Veggie Plates

[GamingGal]

Just need to vent you guys cause I'm close to panic mode.

Me and my girlfriend will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary on the 26th of this month. Since Valentines also occurs this month, we agreed that she would be in charge of Valentines stuff and I would be in charge of our anniversary. It sounded good to me cause I love treating her to really nice things. I figured a nice dinner at a 5 star restaurant would be good. You know, places where you won't walk out with a check under $120 minimum. She never treats herself to the little pleasures like a good meal, and I want her to feel like a queen.

Anyways.

It's not working out. I've googled all the nice restaurants in my city and hardly any of them offer vegetarian friendly dishes (we're both vegetarians). If they DO offer a veggie friendly dish, it's a vegetable plate. Do you know how boring a vegetable plate gets when that's your option at every place? It gets awful. You can only make veggies so fancy, and I want to TREAT her, you know? A veggie plate isn't going to cut it. She keeps suggesting this vegan restaurant that's actually pretty nice and we've been there before and loved the food. Sounds good, right? Well, not to me. I would take her there on an average outing, and our 1 year isn't an average outing, so the place doesn't cut it. I'm keeping it as a backup, though.

All in all, I'm stressing pretty hard. I can't find a damn restaurant that offers more than one veggie dish (I don't want us to have to get the same thing) , or something other than a veggie plate. I've searched and searched and literally keep getting handed the same places. I'm starting to think the vegan place might be the way to go, but it's not good enough >.> That or I'd have to pair our evening out with a really nice hotel room.

My city is pretty progressive, so you'd think we'd have more options. Stop limiting me to a veggie plate!

[Kinare]

I wonder if it's possible that some of these restaurants have veggie options if you ask for them? I had a vegetarian roommate for a couple months and apparently asking restaurants to replace the meat in a dish with something veggie approved or remove it entirely is a thing because she did it quite often. Not sure if that would taste good on expensive dishes meant to have meat, but that's for you to decide.

Might also be worth traveling some distance to get to a city that has a good veggie restaurant? I have no idea where you are so I can't offer more specific help there, but since this is such a special occasion it might be worth the trip. Maybe you could do other things in said city too (assuming money isn't going to be an issue at all here).

[GamingGal]

I've done that before at restaurants, and that's easy to do, say, with a pasta or something of that sort. But if the dish is elk with roasted squash then there's not much that can be done. What am I going to do? Ask for more squash?

Also, I considered driving out of the city, but I live in Georgia (Atlanta, to be specific), so the availability of fine dining outside of Atlanta is slim pickings. Put it this way: in the town I grew up in, Olive Garden is considered fancy. I've considered doing other things like getting a hotel room, but other than that option I'm not sure what to do. There are some touristy things to do, but we've done them all. We've also walked/visited the major parks and artsy outdoor places.

Sorry if I sound snippy at all, I'm just really annoyed/stressed.

[Therapy Sergal]

I'm not sure how it works in USA, but here most restaraunts have option to customize your meal, if you order it waaay in advance. You can literally tell them what to cook and how to cook, and they'll have it ready for you by the time you actually come.

[Astus]

Vegetables are gross D:

[Joshi]

Lol same problem here. Ever tried to find something that does not contain meat in Bavaria? Well good luck  they're fucking meat addicted there

[KryptoKroenen]

Sounds like quite a dilemma...maybe you could find a chef for hire who could actually make you a custom dish at home or something...otherwise if you really wanted to go to great lengths, look for a restaurant somewhat out-of-town that fulfills your needs and take a long drive there. Honestly I never got the whole appeal of the whole "vegetarian" thing...but I'm cool with it so long as people don't criticize my decision to eat meat. I never really liked vegetables...was always more of a fruit person. Then one day I discovered that I could eat my daily veggies without experiencing the unpleasant taste by simply blending it up with fruit into veggie drinks. Ever since then I pretty much just cram random assortments of vegetables and fruits into a blender and suck it down every day...

[Vallium]

GamingGal, come to the dark side, we have meat...dark meat. And its delicious.

:V

Anyways, why not opt for the cheap, usual veggie place and supplement the money elsewhere like gifts, the hotel like you said, an event, an outing. You can always put things together and make something special. And heck, if it doesnt work out dont be bummed your girl sounds like she'd be understanding.

Also happy year anniverssary ^^ Congrats

[malibu]

I agree with others have said. You should call a place in advance and ask what substitutions they're capable off. Like an italian place subbing chicken parmesan with eggplant parmesan, or offering fried veggies as an app instead of mozzarella sticks and such. Just ask around and see what you can find, since I'm sure at least a small handful of places would be willing to alter their items.

[KryptoKroenen]

4 minutes ago, Saxon said:

In my experience there is a wide variety of differing and often contrary reasons that people are vegetarian. Personally I know that eating meat increases your carbon foot print by about a third, so that's my main reason for abstaining. 

I absolutely love the taste though, so it's a pretty significant sacrifice. ;^; 

 

I don't know whether this is also your rational @GamingGal?

I eat meat because it tastes good and because it's a primary component of getting buff. I've heard some vegetarians claim that you can get buff without eating meat but I've honestly never seen one...most vegetarian "body builders" I've seen are skinny as shit with some decent toning...but they don't actually get any bigger.  There's nothing I hate more than some vegan who works out ALL the time, yet is STILL smaller than me, lecturing me about diet and body building.

Edited February 10, 2016 by KryptoKroenen

[Joel]

OK @GamingGal this is coming from someone who works in the restaurant business call the restaurant and ask them to prepare a vegetarian dish for you and your girl friend nine times out of ten if it is a high end restaurant they will do their best to accommodate a paying customer and any chef worth his salt will know a few vegetarian dishes  ,

[KryptoKroenen]

2 minutes ago, Saxon said:

The research I can find on this subject is pretty vague and fails to reach a decisive conclusion, so my best response is 'I don't really know'. 

 

I don't know either, I've looked into it myself. All I can do is make judgments based on personal experience.

[Snagged]

5 hours ago, Astus said:

Vegetables are gross D:

Eat your veggies or no ice-cream for you!

[GamingGal]

@Saxon Yep! Been vegetarian for 10 years now. I'm wanting to go vegan due to the added health benefits, but currently all I do is switch milk for almond milk at home and sometimes use an egg replacer. It's still to hard for me to imagine doing it on the daily, so once I figure out how to make it doable I'll definitely be switching. Glad to see another vegetarian <3 I'm pretty into it, so if you guys get me chatting about it I'll quickly get dubbed the resident Vegetarian-Is-Da-Best poster  Ahem, anyways, I've highly considered calling somewhere and asking them to prepare a vegetarian dish for me, but the only problem is I would want two different dishes so we're not confined to the same thing. I feel like that's asking a lot, especially if a place already has a dish available. One place I was interested in I DID call and the host said I would be able to speak with my server that night and request a vegetarian dish, but that most people go with a vegetable plate, so that knocked it out for me. Maybe I'm being too picky.

My rationale for not eating meat is it's healthier for me and the planet. Less carbon footprint, less food being wasted, less shit going into my body, that sort of thing. Plus I've never really liked the taste of meat. That and I don't believe the meat industry treats the majority of the animals like actual living beings. A few might, but when something like food processing becomes such a big deal then little things tend to slip through and stop mattering.

@Rhíulchabán The night doesn't have to be confined to the restaurant, true. The hotel option is there, but I'm still not sure that's exactly what I would want to do. There's some "secret" speakeasys around town that I think would be cool to take her to, but she's not too big into drinking, so I'm not sure how that would go. And I'm already taking her to a special event; I bought her tickets to go see Alvin Ailey, a famous dance company, and we're going tonight :3

@Joel Does that work? As in, could I call and have a meal all laid out for when I get there? Could they do two separate dishes? I work as a server, so I should know this, but I'm asking because I've never seen it done.

@KryptoKroenen A lot of vegetarians/vegans can be bodybuilders or workout and still gain muscle mass, you just have to supplement your body by eating the right thing (which, no, not talking about shoving a lot of pills down your throat). This website is for a movie that challenges 3 normal people to go vegan (which is much harder than vegetarian). The guy is a body builder and meets another body builder who teaches him what he can eat to build muscles and all this stuff. It's really cool. I have a ton of other sources such as books, documentaries, etc, but I won't drown you in those  

[Toshabi]

Buffalo Wild Wings is considered a romantic date on my end. I don't pitty you and your lack of deliciously scrumptious wings. 

 

 

I will offer you se Toshabi advice: Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

[KryptoKroenen]

8 minutes ago, Toshabi said:

I will offer you se Toshabi advice: Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

Edited February 10, 2016 by KryptoKroenen

[Kinharia]

As someone who has worked in Restaurants, let me apologise on behalf of all Chefs who don't know how to make an interesting Vegeterian Dish. More yet, Vegan dishes.

[Guest]

Aww that's so sweet of you Gal <3

 

I don't have any suggestions I'm afraid, I can only wish you luck in finding what you're looking for. And congratulations for the anniversary! I hope you'll have a great one

Edited February 10, 2016 by Guest

[Caledonian]

5 hours ago, Joshi said:

Lol same problem here. Ever tried to find something that does not contain meat in Bavaria? Well good luck  they're fucking meat addicted there

Yep. My vegatarian classmate litterly sweared on the german countries for not eating anything that doesnt contain meat and decided to live on four cheese pizza

[Joel]

@GamingGal yes if it's a nice enough restaurant you definitely should be able to do this 

[Joshi]

1 hour ago, Caledonian said:

Yep. My vegatarian classmate litterly sweared on the german countries for not eating anything that doesnt contain meat and decided to live on four cheese pizza

It's only the case with Bavaria though. You can get much much veggie food in other countries here. And fish  good fish

[AshleyAshes]

It seems like you feel that if it's not expensive enough, it somehow influences or reflects upon the value of your love.

[willow]

that's weird.

what kinds of restaurants are you looking up?

[AshleyAshes]

1 minute ago, willow said:

that's weird.

what kinds of restaurants are you looking up?

I imagine that one of the major challenges is that it's hard to make vegetables expensive.  In comparison to meat, they are inherently affordable things to produce.  There's no 'Wagu Beets' from a narrow genetic tree that wasn't exported out of Japan prior to 2012.  You can't raise a veal tomato plant in a box to prevent it's muscles from developing and keeping it tender.  I'm sure you can jack up the price will skillful preparation, but you can't get what you get when you combine skillful preparation and expensive ingredients.  Well, at least not to the same degree.

[Maug]

2 minutes ago, 6tails said:

Just make a salad and give it a vinaigrette made from vinegar with pearls dissolved in it. Instant expensive vegetables.

Disclaimer on the menu:

Diamonds are forever but pearls just go right through you

Edited February 10, 2016 by Maug

[Clove Darkwave]

13 hours ago, GamingGal said:

Just need to vent you guys cause I'm close to panic mode.

Me and my girlfriend will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary on the 26th of this month. Since Valentines also occurs this month, we agreed that she would be in charge of Valentines stuff and I would be in charge of our anniversary. It sounded good to me cause I love treating her to really nice things. I figured a nice dinner at a 5 star restaurant would be good. You know, places where you won't walk out with a check under $120 minimum. She never treats herself to the little pleasures like a good meal, and I want her to feel like a queen.

Anyways.

It's not working out. I've googled all the nice restaurants in my city and hardly any of them offer vegetarian friendly dishes (we're both vegetarians). If they DO offer a veggie friendly dish, it's a vegetable plate. Do you know how boring a vegetable plate gets when that's your option at every place? It gets awful. You can only make veggies so fancy, and I want to TREAT her, you know? A veggie plate isn't going to cut it. She keeps suggesting this vegan restaurant that's actually pretty nice and we've been there before and loved the food. Sounds good, right? Well, not to me. I would take her there on an average outing, and our 1 year isn't an average outing, so the place doesn't cut it. I'm keeping it as a backup, though.

All in all, I'm stressing pretty hard. I can't find a damn restaurant that offers more than one veggie dish (I don't want us to have to get the same thing) , or something other than a veggie plate. I've searched and searched and literally keep getting handed the same places. I'm starting to think the vegan place might be the way to go, but it's not good enough >.> That or I'd have to pair our evening out with a really nice hotel room.

My city is pretty progressive, so you'd think we'd have more options. Stop limiting me to a veggie plate!

Take her where she suggests to go. Showing your SO that you listen and consider their input as valuable is always a good thing. Make it more special than usual in some other way, I'm sure you could figure that out.

[GamingGal]

1 hour ago, AshleyAshes said:

It seems like you feel that if it's not expensive enough, it somehow influences or reflects upon the value of your love.

Not the case. I like to show affection through monetary things. You want that awesome massage? Boom, done. You think that restaurant looks good? Let's go there now. You want to drink? Lemme find an awesome bottle of wine. I'm okay at doing thoughtful things, but I'm better at expensive things. Example, she wanted the new illustrated Harry Potter books and I took it a step further and got her a 1st edition exclusive to England illustrated edition with a hardcover and a pull out map of diagon alley and 2x as many pictures. That's how I roll.

@willow I just want a nice restaurant is all.

42 minutes ago, Clove Darkwave said:

Take her where she suggests to go. Showing your SO that you listen and consider their input as valuable is always a good thing. Make it more special than usual in some other way, I'm sure you could figure that out.

I'm thinking this is my best option. We've only eaten there once after all. But then I need to figure out the rest of the night...

[AshleyAshes]

1 minute ago, GamingGal said:

I'm okay at doing thoughtful things, but I'm better at expensive things.

I have no words...

[#00Buck]

Ha!

You want to spend $120 on a vegetarian meal at a restaurant?

Do you know how cheap vegetables are? 

Going out for an "expensive vegetarian meal" is pointless and wasteful. 

It's like buying a $4,000 handbag made out of dryer lint.

If you want to go out for an expensive meal order something with meat in it. 

You're missing out on so much good food. Why deprive yourself of something wonderful? 

[AshleyAshes]

Wait, I got it.  Truffles. Just lots and lots of truffles!  It's one of the few expensive veggies.  It's CRAZY expensive even.  Truffles make gold leaf look cheap.  If you need to spend more money than reasonable as the only means to demonstrate affection for another person, spending money is the soulless solution to your problem!

[#00Buck]

3 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Wait, I got it.  Truffles. Just lots and lots of truffles!  It's one of the few expensive veggies.  It's CRAZY expensive even.  Truffles make gold leaf look cheap.  If you need to spend more money than reasonable as the only means to demonstrate affection for another person, spending money is the soulless solution to your problem!

You are correct. Truffles are very expensive. 

Truffles are also a condiment. 

That would be like downing a jar of fancy mustard. 

You need something to put the truffles on. 

Like fois gras. 

Now that's delicious. 

[Guest]

I found this place (Cafe Sunflower Buckhead) and Bacchlanalia if that'll work. If not, see if you can try and find a chef on a four day notice.

If not, I second making a whole fancy day out of it instead of just a restaurant. 

[Astus]

8 hours ago, Snagged Cub said:

Eat your veggies or no ice-cream for you!

No D: veggies are the Devils work!!!

[GamingGal]

1 hour ago, AshleyAshes said:

If you need to spend more money than reasonable as the only means to demonstrate affection for another person, spending money is the soulless solution to your problem!

Oh, excuse me, I'm sorry you don't agree with how I show affection. Not everyone shows affection the same way. Besides, the book I bought her I put a lot of thought and work into getting it. This meal is, obviously, having a lot of thought put into it. I also routinely get her cards or write her poetry. But for someone like her who never treats herself to nice things, I want to treat her to something nice.

1 hour ago, Lemon said:

I found this place (Cafe Sunflower Buckhead) and Bacchlanalia if that'll work. If not, see if you can try and find a chef on a four day notice.

If not, I second making a whole fancy day out of it instead of just a restaurant. 

I've seen both of those and considered Bacchlanalia. I forgot Cafe Sunflower was even a place  Thanks so much for the help, sweetheart <3 I'm thinking of having a fancy day, but I'm just unsure as to how to go about doing that. I had wanted to take her wine tasting, but there's nowhere near that does that. I don't want to spend the whole day driving, you know

Edited February 11, 2016 by GamingGal

[Vallium]

2 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

Wait, I got it.  Truffles. Just lots and lots of truffles!  It's one of the few expensive veggies.  It's CRAZY expensive even.  Truffles make gold leaf look cheap.  If you need to spend more money than reasonable as the only means to demonstrate affection for another person, spending money is the soulless solution to your problem!

...or like...maybe she just wants to do something nice  Theres more to a relationship than money but of course money is always nice. Seems a bit cheap to judge someone just because they want to show affection to a partner through monetary means

[Guest]

1 hour ago, GamingGal said:

I've seen both of those and considered Bacchlanalia. I forgot Cafe Sunflower was even a place  Thanks so much for the help, sweetheart <3 I'm thinking of having a fancy day, but I'm just unsure as to how to go about doing that. I had wanted to take her wine tasting, but there's nowhere near that does that. I don't want to spend the whole day driving, you know

Well, the more money =/= great a day. Roses are romantic as shit, prolly, so check this guide. An article about shit to do around atlanta. And another one.  So here's what I'd suggest: 

Morning: Breakfast in bed. French toast, pancakes, or w/e. Here's how gordon Ramsey makes eggs. Give her a mimosa to go with it. A white rose can go with it, to talk about new beginnings. During breakfast, you two discuss how you guys met and sweet stories from the past.

Mid day: Lunch at Cafe Sunflower. A pink rose to give now, you talk about how things are now. Activities you'd like to do, things you love to do with her, and how much you love your lives together right now. 

Dinner: Visit Bacchanalia and call ahead and ask if there are vegetarian hearty dishes available. And by 'call ahead' I mean the day before, preferably in the morning. Call now if you think you can swing it. At this dinner, give her a red rose, and a love letter. Here, you'll talk about the future and what it'll bring. If she likes jewlery, Amazon has two and one day shipping still available. Heart lockets never ever go out of style (A cheaper one - 40 bucks today (out of its usual 100 &nbsp; free one day shipping)

Activity ideas to sprinkle through the day:  Snuggle in bed, get some nookie in / go to the place you had your first date / visit a local park / see a movie (like Deadpool) / go take her shopping and get her whatever, your treat / visit a museum / Here's more ideas

[GamingGal]

How are you so amazing at this?  Seriously, those are some awesome ideas. I'm not sure if she's staying the night before, but I might try to swing that since starting from the morning sounds like a really good idea. I've considered getting her roses, but ones that mean certain things sounds awesome. Reminds me of that movie Imagine Me and You where one of the main characters is a florist and she expresses her affection for the other girl through a Tiger Lily, which means I dare you to love me. Pretty sweet. It's not that I'm not a romantic person. but she makes it hard for me to think of things >.< Mainly cause I worry about things being perfect.

@WolfNightV4X1 Thank you.

[Fantasma]

@GamingGal

I'm sorry if this advice is a little off topic, but in terms of notveryromantic diet have you ever tried Soylent? I bring it with me to work so I'm incidentally vegan half the day.

 

And on topic, I feel oftentimes like the best thing I can buy with my money is a smile. I mean, money isn't everything, but when you love somebody it can be no limit in ways.