Hi, this message is for Jan Gordon who asked about veggie-friendly
restaurants in Syracuse.
I haven't lived in upstate NY for over 3 years, having moved to St.
Louis. However, I have found a few chains that will be a good choice,
and you should be able to find at least one in Syracuse.
My favorite is the Olive Garden. Order the minestrone soup (refuse the
cheese they offer to put on it). The soup is to die for! I order my
breadsticks plain, without the butter and garlic, wonderful to dunk
into the soup liquid. Then I order the linguine with marinara sauce,
and substitute tomato sauce for the marinara one. I found out that the
only vegetarian sauce was the tomato, the rest are meat-based. Or you
could do the unending pasta bowl, choosing what your favorite pasta
shape is and adding the tomato sauce. I can only ever eat one bowl
though, they bring out the hugest servings to start with.
Another good choice is Ruby Tuesday. It's really cheap too if you know
how to order. Skip the entrees...order a plain baked potato and PLAIN
steamed broccoli. They normally put the steamed broccoli in butter and
dump brownish, beef-looking seasonings on it. I got mine like that and
had to send it back. I usually get 2 sides of the plain broccoli and
the potato. The potato has oil on the skin, so I just eat the white
part out of it.
A third choice is Big Boy. I hesitate to recommend them due to a bad
experience I had there last time I went. They have really good cabbage
soup on the salad bar (or you can order it from the menu). The salad
bar usually has baked potatoes or rice of some sort too, and normally
has a steamed veggie. You could probably order sides there too though
to make a meal out of. I wouldn't recommend the spaghetti. That's what
they goofed up on me, bringing me a meat sauce instead of the marina I
requested. I refused the order and wouldn't pay for it. The spaghetti
itself looked like it had been sitting in hot water for over an hour.
Mushy! Blech! They also didn't take care of the cabbage soup on the
salad bar that time. I was disappointed, especially seeing as the
previous 2 visits were so good there.
I hope this helps. Most restaurants will usually find some way to
accomadate you if you explain your eating preference. If you are ever
in St. Louis, I'd highly recommend the Athens Cafe. We have them in 2
malls here, and I went to the one in the Galleria Mall. VERY tasty,
low-fat, vegetarian stuff on the menu. Found out the owner is
vegetarian, that's why he serves it.
Let us know how you do.
Dee