Going Gaga Over The Vegan Choices In a Steakhouse

When you’re a vegan or a vegetarian, just the thought of entering a Texas Roadhouse restaurant can send shivers down your spine. No, it isn’t about eating butchered meat. Yes, it’s about not being able to eat well while your family and friends, who are likely avid steak lovers, are having their fill.

But don’t despair too soon! You will be surprised that many steakhouses in the United States are actually offering vegan and vegetarian choices, among other appropriate measures. Your choices may even extend beyond the usual steamed and grilled vegetables because their menus include gluten-free, meat-free pastas, pizzas, and rice dishes, to name a few.

If you’re still sitting on the fence about it, you can keep these tips in mind about eating well in a steakhouse as vegetarian or vegan.

Go for the Salads

Of course, the salad bar with its wide selection of fresh, grilled and steamed vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds isn’t your only option. But these ingredients will make for the best foundation for your filling and satisfying meal! Just to be sure that you’re getting the salad of your choice, you should remember to:

• Choose the basic house salads, which can contain cucumbers, olives, carrots, tomatoes, artichokes, scallions, and mushrooms, but without the sauce.
• Ask the servers to skip on the creamy dressings since these usually have eggs, milk and other dairy products,
• Choose the oil and vinegar dressings, as well as the balsamic dressings, since these are vegan.
• Skip the croutons no matter how tempting these may be as these are usually made from butter and milk.  

But don’t just settle with your usual salads. You can add hearty ingredients to your salads, such as potatoes, avocadoes, and nuts and seeds.

Add Plant-based Soups

You have to be careful about ordering soups with possible dairy ingredients. This is true for chowders and tomato soups because these usually have dairy products, such as milk, in them. Instead, your best choices are:  

• Plain vegetable soups
• Potato soups
• Minestrone soups
• Black bean soups

But just to be sure, you can ask the server about the ingredients in the soup and tell him about your special diet preferences. Many steakhouses want to attract the vegan and vegetarian crowd so their chefs and servers are more likely to accommodate them.  

When you’re in doubt about the menu items, you can always ask for the rice and pasta dishes since these are usually vegetarian and vegan in nature. Your best choices are brown or wild rice, rice pilaf, pasta, and quinoa, which can be made heartier and healthier by adding roasted vegetables.