D. Wheitner
Reviews written by D. Wheitner
They have a good selection of vegetarian options, including several soy protein dishes. The first time I tried the General Tso's soy protein there, not too long after eliminating meat from my diet, I paused after the first bite to ask the waiter if they had mistakenly prepared it with chicken. He assured me that it was soy protein, and that they frequently get this question from customers. Now that I've been vegetarian for some time, the "realism" of their meat substitutes doesn't matter much to me, but I still order such dishes frequently because they're prepared well.
They also serve a tasty and healthy brown and red steamed rice blend with many of their dishes, and the staff are consistently friendly. I recently recommended Hunan Kitchen to some out-of-towners who attended this year's North American Vegetarian Society in nearby Johnstown, and they reported enjoying it.
I believe this used to be a vegetarian-only restaurant, but recently had to expand due to limited demand. While I was sad to see that conversion, I'm glad that they still offer a number of good vegetarian and vegan options, and continue to support them.
We've been to Make Your Mark about 3 times now, and have enjoyed the food, the atmosphere, and the occasional weekend entertainment. The owner and the staff are also very polite and friendly. Particularly enjoyable (at least during nice weather) is the cozy outdoor courtyard behind the cafe, which features several interesting pieces of artwork and a pleasant "tree canopy."
From the food menu, we've had a vegan Reuben (a special not always on the menu), tabbouleh, and a few of the wraps. The ingredients all seemed very fresh, and none of the dishes were overly sweet or overly spicy. On occasion they offer vegan cupcakes that are very rich and filling. One of the only criticisms I have is that you have to pay extra to have drinks made with soymilk instead of animal-derived milk (many establishments no longer charge for this), but we appreciate that they offer that option for most of their beverages.
We plan to return many times in the future!
Oct 21 06
During a recent visit to Minneapolis, we visited Muddy Paws specifically to try the vegan cheesecake after reading about it on Vegguide.org. The apple-cinnamon swirl cheesecake was not only good, but topped most non-vegan cheesecakes I had tried in the past--and before cutting out most dairy, I used to eat a *lot* of cheesecakes. This experience also inspired us to try some vegan cheesecake recipes at home. Highly recommended!