Zia's
Coffee/Tea/Juice, Grocery/Bakery/Deli, Caterer
vegan-friendly
Indian, Deli, Eclectic (Fusion), Eclectic (Varied)
Indian, Deli, Eclectic (Fusion), Eclectic (Varied)
Juice Bar, Caterer, Sandwich Shop
Zia's serves a variety of coffees, juices and smoothies. It also has a long list of take-out foods for vegans, which is updated daily on the cafe's website. With made-to-order sandwiches, freshly baked goods and a wide array of grab-and-go foods, Zia's is a popular lunch break spot.
Added by Lola on Dec 17 05 (updated Dec 17 05)
Zia's has a great variety of vegan foods. While they're not explicitly a vegan restaurant, they have the best selection of vegan items of any restaurant in Towson (in my humble opinion). Zia's consists of a juice bar, sandwich shop and refrigerator case (containing prepared foods).
Their refrigerator case is usually full of vegan empanadas, salads, and prepared dishes, not to mention delicious vegan desserts. The food changes almost every time that I go, so there's always something new. Some of the vegan dishes from Zia's that I have seen in the fridge case include: sweet and sour meatballs with Asian vegetables and brown rice, miso pesto penne, banana maple crepes, tofu scramble, lentils with rice, vegan breakfast burritos, vegan empanadas, and chick pea "meat" loaf with pineapple curry sauce on a quinoa pilaf.
In addition to the prepared foods, Zia's can always make vegan sandwiches from the vegetables, tofu and other fixings on their homemade bread. Their vegan "specialty" sandwich is called the Zucca, which consists of caramelized onion, potato, butternut squash and sage on an organic spelt bread.
The desserts are probably Zia's best feature. During my many visits, I have encountered the following vegan desserts: brownie with chocolate ganache frosting, mocha espresso brownie, gingerbread with almond icing, pineapple cake with pecan glaze, chocolate hazlenut tofu mousse, and a (slightly healthy-tasting, but still good) chocolate peanut butter tofu cheesecake. Zia's also tends to have a selection of cookies, in flavors such as ginger molasses, and chocolate chip cookies.
Another bonus: The cafe employees are always very helpful in showing me which items in their cafe are vegan and are willing to adjust juice orders to suit the taste of the customer (not to mention that they make the best homemade spiced cider ANYWHERE, using apples that they juice right in front of you).