Grain River Asian Bistro: Red Curry, Pad Thai, Thai Iced Tea

Thai Iced Tea

 Last night my husband I had dinner at Grain River Asian Bistro to celebrate our first month of marriage. Yay! We learned about this restaurant from a Tucson Foodie article about the best Thai places to try in town. What caught our attention the most was that they offer vegan meat in addition to tofu. The setback is that it is way way way north! I think we drove 30 miles down Oracle and it was in a random shopping center, but we had the restaurant to ourselves!

Pad Thai with Vegan Meat

Our favorite dishes to order at Thai restaurants are usually red curry and pad thai, so that's what we got. I usually like to try the Thai iced tea when I get the chance. At Grain River, I guess they mix whipped cream in with the Thai tea mix. I'll admit it was kind of weird. It made it more like a dessert than something to drink with my dinner. Both the red curry and pad thai dishes tasted different from usual. I wanted more coconut milk flavor in the curry and I like the pad thai more sticky and sweet.

Red Curry with Vegan Meat

A staff member from the restaurant came over and thanked us for coming in all the way from the downtown area. She then began to explain that younger diners usually like more oily Thai food. She said that they do more steaming of the ingredients and they try to include more vegetables. I agree that many Thai restaurants serve more oily dishes, so I guess I felt good knowing that this restaurant prepares their dishes in a healthier fashion. I still missed the creaminess of the red curry and the sweetness of the pad thai. I almost forgot to talk about the vegan meat, a dehydrated soy protein. It was okay. I think it would be better marinated before hand, but sometimes it's hard to make that stuff good since it is so spongy. I'll have to try one of their Chinese or Japanese dishes next time. The dishes were in the higher price range around $12.50 a plate and around $16 for a Bento box. So if you want to go for a nice cruise through the city for a healthy Thai dish and friendly staff, then Grain River is the place to go.

Bam Bam Food Truck: Kimchi Quesadilla

Kimchi Quesadilla with Yakisoba

The Bam Bam Food Truck was at the Himmel Park food truck round up last week and it was so good! I ordered the Kimchi quesadilla combo that came with a side of yakisoba noodles and a soda. I thought there would be more kimchi in the quesadilla, but that's okay, it was still delicious. I felt weird about having a side of noodles with a quesadilla, but the noodles were really tasty as well. The noodles had a nice flavor and included some veggies. They offer tofu as a protein and can make most of their dishes vegetarian or vegan. I think I paid $8 or $9 for the combo which was fair. I will definitely go back!

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Rincon Market: Vegan Valentine's Day Treats

Vegan Sugar Cookies
at Rincon Market

Vegan Cupcakes, Truffles, and a Shortbread Cookie
at Rincon Market

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about the delicious baked vegan treats at Rincon Market. There are lots of Vegan Valentine's Day options for your loved ones! Ashley Welsh bakes all the tasty vegan deserts at their bakery. My personal favorite are her sugar cookies and I've never been a big fan of sugar cookies before I had hers. 


 She also made some special chocolate truffles which were also really, really good. Try to catch them before they're gone! I haven't tried the shortbread cookie yet, but it looks good too. There is usually a nice variety of cupcakes and brownies, in addition to her sugar and chocolate chip cookies. Rincon Market is located at 2513 E 6th St. between Tucson and Country Club. Peace and Love!

Pionic Pizza

Vegetarian Pizza at Pionic Pizza
(lots of veggies, shredded mozzarella, ovaline mozarella,
feta, red sauce, and pesto sauce on a whole wheat crust)

Tonight Ryan and I went out for Pionic Pizza. This is still a pretty new restaurant in town that opened back in August. Here you have the options of getting a pizza, pasta bowl, or salad. I've only ever tried the pizza. They offer white, whole wheat, and gluten free crusts, several sauce options, lots of cheeses including daiya vegan cheese, and tons of veggies.  

The great thing for veggie lovers is that you can load up on all of your favorite veggies!  

Vegan Pizza at Pionic Pizza
(lots of veggies, daiya cheese, barbeque sauce
on a whole wheat crust)

The staff is always pretty friendly and the service is quick. You just go down the line, tell them which crust you'd like, which sauce(s), and toppings. They put it in the oven for 90 seconds and then bring your personal pizza to your table all for about 8 bux. The veggies are always fresh and any combination I've ever made has tasted good! Pionic Pizza is located at 2643 N Campbell Ave. between Grant and Glenn.
Pionic Pizza

Extra: Pizzas are $5 between 2pm-5pm!

Vina Baguette: Lemongrass Tofu Bahn Mi

Lemongrass Tofu Bahn Mi
at
Vina Baguette Food Truck

Today I finally tried Vina Baguette Food Truck! Yay! It's parked on Broadway between Campbell and Mountain. I've driven by it a few times, but have never been able to try it until now. This is the lemon grass tofu bahn mi sandwich. It was really tasty! The baguette was soft and didn't cut my gums like some other places. :) They didn't have hoisin sauce, which I love to add onto my bahn mi sandwiches, but they gave me a small cup of tempura sauce which was pretty good too. Since the tofu has lemon grass seasoning, you don't really need to add anything else anyways. The sandwich also has daikon, carrots, cilantro, jalapeno (I got mine without jalapenos), and a butter spread. I also had the Thai tea with boba (tapioca) and that was good too! Staff was very friendly as well. I'll have to go back and see if the baguettes are vegan.

Extra: Mondays are $3 Tofu sandwich days. I would say that counts as a Meatless Mondays special!

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