Vegan Option

No, salads aren’t enough. I’m not a vegan but several of my friends are. A vegan cheese can be used to create eggplant parm or a dish with a roasted portabello mushroom.

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I agree. The problem is that they do not have any vegan cheeses. We live in a very rural area, so there aren't many vegan patrons to the restaurant. I should add that they are dinner-sized salads, not side salads.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this, I'd go with an eggplant parm with vegan cheese. Do they have vegan noodles?

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This is the struggle lol. They do not have any vegan cheeses or noodles. They do have portobello and eggplant but I'm not sure what to do with that without the cheeses.

The salad would not be enough, regardless if it’s dinner sized or not. Most vegan salads have more protein. These seemed like they are either side salads going to be served in normal portions or originally had cheese/meat and are just removed. If the restaurant doesn’t have vegan cheese, can they make egg parm and skip the cheese?

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I pulled these directly from the menu. The only protein removed was the cheese. I've eaten their dinner sized salads before as my dinner.

Good idea, but what would that be like without pasta?

As a vegan anything with eggplant or portabello is usually pretty filling. A personal favorite is just eggplant parm without the parm like everyone suggested. Honestly though I'm usually just honored to be thought of lol

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Thanks for the insight! I'm just having a hard time thinking of how to make it seem very intentional. It's hard when the restaurant isn't giving me much to work with haha.

If we didn't the parm, what else would you think would be nice with the eggplant or portobello? This gives you an idea of what I'm working with:

View Quoted Comment Would they let you bring vegan noodles and cheese to use in the recipe? I know it's probably a bit out of line with the cater but you never know.

View Quoted Comment I'd probably just do pasta with red sauce and vegetables. But I know pasta isn't always vegan. This is a tough one

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I figured most pasta has egg in it but a friend of mine just informed me that not all do. It's a family-owned italian restaurant, so I doubt it's vegan friendly, but I will check with her to find out. She did offer me some gluten free pasta options!

A lot of pasta is vegan! If it’s not homemade pasta and is dried pasta like it is in the store, those typically won’t have eggs. Just double check! Marinara sauce is usually vegan as well. You could ask them to do eggplant parm vegan without any cheese, I think that’s better than nothing. Additionally, you could ask if they could make a vegetable “lasagna” with layered vegetables (such as zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, etc) with sauce, no cheese. Again, it’s better than nothing and it is giving options! I think also vegans will not have insane expectations at a wedding. They know their restrictions are sometimes not easily accommodated! In my experience they will be glad to have some options for food!

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I need to get some info on that to open up the options! It's a family-owned restaurant, so I'm not sure.

Pasta primavera - pasta (one without eggs), marinara sauce, sautéed or roasted veggies such as eggplant, mushrooms, zucchini and broccoli.

Do they make their pesto homemade? Can they do one without parmesan cheese? To offer as another option for sauce.

They have zucchini on the list...can they do stuffed zucchini boats...stuffed with other sautéed veggies in sauce? Or stuff the bell peppers instead.

They could take the spinach, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts and sautéed them together and roll them up in the roasted red peppers and cover the roll ups in sauce.

Maybe they can make a vegan bolognese out of mushrooms and marinara sauce (lentils are also great for this if they can get their hands on some).

View Quoted Comment You can also always ask them to just use boxed pasta without eggs for the vegan options even if they typically use homemade for other dishes.

I would either ask them to purchase or make 4 portions of eggless pasta or I would make a beautiful roast veggie plate and add either tofu or chickpeas, then serve it on rice (literally what I'm making for dinner tonight 😂).

I agree with those who said that most commercially made pasta is vegan already (wheat flour + water). And marinara sauce is usually vegan without any changes or substitutions. I understand it's a small town, family restaurant and they may not be well-versed in vegan food, but ask them about their marinara sauce and if they use house made pasta (which will have eggs) or commercial/boxed pasta (which likely won't have eggs).

I think salad plus pasta with marinara sauce and vegetables would make a fine meal.

Ooh or, ask them to make zucchini/squash noodles. It is very easy to do and goes with any sauce. They could even buy a spaghetti squash which is fantastic with red sauce, barring any use of non veg stock.

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They don't have vegan noodles? Most packaged pastas are vegan. I would have them do some kind of noodle dish. Are any of their sauces naturally vegan, e.g. marinara? Or can they make a vegan version? It really should not be difficult for them to make a vegan version of marinara or pesto. What about some kind of spring veggie pasta?

Their gnocchi might be vegan. You could do that with a red sauce and portobello mushrooms.