hi there. today i'm in providence, rhode island. i've only been here once or twice before, and the last time i was here i ended up eating at some shitty greasy spoon style diner on the brown campus. they had mediocre shitty vegan food. today, like most other days, i pulled up
happy cow to try and find something different, and i hit the jackpot, more on this in a second i suppose.
i just did that top 5 thing with dani brown, and if you read it, you saw that vegan breakfast is my all time #1 favourite food/meal. i pride myself in finding unreal vegan breakfasts around the world, and today i found what i believe to be my #1. so i figured now would be a perfect time to review my top 5 vegan breakfast spots.
5. FRESSEN (Toronto, On, Canada).fressen (and their little lunch spot urban herbivore) is probably my favourite place to eat in toronto. they serve a tapas style menu full of really unique, and tasty gourmet vegan (and mostly organic) dishes. on weekends, they open early for brunch, and serve a few rad breakfast dishes. personally, i love their tofu scramble (pictured above) which is yellow, crispy and is pretty flavourful compared to most bland scrambles you can find in toronto. it comes with a crispy, bean slathered tortilla, fresh pico, fried corn, avocado, salad greens and their home made olive bread. it's yummy, filling, and like $9. one of the best part about fressen is that the food presentation and restaurant decor are both gorgeous, and usually have a friendly, pretty waitress to match.
4. PULP KITCHEN (Toronto, On, Canada)I recently discovered pulp kitchen on my side of town, and i've been there a whole bunch ever since. they're a little cafe and juice bar that is only open til 4 every day. they've got a great tofu sandwich, and vegan blueberry pancakes with this neat maple cream icing. they serve an extended brunch menu on weekends, which i find is where all the magic is at. the offer an eggless omelette (pictured above) which seems to be made of tofu and egg replacer, and filled with sauteed protabello mushrooms, onions and peppers, with home fries and salad on the side. they also have an unreal french toast with this thick sugary crust, mmmm. the juice is good, the presentation is nice, and the prices are reasonable. the staff is hit or miss, one girl who works there was super friendly and helpful the first time i went in, but the other two ladies that i mostly encounter are pretty cold.
3. TRIPLE ROCK SOCIAL CLUB (Minneapolis, Mn, USA)the triple rock is a punk rock staple for many reasons. it's owned by members of the MPLS punk band dillinger 4, and glorified and referenced by bands like motion city soundtrack, the hold steady and NOFX. the triple rock is a bar, that has shows, and makes food. it's basically a one stop shop when coming to minneapolis. when i went about a year ago for
the last two modern life is war shows, i found you don't really need to leave the triple rock to have a good time in MPLS. we showed up early for the show, had their famous mock duck poboy for dinner, saw the show, and most of my friends stuck around for post show drinking and antics. the next morning, we returned for breakfast, and found the triple rocks silver lining. they offer a wide variety of vegan breakfast options, including french toast, pigs in a blanket, and home fries with home made nacho cheese dipping sauce (all pictured above). their coffee is alright, the jukebox is great, and the staff is super nice compared to the majority of folks i've met with face tattoos.
2. ALIBI ROOM (Brisbane, Australia)the alibi room is a rad little bar in brisbane. i was first introduced to the alibi by my friend and tour relative bronwyn, who brought us here for breakie before our show in brizzie. the owner, james, is an amazing dude, who was helping out with our show somehow. james is a fan and collector of vintage toys, movie and television memorabilia. the first time we went, i saw an amazing, talking ALF toy, and fell in love. james offered to sell me ALF, but later decided to give it to me with an agreement that i would mail him, bring him back something fun when i returned. i managed to lose my tour phone, which had his address in it, and put off picking him up something, until we were on our way back and i realized that i had to get him something if i wanted to show my face again for delicious vegan breakie. luckily i found these rad cheech and chong dolls in hawaii, and snagged them up and brought them into james. he was stoked i remembered and followed through on my end of the bargain, and treated me to my favourite morning meal of all time (at the time) on the house. so now to the good stuff! the alibi offers this mentally large portion of vegan goodness called the Kombie Drivers Breakfast (pictured above is the single serving, they also offer one twice the size for couples!) which consists of scrambled tofu, mushrooms, beans, spinach, tomato, hash browns, vegan bacon & snags (sausage), sweet potato fries, a side of chocolate chip banana bread, soy coffee & fresh orange juice. delcious!
1. JULIAN'S (Providence, Ri, USA)so like i said before, today seemed to be my lucky day, because with a little research, i stumbled upon this gold mine of a breakfast spot. julian's has a pretty typical vibe for a hip bar/coffee shop/restaurant, and i was in the dark a little because i had read some mixed reviews online. i walked in, and sat alone at the bar, and asked the dude working (who seemed to be wearing some sort of obscure, atheist metal band tshirt) if he knew anything about the vegan "Saint Jamez Benedict". He told me he was vegan, and the benedict was the reason he worked there. i told him i was vegan, and from out of town, and wanted to try whatever their best breakfast was, and he assured me that the saint jamez with tempeh sausage (pictured above) would blow my mind. the menu described it as fried tofu 'egg', garlicky spinach, vegan hollandaise, which is vaguely exactly what an eggs benedict should be, but it's hard to tell if that sort of thing could ever be properly mimicked without the use of animal products. my plate arrived, with two thick pieces of toast, topped with the garlic spinach and what seemed to be an ice cream scoop full of some sort of tofu mix which was then fried like your every day benedict, and topped off with a gooey, egg yolk like yellow hollandaise sauce, and sided with saucy seasoned home fries. i took the tempeh sausage and crumbled it on top, and smothered it with a mixture of julian's own recipe ketchup, hot sauce, and your every day heins 57 ketchup. man was this ever declious, it hit the spot, and instantly made me feel like vegan breakfast had never been made this good! the bar seemed extremely busy and popular for a rainy tuesday afternoon, and i was extremely stoked that they served breakfast daily until 5pm. this place seems like a real winner, and while i read that the staff was pretentious and rude, i got nothing from good vibes all around. the decor and music was great, and it was funny to hear a bunch of folks, male and female, all over the age of 25, having an argument about whether or not to listen to blink 182.
all these places are great, and if you find yourself in any of these great cities across the globe, be sure to hit them up for a good meal! i could have easily made this a top 10, so i'll leave you with 5 other recommended/approved spots who serve animal free most important meals of the day:
6.
REAL FOOD DAILY (Hollywood, CA, USA)
7.
PICK ME UP CAFE (Chicago, Il, USA)
8.
WATERCOURSE (Denver, Co, USA)
9.
AUX VIVRES (Montreal, Qc, Canada)
10.
SADIES DINER (Toronto, On, Canada)
