A Greener Life

Spicy Fish Tacos: not vegan, but lovely nonetheless

My companions and I ate at Ruggles Green this week and I thought that since it’s Houston’s first (and only) “certified green restaurant” that I needed to check it out and write about it here.

So, what exactly is a “certified green restaurant”? According to the certificate, Ruggles Green does not use styrofoam (yay!), recycles extensively, and does some other stuff–like compost their coffee grounds, energy-efficient lighting, use of “green” building materials (bamboo was used in their dining booths), and non-toxic paint on the walls.

Veggie nut burger: hemp protein, sauteed vegetables, pecans, almonds, macro greens and fresh mozzarella, lettuce, tomato, and red onion served on a whole wheat bun. Served with sweet potato fries.

The dining area is long and narrow. When you walk into the restaurant, you order at the front, take a number, and your food is delivered to your table. I, myself, like this setup because I can’t imagine a server trying to navigate such a narrow dining area with a huge tray full of food. Also, if you only have an hour or so to eat lunch, cutting out the service can save some time.

The restaurant is in the Montrose area of town, which is part boho, part yuppie. This place was more “wine bar” than “burrito” if you know what I mean, but I felt that the menu was reasonably priced, especially for the large portions.

Speaking of the menu–there weren’t any vegan options I could identify, but I just left the cheese off my burger and was fine. There were also a couple of decent-looking vegetarian and raw options, and the staff seemed pretty vegetarian/vegan/raw-friendly. They seemed unfazed when I asked for them to leave the cheese and whatever else dairy off my sandwich.

2 of my companions ordered the Naturewell Natural Beef Burger, another had Spicy Fish Tacos, and I had the Ruggles Green Veggie Nut Burger. Mmmmm…nut burger.

Overall this place was great–it had a good vibe and has a children’s menu, so I suspect they like kids (even though we didn’t see any). I’ll definitely be returning, probably when/if our parents come to town.

Although I consider myself more of an admirer of fine handbags rather than a user of fine handbags (I find them cost-prohibitive in our current state of…being middle class), I would totally buy a Matt and Nat handbag. I was in the parking garage at work the other day and saw a girl carrying a GORGEOUS black croc doctor-style handbag (something like this, this, or this, but none of those really do it justice) and…I kind of fell in love with the idea. When I did a search for vegan doctor-style handbag online, I somehow surfed to Matt and Nat’s site.  Then, I fell in love with Avril, Everest, and Royksopp.

From their website: In 1991, Co-owner and Creative Director Inder Bedi was challenged by a mahatma to go vegetarian for thirty days. It was during this time that Inder devised the business plan for an eco/vegan fashion house. First written as a university project in 1995 and eventually launched as MATT & NAT.

Another impressive quality to these bags? All linings are made from recycled water bottles. Consider a Matt and Nat bag added to my wishlist!

Here at A Greener Life we’re committed to greenifying (I know that’s not a word…) every aspect of life.  That’s why we’re going to share with you, from time-to-time, our exploits with cooking and baking…of the vegan variety.

Why vegan? Why not vegetarian? Well, part of this is business and part of this is personal. I’ll focus on the personal for the purpose of this site, but there are many environmental reasons to go vegan.  There is also the ethical point of view, which I’ll just steer clear of on here, but if you want to see a more artistic campaign for going vegan, just go check out the work of Sue Coe.

So on to the personal–my daughter is one of those unfortunate people that is allergic to a lot of stuff. Tons of nuts, dairy, eggs…that’s her!  And basically, since she doesn’t eat meat either (we’re admirers of the food learnings of Dr. Joel Fuhrman), my husband and I cook all her meals (unless we find the rare restaurant that has things she can eat…like Chipotle).  I have never been much of a cook in my life until this point, but for the benefit of my daughter I decided to just suck it up and cook and bake most of our food. I thought I would hate it but…I actually find it really relaxing. Also, it’s incredibly satisfying watching her scarf down some braised tofu that I made for her.

I will be able to post recipes occasionally, but I will likely point you in the direction of where I got the original recipe. Here’s my flaw as a cook: I can’t really get too creative because I don’t know what I’m doing. I enjoy following directions and I am learning about food, but for the most part I’m still a novice cook and have to play by the rules.

Look forward to some vegan goodies on A Greener Life!