NEWS

Y'all, we have some vegan news: 

• Jerusalem broke our hearts. 
  It turns there is butter in the rice, and yogurt in the baba ghanoush. We never add anything to the guide without first confirming its veganness, but Jeru was fibbing. (Or didn't care enough to actually check when we asked.) Bummer.  

• But we are falling in love with Beet Box all over again. 
  BECAUSE THEY ARE OPENING A STOREFRONT! As in, their soft opening is on Saturday, April 13th. With a vegan grocery store and vegan bakery/cafe, I think we can say that Denver has officially arrived. Plants & Animals has some sweet pics.   

• Sushi Sasa has awesome vegan food, and now a happy hour!
  First, we loved them for their vegan tempura. Then we loved them for their grilled artichoke. Now, they overhauled their menu to add little vegan optional tags to veganizable dishes, and introduced a killer happy hour. $5 canned wine, $5 grilled artichoke with miso vegan aioli, $2 avocado tempura. OH. And they have a whole mocktails list, so our edge friends aren't left out. It's heaven. Be sure to ask for the VO options to come vegan, though!

• The Worldwide Vegan Bakesale is coming up!
  Denver and Colorado Springs are both doing one. Details on the calendar. 

• VegFest is July 6th and 7th.
  Clear your schedule! 

Vegan Wedding Cakes

Having a big fat Colorado vegan wedding? These folks will make you a cake:

Beet Box 
Arvada (no storefront)
Beet Box is an all-vegan bakery known for their cookies and pastries, but they can also do vegan cakes in a variety of flavors, and can also do gluten-free or soy-free. You won't find fancy fondant or six-tiered cakes here, but if you're looking for a simple, tasty layer cake on your special day, they'll do you right. 
Updated 7/14/12.  

Cake Crumbs
2216 Kearney Street, Denver
Want wedding cupcakes instead of a regular tiered cake? Cake Crumbs can do that!
Updated 7/14/12.  

Colorado Rose Cake Company
Longmont (no storefront)
Colorado Rose has been featured on The Knot and other wedding guides for their elegant and fanciful wedding cakes. They do vegan in chocolate, vanilla, and orange, and will deliver to Estes Park, Lyons, Longmont, Boulder, Lafayette, Broomfield, Loveland, and Ft. Collins, as well as other nearby mountain towns, for your vegan mountain wedding. 
Updated 7/14/12. 

Sunny yellow bunting cake from Crazy Mae'sCrazy Mae's
Edgewater (no storefront... yet)
Crazy Mae's is all vegan, baby, and will do a sweet little cake or pile of mini-cupcakes or cookies for your wedding. One of the bennies of going with an all-vegan baker is that they typically offer a wider variety of vegan flavors. Crazy Mae's can do salted caramel (!!!), peppermint mocha, palisade peach, and red velvet, among others. Gluten free is an option too!
Updated 7/14/12.  

Happy Cakes Bakeshop
3434 W 32nd Avenue, Denver
Happy Cakes has a reputation for delivering beautiful cupcakes and layer cakes that don't sacrifice flavor, and they will totally do it vegan. 
Updated 7/14/12. 

Kim and Jake's Cakes
641 S Broadway, Boulder
Kim and Jake's does vegan and gluten free cakes in several flavors, and can do tiered wedding cakes.
Updated 7/21/12. Thanks to Julia for the tip! 

Living the Sweet Life
1535 Central Street, Denver
If you're looking for flavor and simplicity over a big giant tiered cake, Living the Sweet Life has you covered. They'll do sweet, simple, elegant layer cakes in vegan flavors, right in the Highlands. 
Updated 7/14/12.  

The Makery
8203 S Holly Street, Centennial 
Specialty cake shop that offers vegan and gluten free flavors. 
Updated 7/14/12.  

Piece, Love, and Chocolate
805 Pearl Street, Boulder
Piece, Love and Chocolate is a boutique bakery and dessert shop that offers specialty vegan chocolates and treats, and they'll make you a beautiful and decadent vegan wedding cake. Here's the scoop, straight from the bakers: "Our primary vegan wedding cake offering is a dark chocolate cake with a choice of a dark chocolate icing or a delicious white icing that is coconut cream or almond milk based. These options pair really well with fruits and nuts. We also have a vegan dark chocolate carrot cake... And, let's not forget cupcakes! In addition to that, we carry a variety of vegan truffles and caramels - wonderful for party favors!" 
Updated 7/14/12.  

Carrot and lemon wedding cupcakes from Watercourse Bakery

Sarah Austin
Denver (no storefront) 
Denver baker Sarah Austin offers beautiful and scrumptious vegan wedding cakes, and can do super fancy sculpty cakes to boot. See her gallery and contact her through Flickr, or get in touch via Nom Pod, a local treat company that makes amazing things like vegan peeps and vegan chocolate-dipped marshmallow pops. 
Updated 7/14/12.  

Trina Cakes
Denver/Boulder Metro (no storefront)
Trina cakes offers vegan wedding cakes in a variety of flavors, and can do tiered cakes and specialty designs.  
Updated 7/21/12. Thanks to Kyle for the tip!

Watercourse Bakery
Denver (no storefront)
Watercourse is an all-vegan bakery that supplies baked goods and other sweet treats to Watercourse Foods and City, O' City. Lucky for you, they also make cakes to order, and can do fancy schmancy cake decorating. Gluten free and vegan is also an option. Contact them through their Facebook page. 
Updated 7/14/12. 

Did we miss something? Let us know!

Want more lists? Check it out:

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

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 

Love for Leaf

Boulder vegetarian restaurant Leaf really knows how to make a meal. And while I will never forgive them for taking the barbecue seitan plate off the menu (mashed potatoes and greens and the best barbecue you have ever had!), their current menu is pretty fabulous and eases the pain. Here's what we had last week:

Fresh baked bread with rosemary olive oil. Mmm bread.

French Onion Soup!

Tofu Green Curry: light, fresh, with tons of crispy veggies.

Vegan Alfredo: they totally nailed it. So good!

Carrot Cake with tons of candied ginger. We had to take it go because did you see that alfredo? Plus, we finished the bread.

We love (and kinda hate) Leaf because their menu changes with the seasons. They always have tasty, inventive specials, the staff is super friendly, and it's a nice place to visit for lunch or dinner. Have you had their brunch? Tell us about it in the comments!

Food! Recipes to make food! OMG!

Recipes worth bundling up and going to the grocery store for in three... two...

25 Vegan Recipes at The Kitchn

Forêt Noire at Have Cake Will Travel

Easy Vegan Pad Thai at Mitten Machen

Squash with Wild Rice and Chanterelle Stuffing from Bryanna Clark Grogan

Hallacas Veganas at Vegan Latina!

Peanut Butter Fudge at Manifest Vegan

Pho at Cake Maker to the Stars

Black Eyed Pea Fritters with Hot Pepper Sauce from Vegan Soul Kitchen

Berry Creme Tart with Cocoa Olive Oil Crust from Post Punk Kitchen

Happy Groundhog Day!