Leaf

Today at work a few co-workers and I made a totally spontaneous decision to go out to lunch today. This is a big deal because we usually, and sadly, eat our lunches at our desks while we keep working. One of these co-workers is a vegetarian and the other is a vegan, so we decided to go to Leaf, an all-vegetarian restaurant in downtown Boulder.

I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan. I guess I'm called an omnivore. I will eat or try just about anything, though Rocky Mountain oysters or snails are pretty low on the bucket list. I love meat and seafood, and, contrary to popular opinion, I do love veggies and I eat them often. Though I have carnivorous tendencies, I'm very open minded. A lot of meat eaters like to make fun of vegetarians and vegans and think that the vegetarian/vegan diet is a joke or some kind of hippie trend. Unlike these staunch meat eaters, I love my vegetarian/vegan friends and I respect them. I never tease them and never force them to eat a piece of steak. My theory is that I don't want anyone to judge me or preach to me about what I eat, so why would I do the same to someone else?

Anyway, rather than force my vegetarian and vegan co-workers to go to a steakhouse or BBQ joint, I joined them at Leaf. Apparently this restaurant has been in Boulder for a few years, but this was the first time I've been to it and after eating there I was wondering why I haven't tried it sooner. I had the BBQ Seitan. I have never had seitan before, so this was completely new to me. Seitan is wheat gluten, but it has the texture of meat. The BBQ Seitan I had tasted like any BBQ you would get in a traditional BBQ joint. It was really, really good and I was really impressed. Now I'm excited to go back there to try new things.