Et cetera

Meet: Seed. Eating at a vegan cafe in NOLA is like seeking out a pizza parlor in Beijing. Right?

Needless to say, in new Orleans, vegan menu options have been notoriously limited and vegan restaurants have been, well, fantasy. Seed (1330 Prytania), a new Uptown Vegan restaurant, is filling a gaping culinary niche by offering veg-friendly dining options. But this ain’t no tofu mecca. With menu options like an eggplant po boy, deep fried tofu nuggets, and veggie spaghetti — made with spiralized vegetable “noodles,” Seed yields a vegetarian menu that highlights exactly what its dietary premises nominally emphasize: vegetables.

Eat: If you’ve eaten your veggies at Seed, you done good… So you’ve definitely earned yourself a one-way ticket on the New Orleans Donut Locomotive.

Blue Dot, Upper 9, District Donits… blah blah blah… been there, done that. Tivoli and Lee livens up the local donuts scene with a donut-French Toast mashup offered during brunch — the “Elvis French Toast” ($14) : Cinnamon-sugar District Donuts, bananas, bacon, and peanut butter.

Drink: Mopho‘s gallon-sized take-out jug of Rocket Fuel ($36).

Just in time for park picnicking, Fly chilling, and backyard grilling, Mid City Asian restaurant MoPho has begun offering gallon-sized portions of their “Rocket Fuel” drink — a cold-drip coffee, chicory bubble tea. The drink is non-alcoholic; however — this is New Orleans — so if you’re looking to have a Sunday Funday, you can spike it with Jameson or Trader Vic’s Kona Coffee liqueur for an additional cost.

Embellish: With Free People‘s “Festival Muse” fashion edit. You’re fathering your fest supplies — You’re festive, you’re local, you’re cool… but that doesn’t mean you’re necessarily above trendiness.

Bohemian fashion retailer Free People has composed an online set of its most festival-appropriate offerings: a hand-woven blanket for lounging; a distressed and tassled bag, so you look like you haphazardly got dressed in your darkened closet; and embellished and tassled canteen to stay hydreated, and a hand-painted tambourine, if you’re still reeling from the Frenchmen Noise ordinance.

Festify yourself. And, if you happen to purchase the ti-dye teepee for festival shade, don’t forget to invite me.

Laugh: Spotted waiting in a food line at French Quarter Fest…

It never hurts to ask your friends what they are wearing.

Chelsea Lee is associate editor at NolaVie. Email comments to chelsea@nolavie.com.