Veg Dining in Contra Costa

[Guest guest]

It's been a while since I've posted any restaurant reviews, mostly

because work has been keeping me too busy to try new restaurants, but

I've been meaning to write about vegetarian-friendly restaurants in

Concord that I've visited. For those of you who don't know where

Concord is, it's in what I call the Far-East Bay, otherwise known as

Contra Costa County. Concord is between Walnut Creek and Pittsburg,

and since I live in that area, I'm always looking for veg-friendly

places around there. As far as I know, there are no vegetarian-only

restaurants in Contra Costa, so veg-friendly is your only choice. If

you're one of those people who don't trust places that serve meat

(since they might use chicken broth or other animal products in their

so-called vegetarian dishes), you're out of luck. Anyway, on to the

reviews:

 

Memo's. This is the new Mexican restaurant co-owned by a vegetarian

that a lot of people on this list have mentioned. I've been there

several times now, and really enjoy the food. They serve mostly meat

dishes, but have a page of vegetarian entrees using either potato or

fake chicken. They will also make any of their normal dishes

vegetarian by substituting fake chicken or potato, and they'll also

substitute guacamole for cheese if you're vegan or just don't care for

cheese. You do have to be careful, though - on one occasion I ordered

an enchilada with fake chicken and was delivered an enchilada

containing real dead chicken flesh, and I almost took a bite of it!

Also, it's been my experience that they run out of the fake chicken

quite often - the first two times I went there, they didn't have any

left. Jennette recently went there for lunch and spoke to the non-veg

co-owner who said that they were planning on expanding their selection

of meat substitutes. He said that they'd be importing some high

quality substitute crab or lobster, pork, and possibly others directly

from Hong Kong. I don't know when these will appear on the menu, but

I'll let you all know when I see it. Memo's is at 2118 Mt. Diablo

Street in Concord. They're not open on Sundays.

 

Golden Willow. This is a Chinese restaurant with one page of their

menu devoted to vegetarian dishes made with meat substitutes. My

favorite thing on their menu is the vegetarian mu shu, which are like

crepes wrapped around vegetables to form a kind of " Chinese Burrito "

as they describe it. The dish normally comes with egg, but they'll

gladly substitute more veggies if you're not into egg. The sweet and

sour " pork " is also pretty good. Golden Willow is at 1848 Willow Pass

Road in Concord. They're also closed on Sundays.

 

Woung Luang. This is a Thai restaurant, that like most others, has a

small selection of vegetarian dishes and they'll also substitute

tofu for meat in most of their dishes. My favorite dishes here are the

vegetarian eggplant and a noodle-with-tofu lunch special that they'll

make for dinner on request. Woung Luang is at 1965 Mt Diablo Street in

Concord.

 

Hot Basil Cafe. This is an unusual restaurant in that it serves both

Thai and Indian food. It's a small place, with only about a dozen

tables. The food is good, but not nearly as good as some of the

Thai-only and Indian-places around town. The main advantage to coming

to Hot Basil is if you really feel like having spring rolls with your

bengha bartha or naan with your pad thai. My favorites are the veggie

spring rolls and the Phrik King Tofu (which is pronounced almost like

" fricking " – a not-so-bad variation on a much ruder word).

Actually, it's almost worth the trip just to hear the very polite

Indian waiter say, " here's your fricking tofu, sir. Can I bring you

anything else? " Hot Basil Cafe is at 790D Oak Grove Road in Cocord.

 

Well, those are my picks for veg-friendly dining in Concord. Maybe

someday I'll write about where to go in Walnut Creek.