Mayhem postscript

By JoAnne Young

A note on restaurants to accompany this week's blog.

I have walked by a little restaurant near a popular coffee shop fairly often and wondered about its name, otherwise not giving it much of a second thought … until this week. It’s called the Naughty Buddha Burger Bar, and since I don’t eat burgers, I figured it wasn’t for me.

 

This week, however, after our Wednesday Food Bank deliveries, my husband suggested we have lunch there. He had been there the week before with a vegan friend, and he thought I should try it. I skeptically agreed. Turns out, the burgers and wraps are plant based. And they, as well as the salads that accompany them, are amazing. 

 

I’ve never said that about a plant-based burger, and only occasionally say that about restaurant food. I live in a state where most residents, and so most restaurants, eat and serve a majority of  meat-based meals. It’s been multiple decades since I stopped eating meat. I tried being  vegetarian-only for a while, completely plant based for a few of those years. In the end, if I wanted to go out for a meal with family or friends, without having to order only sides or salad, I had to add fish to my diet, become a pescatarian. 

 

I’m honestly not sure why I started down this no-meat road, except I think it’s healthier. But I did, and I became stubborn about it. No turkey at Thanksgiving. No prime rib on Christmas Eve. No succulent roast pork at Easter, or chicken noodle soup during winter cold season. 

 

It probably didn’t help when, as a young girl, I watched my grandmother walk to her back yard, grab a hen – one minute leisurely pecking for morsels in the warm Louisiana sun, the next spinning in her hand ‘til she popped its neck and head clean off – then seeing and smelling the feather plucking and the chopping of it into pieces that fit nicely into her caste-iron skillet. 

 

All this to say, I appreciate a restaurant that serves good vegetarian and vegan food. We have only a few in Lincoln that focus their menu in that direction. Grateful Bread/Freakbeat Vegetarian and Pepe’s Bistro does that, but Freakbeat’s hours are sporadic and they take long breaks. Pepe’s menu is limited. 

 

Things are improving at bigger restaurants that have wider menus. I am thankful for that and for Surf and Turf in south Lincoln that sells a good variety of fresh fish, soups and other items I can cook at home and serve with salads, rice, pasta, potatoes and veggies. 

 

Have a great week, Mayhem readers. We appreciate you!