Exploits of a Vegan Wannabe

Since becoming vegan, I have created a flourishing list of vegan restaurants that I would like to visit.  There are  restaurants all around the globe creating legendary vegan edibles and it would be irresponsible of me not to try them all.  Florida boasts one of these legendary spots that I’ve longed to go,  Darbster Waterside Bistro in Palm Beach.

It is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant that also serves raw food, beer and wine. They are open for  lunch, dinner and my fave, Sunday brunch. Darbster owners Ellen and Alan named the restaurant in honor of their rescue poodle, Darby.  They also founded The Darbster Foundation in an effort to elevate the welfare of animals through education and outreach.

According to to their site, ” The purpose of this foundation is to assist in animal welfare and animal rights efforts through education, charitable contributions and direct sponsoring of animal care such as spaying and neutering. The Darbster Foundation promotes animal interests in the local community by supporting the efforts of local residents.”

I never thought I would have the opportunity to visit Darbster and certainly not this soon.  It is on the opposite coast of the area in Florida that we most frequently visit and sneaking away to Palm Beach requires a bit more than a short car ride for us.   In a collision of all things cosmically aligned and edible, we found ourselves there on February 24th celebrating my forty first birthday.

We joined them for Sunday brunch, the most decadent of all meals. The morning air was warm and the sun melted all over our table. Acoustic  music fell gently through the air.  Quite fittingly, to begin the festivities I ordered a glass of champagne and a bowl of avocado gazpacho. Happy birthday to me.

For our next course I ordered the Raw Bacon Cheezeburger and Sandy ordered the Palm Cake sandwich. Over the past few months I have become more and more interested in eating  raw foods. What a beautiful way to dive in and expand my experiences.

Our sandwiches were beyond reason. My cheezeburger with eggplant bacon was divine. I couldn’t bear to leave even one bite behind so I abandoned the soup to focus on my burger. Sandy’s Palm Cakes were lemony,  juicy and was served on a biggie fresh roll with a side of seasoned breakfast potatoes.  She became silent with joy.

As we sat enjoying the music,  in the sunshine, on my birthday, an enormous vegan hot fudge sundae arrived complete with a flickering candle. Our host set the frozen gift down and I closed my eyes to make my wish. I was immediately overcome with the eye stinging  realization that for the very first time, I couldn’t possibly wish for one more thing. I blew out the candle saying thank you.

Have a delicious day and I hope you get to visit Darbster Waterside Bistro for a special day too.

Tags: compassionate eating, Darbster Waterside Bistro, plant based diet, vegan birthday wish, vegan dining in Palm Beach area, vegan restaurant, vegan wannabe