Boogaloo's Caribbean Cuisine Offers Vegetarians a Chance to Swing

By Tara Mahadevan Mon., Mar. 4 2013 at 10:00 AM

The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize about greening up your diet. Our only motive is to spread the word about places where you can order good grub that ain't got no meat. To enhance your reading experience, we've settled on a handful of criteria we'll use to suss out a restaurant's vegetarian friendliness.

Tara Mahadevan

Spinach and artichoke empanadas at Boogaloo

Destination: Boogaloo (7344 Manchester Road, Maplewood; 314-645-4803)

Neighborhood: Maplewood

Cuisine: Cuban/Creole/Caribbean

Overview:Vegetables might not be the first things that come to mind when you think of Cuban, Creole or Caribbean cuisine, but Boogaloo offers a slew of vegetarian dishes. The Maplewood restaurant also boasts wooden swings at the bar, and take it from the Veggielante: Swinging is much more fun when you aren't weighed down with meat.

Highlights: Boogaloo serves vegetarian empanadas ($8.95, pictured above) filled with spinach, artichoke and cheese. You can enjoy these straight-up or dip them in the caramelized onion-yogurt dip served alongside.