A Vegetarian In A Steakhouse? You are probably wondering why a vegetarian or vegan would even consider going to a steakhouse. There are many reasons a vegetarian might end up in a steakhouse, one is that you may be going out to dinner with friends or family that don’t share your enthusiasm for eating a  plant-based diet , but for us, the real reason we choose to eat in a steak house are the Delicious Baked Potatoes. 

Being vegetarian we tend to pick restaurants where we know we can find meatless dishes, like Italian restaurants. The only problem is, we end up going to the same restaurants all the time and ordering the same plate almost every time. Last month we were in Mexico City and my wife said she felt like eating a baked potato, and that she knew where. When I asked her where, her answer surprised me. She said that we should go to  La Mansion Restaurant at the Marriott, a fancy steakhouse on Reforma. We had such a wonderful meal that night, that we return every time we visit Mexico City. Following are some of our ordering tips to ensure your meal is free of meat, dairy, eggs and other animal-based ingredients.

1. Introduce Yourself And Your Needs.

This is my favorite part. After being led to our table and handed a menu, we inform the waiter that we´re a vegetarian/vegan couple. I can just imagine what they are thinking, arriving to a steakhouse and announcing that you are vegetarian, they must think that we are joking or something. Its important to inform your servers as to what you can´t eat. Simply saying that you are vegetarian means to many that, you don´t eat red meat, but chicken and fish are OK. And saying that you are vegan is an even a bigger mystery. If you are vegan for example you need to inform the wait staff that you don´t eat anything with egg, milk, cheese, cream, and chicken broth.

2. Ask Questions and Customize. 

Many salads come with cheese and a dressing that contains eggs, and many soups including tomato and minestrone are often  made with chicken broth. Ask questions, check the ingredients and customize. Its easy to build your own salad or modify an existing one, for example, if you see a salad you like but it includes cheese and questionable dressing, you could ask to replace the cheese with avocado and ask for olive oil, vinegar, and salt so you can season it to your taste.

3. Something Hearty.

The baked potato becomes the main course or the meat, the part of the meal that will really fill you up, and since most steakhouses offer veggies that are grilled, which makes them not only taster but healthier than fried veggies, we will often order a plate of grilled asparagus or mixed veggies to share and eat with the baked potato.

4.Drinks and Desserts.

For something to drink we usually order fruit juices mixed with mineral water, a virgin cocktail, or my favorite, tonic water on the rocks with lime. We avoid soda pops since they have way too much sugar. Most desserts will contain either egg or cheese. If you are vegan, a special request dessert that is easy for most restaurants is a bowl of fresh strawberries with stevia on the side.

Remember that whatever foods items that you see on the menu, these foods can be turned into a tasty entree of your own creation. Next time your family or friends want to go to a steakhouse, don’t jump ship, you might just find as we did, a favorite new place to eat!