Boulder Bites

Soon after we arrived in Boulder Colorado we were looking for some eats and Zach decided to check the veg*n eaters resource Happy Cow.  Happy cow is a website which lists vegetarian and vegan restaurants around the  world searchable by location.  Happy Cow led us to the amazing VG Burger!  Now most healthy-minded vegetarians and vegans avoid fast food all together. There are rarely any offerings for us, the food is chemically tasting and unappealing and we've all read Fast Food Nation. However V.G. Burger in Boulder gives us hope that we can eat tasty fresh vegan food that is made in a relatively speedy way. All the homemade burgers along with everything else on the simple but enticing menu is is an all organic, all vegan and all delicious.

     Their menu is simple, offering a selection of their own homemade veggie burgers, wraps, fries, onions rings, fresh salads and soup and selection of natural  sodas on tap.  The hemp ice cream makes dessert a must, but the sundae is more  than generous and we do not recommend attempting it on your own!  While the prices are definitely a bit higher than your average fast food joint, you can get combo meals and kid meals and we felt the delicious ends more than justify the means.  The staff was enthusiastic about their food, friendly and genuinely interested in assuring our enjoyment of the food.  And if we weren’t already sold on the place, when we cleaned up we discovered the whole place has a zero waste policy.  Everything from the containers, the paper liners, (what food scraps?) and the corn utensils is either biodegradable or recyclable and the whole joint is run on wind power!  What a stellar example of a sustainable, tasty, vegan business!

must haves on the menu:
any of the burgers
hemp ice cream!

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Later when we met up with Peter and his wife Kate for dinner they suggested one of their favorite places, Sherpa’s.  Sherpa's was started and is run by Pemba Sherpa who was in fact Sherpa (Himalayan mountain guide).  Right away Iris liked the place because it is in a converted Victorian house.  “I could do this…” she remarked as we stepped inside.  The place was bustling and busy with tables in every nook and cranny of the rooms of the “house”.  The fare was pretty standard for Tibetan/Nepali/Indian food, not necessarily remarkable of the dishes we sampled.  The environment, however, with pictures of the great peaks of Nepal and Tibet and newspaper clippings and photographs of Sherpas was all quite intriguing and enjoyable.  

must haves on the menu:
the sherpa!

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On strong recommendation of a good friend and former Boulder resident, Alex Forster, we had to make a stop at Illegal Pete’s for a burrito before leaving town.  We went there for breakfast.  Apparently the southwestern food in Boulder is supposed to be good.  While burritos are easily made vegan/vegetarian and have that satisfying combination of rice and beans, we can’t whole heartily recommend Illegal Pete’s to our fellow veggies for breakfast, because rice, beans and guacamole are off the menu and potatoes and a variety of meats are on!  The staff was reasonably accommodating when we asked to rearrange the offerings to get something appetizing to a veggie, but not that pleasant first thing in the morning.  Still the meal was satiating and with bellies full we headed off into the mountains for a day of driving

Must haves on the menu:
the breakfast menu itself was a pretty cool design…