‘Meat’
With two of my parents hailing from the once mighty city of Flint, Michigan, I spent much of my upbringing in Flint and hearing about the mighty Halo Burger. My step-dad even celebrated his 60th at Halo Burger (although I was out of the country at the time). Yet, until my return home to Michigan last weekend, I had never once set foot into one of these fabled local fast food joints. But enter I finally did and was impressed by what I found.
Opened in 1927 at the center of the Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, the Ahwahnee Hotel is a national park staple. The room prices are outrageous, but whether you are staying there or not, the place is certainly worth a visit for historical perspective of the park. Plus, for anyone in need of a good meal, the Ahwahnee has a bit of dining room. The lunch prices are a bit much, but nothing compared to the prices for dinner, so before setting out on an afternoon trek from the valley floor, we sat down to a meal at the Ahwahnee.
EDIT: What once was Todd’s is now Alice’s. No idea if it’s the same or different. Hopefully different.
In the small town of Oakhurst, just miles from Yosemite National Park, there is but one BBQ joint, and it goes by the name of Todd’s Cookhouse Bar-B-Que. Todd’s is one of your old-fashioned order at the counter type of BBQ places and the menu is quite staggering for being up in a small town of the Sierra Nevada. From sandwiches to wings to jambalaya, everything looked great and well-priced. But would it taste great?
Up near Yosemite National Park is a place called Bass Lake. Bass Lake has itself a little village, and this village is dominated by a huge lodge called The Pines Resort. Inside this resort is a fancy restaurant called Ducey’s on the Lake. We wanted no part of this, so we found Ducey’s Bar and Grill, with a swanky patio and a much more reasonable and fun menu. We grabbed a table outside and sorted out what to eat. I had sworn a couple days off of burgers after tackling a couple bad ones in the last couple days, but there was a burger on this menu calling out the unvegan name and I couldn’t resist.
EDIT: This one’s gone, but you can still find Roy’s and its fancy Hawaiian near you. Depending on where you live, of course.
A steak is not an everyday meal. And even rarer than a steak is a little something called surf and turf. It is only eaten on the rarest and most special of occasions. Or when you have a gift card to Roy’s. Roy’s is a Hawaiian Fusion restaurant that I once discovered in the desert of Scottsdale, but that was long before unvegan came to be. This time, I went to the Roy’s in downtown LA with my lovely girlfriend to pay a visit to my friends, Surf and Turf.
Wienerschnitzel and the concept of a hot dog chain restaurant has always intrigued me. Since I was a little kid, I have loved me some hot dogs, and finally I got the opportunity to check out Wienerschnitzel when the bright yellow and red a-frame restaurant in Valley Village called my name loud enough. I had some strange expectations for this place, because it’s really hard to mess up a hot dog, but they can be messed up and it doesn’t matter what ingredients you toss on top if the dogs can’t hold their own.
Countless times I have driven through West Hollywood and passed Astro Burger. In just about all of these situations, I have muttered to myself or to anyone in my car that I just need to try that place. Finally, after one of my rare drinking nights in West Hollywood, I had a golden opportunity to see what was inside Astro Burger.
An article in Popular Science recently posed the all-important question of our time. Namely, “What Would Happen if I Ate Nothing but Meat?” The answer might be surprising to you. For starters, it won’t kill you.
About a five minute walk from the apartment of my special lady friend at Pico-Robertson is a restaurant called Cafe Bella Roma. In the five years that she has lived there, she has never set foot in said restaurant, and since she is leaving the location next month, I was able to convince her to check it out. So if it sucked she could be like, “Good thing I’m getting out of here,” but if it was awesome she could be like, “That’s worth returning to my old stomping grounds for.” Which one would it be?
Many of you out there have wondered whether a fictional character can be an Unvegan Hero and I am finally ready to answer that question with a resounding, “Yes!” But it isn’t easy – unless you’re Ron Swanson.