Vegan Restaurants in Chapel Hill (Raleigh, Durham: university, shopping center, food)

[no kudzu]

I will be having a vegan houseguest soon and need some personal recommendations about cvegan restaurants in or near Chapel Hill. Or restaurants with vegan menu items.
Many thanks

[poppydog]

Vegan is fairly easy to find at most restaurants, IME. If you want dedicated vegetarian restaurants w/ vegan offerings check out Sage at Timberlyne and Butternut Squash at University Square. Spotted Dog in Carrboro also has a lot of vegan friendly dishes, but they do also serve meat if that's a consideration. They have a lot of soy analogues and good veggie foods.

But really, I can think of very few restaurants in Chapel Hill and Carrboro where you couldn't get something vegan.

[adlnc07]

In my experience, getting "something vegan" at many restaurants involves a salad or maybe some pasta - if you can get them to hold the cheese. I'll always check the menu out online beforehand, to see if I'm in the mood for whatever they have. I'd much rather go to a restaurant with a variety of vegan/vegetarian offerings, however.

I thought Butternut Squash was pretty good, but maybe a bit expensive. Queen of Sheba in the same shopping center is another good option if you like Ethiopian food. I've eaten lunch at Foster's Market several times and thought they had a good selection.

I've heard really good things about Vimala's Curryblossom Cafe although I haven't been there yet. If you wind up in Durham, Ninth Street Bakery - Home is vegan friendly, and even has vegan brunch (not sure how often they do it though). One of the vegan Meetups I'm in recently went to Margaret's Cantina and it seemed like it was well received (although not a ton of vegan options, but they do say many of the vegetarian items can be made dairy free). Another Meetup dinner location was Talullas. Just about any Indian or Thai restaurant would be a good choice as well.

[j-mart77]

Most all the Indian restaurants in the area are very accommodating for vegans. Guru Indian on Franklin St. is okay. Sitar on 15-501 is one of my favorites, and Saffron is very good too.

Buns, right off Franklin street has an awesome vegan burger.

jujube has a couple of vegan dishes and so does Dos Perros.

Twisted Noodle will make any dish on their menu vegan.

Also, Weaver Street Market is always a good place to stop and grab some lunch off the hot bar.

[poppydog]

Margaret's definitely has vegan options. We like the fajitas since the sour cream and cheese comes on the side anyway and you can always just ask them to hold that. They do tempeh fajitas that are very nice.

Vimala's is fantastic, although, again, they do have meat on the menu if your guest is opposed to that. We love us some Vimala's , though. The cardamom brownies are excellent! Even some place like Carolina Brewery has wonderful sounding veggie offerings, like the white bean burger that is currently on their menu.

We are not vegan, but the spouse is a dairy-free mostly vegetarian. Can't eat dairy — does terrible stuff to his stomach, so while we're not as concerned as some vegans are if our veggie burgers have egg as a binder or ethically opposed if our tempeh is cooked on the same griddle as the hamburgers, we are pretty well informed about veggie/vegan offerings in Chapel Hill/Carrboro and have never found it hard to find something yummy on most menus. Queen of Sheba is also fantastic. Need to go there again soon! Med Deli is also great.

[JQ Public]

I did not enjoy my experience at butternut squash. Service was slow and the food seemed like smthg I could easily make at home. Taste-wise it was good, so I'm willing to give it another chance though.

[evaofnc]

Anyone know when that vegan place next to Deep South is supposed to open up?

[j-mart77]

Originally Posted by evaofnc

Anyone know when that vegan place next to Deep South is supposed to open up?

What is Deep South?


Med Deli is a great suggestion. I do enjoy Sage, but would agree that Butternut Squash isn't all that good.

Nanataco has a couple of good options.

We typically hit Red Lotus for Chinese take-out.

The Lentil Burger at Village Burger is also a nice change.

The Refectory has a couple of options including breakfast. Nosh does vegan blueberry pancakes on Saturdays.

Bella's Cuisine is also somewhere I have been meaning to try, but have not yet made it to.

[evaofnc]

Deep South is a crappy bar in downtown Raleigh lol

[adlnc07]

I don't know where Deep South is, but maybe evaofnc is talking about Fiction Kitchen?

It's open!