We took the Vocal Veggie show on the road!
I spent the weekend in our nation's capital, Washington DC. While there was an upsetting amount of people wearing "Make America Great Again" shit, I did not physically fight any of them and that means I earned the right to reward myself with some tasty lunch.
Since I was a traveler in a strange land, I used my compass (Yelp) and chartered a course (Google maps) that led me to a strange new land filled with vegetarian bounty.
HipCityVeg.
One block away from DC's Chinatown (hence the Mandarin on the sign), HipCityVeg is exactly what it claims to be; a hip, vegetarian joint in the heart of the city.
I have never been one of those people who can scarf down a meal and get on with their day. For me, eating time is holy time. This means there needs to be pews (diner booths), an alter (a table) and holy relics (forks...maybe a spoon).
My faith was immediately tested when we walked into HipCityVeg. It is SMALL.
Look at that! That is all the seating they offer! Are we just supposed to buy our food and eat it standing up like a bunch of savages?! Seated meals are the only things separating us from the animals.
My group stared down the table on the left until they felt so uncomfortable they gave us their spot. All is fair in lunch and war.
Onto the food. HipCityVeg is 100% vegetarian, which means the entire menu is fair game. They've got burgers, they've got chick'n, they've got salads. They've even got chick'n friggen nuggets! Please and thank you.
I chose their "Ziggy Burger" which is smoked tempeh and "special sauce" (Big Mac Sauce, just say it.). I was so stoked on a burger that wasn't grain-based that I made an amateur move and completely missed out on their specials board.
How good does a spicy Asian beef wrap sound!? Wizard BBQ?! I am so disappointed in myself.
Luckily, my tempeh burger was pretty damn tasty. All together my group ordered chick'n nuggets, a Ziggy Burger, a Buffalo Bleu burger and a Chipotle fajita wrap. I was ready to have a complete photo shoot with our spread of vegetarian goodness, but the hunger was very real. By the time the dust settled and I was able to get my phone out, this is what our table looked like:
Carnage.
HipCityVeg only offers sweet potato fries, which is stupid. I don't know why people people make such a fuss over sweet potato fries when regular potato fries are obviously superior. Plus, we are at the center of American Democracy! Where is our right to choose? Who are they to dictate our potato choices?!
I would be smiling if these were regular potatoes and not punk-ass sweet potatoes.
They did come with a black-bean-cilantro sauce that was so good I wanted to bathe in it, so that helped. The other sauce options were black-bean-chipotle (which tasted exactly like black-bean-cilantro, but whatever), Sriracha mayonnaise and ketchup.
The Good:
- Endless vegetarian goodness
- A wide selection of actually interesting options. You could come back here multiple times and try something new every time.
- Non-grain based burgers! Hallelujah!
The Bad:
- I think I've made my opinions on their potato choices clear.
- This is not the space to bring a group. If you're on a little vegetarian date, perfect. This place is for you. If you're a family looking to hang out, get your order to-go and move along.
So would I tell people to go to HipCityVeg? Absolutely. I would tell someone to please go to HipCityVeg, order the Wizard BBQ and then let me know if it's truly as magical as it sounds.