The Pulse Cafe, Somerville MA

This is a relatively new restaurant, and the successor to Vej Naturals in Malden. It’s all vegan, and the chefs know their stuff. I had the rancheros, which was a cold red quinoa and lentil salad and some fantastic grilled tofu topped with a thick ranchero sauce.

Dr. Apricot had a full BBQ platter with seitan, cornbread, collards, and coleslaw.

Not pictured were the vegan nachos which didn’t last long enough to get photographed. I was impressed by The Pulse, and am very happy to have a place that really caters to vegans in the area. I look froward to going back and sinking my teeth into the deserts.

Tastiness rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Vegan-friendly rating: 5 stars

Not Your Average Joe’s, Watertown MA

Speaking of places that don’t cater to vegans: I heard that Not Your Average Joe’s had reformulated their menu and since I enjoyed eating there when I was a vegetarian back in the day decided to see what they had on offer. The answer, unfortunately, was the “salad without cheese & fries” option, which is the bare minimum effort. There were a ton of vegetarian options (good for them!) but most of them featured cheese or pesto so prominently that when they were removed the dish was supremely unbalanced. And their not vegan veggie burgers were served on brioche! Come on, NYAJ, step up your game. Your offerings were embarrassing. A little tweaking and many of your vegetarian options would knock my socks off.

Tastiness rating: inconclusive (out of 5)
Vegan-friendly rating: 0.5 stars