Superb veggie burgers sprout up amid the soybean fields

BY EILEEN BRADY
​THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO

My mother hoped it would be a phase.
My husband still ranks it up there with the world’s most harrowing announcements. 
It was 21 years ago that I decided to stop eating meat, just months before I married a hardcore carnivore. 
The carnivore knew I wasn’t trying to foist my choice on him  — or anyone else, for that matter. I made the decision for myself only. I’ve cooked meat regularly since then, and I can surreptitiously eat around meat in anything served to me. 
Mainly, my husband was worried that our ability to dine out — one of his favorite pastimes — had come to a screeching halt. 
That didn’t happen, though it does still bother him when I have to resort to ordering a plate of french fries or a small garden salad. For the most part, there’s some kind of item ...

on a menu without (apparent) meat, though we do tend to spend our money most frequently at vegetarian-friendly restaurants.

Vegetarian options were toughest to find in eastern North Carolina, where whole hogs are roasted at most large gatherings, and each porky part is sliced and diced on site. I ate a lot of cole slaw and hushpuppies there, because even most Southern vegetables are cooked with ham hocks, lard, salt pork or bacon.
The easiest location to avoid meat has been any major city where ethnic cuisines influence the offerings. 
Returning to Wilmington’s meat-heavy menus had me slightly worried, although true famine hasn’t come close to finding me, and there’s no shortage of cheese pizza available in Clinton County.
Hope sprang eternal this summer as we approached Clinton County on Interstate 71, the clouds parted, and the sun highlighted a billboard for veggie 3-way chili at Gold Star. Perhaps things had changed in the five years since we’d last lived here. 
By golly, there really was a veggie 3-way — at both Gold Star and Skyline, where black beans can be substituted for meat chili — and, though not necessarily vegan, there were even more vegetarian options springing up all over Clinton County. 
It turns out that two of the best veggie burgers I’ve ever eaten — and I have ordered countless veggie burgers in countless locales — are right here in Wilmington. The first one to take me by surprise was at 73 Grill, which serves an incredibly delicious veggie burger that includes something most other restaurants don’t bother with: a grilled bun that makes it crispy next to the veggie patty.
The second yummy veggie burger is at the Mediterranean Restaurant, which serves it on a pretzel bun that takes it to another level of goodness. There’s also a great hummus wrap and various pasta choices, of course. 
For someone who avoids meat, a veggie-burger option is always better than no choice at all, but there certainly are varying levels of tastiness. It’s not always about mimicking a real burger: Bean burgers and veggie burgers can be so full of grains and vegetables that no one would ever mistake them for a hamburger patty, but those can be some of the yummiest.
Speaking of yummy, Jen’s Deli downtown has always had a generous vegetarian menu, but I find myself return to ordering the Veggie Yum-Yum, a bagel loaded with cream cheese and veggies.  
No. 1 China Buffet has an extensive menu that includes various Asian cuisines; my current favorite entree is the drunken noodles with tofu. And our daughter was thrilled to not have to leave her Pad Thai habit behind when we moved.
The General Denver usually offers a delicious vegetarian option, and I think the quesadilla there is the best I’ve had north of the border. 
My friend Amy, who has been a vegetarian for 21 years as well, also remembers when locating meat-free choices in Wilmington was like finding tofu in a haystack. She has told me that the egg salad at Me & My Gang in Sabina is terrific, though I learned the hard way that it’s not an everyday menu item.
The guys behind the counter at Sams Meats have made cheese subs that rival some of the best I’ve found, and the grilled cheese is consistently good.
Vegetables tossed on the hibachi grill at Sakura Steak House are flavorful, and there’s always the all-you-can-eat vegetable route available at Frisch’s salad bar. 
The only fast-food restaurant to serve a veggie burger here now is Burger King, though I read that in a few months, McDonald’s will open its first vegetarian-menu outlet in India, where cows are considered sacred to Hindus, who make up 80 percent of the population.
 Back in 1999, McDonald’s unsuccessfully offered McVeggie sandwiches in New York City. I guess the corporate office figured if they could make it there, they’d make it anywhere.