Food Reviews: The Wild Cow- Vegan Food in East Nashville

Despite its name, The Wild Cow is an all vegan restaurant located in East Nashville. On the search for something healthy and delicious, I decided to give this place a shot. Here’s the breakdown:

ATMOSPHERE

 

     

The Wild Cow is located in a posh area of East Nashville, in a sleek new-ish building with other cafes and shops.

 

The inside immediately reminds you that this is a vegan place to eat. There’s always a hippie-type vibe in these places: casual, but clean, a wait staff with dreads, many flavors of tea to choose from, etc.
Furthermore, there were adorable pictures of cows, dogs, and other animals framed all over the walls.
Everyone that worked here was super friendly and helpful. We felt welcomed right away.

THE FOOD

Their entire menu can be found here: menu
Also, here are vegan baked goods located on the front bar. I abstained, but they looked delicious.
Finally, there’s a refrigerator by the bakery bar that has a few options of healthy sodas and juices. They also serve beer!

TACO SAMPLER PLATE, $12
Description: Comes with each of the signature tacos and one side. NO MODIFICATIONS ALLOWED.
Tacos:
Sweet Potato & Black Bean Tacos: mashed sweet potatoes,
black beans, lime slaw, homemade jerk sauce and toasted
pumpkin seeds. (GF w/ corn tortillas)
Chipotle Seitan Tacos: spinach, carrots, tomatoes, vegan ranch
and BE Hive chipotle seitan.
Peanut Tempeh Tacos: sautéed kale, peanut sauce, avocado, carrot-                  daikon slaw, sesame seeds and peanut tempeh. (GF w/ corn
tortillas)

When a hear a taco cannot have modifications, that scares me. Because usually they have cheese. However, at a vegan place, there are no modifications needed for me! And they all came on corn tortillas, so they were gluten free as well, if anyone cares.
Anyway, we loved this plate! The chipotle seitan taco was the best. It had tons of great flavor with some heat from the chipotle, but then was cooled off with the veggies and vegan ranch. So good!
My second favorite was the sweet potato one. It was very sweet, with a little savory bite from the jerk sauce and pumpkin seeds to even it out. While the texture was a little one-toned, with mashed sweet potatoes being the main component, it was still delicious.
The peanut tempeh tacos were pretty much the Far East Bowl in a shell…you can read about that disappointment below.
Finally, the side of mixed seasonal veggies with aioli was delicious! The veggies were vast: mushrooms, carrots, onions, cabbage, bell peppers, and possible more that I missed were all charred perfectly while still having a good bite. They were smokey and delicious, though the aioli was pretty bland.

Far East Bowl, $10
Description: sautéed garlicky kale, grilled tofu, carrot- daikon slaw, peanut sauce, and sesame seeds served over organic brown rice.

First thing to note, I ordered this dish with no organic brown rice, but extra garlicky kale instead. This did not cost extra.
While I was very excited about this dish, overall, I was pretty disappointed. In one word, this dish was BLAND.
I love garlic and I couldn’t taste a lick of it in the “garlicky” kale.
The tofu was extremely under-seasoned, if seasoned at all?
The veggies were nice, though they could have been more crisp.
The peanut sauce was good, but the dish overall was watery, which made the sauce watery.
We added chili sauce for heat, which helped some, but didn’t save the dish. We didn’t even finish it. I would not get this again.

OVERALL

I would definitely come back to The Wild Cow. There are so many other things on their menu and bakery bar that I want to try. The people were so nice and helpful, and it wasn’t expensive, considering everything is vegan. We left stuffed, even after not finishing one of the dishes. And I would definitely get a couple of those tacos again!

The Best Cheese Dip Recipe (p.s. It is vegan!)

An earlier blog about the vegan restaurant, Spiral,(http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=371) had me raving about this cashew cheese dip.  Since I visited, I have been experimenting with the recipe to replicate this. You guessed it….I got it, right here.

This cheese dip has been called “the best cheese dip ever” by my cheese-loving friends and family. The ones that ate it thinking it was real cheese dip had no clue it actually wasn’t cheese at all. (Of course I told them, eventually.)  It has been a new favorite snack for me, not only because it is friggin’ delicious, but also because it is super healthy. It has no carbs, no dairy, no gluten…it is pretty much made with cashews, veggies, stock, and some seasoning. It still blows my mind. Anyway, here’s the recipe if you want to rock your world:

Video Recipe:

Recipe:

Ingredients:
-2 cups cashews (raw or roasted)
-2 cups vegetable broth (I prefer chicken broth if no one I am feeding
cares to keep it vegan)
-1 tablespoon miso paste (if you cannot find this, substituting
hummus will do)
-1 tablespoon corn starch
-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
-1 red bell pepper
-1/2 small yellow onion
-1/4 jalapeño (or more if you like it spicy)
-4 garlic cloves
-2 teaspoons ground cumin
-1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (or more if you like it spicy)
-1 tablespoon lemon juice
-salt to taste

Directions:
1. Soak cashews in water for at two hours. Overnight is fine.
2. In a blender, add drained cashews, broth, miso paste, and corn
starch. Blend until very smooth, with little graininess. This may
take anywhere from 3-10 minutes, depending on your blender.
3. Heat e.v.o.o on medium heat. Add coarsely chopped bell pepper,
onion, and jalapeño. Cook until slightly charred and soft.
4. Add coarsely chopped garlic and cook another 3 minutes.
5. When cashew mixture is smoothe, add cooked vegetables to
blender. Also, add all of the seasoning, minus the salt. Blend
until smooth.
6. In a sauce pan, on medium-low heat, heat blended “cheese” dip,
stirring constantly, until thickened. (about 15 minutes)
7. Taste for salt, add what is necessary. Enjoy!
Hints:
1. To make this taste even more like real cheese, also add nutritional
yeast in the 2nd step.
2. If dip is too spicy, add a tablespoon of masa meal. This dulls the
heat without ruining the flavor.

If you try this recipe, please comment below to let us know what you think!

 

Vegan Cashew Cheese Dip

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American, vegan

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups cashews (raw or roasted)
  • 2 cups vegetable broth I prefer chicken broth if no one I am feeding cares to keep it vegan
  • 1 tbsp miso paste
  • 1 tbsp corn starch
  • 2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1/2 small yellow onion
  • 1/4 jalapeño
  • 4 garlic cloves or 4 tbsp minced garlic
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground red pepper
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • salt, to taste

Instructions
 

  • Soak cashews in water for at two hours. Overnight is fine.
  • In a blender, add drained cashews, broth, miso paste, and cornstarch. Blend until very smooth, with little graininess. This maytake anywhere from 3-10 minutes, depending on your blender.
  • Heat e.v.o.o on medium heat. Add coarsely chopped bell pepper,onion, and jalapeño. Cook until slightly charred and soft.
  • Add coarsely chopped garlic and cook another 3 minutes.
  • When cashew mixture is smoothe, add cooked vegetables toblender. Also, add all of the seasoning, minus the salt. Blenduntil smooth.
  • n a sauce pan, on medium-low heat, heat blended "cheese" dip,stirring constantly, until thickened. (about 15 minutes)
  • Taste for salt, add what is necessary. Enjoy!

Notes

Hints:
1. To make this taste even more like real cheese, also add nutritional
yeast in the 2nd step.
2. If dip is too spicy, add a tablespoon of masa meal. This dulls the
heat without ruining the flavor.
 
Keyword vegan, cashew, cashew cheese dip, vegan cheese dip, cheese dip, recipe, amy westerman,