UPDATE 06/07/10: this post is waaaay out of date. not all this stuff is even on the menu anymore! there is good news though, yard house is adding gardein to the menu. read about it here.

UPDATE 06/02/09: the ‘vegan’ lettuce wraps at yardhouse, which the staff told me were vegan as did the veganxpress iphone application, turned out to be almost entirely vegan, but with a sheen of oyster sauce sprayed on them to preserve them. special thanks to commenter kate, who alerted me to this. they use non-vegan fish sauce in their lettuce/tofu/mushroom wraps. i don’t trust anything at this place now, except the beer. the food can go fuck itself.

it’s always interesting to see what vegan options can be found at large chain restaurants, and it turns out the yard house has some pretty good selections. i usually visit yard house not to eat, but to drink vast quantities of alcohol. the place claims to have the largest selection of draft beer in the world, and serves the drinks in your choice of a standard pint glass, a huge half yard glass, or an enormous glass that’s a yard long and almost impossible to drink. after too many pints of strong beer on our recent visit, my husband and i decided we should order some food to help soak up the booze. i pulled out my iphone and launched the veganxpress application, a $1.99 app that lists vegan options at chain and fast food restaurants. thankfully, the yard house was one of the restaurants covered in the application, so we went about ordering up what was vegan on the menu.

chilled edamame: steamed soybean pods with kosher salt

we started with the edamame which was obviously vegan, and it was pretty tasty. not much to really say about it, but all of it was fresh and i really enjoyed the kosher salt. we also ordered the lettuce wraps with the mushroom option, and they were surprisingly good. these were actually some of the best lettuce wraps i’ve ever had, with lightly fried smoked tofu and 2 kinds of mushrooms. the chunky pine nuts also added a great texture, and the green onion a delicious but subtle flavor. i highly recommend these. be sure to specify you want the mushroom option though, because these also come with the choice of shrimp or chicken. blech.

mushroom lettuce wraps: Stir fried, smoke tofu, pine nuts and green onions with three dipping sauces and shiitake & portabella mushrooms

for our main course, we shared the portobella burger which was made vegan by omitting the cheese and mayo. i also told them to leave off the bell peppers, which left us with a huge mushroom, a slice of eggplant and tomato, and some basil. this thing was pretty dry and boring, but we livened it up with some hot sauce and were good to go. it definitely hit the spot, but i don’t think i’d ever order it again. my advice would be to stick to the lettuce wraps.

portabella burger (no cheese, no mayo): eggplant, peppers, basil, onion poppyseed bun

so next time you are at the yard house getting your drink on with some omnivores, rest assured, they have food for you too. and if you have an iphone, you may wanna drop $1.99 on the veganxpress app. i have used it a few times, and in my mind, it has already paid for itself.

navigating a new city veganwise can be very difficult and miami, FL is no exception. that’s why i rely on trusty sources like happycow and yelp to tell me all the cool meatless places to try out. the husband & i like to eat at as many all-vegan restaurants as we can, just to support them and make sure they stay in business. so when we heard about om garden, we knew we had to pay them a visit.

located in downtown miami, om garden was just a short drive away from my beachfront hotel. the atmosphere was bright and relaxing, the staff was friendly, and OMG the food was delish. this is one of those places that serves up really great meals that are guilt-free and astonishingly “healthy” tasting. everything is fresh, nothing is greasy, and there is something so light and refreshing about each bite. after eating a vegan burger at most places, i feel like someone has implanted an anchor in my gut. but after the burger at om garden, i felt energized and alive, active and alert.

happy cow veggie burger: our house special, served a whole wheat bun with lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, mustard and mayo. with roasted potatoes.

the whole wheat “bun” was actually more like a thin pita pocket, which suited me just fine. who needs a bunch of thick bread overpowering the delicate tastes of a vegan patty? speaking of the patty, it was superb. vegetables, grains, and other good stuff all mashed together and seasoned perfectly. i don’t remember how much the burger cost, but i think it was around $10. well worth it. especially since i could tell i was eating something made with the finest ingredients.

the roasted potatoes were also excellent. bursting with flavor and not too oily, they tasted so good and like they were so good for me.

the other entree we ordered was the supersonic sandwich. it came with a choice of tofu, tempeh or portabella. in keeping with the healthy theme, we opted for the mushroom. while my favorite was definitely the burger, this sandwich was still scrumptious in its own right.

supersonic sandwich: portabella mushroom served on a sprouted grain bun with lettuce, tomato, avocado veganaise, ketchup & mustard. comes with a side salad.

this sandwich was also, i think, around ten bucks and came on a pita instead of a bun. it was great, except it had to be eaten with a fork because the savory sauces and mushroom juices made the pita too soggy to pick up. that doesn’t matter though, it still tasted amazing. the succulent portabella was huge and juicy—who would have thought a plain old mushroom could be such a perfect meat substitute?

because i eat everything with hot sauce, i was a little disappointed that om garden didn’t have any. what they did have, though, was a little bowl of hot powder. sprinkled on the sandwich, it totally did the trick, without all the evil sodium that’s packed into my favorite liquid.

lastly, i definitely have a penchant for falafel…so when i saw on the menu that om garden sells them by the ball, i had to indulge. who the hell orders ONE falafel ball? me. and it was gone in one bite.

falafel ball $1.50

he was a pretty healthy tasting falafel ball, and even came decked out in a little hat made of hummus. doesn’t it look like he’s smiling in the picture. awww. very nice.

in addition to the tasty food and fresh ingredients, the ambiance at om garden is very pleasant. colorfully decorated with lots of windows that look out on green surroundings, om garden is a great place to relax and enjoy your big plate of vegan goodness.

so when in miami, add om garden to your list of places to check out. dine there when you want a light healthy meal, not something decadent. it’s the perfect thing to eat before you go strut your stuff on the beach with all the fit and beautiful locals.