about the restaurant business. we both have zero experience in this, but it was more just fun to think about. i am a vegetarian as is nam's wife, jess. while it has been getting better over the last few years, many restaurants do not offer much in the way of substantial meat-free meals, with chinese and indian restaurants providing the most options. otherwise i am often left with the choice of garden salad (since all other salads now require chicken), a plate of nahcos/onion rings/some random deep fried appetizer that makes me feel slightly ill or a microwaved veggie burger. not really ideal.

i have to assume that there are many other vegetarians that face similar dining conundrums every day. so the idea was a vegetarian (or at least vegetarian-friendly) restaurant that served american food. i started thinking of names:

• tofu junction
• don't eat that, it's meat! sike!
• veggie city
• orange you glad you didn't eat an animal?
• tempeh town
• the sizzlin' soy
• plants don't cry

there were a bunch more, but that's all i can remember for now.

i also started thinking about the menu. this requires a lot more thought, but for this post i am going to start with appetizers. many of these things i have made, think i might be able to make or assume someone i know can make it.

• seasonal vegetable crudite
• mushroom turnovers
• sesame green beens
• grilled and marinated tofu skewers
• spinach-artichoke dip
• veggie buffalo wings
• roasted onion rings
• the royal sampler

next time i will work on the soups and salads. if you have any other ideas for appetizers or restaurant names, please leave a comment.




hey man, my name is river and i'll be your server tonight...