Review: Lemongrass Thai Bistro

Review of Lemongrass Thai Bistro in Macon, Ga

A nice little restaurant in downtown Macon. The nice thing about the restaurant is they label their food and also state at the top of the Thai list that items can be made vegan. 

Blurry menu but top is "V" description for veganizing items

On Thursdays the restaurant offers happy hour deals until 6pm. This includes discounted appetizers including these delicious veggie double tempura rolls. 

Veggie Double Tempura Rolls

Sorry for the poor picture quality. Thursday night is date night, and the lights are lowered in the restaurant.

Please note for vegans that the orange drizzle on the side is actually a mayo style sauce that does contain dairy. Ask your serve to leave this off the plate. The good thing is it was not touching the tempura rolls. 

The tempura rolls are the best appetizer on the menu. Actually they can serve as dinner, and right now on Thursday night before 6pm they cost just $5! 

Now, I highly recommend if you like spicy food asking for the TomTom (s/p) sauce. It is made in-house and is spicy goodness. 

Pad Ki Mow Nua with tofu (#N3)

For the main course, which I ended up taking most of it home, is what I would call drunken noodles. Be careful. Thai hot was too hot for me. I typically ask for two chili peppers and then add TomTom sauce to it if needed. 

It can be hard to find parking, and the restaurant is small. So be prepared for limited tight seating. They also have seating outside. Again, Thursday night before 6pm is currently Happy Hour with discounted drinks, appetizers, and other items.  

Overall the restaurant offers great food, and during Happy Hour at a great price. 

Vegan biscuits at last!

I've hunted far and wide for vegan biscuits, and come up empty. I'm sure there are probably some available at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's but sadly there isn't a store near Macon or Columbus. We typically take side trips to Atlanta just to grocery shop about every other month. I really wanted to find a place locally that had good biscuits or find a good recipe.

So I went online, and then my sweet husband offered to make biscuits from scratch. And O.M.G. they were so delicious. I mean look...

Homemade vegan biscuit with Upton's Naturals bacon seitan and Daiya provolone style cheese slices

If you are more of a fan of sweet than savory then this is your jam:

Homemade vegan biscuit with strawberry jam from the Mulberry Farmer's Market

The great thing about these biscuits is they only take 1 bowl and about 30 minutes. The recipe is online at Minimalist Baker (original recipe adopted from Alton Brown).

If you don't have a biscuit cutter, then use a glass or the top from a mason jar. Just make sure to dust with flour and don't overwork the dough. Overworking the dough will make for dense non-fluffy biscuits. 

Upton's Naturals bacon seitan

Make sure to add seasoning to the seitan bacon. We found it a little plain without adding seasoning. 

Vegan Biscuits Ingredients:

1. 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2. 1 Tbsp baking powder
3. 1/2 tsp baking soda
4. 3/4 tsp sea salt
5. 4 Tbsp non-dairy, unsalted butter (I use Earth Balance)
6. 1 cup unsweetened PLAIN almond (I used Soy milk as we don't keep almond milk on hand) milk + 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

So 7 ingredients, 1 bowl, and 30 minutes. Sounds too good to be true, and the taste. Yum! But wait it gets better... 

That's right... homemade vegan sausage gravy!!! We My husband made the gravy this weekend to go with our biscuits. 

Vegan Sausage Gravy Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 4 cups soy or almond milk
• 4 sausage substitute patties or ground sausage links (ex. Boca or Morningstar Breakfast Patties. Make sure to read the packages ingredients. I don't like Morningstar, or really Boca. We typically use Kroger Simple Truth. I prefer the taste over Morningstar or Boca, but that's just me. When cooking the sausage add liquid smoke. It will turn the gravy brown but will also be so good)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 teaspoon salt -- we added more
• 1 teaspoon black pepper -- we added more
• Mrs. Dash... we wanted more spice
• My note: Add sriracha sauce as it's cooking to kick it up a notch. Just a little!
• Recipe from the Southern Vegan

As you can see we made these biscuits several times and tried various versions. These biscuits have become a regular item in our house most weekends now because they are awesome. 

Photo essay: What's growing in West Virginia's urban ruins?

This is a great story of how a small group of individuals is trying to improve a community while offering healthier food. Giving hope to an area that is suffering. I wonder if something like this could be done in Macon? Or in other towns in Georgia that are struggling? Could this be a way to fight blight in the area? I've heard stories of how community gardens that were started had to be closed due to vandalism and people arguing over ownership of the vegetables. What do you think? Could this type of urban farming be done in Georgia? In Macon? Is it already being done? Either way, the eco/green hippie in me would love to dive in and play in the dirt all day! :)

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