Coeur d'Alene

The conference is over. :( Here is a list of places I could eat at in Coeur d'Alene. Mind you, there are no vegan or vegetarian restaurants anywhere nearby but most places were quite friendly.

Food:

Olympia 
This small restaurant has tacky decor but cheap and tasty food. I had the vegetarian falafel gyro. It was very tasty and very filling. I would highly recommend going here. Great service and value for money food. (~$US6)

Pita Pit USA
This store is the HQ for a series of stores across the US. I ate the falafel pita here a few times just because it was made in front of you, convenient to the hotel and relatively cheap (although the gyros at Olympia were cheaper (see above)). It's not amazing fare. I'd compare it to a doner kebab in a food court at home only with a better variety of salads. I didn't like the fact that they heated the falafel on the same hot plate that they cooked meat on. (~$US7)

Angelo's Ristorante Italiano
This place was fantastic. They are more than happy to accommodate vegans and it is great value for money. It was probably the most expensive place we ate at (around $25 pp including tip, tax and a shared bottle of wine) but was well worth it for the great service and the delicious food. They gave you a salad as a starter with each meal and continuous bread which was delicious. The Cambridge crew that I ate with all seemed very happy with their meals as well. (~$US25 inc wine)


Takara Japanese Restaurant
I ordered the edamame and the tofu don from here. It was cheapish and the service was okay but the edamame were overcooked and the tofu don wasn't anything spectacular. It wasn't bad but you wouldn't go out of your way to eat there (~$US12).

Coeur d'Alene Brewing Company
I had the starter hummus plate (~$US8) one night and the House salad (~$US10) another night. The hummus plate was good value for money although a little monotonous as a main. I had to order the House salad without the eggs, croutons or dressing so I ended up with lettuce, tomato and red onion which was a bit disappointing. The serving sizes were good, though, and to be honest you'd come here for the microbrewed beers and not the meals. But do come for the beers! I loved the Vanilla Bourbon Stout and the Huckleberry Ale was interesting. I also liked the Centennial Ale and I loved the Huckleberry Riesling. Definitely the place to drink in town if you like your beers.




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I was a little afraid when I walked into here that the steakhouse-esqueness of the restaurant would mean I would end up with salad again. But I was pleasantly surprised to find a black bean burger on the menu although I had to get it without the butter or mayonnaise. But with a bit of ketchup it tasted pretty good. And the side salad that you can get with it is a generous size. The only thing I would say is that it took them forever to deliver our meals and we consequently missed out on some of the conference. (~$US10)

Drinks:

Beverly's @ The Coeur d'Alene



Apparently eating here is overpriced and quite mediocre but you definitely should visit for the views and unique cocktails. I had the Huckleberry Lemon Twist which was vodka based and it was delicious. My companion had the Pomegranate Martini which was tasty too. (~$US12)





Java on Sherman
This seemed to be the only non-Starbucks coffee house in town with an espresso machine. The ambience is quite nice and casual although I'd heard mixed reviews about the coffee. I only had chai here which was pretty good. They serve food as well but none of it was vegan as far as I could tell. (~$US4).

I went to Hudson's Hamburgers...

...and I drank a Diet Pepsi. Why?

Still, I thought the ambience was kind of nice (in a real, American, counter food sort of way). They had a picture of the old store 100 years ago and the menu was pretty much the same. I kind of liked the fact that they found something they were good at and stuck to it.

How did I end up there in the first place? Well, the Cambridge crew are trying to kill me (actually, they just forgot I was vegan). But it's okay as one member made up for my veganism by eating 2 double cheeseburgers and 1 normal cheeseburger. Maybe I should stay away from them. This afternoon involved a high power speed boat on the Coeur d'Alene lake. It was a lovely mix of exhilirating and petrifying. Although, we were all a little scared when we got stuck on top of some sort of old junk wharf lying on the bottom of the lake.

Last night we went to the Coeur d'Alene Brewing Co. I had a huge plate of pita and hummus and one of the on-site brewed beers called the Centennial Ale. It was actually quite good!

Only 2 more days of the conference left and then I'm back to Seattle.

EDIT: Since this was posted two of the Cambridge crew accompanied me on a mountain walk and tried to get me to fall down the very steep descent. We then discovered some unusual gigantic tank and they were planning to use me as a sacrafice to the US government. I have since convinced myself that Cambridge is only prestigous because they kill off the competition.

Idaho & The Conference Day 1

The flight was very short but the plane had propellors! Propellors!

I have spent most of the day inside my hotel room watching television. I was okay until the L&O SVU marathon ran out and then I realised I was alone and wanted to go home. But I made myself go to the reception (where everyone talked in very close knit groups) and then I left to get dinner since there was no non-meat food provided.(When I asked the lady about the dinner and lunches provided she told me to pick around the meat and cheese and butter. She was from the Los Alamos lab. I now don't like Los Alamos.)

I ate at Pita Pit USA. It reminded me a little of the falafel places in Israel which was nice. And it was a pretty nice falafel.

Maybe I'd be happier if it wasn't so cold. And Geoff and Belly were here. Belly would be good entertainment.