The Fiction Kitchen!

Raleigh finally got a true vegetarian restaurant last winter when The Fiction Kitchen opened up. It is super small and they don't take reservations, and I kept hearing you had to wait forever for a table, so we kept putting it off. Finally, though, I decided we just needed to suck it up, and then coincidentally Ben and I both got off work early on Friday, so we went straight down there in hopes of beating the crowd.  We arrived a little before 6:00 and got the last two seats at the bar. It really is popular! And small. We really like to sit at the bar at local restaurants (it is our New Thing of the past year) so this worked out great for us anyway.

We ordered corn & onion fritters to start, served with agave vegan butter. I would love to know what kind of vegan butter they're using because it was amazing. And this huge portion was $6.

For my entree I ordered the "chicken" and waffles, also vegan. (Not everything on their menu is vegan, but most things are and everything can be made vegan upon request, I'm pretty sure.)  The "chicken" they use is a locally made product called Delight Soy, which I hope someday will be available everywhere because it's delicious.

They do a daily special that is always made from local farmers' produce - Friday it was house-made falafel with tomatoes, eggplant, and rice. Ben ordered it and he said it was great.

We did not get dessert (I know! Who are we?) but I'm pretty sure we will be back here soon. We don't mind eating early and it really exceeded my expectations by quite a lot. It is miles better than The Remedy Diner, Raleigh's other decent downtown option for vegetarians.