Dinosaur BBQ

I know. You wouldn't think of Dinosaur BBQ as having any sort of vegetarian options, but they do!

They have appetizers that are vegetarian, side dishes, and a "secret" item that isn't on the menu. The "secret" item is a veggie sandwich. It comes on a small sub roll stuffed with sauteed spinach, green peppers, and onions topped with slices of tomatoes and melted cheese. What makes this sandwich even better is adding Dinosaur's signature barbecue sauce. You can get the sandwich by itself (which is only a few bucks) or as a platter. The platter comes with a choice of 2 sides but will cost you around 7 bucks.

As far as their sides go, they are all homemade and most of them are vegetarian. You can get a "Poo Poo Platter" which is a plate of any three of their side dishes. This dish is served with one selection served as the main dish (so you get a very large portion) and the other two selections are served as side dishes. You can choose from the following items:

Fresh fruit
Tomato & cucumber salad
Mashed potatoes (hold the gravy)
Rice & Black beans
French Fries
Cajun Macaroni & Cheese
Salad
Corn Bread
Vegetable of the Day (Which can vary from Cajun corn, Cajun salt potatoes, Cajun potato salad, etc.)

The other vegetarian items on them menu are:
Cajun deviled eggs
Fried green tomatoes
Several Desserts

Moe's

If you haven't been to a Moe's I highly recommend it. It's a colorful southwestern tacoria. When you walk in the door, employees yell "Welcome to Moe's!". Everything inside is painted a bright color. There are multi-colored lights that hang from the ceiling. It is cafeteria style, and they make everything to order. When I say they make everything to order I mean everything on their menu, which is sprawled across the wall in bright colors and quirky names. With burritos and tacos that have names like "Joey bag of donuts", "Homewrecker", "Overachiever", and "The Funk meister" you realize this is one of the funniest menus you'll ever read.

They also have a salsa bar that contains 4 home made salsas. There is a green tomatilla salsa which is my favorite. There is also a roasted salsa that is smoother than normal salsa. There is a hot salsa that is more like a sauce and a traditional salsa. Every order comes with chips and as much salsa as you can eat. In addition to this place standing out due to it's decor, and quirky named food, they also serve tofu. Yes, a mainstream, chain restaurant that serves tofu. Everything on the menu can be made vegetarian. The description of the menu items either say "vegetarian" or "choice of meat". Tofu is one of the meat choices. The burritos at Moe's are huge. If I get a burrito I never have room for chips, even if I get a "Streaker" (a burrito with out the tortilla). They have all of the following items at Moe's:

tacos
burritos
quesadillas
salads

with the following items to put in them:

guacamole
sour cream
tomatoes
seasoned tofu (or chicken and steak if you aren't vegetarian)
cheese
olives
onions
peppers
cucumbers
pico de gallo
black beans
pinto beans
rice
lettuce
queso sauce

A vegetarian burrito can run from 5.99-6.99 + tax
A vegetarian taco, which is what I prefer to order because it's cheap and filling is only 3.29 with tax! That includes the chips and salsa too.

Chili's Restaurant

I'm a big fan of Chili's. I have been to the one on Route 31 by Great Northern Mall and also the one on Erie Blvd. I LOVE the Black bean burger. They make the black bean burgers from scratch with rice, black beans and vegetables. The burger is then grilled and topped with lettuce, tomato, and low-fat ranch. A side of steamed broccoli comes with it as well. They also make their salsa from scratch. They chop all the vegetables almost to the point of puree so every bite has the perfect blend of ingredients. They also cook the tortilla chips as needed. The only down side to that is there is sometimes huge chunks of salt stuck to the chips, so you'll unexpectedly end up with a mouthful of salt. As far as other vegetarian items go, there is a lot of "can you hold the...". The items are as follows:

Black bean burger - $6.99+tax
Toasted chips and salsa (bottomless) - $2.99
Artichoke dip
cheese fries, hold the bacon
nachos, hold the queso
french fries
cinnamon apples
vegetable of the day
steamed broccoli
mashed potatoes, hold the gravy
side salad
There are also a number of salad entrees that you could ask to hold the meat (but I hate doing that)

Edgewater Grill, Baldwinsville

The Edgewater is located in the village of Baldwinsville right next to the bridge that goes over Route 48. The restaurant is two stories and has a remarkable amount of outdoor seating. The deck over looks the river and even has plastic curtains in case it starts to rain. We were fortunate enough to go on a night that the village of Baldwinsville was having a fireworks display. From out table on the deck we could comfortably watch the fireworks.

Our waitress was wonderful and incredibly helpful. There were a number of items that were vegetarian on the menu. I ordered the Pizza Margarita. It is a grilled flat bread pizza with pesto and chopped tomatoes topped with mozzarella. It was delicious and pretty big too. I took half of it home. My friend had the Portabella Mushroom Sandwich. It was pretty decently sized as well but she said it had a weired texture as if it had been cooked or marinated for too long. There were several other vegetarian items:

Nachos (with cheese, beans, tomatoes, peppers)
Spinach & Artichoke dip
Greek Salad
Pasta Alfredo
Tortellaci (a cross between tortellini and ravioli)

and some sides:

house salad
pasta
onion rings
french fries
garlic mashed potatoes
baked potato
chocolate fudge cake

Both the
Pizza Margarita and the Portabella Mushroom Sandwich were 7.99 +tax

p.s. If you go around dusk I recommend bug repellent or pants. I wore a skirt and I ended up with several mosquito bites.

Ichiban

Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse, Liverpool, NY

My friend and I went for sushi tonight, but I have tried their hibachi and ordered off their regular menu.

There are several vegan sushi choices. I had cucumber rolls and my friend had pickled radish rolls. There were also avocado and mixed vegetable rolls.

One of my favorite sushi items is Inari. They offer this at Ichiban on a 2 piece plate. Inari is very thinly sliced marinaded tofu stuffed with rice. The marinade is a little sweet, so it goes really well with sliced ginger. They also serve Tamago, which is an egg omelet on top of rice.

They have a lot of other vegetarian items on the menu. Seaweed salad, house salad with homemade ginger dressing (possibly the best dressing on earth), miso soup, edamame, tempura vegetables, teriyaki tofu, teriyaki vegetables.

Do Not Eat the Hibachi! Even though they offer a "vegetarian" option, they cook the vegetables last and mix them in with all the meat they cook. They literally drag the vegetables through the cooked meat juice on the hibachi table.

For my meal of Cucumber roll, miso soup, and take out salad it was $11.00, and that was with $2.50 tip!!!