Observer photo by Patricia Bravender
Soul Vegetarian’s Sunday brunch, $8

On The Green Line: Exclusive Vegetarian Restaurant Review

by ROBIN BRAVENDER

Soul Vegetarian
2606 Georgia Ave., N.W.
Metro Proximity: About 6 blocks
Vegalicious Points: ***

For a huge, hearty, 100 percent vegan brunch on a Sunday morning, Soul Vegetarian is the place for Green Line dwellers to get terrific carryout. Their brunch specials range from a complete brunch with orange juice, tofu scrambles, fried potatoes, blueberry pancakes, vegan sausage and grits to a breakfast burrito with tofu and sprouts. Don’t feel too guilty when you stuff yourself — it’s 100 percent veggie.

Crowd: Soul Vegetarian is an eclectic establishment. The mauve walls are covered in scriptures and the building itself is a little run-down, but the homey feel and no-frills attitude of the place are refreshing.

Pick: We ordered the Sunday brunch ($8). It ended up being more food than we could handle — two huge blueberry pancakes (they also have plain and banana), tofu scrambles, fried potatoes and veggie sausage. One serving of brunch is more than enough for two people.

Ups: The service is quick and friendly. The restaurant has no frills and huge portions of food.

Downs: The restaurant is quite a hike from any Metro station. This would be fine on a warm spring day, but venturing out in the bitter cold of February is sure to leave you with frostbitten ears and Soul Vegetarian serves no coffee to warm you up once you get there.

Everlasting Life
2928 Georgia Ave., N.W.
Metro Proximity: About 6 blocks
Vegalicious Points: **

This earthy grocery store has everything you need to start your new vegetarian lifestyle — lemon Echinacea tea, dairy-free cookies, Tofurkey deli slices and last, but not least, vegan soft serve ice cream. A quaint deli in the back serves lunch and Sunday afternoon shoppers were eager to buy their vegetarian delights.

Observer photo by Patricia Bravender
Everlasting Life is a friendly neighborhood establishment with lots of vegetarian goodies.

Crowd: The aisles in the grocery store were virtually empty when we were there, but the deli in the back was full of people doing their Sunday grocery shopping.

Pick: We were too stuffed from brunch at Soul Vegetarian to try it, but the people waiting in line told us the vegan cheesecake is to die for.

Ups: You can buy things in bulk, like almonds and dried fruit, and the prices were great. We had never seen soft serve vegan ice cream before. It wasn’t terribly popular when we were there (on a frigid Sunday afternoon), but it would be great to try in the summer.

Downs: The shelves were a little scarce. You’ll still need to go to Whole Foods to buy your produce, but Everlasting Life would supplement your pantry nicely and you can buy staples there in a pinch.

Vegetate
1847 14th St., N.W.
Metro Proximity: 3 blocks
Vegalicious Points: **

Observer photo by Patricia Bravender
Soul Vegetarian’s Sunday brunch, $8.

Nestled in a working class neighborhood near Howard University, Vegetate’s restaurant and bar do little to appeal to locals. Rather, the locale draws in Washington’s bougie crowd that comes for the overpriced vegetarian entrees that are high on frou-frou and low on substance. The trendy tofu concoctions were tasty, but the ostentatious atmosphere and high prices didn’t win us over. My dinner companion summed up our experience succinctly after the meal when she said, “I’m glad I wasn’t hungry.”

Crowd: The Friday night dinner crowd was mostly 30-somethings, with several groups and a few couples. The candlelit atmosphere makes for a great date spot, and several courting couples gazed at each other longingly over their organic fair-trade coffee.

Pick: Vegetate offers a variety of homemade juices and funky cocktails, including homemade ginger ale ($4) and The Green Tea Cool-Out, with green tea vodka, lemon juice and agave nectar ($10). The root vegetable soup was spicy and delightful ($8) and the dark chocolate torte with passion fruit sorbet was delectable (and vegan, amazingly), but only big enough for two forkfuls, leaving you yearning for more.

Ups: For vegetarians who are often dismayed by a lack of options on a menu, Vegetate’s menu is 100 percent vegetarian with many vegan dishes.

Downs: The chefs at Vegetate think that if they drizzle a lovely design of basil pesto on your plate, you won’t notice that you paid $10 for three tiny balls of pasta and fried dough. We did notice and we weren’t impressed.