Dining Out Boston

When I asked my friends and readership for vegan resturant recommendations, no shortage of people told me to go to Grasshopper. Well, good girls do what they're told, and since I am not, I went instead to T.J.'s House of Pizza a "traditional and vegan" pizza and sub shop that's literally a block down from Grasshopper. So there.

With the exception of the small red neon sign flashing "VEGAN" in its window, there's little about T.J.'s exterior that would immediately indicate it's just another greasy student pizza joint. Inside, however, is a different story, for various vegetarian and vegan cooking magazines and pamphlets line the windowfront, and the standard American menu sits next to an equally impressive vegan menu with vegan versions of pizzas, calzones, pasta, and meaty dinner plates.

My vegan friends Natalie and Jon were quite beside themselves with all the choices, and quickly ordered a garden salad ($4.25), buffalo "chicken" fingers ($7), a veggie pizza ($10) , and BBQ "chicken" nuggets ($7). Bunches stayed clear of the fake meat, choosing instead to play it safe with house special pizza ($10). In retrospect, I should have tried the vegan chicken parmesan sub ($6), but I wimped out and went instead with chicken finger plate with fries and side salad ($8). From Natalie and John's empty plates and their continual sighs of satisfaction, it was easy to gather that this vegan rendition of greasy American food was among the best they'd ever experienced. They seemed to be equally impressed with T.J.'s vegan honey-free baklava ($2.50), which boasted a consistency and texture nearly indistinguishable from the regular version.

My chicken finger plate, six strips of white breast meat lightly fried with no residual grease served atop a massive french fry mountain, was nothing to scoff at either. Bunches scarfed down his meat and veggie pizza so quickly that I scarcely had time to grab a bite. When I finally nibbled on the remaining slice, I wasn't terribly impressed with the acidic tomato sauce and flavorless unidentified meat chunks. If you're interested in T.J.'s other non-vegan items, go instead for the loaded meatball sub ($5) or the mozzarella sticks ($5).

I wondered if T.J.'s was frequently passed over by vegan diners simply because Grasshopper was so superior, but Natalie and John (whose opinion, of course, represents that of all vegans everwhere) are frequent patrons of Grasshopper, and seemed no less taken with T.J.'s. I'll have to see for myself if Grasshopper is all it's cracked up to be. Maybe next time I won't be so quick to spurn the suggestions of my friendly readers who I am confident only have my stomach's best interests in mind.

The Info
T.J.'s House of Pizza
487 Cambridge St., Boston
617-787-3300