S...O...S..Eating out..thai food

[Leiloshka]

I've been about 98% raw now for almost two months. Tonight my boyfriend wants to go out to eat. He's VERY supportive of my new raw lifestyle and is wanting to find some place with a good salad bar or veggies for me. Before I went raw, we loved to go to all different types of ethnic restaurants just to see how different everything tasted and to soak up the atmosphere. Well, that's now gone by the wayside. We both love Thai food and he mentioned PF Chang's as a place to go tonight thinking they would have some type of fresh veggies.

My question...yeah, finally right?...is...when eating out in a Thai/Chinese restaurant, from the raw perspective, what is the lesser of the evils? To me it seems stir fry and rice would be the "best" thing aside from begging for something raw from the kitchen. Or what about sushi?

Any help? I love eating raw and plan to keep doing so, but until the Pure Restaurant opens in Dallas next week, there is NO raw food restaurant for me to go to..and I'm getting SICK of eating iceberg lettuce at every restaurant I go to. YUCK!!! :p Really it's amazing how little "real" food there is out there!!

[Revvell]

I've gone to Thai and Chinese restauarants and have gotten the mixed veggies ~ raw. You don't have to beg. Just point out the stir fry and tell them you want that ~ no stir fry. No cooking, no steaming. Just raw. If they bring it to you cooked, request they take it back to the kitchen and bring you raw.

In better restaurants, and not-so-better restaurants, many chefs enjoy challenges. Making something look attractive and appealing ~ yet different might be a joy for them. Assume it is and make it a joy-filled experience for you. :)



:cool:

[joy]

PF Chang's has a duck-spinach salad; just ask for it without duck, and substitute raw veg instead.

If you go to a Thai restaurant, order Som Tom, a raw papaya salad, spicy with chiles. This usually contains fish sauce, so ask them to omit it, or use soy sauce instead (I'm not sure how raw you are).

If you do decide to get fried rice/noodles, order it without the meat and egg, substituting veggies instead. This would probably be your "worst" choice.

Revvell's idea about raw stir fry is absolutely the best.

[PixieGreen]

There are a few cheesecake factories in the dallas area, really great salads, but carefully read the ingredients to make sure they exclude non-raw stuff. The spring rolls are also good, exclude raw. If they try to charge you extra for the avo like someone else here reported calmly ask to speak to a manager.[I used to work there]

Sushi places will make california rolls [or whatever the vegan equivelant is] without rice if you ask. If you eat living foods miso is a nice side.

One can order raw veggie fajitas at mexican restaurants with salsa and side of avocado [I like to mix the two for salad dressing]. Some places will put it on a bed of lettuce.

This isn't fancy, or sit down, but I recently discovered Jimmy Johns has an optional lettuce wrap [instead of bread]. Their veggie sub with lettuce wrap and extra avo dressing is really good.[ask for extra ALL veggies for no additional cost]

Christa

[Leiloshka]

THANKS to each of you who responded. We aren't going to PF Chang's today but another Thai restaurant. So, I'll write down your suggestions so I can look for them on the menu and make a good choice. When we hit PF Chang's, I'll be ready there too.

Oooh, and I'll keep the Cheesecake factory in mind too....although, man, would those cheesecakes be tempting! Well, when I think about it...probably not. Much less guilt with a raw cheesecake. :D That's another benefit to the raw way of living. I have no guilt. I used to feel bad over practically everything I ate on the SAD diet thinking I was never eating good enough. Not so now!

THANKS AGAIN!

[simple berry]

what joy said! Som Tum is yummy and gorgeous. never feel deprived at a thai restaurant again. just take your own nama shoyu and ask the chef to kindly use it instead of fish sauce.

[Punky]

I live in the dallas metro and eat out a lot.
Here are some suggestions for raw meals where I eat out at:

Cafe Brazil--Great big salads (omit non raw items)
they use romaine and mixed greens or spinach, no iceberg

Pappasitos--It's not on their menu, but they have a HUGE gaucamole
salad that is very reasonably priced. Tell them no cheese though.
I have asked for romaine lettuce to roll them up in and use their house salsa for topping--not sure if salsa is raw, but I am not 100%


Samui Thai (Allen & Plano locations) I eat their house? salad a lot...
Can't remember it's name but it's the one with fruit on top and I ask for
extra mango. It's a big salad for a side salad. They don't have the papaya
salad mentioned earlier in the post but they are really accomadating and
we love them. Been eating here regularly for years. Son has food allergies
and they are very good at accomadating him. Sometimes I order their monsoon rolls although not totally raw. Rice paper rolled up with veggies, mango, tofu, and rice noodles...a healthier choice--unfried.

Luna de Noche-- I order their Casa salad--romaine, spinach, avo, tomatoe,
cucumber, bacon and choice of meat. I omit the bacon and meat and ask
for extra avocado. They also sprinkle with corn chip strips so you might ask
to omit that too. This is a dinner sized salad and fills me up too.

Cozemel's (Plano)--gaucamole made tableside and they have lettuce to wrap with.

Whole Foods or Central Market salad bars--
I have even met friends there for lunch since they have
eating areas. Sometimes I add a freshly squeezed juice from
their produce area.

I eat at a lot of japenese restaurants--I order veggie sushi w/out rice--extra avocado.
Sometimes i have miso soup or seaweed salad.

I really like Revvell's idea for the raw stir-fry's.

And I have been eagerly awaiting PURE's opening too for more raw VARIETY!!!! Maybe I'll run into you there next week :)

[PixieGreen]

Ah, Punky to the rescue. I was hoping you'd share your knowledge of Dallas cuisine here. :)

Christa

[Leiloshka]

Yeah, Punky, more eating out ideas! THANKS! The thai place was very good last night and I didn't feel cheated at all. I had what either was the Som Tom or similar. They called it a papaya salad and it had lime sauce and green chilis. YUM. I also went for the vegetable spring rolls, but they were fried. I didn't see that explained on the menu. I had never eaten this before and didn't think it was cooked. Oh, well, I did eat them and they were good. I chalked it up to experience. :D I'll ask..."no fry" next time.....

[Punky]

Yeah, Punky, more eating out ideas! THANKS! The thai place was very good last night and I didn't feel cheated at all. I had what either was the Som Tom or similar. They called it a papaya salad and it had lime sauce and green chilis. YUM. I also went for the vegetable spring rolls, but they were fried. I didn't see that explained on the menu. I had never eaten this before and didn't think it was cooked. Oh, well, I did eat them and they were good. I chalked it up to experience. :D I'll ask..."no fry" next time.....

Glad you enjoyed your dinner out! I love Papaya salad.
I like your attitude! Never beat yourself up...we are trying *our best* to be raw in a cooked world...and damn we can get hungry figuring it out.
Oh the moonsoon rolls (unfried spring rolls) at Samui Thai (uncooked) isn't really Thai
persay...more Vietnamese in origin and so probably not available at most
Thai restaurants...you can ask though. If you live near Plano --
There's another Thai place called Mango's at Park and Preston and they have unfried spring rolls too. Also at Park and Preston there is a Japanese buffet restaurant that I pig out at sometimes raw
;) If you go at night it is like 20 some bucks and I get a huge plate of fruits to start (usually papaya, pinapple, assorted melons and sometimes mango is on the buffet). They have salads too. I usually get kim-chi and seaweed salad. On several occassions they have had avocados cut in half and filled with chopped up tomatoes in the salad section. I sometimes add a miso soup.
At night they can make hand rolls to order, so I order like 4 veggie hand rolls, no rice and extra avocado. They make these so pretty...their english is not so hot so make sure you say *veggie* very clearly because once they thought I said Spider rolls no rice and it came out with soft shell crab ;)
Anyways kinda pricey but I come out very full and it's cheaper than if you
ordered all that seperately at a Japenese restaurant..I think the name is Osaka? it's on the Southwest corner of Park and Preston in Plano.

PixieGreen--Did you see the thread about the Cheesecake Factory
and the lettuce wraps she ordered? Yumm! We will have to try that
next time.

Ok, If PURE opens on schedule next Monday we are in for a RAW treat!
:D :D :D fingers crossed!
Bon a petit!

[Leiloshka]

Punky, THANKS for more ideas! I live northwest of Fort Worth, so I don't get to Dallas too often, but I do go. And if there is a good restaurant, my boyfriend and I can make a point to go. :) Such as PURE. We will be hitting it as soon as we can.