I can always find something vegetarian at any restaurant—sometimes I have to order three appetizers to do it but I don’t go away hungry. But if I’m looking for a main dish I can eat I have found that Indian, Thai, Chinese and Mexican restaurants are usually my best bets for finding vegetarian dishes.

If you are really fastidious, you may want to take Mexican off this list because they do tend to put lard in their beans. But Thai, Chinese and Indian are usually genuinely vegetarian.

I eat eggs and dairy, as many vegetarians do, but if you are a more strict vegetarian you may not find as many dishes, and if you are vegan, you may not find any.

My favorite restaurants in Grass Valley/Nevada City that have a good selection of vegetarian dishes are Sopa Thai, Indian Oven, Asian Garden and Maria’s.