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Mr. Sushi
(513) 827-9345
580 Walnut St
Cincinnati, OH 45202

By the time we met up with our friend after work and got downtown it was going on eight o’clock. I don’t know if that’s early or late by weeknight downtown standards but we found Mr. Sushi at light capacity, with only a few tables of hipsters at the front making a ruckus. We’d heard that the service was slow but were surprised that both our appetizer of vegetable tempura and our combo plate of sushi came out quickly. Maybe it was the right time of day or that our sushi didn’t require any special handling like an exotic dead-fish roll.

The tempura veggies were a little pricey at $5 and there wasn’t as much as I would’ve expected but what we got was a tasty mix of deep fried peppers, onion, carrot and zucchini. Pretty typical stuff but good. The Vegetable Roll Combination on their web menu is a little different than what we had. Ours was an AAC (Avocado, Asparagus, Cucumber) roll, a Vegetable (Carrot, Avocado, Cucumber) roll and Inari for $13. Both are pretty typical rolls but Mr. Sushi’s had a sweeter flavor that I think of fondly as I type this and the Inari, of course, were scrumptious; a little small but well packed with tasty rice, nice and cold.

The only downside, really, is that Mr. Sushi is downtown but for the crowd who live, work, and play down there on a daily basis it’s well worth stopping in. They’re maybe a little pricier than some of the nearby alternatives but not by much!

Shawn & I frequently meet up with our friend @Simpleton001 for lunch on Saturdays at places we can get vegan food.  After having dinner at Suzy Wong’s with @Ameliadf one night we walked past Lucky John’s Slow Market & peeked in the windows.  The menu on the window mentioned vegetarian items with a notation of what could be made vegan.

On 05/22/10 we met up at Lucky John’s Slow Market ordered some food & browsed the shop.  Shawn & I ordered the Sloppy John sandwich with chips & @Simpleton001 got the Reuben. It was tasty and not too slow, but the idea is that it isn’t fast food, which is fine by me (within reason! lol)

There is no shortage of places to find food at Disney World’s numerous parks, resorts, and destination spots. Eating vegetarian or with other dietary needs is also pretty easy but your options tend to align with fruit or chips at the food stalls and a veggie burger, fries, and ice cream at the counter service shops. For the really delectable stuff, for meals created just for you and usually by a head chef, you’ll have to call ahead and make reservations at one of Disney World’s ‘Table Service’ restaurants.

I am perpetually amazed at how accommodating and friendly the Disney staff is no matter how many ‘buts’, ‘ifs’ and ‘is this ok’s’ you throw at them. Problem is, we had no idea until the day we were in Animal Kingdom that that was the park we would go to first and when we’d find ourselves famished. Katy was ready to call and make reservations months before we ever left for Florida but I didn’t want to be tied to an appointment. I may have sabotaged things a little because I did know that whenever we would find ourselves at Animal Kingom, Tusker House would be the place for our big meal of the day. I loved it in 2009 and our return trip in 2010 was no less amazing and hunger-appeasing.

Considered by Disney as a top-tier ‘Table Service’ restaurant, Tusker House is unique in that it’s a really huge buffet. You’ll typically have to check in, hang on to a buzzer and wait for an open table (unless, of course, you make reservations) but once you’re inside every fresh, warm plate is fair game! The accommodations are huge with two massive dining rooms (comfortably) packed with tables and chairs and an equally large serving area decorated like an open air market. Five bays of buffet tables line the walls, serving everything from African dishes to Mediterranean fare and plenty of “American” food for those non-adventurous types. In the middle is yet another buffet, a gazeebo filled with trays of delicious desserts, pies, cake and cookies!

There are two things that make Tusker House my favorite place to eat at Disney World. One, it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet so despite the $15-$30 entry fee you can stuff yourself silly, stay as long as you like and take advantage of  refillable, non-alcoholic drinks. But more critical than anything is the variety of food. Nowhere else at Disney World have I found so many vegetarian options in one place, and none of it requires arranging a special menu or custom dishes (though I’m sure they’d be happy to help you out if you asked). Pearl couscous with basil, Tandoori tofu, Hummus and baba ghanoush, vegetable samosas, and tons of breads, dips and sauces sit alongside cuts of meat, potato wedges, corn dog bites and dishes of cooked vegetables. There’s plenty to taste and try and — given enough return trips and the overflowing dessert buffet — more than enough food for everyone.

I admit, we slacked from being vegan on this trip and didn’t verify ingredients before diving in so I can still only say that Tusker House is a great vegetarian smörgåsbord with what looks like an equally great selection of truly vegan food. Still my favorite meal at Disney World!

Fusion Wok Sushi Bar Front

Fusion Wok Sushi Bar
(513) 898-1633
3645 Stone Creek Blvd, Suite H
Cincinnati, OH 45251

Katy: We went to check out the new sushi place in the Stone Creek shopping center on Colerain south of I-275 for dinner Sunday night. We were excited that there would be an alternative to Kabuto in the area.

Fusion Wok Sushi Bar decor

Shawn: Kabuto is a pretty miserable stop for sushi so, like Katy said, we were thrilled to see a new place opening up. Located in the fancy-pants area of Northgate, Fusion Wok is a small restaurant, not much bigger than University Heights’ Maki Express, with similarly spartan decoration. The furnishings are nice and new with lacquered dark wood and the sushi bar is as colorful and lively as any but overall it’s a typical sushi joint.

So that leaves us with the food. A complimentary dish of sugared peanuts surprised us both but I passed on account of them being nuts and all. After a few questions with one of the chefs to confirm what was vegan we had ordered veggie roll ($3.25), sweet potato roll ($4.25),  avocado roll ($2.95), cucumber roll ($2.50) and some inari ($3.50).

Fusion Wok Sushi Bar sushi

Katy: The presentation of the sushi was very nice and we were thrilled to see the sweet potato roll is tempura sweet potato like we’ve had at Tokyo. The inari had a very small amount of rice and the tofu wrapper was folded up into itself making these the smallest we’ve had at this price.  The veggie roll had a miso sauce on top that was a little sweet & spicy (very slight) and very tasty.  Nothing thrilling to say about the avocado or cucumber rolls, they were tasty, not bad and not amazing – average priced.  In total, I think all the rolls were reasonably priced for size & quality except the inari being skimpy.

We are looking forward to going again within the next week to try non-sushi foods.  Shawn uploaded their menu to Urban Spoon, but as of this moment it hasn’t shown up yet.

Here are the rest of the photos we took

complimentary treat	veggie & avocado rolls
cucumber & sweet potato	complimentary treat
soy sauce

Thai Namtip
5461 North Bend Road
Cincinnati, OH 45247-7620
(513) 481-3360

We came up with the idea to review all the veggie sushi options in the tri-state area, but we are off to a slow start.  (Anyone want to do guest posts?)  We don’t always want to eat sushi, so this will be an ongoing thing…yeah…oh and Shawn came up with “Cincy Sushi Survey”.  We should probably buy that url. It’s pretty awesome

Ok first sushi survey is Thai Namtip in the White Oak area!  They have at least six vegetarian meals to choose from (that may actually be vegan, ask first) and 4 veg sushi.
Asparagus Roll Asparagus, rice, sesame wrapped in seaweed.   $4.95
Avocado Roll Avocado, rice, sesame wrapped in seaweed.   $4.95
Cucumber Roll Cucumber, rice, sesame wrapped in seaweed.   $4.95
AACC Roll Asparagus, avocado, cucumber, carrot, rice wrapped in seaweed.   $5.95

Shawn: Whenever we go to Thai Namtip I prefer to stick with my all-time favorite dish — Tofu Ramrong — but for the sake of this exhaustive study I put my own selfish yearnings aside and ate some sushi.  Thai Namtip’s sushi is a nice, plump one-bit mouthful and they don’t skimp on the number of rolls per order. I always appreciate an AACC roll but any place that offers a simple asparagus roll on its own gets a nod in my book. The prices are right around average for most places in town and with a huge menu of other dishes to fall back on, Thai Namtip has an early lead in our little survey.

Loving Cafe
(513) 731-2233
6227 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, OH 45213

Loving cafe always has specials on Saturday’s at lunch, but some of them have been added permanently to the menu.  My favorite is the BBQ Chik’n Wrap pictured below.  For those concerned, it’s not spicy at all from what I can tell.  It’s more the sweet BBQ flavor similar to the BW-3′s sweet BBQ sauce that’s 1 or 2 from the bottom in spiciness.  Inside the wrap is fried rice with veggies in it like edamame & corn, lettuce, vegan mayo and some sort of fake chicken that has a great texture and taste.  It’s all I’ve ordered since last fall when eating there, I believe.  I crave it sometimes, yum yum!

Melt
(513) 681-6358
4165 Hamilton Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45223

Actually, Melt is great for any meal. I always get the same meal, except at brunch when I can’t.  This photo is from a lunch with Shawn, myself and our friend @Simpleton001.   Shawn (left) got the vegan coney which is served open faced & he got mixed greens.  Center is my halvsies custom seitan burger, vegan cheesy sauce & vegan mayo.  Other half is vegan Caesar salad with tofu.  I order this EVERY time.  On right @Simpleton001 tried the sandwich I get with a side of rosemary redskins.

Melt for lunch

Los Panchos
8598 Colerain Avenue
Cincinnati, OH 45251-2914
(513) 923-3400

Once we became vegan we stopped getting Mexican food because we associated so much cheese with that cuisine.  This isn’t an unfair way to look at it, but we’ve made up with Mexican food, although our choices are very limited.  The first time back to Los Panchos, our closest Mexican restaurant to home, we felt as if we’d cheated even though we still ate vegan.  They have a veggie burrito that comes with rice & bean and a small amount of cheese, but they almost always remember not to put cheese when you request that.  I’m not a fan of cilantro, so finding Mexican places that don’t use it in everything makes me happy.  When Los Panchos first opened it was back and forth whether you got any, but lately it hasn’t been excessive in my meals.  They have the type of salsa I prefer, where is like a spicy tomato & pepper puree and, as I said, they are convenient to home.  Unfortunately, they have slow service at any time of day (but not always), but definitely Friday and Saturday nights.

Here are some dark and blurry pics for your eye straining pleasure.  The super quesadilla our non-vegan friend got probably couldn’t be made vegan without it just becoming the veggie burrito anyway.