Vegan Dining Out @ Ruby Tuesday

Well, I decided to go out for lunch today so I left the trusty lunchbox at home. I started thinking about places that I might like to go, and places that I thought might have decent vegan options, when I remembered a cookout that I was at this past Summer. It was an omnivore cookout, so they were grilling hamburgers on the grill. I brought a little cooler with my own storebought veggie burgers in it that I was going to let them fix for me. Well, I didn't know it, but the daughter of the people who were having the party is a vegetarian (she was in town from college) and they keep these awesome veggie burgers in their freezer for when she is in. They showed them to me, and I had never seen them before. They looked awesome, and according to the label, they were indeed vegan, so I let them fix me one.

Needless to say, it was one of the best veggie burgers I have ever had. They are made by a place called Veggie Land. The people hosting the cookout told me that they were the same burgers that they use at Ruby Tuesday. These people also own a restaurant so they had an account with the Veggie Land people through which they could place purchase orders, buy them in bulk, pay with company checks, etc. I think this may be the only way to get your hands on these things. I'm not sure that I could just buy some. Although they told me I could get some by tacking some extra onto their order any time I wanted to.

Anyway, I decided that I wanted one of those veggie burgers today. I have also read on other message boards on the internet where some vegans have reported that some Ruby Tuesday restaurants have replaced the Veggie Land burger with some other brand, which is not vegan. So, before I went for lunch, I called and asked them if the veggie burgers that they serve are the Veggie Land brand. I sat on hold for just a minute while they went back into the kitchen and checked, and they came back and told me that they were. Cool! I got in the car and headed that way.

I ended up getting the veggie burger and replaced the french fries with a side salad. The salad is healthier, plus who knows what else gets fried in the oil that they fry the french fries in. They might have a dedicated fryer for french fries, or they might not. But I didn't feel like pestering them, plus I don't need to be eating fried food anyway. So I got the salad with some balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

For the burger to be vegan, I had to specify that I did not want any cheese or mayo on it. I also had to request that they leave the butter off of the bun and just toast it without the butter on it. No problem. And it was all delicious.

These really are probably the best veggie burger that I've ever had as far as the type that tries to copy the taste and texture of a meat hamburger. They are HUGE! 1/3 of a pound I think. I even discovered that they won an award from PETA.

So, if you're ever out looking for a place to eat, and you're really hungry, then you might want to consider pulling into Ruby Tuesday and chowing down on this award-winning veggie burger. It's really, really good. I definitely need to order some of these through my friends with "connections".

So that does it for Thursday. I am SO stuffed.

Thanks for reading my blog today.

The lunchbox and I will be back tomorrow. See you then!