Denver's Best Vegetarian-Friendly Restaurants
Veg Heads Take Over The City
Whether it's a lifestyle choice or the new diet you're trying out, eating vegetarian can be a challenge when you're headed out for a meal. Most restaurants have one or two options and some have none. Luckily, our city has a number of restaurants that go above and beyond, offering a fully or heavily vegetarian menu that makes eating tofu instead of beef a pleasure, not a chore. These restaurants have the chefs and the menus to tempt even steadfast meat-eaters to try something meat-free for a change.
1. WaterCourse Foods
Where would any vegetarian restaurant list be without Watercourse? With a menu that is 100% vegetarian and features many vegan options, there is plenty to tempt even staunch carnivores (convince them to try the blackened tempeh burger, it's fantastic). There are still some dishes on the menu that won't meet any healthy eating resolution, but there are plenty that will. Even if a moment of weakness compels you to eat something rich, at least you can know you're helping take care of the earth.
How is that? Committed to doing well by its customers and the planet, Watercourse does its best to be environmentally friendly, from using its leftover fryer oil for biodiesel fuel to putting to-go food in biodegradable containers. Be healthy and bike your way to the Uptown restaurant and you'll be rewarded with a 10% discount on your order.
Menu2. Mercury Cafe
Featuring organic and locally produced foods, The Merc is not completely vegetarian, though a good percentage of its dishes are. Still, the menu is fairly expansive and there are enough options for you to eat a gluten-free, vegan or vegetarian meal even as omnivores ogle over the selection of meat-based dishes. Check their hours before making the trip, they're a little weird, including no service on Mondays, dinner hours only during the rest of the workweek and meals served most of the day on weekends.
Above the restaurant is a great little venue used for live music, poetry readings, dance lessons, theater performances and more. Try to find something on the calendar that looks tempting and try out the restaurant beforehand; it will be a great little foray into the hippie subset of Denver.
Menu3. Sputnik
Also on the top list of bars along South Broadway, Sputnik may primarily be a place to drink but that doesn't mean its food is anything less than awesome. While the menu isn't huge and isn't entirely vegetarian, there are a good number of vegan and vegetarian options, and the vegan choices are clearly marked. If you're going to enjoy yourself at Sputnik, you have to be comfortable with low lighting, loud music and a preponderance of hipsters. Should that not be your scene, try the take out window located around the corner from the entrance; it's all the taste, none of the fuss. Yes, it's been said before, but get the sweet potato fries. Close your eyes and pretend they're as healthy as carrot sticks, it doesn't matter that they're not; they're too good to pass up just because of a little oil bath.
4. Govinda's Buffet
Attached to a Hare Krishna temple in the Hale neighborhood of southeast Denver, Govinda's Buffet serves only vegetarian food, including many vegan dishes. The buffet-style restaurant always has something new to try, though you might not know exactly what it is due to lack of labeling. At least you can dine comfortably knowing that even if you're not sure what's on your fork, it's at least not meat. This is a buffet-style restaurant, so this is a restaurant best left for non-picky eaters to enjoy. Also be prepared for a bit of a weird atmosphere; remember this restaurant is directly affiliated with the temple.
5. City, O' City
There must be something about bars and vegetarian food. Like Sputnik, City O' City made a top bar list also, this one focused on the Cap Hill neighborhood. A sister restaurant to WaterCourse Foods, City, O' City specializes in all vegetarian food, including pizzas, pastries, coffee and alcohol. Okay, maybe specializes isn't the word for a restaurant that has no distinct focus or audience, though hipsters tend to make up a large part of the clientele. It caters to the work-from-home writer that needs a place to get away and concentrate in the middle of the day as well as the late-night gaggle of friends in search for a quick bite and a drink.
