Discerning Vegan: Dreamy Weenies

740 North Rampart Street, French Quarter, New Orleans, LA
Map

Restaurant type:

This is a fast food joint serving only hot-dogs in buns and fries. Meat (including kosher and halal options) and vegetarian and vegan options are on the menu.

Inside the restaurant

Service:

The staff were exceptionally friendly and suitably attentive. They were exceptionally knowledgeable about what veganism was, the vegan options available, and offered information about how it was cooked (separately from the non-vegan dishes).

Ambiance:

An attractive, old school fast food joint playing cool jazz, NOLA-style, on the edge of the French Quarter, across the road from Louis Armstrong park.

Garden district hot-dog with vegan mayo and ketchup, roasted garlic and waffle fries

Vegan choice:

It was very good. There are three different vegan sausages on offer, and many topings including vegan mayo and vegan cheese, not to mention hummus, roast garlic, avocado, and particular local specialities such as beans and rice, and chilli and Creole mix. There were also fries of various kinds available. Only the wholewheat bun was vegan and they sometimes run out.

Vegan preparation:

The vegan food is cooked separately from the rest.

Garden district hot-dog with vegan mayo and ketchup

Review:

The restaurant serves excellent fast food in an appropriately atmosphere: a knowingly old-school jazz diner, with New Orleans attitude. I tried both the kielbasa (an eastern European style sausage) with the chilli and Creole mix and vegan cheese and the garden district sausage with ketchup, vegan mayo, cheese and roast garlic. The sausages were meaty, hearty, and flavoursome, with the spices in the mix singing out despite the generous toppings. I suspect that they were wholesome too. The third kind of vegan sausage on offer were falafel, which I didn't try. The toppings were delicious and the whole lot came in a whole wheat bun. The seasoned waffle fries were crisp and exceptionally tasty, but the other waffle fries and sweet potatoes fries were good too. I don't think that vegan fast food could come much better than this!