The Wild Cow Cafe

Meatless March started off quite nicely, I must say.  On Friday, the first day of the month, my husband and I left for a road trip to Little Rock, AR to run the marathon on Sunday, intending to stop for the night in Nashville, TN.  Unlike previous road trips, this one was a meatless pleasure!  Both on the way down and the way back, we stopped at Subway for lunch and found BOTH of them carried VegiMax patties!  SCORE!  If you've never tried a VegiMax patty, let me just tell you that as a carnivore, I find them to be quite tasty.  They don't taste like vegetables and certainly don't taste like meat, but they have a unique flavor and texture that I find myself craving even during non-meatless months.  Try one and you won't be disappointed.

Knowing we'd be arriving in Nashville at around the dinner hour, I took some time during the drive to search for and review vegetarian-friendly restaurants in the area.  My selection?  The Wild Cow in East Nashville; a fun, quirky little vegetarian/vegan place where just about everyone looked like a hippie.  Despite the fact that NO meat is served at this establishment, Jeff was amenable to the choice and happily enjoyed a black bean veggie burger - although he did order it "animal style." Some habits are hard to break.  For my part, I decided to try the "philly cheesesteak" which was not at all a cheesesteak but was made with seitan in some sort of sauce, grilled onions and peppers, with a vegan queso.  Now, my brother Chip has told me on more than one occasion that there is no good vegan cheese substitute so I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at all apprehensive about this vegan queso.  However, the waitress assured me it was quite tasty so I decided to consider it something of an experiment.  The verdict:  it was somewhat unpleasant in the exact same way that I find Cheese-Wiz to be somewhat unpleasant.  Edible and sort of reminded me of cheese, but I wasn't licking my fingers.  The rest of the sandwich was really quite good, but if I ever go back to The Wild Cow, which I just might do the next time I find myself in Nashville, I'd try a different entree.

You know what is deliciously mysterious to me?  Vegan cake.  And The Wild Cow had some vegan chocolate banana cake for sale which sent my taste buds straight to their happy place where they forgot all about the vegan queso.  I don't know how such a scrumptious treat can be concocted without butter, cream, or eggs but I honestly don't care.  That is some amazing stuff right there.

For the rest of our trip, I subsisted on mostly salads and veggie pizza which was just fine by me. And of course, the VegiMax patty at Subway on the return trip.  All in all, a quite enjoyable weekend for my palate.