I know, I know. Dedicating a day to vegetarian food is about as lame as Parents’ Day and Veterans Day and Earth Day and all those other days in which you’re supposed to pretend you’re a friend to ________ (’rents,vets, the Earth, you name it) instead just another selfish weasel addicted to live Tweeting his thoughts about the latest baby-on-an-inflatable-mattress-in-space video that went viral.

But, hey, it’s a start.

Today, Y&H will, among other things:

• Give you tips on good places for vegetarian eats (particularly if you sign up for the Y&H newsletter at right), like the bread basket at top;
• Tell you at least one veggie burger to avoid;
• Post a vid on how to make vegetarian gravy for the upcoming holidays;
• And pass along this interesting bit of news from Compassion Over Killing: The animal protection group has worked with a local pizzeria to make the area’s first vegan jumbo slice. Find out more details after the jump.

Read More “Welcome to Veg Day on Young & Hungry” »

Note: Busboys & Poets owner Andy Shallal is taking an Iron Chef approach to hiring the chef for his forthcoming Eatonville, a Southern-oriented restaurant that pays homage to Zora Neale Hurston. This is the second in a series of blog posts chronicling the competition. This series will not announce the winner; it will be revealed later in the City Paper.

The chef, one of five left standing in Andy Shallal’s unorthodox hiring process, didn’t waste a second letting the judges know that he had absorbed their criticisms from the previous round. He had taken the fuss out of his Southern-minded food. “The tutu came off,” he told the judges.

Read More “Scene 2 from Eatonville Chef Contest: Something for Vegetarians” »

The great thing about the blogosphere? Other people can now do your work—and you get all the reading traffic. Hey, it works for Huffington Post! Sorry, back to the topic. Below is a collection of inauguration dining guides compiled by bloggers, journalists, advocacy groups, and God knows who else.

• DC Gastronome has a round up of 10 or so inaugural options.
• Campus Progress gives us the low down on ACKC’s ChocObama, a mint-infused bar, as well as other goodies.
• Washingtonian has produced a pretty decent guide to inaugural eats (though it kinda runs out of steam at the end of the alphabet).
• The Going Out Gurus break down the breakfast options for Inauguration Day.
• Capital Spice has something for the tourists: a guide to D.C.’s historic eating establishments.
• VegDC.com reports that, among other vegetarian-friendly options, Sticky Fingers Bakery in Columbia Heights will be offering “an animal-friendly” Chicago-style hot dog.
• Metromix has compiled a list of cheap places to eat for those who have already shelled out too much for inaugural housing.
• OpenTable, of course, has a long list of restaurants doing something for the inauguration. It may be as little as selling you a bottle of wine for $44.
• And, finally, your dedicated Young & Hungry scribe offers his take on the inaugural eating madness and gives you some practical stuff, too: places serving special inaugural pizzas as well as places serving something a little sweeter. 

Image by Flickr user jurvetson