Thursday, March 22, 2007

Syracuse Vegan Society Dinner!

Last night, Daiku and I had so much fun at the Syracuse Vegan Society's first dinner, held at Steve's Cantina and Grill. (Click here to see the official flyer at Trac's Blog.) Trac and Bridget, fellow Syracuse bloggers, went through so much time and trouble organizing the event, and it was a blast. Thank you, ladies.



First up, appetizers: chips with fresh salsa and guacamole, plus a house salad with lime/cilantro dressing. The salsa was magnificent, very fresh and tangy. The guacamole was also divine, when our table finished ours, we ate another table's guac too! The salad was good, but we wished we had more dressing!

Next up were the entrees- we had the choice of black bean or soy enchiladas. Daiku and I got one of each, so we could split and try both.



Here's the black bean enchilada, it came with a side of rice (with lentils) and one of veggies (corn, beans, peas, zucchini).



And here's the soy enchilada- our whole table was amazed at how realistic the meat filling was! Both enchiladas were smothered with a deep, rich, smoky chipotle sauce. Daiku and I loved ours, but it might have been too spicy for some.

The chef at Steve's Cantina had worked really hard to come up with this vegan menu, and we all really appreciated his cooking talents!



For dessert, Trac surprised us with these margarita cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I loved these- so refreshing and lime-y. I have now officially tasted 7 cupcakes from this book- when will I try all of them??



A photo of the blogging buddies: (l to r) Bazu, Trac, Bridget. What a fun night- hanging out with and meeting cool people, eating specially prepared vegan food, drinking some potent drinks, and best of all, the proceeds went to People for Animal Rights, a local Central New York animal organization.

I can't wait to do this again!

Restaurant Information:

Steve's Cantina & Grill
401 Milton Ave.
Syracuse, NY 13204
315-487-9802


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22 comments:

Emmy said...

Ooooh, that sounds like a wonderful event. That is hilarious about eating the other guac. The entrees look wonderful. And those cupcakes are so cute :) That's really cool you got to meet up with other veg bloggers.

Bridget said...

We had SO much fun and it wasn't all due to the pitchers of margarita's either! :-) Thank you for coming and enjoying the night with us. And I found out about the 'other' enchilada. Dave did a mixture of tempeh and soy protein to give it more texture. He is also going to add it to his regular menu!

Kati said...

Oh that looks like a fun night! Wish I was still in CNY. :(

Those margarita cupcakes are way too cute, and I'm impressed you're up to 7 varieties! I guess I have some catching up to do...

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a good time, with lots of good food. I hope I can go to a dinner like that Vegan Society one day.

You might like the Vegan Forums.

MeloMeals said...

Wow, looks like so much fun!.. and delicious food too.

Theresa said...

It seems like you and Daiku are always having so much fun! I'm jealous, especially when that fun is centred around yummy vegan food :)

meesh said...

Oh, wow! It looks like you guys had one heck of a dinner. Everything looks beautiful and soooo tasty. That cupcake is a work of art! :) I really must buy Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World soon. Mmmmm...

And all for a great cause too. You Syracuse vegans rock!

scottishvegan said...

Wow! That sounds like a cool night! And great food too! What more could you ask for?!

Susan Voisin said...

What a great event! (I would have eaten the other table's guac, too; you don't want to be between me and guacamole!) And as someone else said, that cupcake is a work of art (great photo.)

KleoPatra said...

All that great food, and for such a great "cause," plus hangin' out w/other cool chicks. THAT is what makes life so great.

The cupcake is stunning. And that enchilada... way to get that close-up shot. YUM!

Nice that you got out and had such a good time. That makes me happy!!

theONLYtania said...

That looks so fun! I'm jealous. Is Steve's Cantina normally a vegan restaurant, or did you just call ahead and they agreed to make the special dishes? The food looks fantastic!

Carrie™ said...

OK, I wrote a nice message and blogger ate it. GRRR!
Sounds like you all had a fantastic evening! I don't know any fellow bloggers in my city let alone a veg*n society. Lucky you! Do you think this has the potential to become a regular event? Sounds like a blast!

Anonymous said...

It sounds like such a wonderful event. I'm so glad you were able to get that many people together to raise money for a good cause.

I too would have eaten any unguarded guac. I have to limit my avocado purchases because I just can't stop eating them. They are one of my favorite foods ever.

aTxVegn said...

That sounds like such a fun evening with great food. The cupcake looks beautiful! I just joined the Austin Veg group, so I hope to be enjoying the same type of outings soon!

bazu said...

Thanks for your comments, everyone! This was a fun event, and I do hope it will become a regular one.

Tania, no, this restaurant was totally not vegan, but the chef, Dave, was very enthusiastic about cooking vegan for us! He's even decided to add the soy enchilada to their regular menu now, which is very cool.

laura k said...

Wow, yummers to everything! And how cool that you got to spend some time with fellow bloggers--what a special gathering.

Chef Jeena said...

You have great recipe idea's, I really like this blog! :)


visit jeena's kitchen healthy recipe blog

Jody from VegChic said...

Looks like a fun night out with some fab food. I'll try to get the details on the pumpkin brownies up on my next post.

Jackie said...

Glad you had such a great night out.

Nice to see a photo of you :)

Anonymous said...

Your dinner looks great. That was nice of the restaurant to create a vegan menu for you all. I checked out your links and it looks like everyone liked the soy enchiladas best.

Dori said...

I'm a few days behind but this dinner looks like a fabulous idea. I also love the big colored sugar on the cupcake.... so pretty.

KJ Callaway said...

Bazu e-mail me about doing a breakfast! I know of at least three houses and also a bed and breakfast that would let us us do a couples thing even.

KJ (keenjoy@gmail.com)