May 15, 2009

It's been more than a year since we ate at Yorgo's Bageldashery, so since Steph and I were both off today, we decided to go there for breakfast. Oh my gawd. I've missed that place so much. AND it's even better than it was a year ago. They've added tons of vegan items to their menu and they taste fantastic! I ordered the "Vegan Egg & Sausage" - which is tofu egg, vegan sausage (or bacon) with vegan American cheese on a bagel or wrap. I ordered the sausage on a plain bagel toasted. I also ordered a sun-dried tomato bagel with vegan cream cheese; oh and a side of Salt & Vinegar chips (not vegan) and a large unsweet iced tea. Steph ordered turkey and sprouts on a sourdough bagel, Salt & Vinegar chips and a Coke.

There were several very cool things about my breakfast sandwich: the egg looks and tastes just like egg, the sausage is homemade there, not like a Morningstar veggie sausage patty, and the slice of American cheese really seems like cheese, perfectly sliced and the texture and flavor of cheddar.. Put all together, it was better than but had the similar concept as my old favorite at Atlanta Bread Company of a sausage, egg, and cheese croissant (when I was a meat-eater years ago). I would have liked the bagel to be a bit more toasted, but it was still excellent and I highly recommend it.

The toasted sundried tomato with vegan cream cheese was good, though I'm really not sure why they serve the HUGE schmear of cream cheese directly between the two bagels. Whenever I've ordered bagels and cream cheese at places, I would always have the bagel on one side of the plate and a side cup of the cream cheese, so you can put how much you want. It was a LOT of cream cheese, which I supposed is why it cost $3.05, a hefty price for one bagel and cream cheese. I also like my bagels toasted more than they toast them.

The chips that Yorgo's sells are by far the best of any I've ever had. I used to say that about Schlotzky's, but Dirty's (the brand Yorgo's sells), is now my absolute favorite. They are kettle cooked in a peanut oil blend and they are super thick-cut. I love them!!!! And the Salt & Vinegar ones are the best! They aren't vegan, but they rock!

My other favorite thing about Yorgo's (yes there are SO many), is their iced tea. They have the most wonderful fresh brewed iced tea. I am a super picky iced tea drinker, and there are only a handful of places in Hampton Roads (that I've been to) which have excellent iced tea. It has to be strong enough, fresh enough and actually brewed for me to say it's excellent. Yorgo's is one of them. And it's unsweet! Which is often more hard for me to find.

(Steph's Turkey bagel must have been good, cause she ate it all up.)

Yorgo's is pretty pricey (our total was $20.77 - which is a lot for breakfast); but so worth going every so often. Definitely one of my top 5 favorite places to eat in Hampton Roads.

Below is a list of vegan Specials and options offered at Yorgo's (specials change weekly). Go check em out and be sure to let them know how you heard of them!

- Vegan "Egg and Sausage"
- Tempeh "BLT"
- Inside Out "Omlette"
- Maui Wowie
- Hickory Smoked Tofurkey
- Vegan Flavored Cream Cheese (plain, cinnamon sugar)
- BBQ
- Carrot Cake Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Lemon Creame Cake
- 3 Layer Chocolate Raspberry Cake

Visit Yorgo's at either of these locations:

Ghent (757) 623-6609
22nd & Colonial
Mon - Fri 6 am - 3 pm; Sat-Sun 7 am - 3pm
2123 Colonial Ave, Norfolk VA 23517

Norfolk Downtown (757) 623-3649
Selden Arcade
Mon - Fri 7 am - 3 pm; Sat-Sun seasonal
215 E Plume St, Norfolk VA 23510

Later...

I heard last week that The Wailers, a reggae group that includes the last remaining members of Bob Marley's band, was going to be playing at the Chesapeake Jubilee tonight at Chesapeake City Park. We decided to go since it was only $1.00 (plus $5 for parking) and the rains actually passed just a few hours before the show was to start. We walked around the Carnival, but didn't ride anything. I have two fears about Carnival rides: 1.) the fact that they are traveling shows that set up and tear down in just hours --- I don't want to be a fatal statistic; and 2.) the cost....the only rides we would have even considered were $5.00 each. I don't even want to calculate what that adds up to an hour. So after walking through, we picked up some iced tea (cheap! $.75 each, but tasted more like water); and then set up our chairs center stage for The Wailers. We breezed by the craft booths, as most of them seemed like crap merchandise from factories overseas. I left our chairs and picked up dinner for us both. Not many vegetarian options for me (what am I saying, there were two: cheese pizza or french fries), so I got a $4 slice of pizza for me, and a chicken tenders and fries basket for Steph ($7). The concert was nice, but honestly we didn't actually see it. We set up our chairs half way between the stage and the sound booth, not anticipating that 99% of the crowd would be standing. So I closed my eyes for a lot of the time and just relaxed to the excellent rhythm of the reggae beats and singing. It was a beautiful night, cool and breezy, and the audience was perfect. Excited, but not too rowdy; friendly and polite of each other; and everyone sang to the songs they knew. We had an excellent time and will definitely go again next year, assuming someone fun like that will be back.