Thursday, August 7, 2008

Laughing Seed Take Two, Zen Garden

On our drive back from the beach, we stopped in Asheville again and ate at the Laughing Seed Cafe again. Really, Asheville has plenty of other fine places to find vegan food and I promise on our next trip, we will try them out. Rosetta's Kitchen and Early Girl Eatery are on my short list of places to try. Anyway, Dema and Parker both ordered the same things they ordered on our trip south. Here is Parker's Tico Burrito from the first time since we sat inside the second visit and I didn't bother to take pictures:
Rob ordered the ole' standby, the Harmony Bowl (nutritious and delicious) and I ordered the Tempecado which I could eat every day. Here are Dema's yummy Crispy Asian Dumplings:
The next day for lunch, I searched on my iPhone for a veg place in Louisville, KY (nothing like planning a minute or two ahead) and noticed to my surprise that Louisville has more than a Whole Foods for vegans to patronize. I chose Zen Garden and we were not disappointed. The restaurant is located in a very interesting historic looking part of town which would be fun to explore when we are not in a hurry to get back home. I don't know if I would call the restaurant kid-friendly, although they were super nice about our three kids who were done, done, done traveling and were not at their quietest. It has a quiet, home atmosphere which I felt we were interfering with, but no one seemed to mind. We ordered the Pot Stickers (pan fried) to start with and I would rate them second only to The Vegetable Garden in Rockville, MD. We also had the Hot and Sour Soup which was good. Dema ordered Orange Tofu. Rob had the Pan Fried Rice Noodles. I ordered the Thin Rice Vermicelli and Grilled BBQ Curd. Parker ordered Fresh Green Beans and Mock Duck, but once it came to the table he switched with me. He loves the Mock Duck Curry at Siam Terrace (a local Thai restaurant) and was a little disappointed when he realized it wasn't spicy, but he was silly to switch because it was excellent. They made me happy with the brown rice...always a plus! Parker and Dema had fun looking at the posters which displayed how much and to what charities the restaurant donated money while we waited for our food. If you are ever in Louisville, KY, I recommend you check them out.

4 comments:

Lisa -- Cravin' Veggies said...

Wow! They ALL look fantastic!! I love Asheville. My sister used to live near there.

Loretta said...

Thanks for the Zen Garden recommendation! Louisville is almost always our meal stop on our way to my parents' house, but we have tended to stick closer to the interstate and end up eating pizza or something. Not so good now that I'm not eating dairy or tomatoes... We will definitely be checking out Zen Garden on our next trip back east! And if we're ever in Asheville, we now know where to eat. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm just a hop skip and a jump away from Louisville. We keep thinking we're going to get up there one of these days for a mini-vacation. Glad to know Zen Garden is around.

The Fearless Freak said...

I'm absolutely in awe of the things your kids not only will eat, but pick to eat! :)

We've been on vacation the last couple of days and at ne point I found myself telling MT "you are 3 years and I absolutely will not let you live on fries and hasbrowns this whole trip, now eat your pizza" Granted, not a lot better but still not deep fried carbs