Vegan and Gluten-Free in Phoenix
It somewhat surprised me that Phoenix, Arizona would have so much good vegan & gluten-free food! One of the places I have been to multiple times is Green New American Vegetarian Restaurant. They have two locations – one in Phoenix and one in Tempe.
They also have a sister restaurant next to their Phoenix location called Nami that is mostly breakfast and dessert items.
And there are plenty more restaurants in the Phoenix area that have vegan and gluten-free options! Hopefully, I will be able to feature more here in the future.
But today, Green New American Vegetarian Restaurant gets all my love. Just about everything is vegan as far as I can tell. A good number of items can be made gluten-free.
Green New American’s Burgers/Sandwiches
In particular, the sandwiches can be served on a gluten-free bun, however, I believe only the Original G Spicy Po-Boy and the Secret BBQ Sammie are gluten-free. (I guess the other burgers/sandwich contents contain gluten?) The first two times that I visited the Tempe location of Green New American Vegetarian (spring 2015, and spring 2016), I got the Original G Spicy Po-Boy, once with the side of sweet potato tater tots and once with the fried Brussels sprouts.
The “chicken” is actually tender and isn’t dry and tastes really good, especially with the sauce they use on it. The sandwich itself also has lettuce, tomato, and vegan mayo. Delicious! Also really good were the sweet potato tater tots, but I found the fried Brussels sprouts WAY too greasy! My stomach actually didn’t love them an hour later. They tasted great, but too much oil.
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Then, when I went to the Phoenix location of Green New American Vegetarian earlier this year, I decided to try the Secret BBQ Sammie. But instead of having it on the gluten-free bun, I opted to get it on salad greens. And OMG … it was amazing. The mock “chicken” was slathered with an espresso BBQ sauce that was both savory and slightly sweet and rich! It was also cooked with caramelized onions and peppers – yum! They gave me a lot of greens as well, so I felt like it was a more balanced meal, especially since I didn’t opt for any sides.
tSoynami
If I remember correctly, I may have wanted to go to Nami for their tSoynamis before wanting to go to Green New American Vegetarian for their food. The Internet is a beautiful thing like that. What’s a tSoynami, you ask? It’s a vegan soft serve ice cream made with soy and coconut, and it is mixed with a variety of possible toppings. I remember thinking it’s like a vegan version of Coldstone.
Nami is the sister restaurant to Green, located right next to the Phoenix location, and Nami specifically serves coffee, desserts, breakfast items, brunch, cakes and baked goods, and tSoynamis. A good number of items are gluten-free, which made me very happy because that meant I was able to have more than just a few things to choose from!
Both times that I visited Nami, I got the PB ‘n’ Chocolate tSoynami. It has organic peanut butter and organic chocolate mixed with the vanilla soft serve. For me, peanut butter and chocolate together is a must-get. And it was just as amazing as it sounds!
Nami’s Desserts
That second time that I went to Nami, which was earlier this year, I also got the gluten-free cheesecake. Though, because I was getting it to go, I opted to get the cheesecake without the strawberry preserves or coconut cream whipped cream. And it was still one of THE best vegan, gluten-free cheesecakes I’ve ever had! It was so creamy but not mushy. The texture was perfect, and the crust was also perfectly crumbly but not dry. I would eat it every day if I could!
In fact, the cheesecake was so good that I decided to go back to Nami before I left Phoenix this time around, and got the cheesecake again. But this time, I got it with the strawberry preserves and coconut cream. Still ridiculously delicious, but I actually found it a little too sweet. I think I actually prefer the cheesecake by itself.
Green New American Vegetarian and Nami are definitely on my list to go back to next time I go to Phoenix. There are definitely plenty of restaurants in Phoenix that have items that are both vegan and gluten-free, but these things I got above were so good that I have to get them again.