Chili Chili Bang Bang
Until I moved to Colorado, I had never had green chili. I had seen it on a few restaurant menus, but never a vegetarian version. Out here, it's everywhere: on top of burritos, fajitas, and enchiladas, in guacamole, bean dips, and salsa, and often on it's own as a soup. And you can find vegetarian green chili all over the place, which is a blessing if you're a vegan that likes their burrito smothered.
Like any regional recipe, there are a zillion versions out there, but you can almost always expect roasted green anaheim peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, broth, and pork. Veg versions in restaurants usually just omit the meat and swap in vegetable broth for the chicken broth. From about the end of August until mid-October, you can pick up roasted green chilis (that smell like heaven and are charred to perfection) from people on street corners and at farmers markets. Just look for a big, badass roasting cage.
Anyway, if you're not going to make your own, here's where to get great vegetarian green chili in Metro Denver:
- Wynkoop Brewing Company (get in a bowl with a tortilla on the side!)
- Sputnik (get it on tacos, sandwiches, fu scram, or just eat it with a spoon; bonus: they won Westword's Best Veg Green Chili this year!)
- City, O' City (smother your tofu scramble)
- Watercourse Foods (smother your burrito or your tofu scramble)
- Sam's No. 3 (not many veg options here, but theirs is good on its own)
- Walnut Cafe (get it on tofu or tempeh scramble, with some vegan sausage on the side)
Did I miss anything? Let me know!
Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 8:48PM tagged Vegan MoFo, green chili, lists
Reader Comments (4)
Just wanted to point out that you have to ask for the vegetarian green chile at Little Anita's. Their "regular" green chile has beef broth in it: http://blogs.westword.com/cafesociety/2011/01/little_anitas_chile_vegetarian.php.
Noted. Thanks Susan!
Just got off the phone with Little Anita's corporate office & was told that all of their sauces have a beef base. The lady who answered the phone sounded kind of clueless so there may very well be a vegetarian option but it's not clear from anything else I've seen so I'm just sayin'....
Hi John,
Thanks for the heads up! We call and confirm with the restaurant before we post listings, and they told us at the time that they used veggie broth for those options. We will remove the listing, though, until we reconfirm.
Best,
Abbie, VC