You Can Eat Well (And Healthy) in College Station

I spent the last weekend hanging out with my sister and celebrating her birthday in Bryan/College Station, TX. She's vegetarian and that can be pretty tough in the land of beef. Part of my mission while there was to find amazing healthful (and veggie friendly) options.

When I got in Thursday, neither of us were interested in making too much of a fuss for dinner. Freebirds opened it's first Texas location in College Station and it has slowly grown since then. Personally, I prefer it to Chipotle; though I understand if you do not live here you will not be able to partake in the joy and deliciousness that is Freebirds. This was my only real meat experience while there, I had the chicken hybird, and it was good.

Friday, we made a quick breakfast of eggs before heading to class. I love auditing classes with her whenever I visit and am now an expert in animal nutrition! For lunch, we headed over to Antonio's near campus. If you can put it on a pizza, they have it! I couldn't make up my mind until I saw the words "Potato and Cheese" on the white board. How had I never thought of putting potatoes on pizza! The crust was drizzled with olive oil then layered with sliced potato, mozzarella and cheddar cheese. My sister had a veggie pizza topped with black beans, feta, tomatoes, and avocado. Both were delicious! For dinner, her roommates threw a BBQ but I passed and enjoyed some of the Smart BBQ I gave my sister for her birthday. (I bought her a collection of vegetarian and vegan delicacies that she can't get there). I don't know if their other products are this good, but you cannot tell the difference and the sauce is awesome!

On Saturday, we visited the Brazos Valley Farmers Market before heading out to the crawfish boil sponsored by Hill's. Oh, how I love thee crawfish! For dinner, I had heard about this cool cafe/art gallery in downtown Bryan that I wanted to try out. Bonus points that my sister had never been there! The Village serves hot and cold sandwiches and salads with live music most nights. They are on a mission to serve only organic produce with as much of it locally grown as possible. I had the Cold Cuke Sandwich (sliced cucumbers with pesto aioli on whole wheat) with a side of Asian slaw- so good! My sister had the Raspberry Veggie Sandwich (avocado, lettuce, tomato, roasted red onion, goat cheese, and raspberry chipotle mayo) with roast potatoes. The service was a bit slow and the prices are moderate, but everything was delicious and we plan to go back. There were at least 5 other things I wanted to eat! The evening concluded with a trip to Shake's frozen custard. It should be illegal! I love frozen custard so much.

Before I left on Sunday, we broke into more of the goodies I gave for her birthday. We had breakfast sandwiches- stuffed Ezekiel pita pockets with eggs, Morningstar Farms sausage patties, and Daiya cheese topped with salsa. They were so good I bought all the fixings for them as soon as I got back into town! I've talked about Daiya cheese before but this was my first time to try it. It melts quickly and evenly and has a taste similar to cheese but slightly nuttier. The raw texture was also a bit different, kind of like when you buy shredded cheese at the grocery only to discover you accidentally bought the kind where milk is the 4th or 5th ingredient instead of the 1st. It was good, and I will definitely buy it again when I need to make something vegan.

Vegan (and gluten free) cookies from Starbucks!

So, there are a couple veggie friendly options in College Station! It certainly helps when you are staying with friends or family and can cook a bit at home, but when is that not the case? Where is your favorite vegetarian/vegan restaurants where you live?