HAPPY VALENTIMES

Here's where to get a special dinner with your so/bff/fwb/sisterwife/whatevs (make reservations!): 

• Watercourse
  Denver
  Four courses plus dessert, $50 a person, or $65 with wine pairing
  Menu highlight: Smoked Orange Tofu with Spanish Rice with pimento and caper sofrito and a parsley coulis
  Full menu 

• Leaf
  Boulder
  Three courses plus dessert, $40 a person, or $58 with wine pairing
  Menu highlight: Housemade cocoa infused tofu, creamy carrot polenta, haricot verts, demi-glace 
  Full menu

• Tasty Harmony
  Fort Collins
  One appetizer, two entrees, two palate cleansers, one dessert, $55 per couple without wine
  Menu highlight: Grilled king trumpet mushrooms and smoked tofu "present" wrapped in leaks and covered in miso mustard glaze
  Full menu

• Native Foods
  Boulder
  No prix fixe and no reservations necessary, but they are doing specials for Valentine's Day: Lasagne, ceasar salad, and cheesy garlic bread for $9.95, plus tiramisu for dessert!

• Root Down
  Denver
  Four courses, $64 a person, or $94 with wine pairing
  Menu highlight: 'Chicken' Bordelaise with Wild Mushroom Sauce and Chickpea Lentil Panelle
  Full menu

• Linger
  Denver
  Four courses, $64 a person, or $94 with wine pairing
  Menu highlight: Butternut Squash Pupusas with Avocado Aioli, Pomegranates and Black Beans
  Full menu

• Black Cat
  Boulder
  Four courses, $75 a person
  No menu posted, but they said there would be a vegan option for each course 

• Eden
  Denver
  Three courses including dessert, $25 per person or $20 each if there's two of you, includes one drink
  Menu highlight: Tofu tacos
  Full menu 

• Shine
  Boulder
  No price or set menu yet, but they will have a vegan menu. Bonus burlesque show! 

Plus also, Nooch has vegan chocolate boxes! 

Colorado-Based Vegan Businesses

We have so much love for vegan businesses, and Colorado has some great ones! These folks are all vegan, all the time, and they deserve your support:

Baba's Falafel
All over!, Denver
Baba's is an all-vegan falafel truck that features deep fried falafel cones, spicy nachos, falafeldillas (yeah, you heard right), as well as killer vegan tahini sauce, and their own hummus. Check out their calendar,Facebook, or Twitter to see where they are. 
Updated 1/15/13.

Beet Box
Arvada (no storefront)
Beet Box is a 100% vegan bakery that provides delicious baked goods to coffee shops and cafes, and will do custom orders for your home or office events. Among other spots, you can find their stuff at Pablo’s Coffee, Wash Perk, Paris on the Platte, Sweet Action Ice Cream, Crema Coffee House, Hooked on Colfax, and Yellow Feather Coffee. Or you can order from them directly.
Updated 7/13/12.

Logs of joy.

Cows Gone Coconut
Denver (no storefront)
Cows Gone Coconut makes yummy, coconut-based ice cream right in Denver. And they have Coffee, which is the very best flavor of ice cream and sometimes hard to find vegan. Get CGC at Denver-area Whole Foods Markets, Marczyk Fine Foods, Alfalfa's, and Lucky's Market. 

Denver Seitan Company
Denver (no storefront)
Denver Seitan Company makes damn good seitan, the kind that you can just slice up and put on crackers. They have a variety of flavors, including Chickenesque (our favorite) and Sureizo, and they've some other varieties in the works (gluten free seitan, anyone?). You can get their stuff CSA style, or find it at the soon-to-open Nooch Vegan Market. If you want someone else to cook it for you, visit Marquis Pizza or Vegan Van. 
Updated 7/13/12. 

JJ's Sweets (aka Cocomels!)
Boulder (no storefront)
Boulder-based JJ's Sweets makes Cocomels, which are coconut-milk base caramels, and arguably one of the best vegan candies out there. Cocomels come chocolate-covered or in sweet, chewy little caramel sticks, in flavors like vanilla, java, and sea salt. The chocolate covered sea salt Cocomels are killer. Just killer. You can find them in select stores, or order directly online. 
Updated 7/13/12.  

Julia's Kitchen
4557 Broadway, Boulder
All-vegan, organic, and gluten free restaurant with daily specials and a seasonal menu. They also do birthday cakes!
Updated 1/17/13.  

Mars Bakery
Arvada (no storefront)
Mars is an all-vegan bakery that sets up shop at the Sunday farmers' market in Olde Town Arvada, and has a few outlets around the metro area, including Edgewater Coffee Company in Edgewater. They do vegan sweets and baked goods to order, including vegan wedding cakes!
Updated 6/3/12.  

Uh huh, oh yeah. Chocolate covered sea salt Cocomels. Nooch Vegan Market
3360 Larimer Street, Denver
Nooch is Denver's all-vegan grocery! They've got a ton of hard-to-find vegan specialty items, as well as snack foods and kitchen basics like olive oil, pasta, and some produce. 
Updated 1/15/13. 

Ritual Chocolate
Denver (no storefront)
Ethical, vegan and delicious is how we like our chocolate, and Ritual has it all. They make organic, direct-trade, dark chocolate that is damn good. Get it through their online store, or visit Crema Coffee, Chocolate Spokes Bike Shop, or Nooch Vegan Market. 
Updated 7/13/12.  

Source Juice Co. 
Denver (no storefront)
Source Juice is vegan owned and operated, and makes freshly pressed, raw, organic bottled juice that is so good, and good for you. Order from them online, or find them at Neat Market.
Updated 7/14/12.  

Vegan Van
All over Denver!
Vegan Van is an all-vegan food truck with really, really good food. Menu items include the Ludacris (Denver Seitan Co. Chickenesque with Great Divide Double IPA waffles), the Superfly (adobo jackfruit, avocado cilantro pesto, roasted plantains with cumin rice) and the Planet Rock (spicy toffufalo wings, ranch celery-slaw on a roll). Go get some!
Updated 7/13/12. 

Wax Wing Catering
Loveland (no storefront)
Wax Wing is a vegan meal service that will deliver right to your door! Check them out on Facebook.
Updated 7/13/12.  

Did we miss something? Let us know! 

Want more lists? Check it out:

• Vegan Pizza
• Vegan Wedding Cakes
• Vegan-Friendly Food Trucks
• Vegan-Friendly Chains
• Vegan Green Chili
• Best Vegan Lattes in Denver
• All About Downtown Denver 

Field Report: Native Foods in Boulder

All-vegan restaurants are awesome for a billion reasons, but the best part is that you can order anything off the menu without qualifyers or substitutions. Ladies and gents, scoundrels and scallywags, I give you:

NACHOS:

This massive pile includes house-made taco meat, fresh salsa, house-made cheddar, house-made chipotle crema, guac, and shaved jalapeno.

Chicken Ranch sammie:

 

Breaded and fried chicken topped with carrots, onions, lettuce, and gobs of delicious ranch. The chicken was very Gardein-like, and I am a sucker for fried chicken analogues so I was really into it. The bun was buttered and toasted on the inside, which was awesome.

Sweet potato fries:

These were freaking great, and came with a side of chipotle crema for dipping. Damn. 

Reuben:

This was the highlight of the meal, and easily the best reuben any of us had ever had. Holy moly, that seitan is good. Sloppy, salty, and thinly sliced on top of marble rye. Totally perfect. 

Eaten but not pictured: The Soul Bowl (really good!), with rice, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and kale, topped with fried chicken, ranch, and bbq sauce. And an excellent carrot cake cupcake. 

Native Foods is on the 29th Street Mall in Boulder, just off Canyon. Get there!

Related: Five Questions with Native Foods Cafe

5 Questions with Native Foods Cafe

The first Native Foods Cafe opened in Palm Springs in 1994, and for nearly 20 years they've been serving up creative, delicious, made-from-scratch vegan food at over a dozen locations in California, Chicago, and Portland. Their newest location is opening at the end of the month in Boulder, and will represent the city's only all-vegan restaurant. Native Foods' Holladay Allen answered a few questions for us, and now we're even more psyched about the newest addition to the booming vegan scene in Colorado. 

• What's the anticipated opening date for your Boulder location?
  The Opening Date is set for May 29th. This of course is tentative until our final inspections are completed.... but so far, so great!

• What inspired a location in Boulder?
  Boulder just seems like the perfect fit for Native Foods Cafe. Boulder is one of the most active and healthy cities in the US, and there is a strong sense of community... which really drew us there. We've received so many emails asking when are we going to open in Boulder (and Denver... stay tuned on that one :) so when the opportunity arose, it was a no-brainer! 

• There are more commercially-made vegan substitutes available every day, and restaurants are taking advantage of them to make their menus more vegan friendly. Why does Native Foods still make items like seitan and vegan cheese in-house?
  We have come a long way in the world of vegan food in the past decade, which is so fantastic. Here at Native Foods Cafe, we want people to love food, and love the way food makes them feel. Steering towards a whole foods diet with minimal processing is the optimal choice. That is why we make our Native Tempeh, Native Seitan (7 different kinds!), and Native Cheeses in house. A great example is the Native Nachos, every ingredient is made fresh in our kitchen... and they taste amazing! You'll have to come see for yourself :)

• What dishes should not be missed?
  Portobello & Sausage Burger, Ensalada Azteca, Rockin' Moroccan, Scorpion Burger [homemade blackened tempeh, chipotle sauce, romaine, carrots, avocado and onions], Twister Wrap

• Is there anything else you want Colorado vegans to know?
  We want Colorado vegans to know how excited we are to be there, and can't wait to get involved in the local community! 

Native Foods will be at 1675 29th Street, Suite 1272 in Boulder. Get pumped!

Food Truck Roundup

Vegan food on wheels! Here's our list of Colorado food trucks with great vegan options: 

Vegan Van
Metro Denver
We love Vegan Van. Vegan Van is your source for an all vegan menu of delicious sweet and savory treats. Visit their Facebook page or Twitter feed for location updates. 

Ba-Nom-a-Nom
Metro Denver
Ba-Nom-a-Nom is a food truck that offers all vegan frozen whipped fruit. It's like ice cream, okay? And it's really good. Check out their Facebook page for location updates.  

Baba's Falafel
Metro Denver
Baba's is an all-vegan falafel truck that features deep fried falafel cones, spicy nachos, falafeldillas (yeah, you heard right), as well as killer vegan tahini sauce, and their own hummus. Check out their calendar, Facebook, or Twitter to see where they are. 

Basic Kneads
Metro Denver
Pizza Truck that is always willing to make you a vegan (and/or gluten free!) pie. Last time we checked, though, they weren't offering vegan cheese.  

The Crock Spot
Metro Denver
Slow cooked food to go! They always have a vegan option, and it changes frequently. Follow them on Twitter to see where they're at. 

Manna From Heaven
Metro Denver
Manna is a Denver-based food truck that offers vegan options for their banh mis, tacos, noodle dishes, and more. Grilled veggies and vegan mayo can be subbed in nearly every sandwich. Click here to view their schedule! 

OG Burgers
Metro Denver
Burger food truck with a vegan, housemade veggie burger. The buns aren't vegan, but there are plenty of awesome toppings (and fries!), for you to make a meal out of the patty.  

Quiero Arepas
Metro Denver
Food truck that features vegan arepas with black beans, plantains, and avocado (I know, right?!). Check their calendar to see where they're at.  

Rollin' Greens
Boulder
This food truck has a rotating menu that offers vegan-optionable items like tempeh tacos.  

The Sesame Seed
Metro Denver
Asian truck with a menu that features items like fried tofu sandwiches with sesame peanut sauce! Schedule and menu here. 

Stick it to Me
Metro Denver
Food on a stick! Their vegan stick is gluten free and features seasonal veggies. Schedule here. 

Wafflegänger
All over!, Denver
Wafflegänger is a waffle truck that does both sweet and savory, and has great vegan options. When they park at Nooch Vegan Market they do an all-vegan menu, so look out for that!

Did we miss something? Let us know!