Vegetarian on the Road: A Vegan in a Dallas Steakhouse

Greetings from Dallas!  I'm here for my professional society's annual meeting, and I have a week full of education and networking events in store.  With networking comes food.  The joke is that the organization's acronym, ASAE, is short for "Always Standing, Always Eating."

My first get together last night was a reunion dinner of colleagues who had served at one point on the Membership Section Council.  It was at Bob's Steak and Chophouse at the Omni.  You might think the odds of me finding something vegan friendly at an upscale Texas steakhouse was going to be a tall order.  But, this is an excellent case of "it never hurts to ask."

The restaurant provides contact information for the manager on the website, so I sent him a quick email earlier this week asking about vegan options and noting the time of my group's reservation.  Less than three hours later, I got a very nice email from the manager noting that the chef could make me "Julienne carrots, mushrooms, asparagus tips sautéed in garlic and white wine, tossed in fettuccine pasta."  Sounded good to me!  He also said they would make a note on the reservation so the server would be aware that there was a vegan diner in the party.

When we got to the restaurant, I noted that I was "the vegan" and the server was very friendly and said he did have a note that I was in the party.  (I contrast this to the time I went to Proof in DC for my bachelorette party and asked if I could have a pasta dish without ham.  The waiter's answer?  "Unfortunately, you can.")

The server did note that Bob's is known for large portions (my colleagues' steaks were, in fact, enormous).   And the pasta dish definitely fit the bill!  I think it might have been an entire box of fettuccine in there.  It was a nice, light dish.  There was just a ton of food, and I couldn't get through more than a quarter of it.  If I had a fridge to store leftovers in, it probably could have fed me for a week! 

I'll consider it good fuel for today's activities. I had a nice, light breakfast in the executive lounge (toast with peanut butter and fresh fruit) and then I'll be using my free gym pass to take a yoga class shortly. Then, it will be off to the convention center to pick up my badge and head to the North Texas Food Bank to volunteer for a few hours.  Then, more receptions and an opening party at Cowboys Stadium.  More food pictures and notes to come!