A Weekend of Plant-Based Delights in Salt Lake City

Arrive in Salt Lake City and check into your hotel downtown.

For dinner, head to All Chay for an all-vegan menu of Vietnamese food. Everything on the menu is perfection, but the BBQ noodle salad, stir-fried ramen with vegan chicken, and fresh spring rolls are all hard to beat.

For an after-dinner introduction to the SLC bar scene, Lake Effect and London Belle are great for getting a little wild. If you prefer a more chill vibe, check out Alibi, Under Current, or Water Witch, which has creative brews like the K2 (made of cognac, pistachio, Toki, dates, and chrysanthemum). If beer is more your thing, check out the taproom at T.F. Brewing or visit the other excellent microbreweries scattered around downtown with the Salt Lake Brewery Pass.

Contrary to popular belief, Salt Lake City boasts an array of fabulous coffee shops with lots of plant-based options, including:

• Loki

• Picnic

• Honeysuckle

• Blue Copper

• Publik

After you're caffeinated, hit up the Downtown Farmer's Market; in the summer, it's in Pioneer Park, and in the winter, it's indoors at the Gateway. It's a great way to try some local products. We went to the winter market and bought sourdough bread, some hand-crafted earrings, and a vegan carrot butter-white bean hand pie from Pie Party. After breakfast, we had some energy to burn off, so we headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon for a hike. Some of Utah's most famous ski resorts are located up this canyon (and the neighboring Little Cottonwood Canyon), but there are also lots of places to hike and look at the incredible scenery. The drive alone is striking and worth your time.

For dinner, Zest offers a fresh, upscale vegan option near the Gateway. With favorites like the stuffed avocado salad, fresh juices, and the cakes and tortes, the food is light but satisfying. After dinner, if you're in the mood to sing, you could walk down the street to one of two piano bars--The Tavernacle Social Club or Keys on Main--or rent a private karaoke room at Flanker Kitchen & Sporting Club.

Start with breakfast at the best place to nurse a hangover: Vertical Diner, which specializes in vegan diner food. My go-to order there is The Avalanche: two fluffy pancakes (blueberry, of course) with a side of scrambled tofu, home fries, and housemade vegan sausage--but maybe you'll be in the mood for biscuits and gravy or a giant breakfast burrito. They serve breakfast all day, so no rush.

After breakfast, swing by Caputo's Market & Deli to gather some artisan treats. We bought fig ""salami,"" bread, Cara Cara oranges, fancy cheeses for the non-vegans, and a couple of bars of our favorite Icelandic chocolate brand (OmNom)--then we took our Caputo's haul (along with a tea set, cloth napkins, and thermoses of hot brewed corn tea from Spice on ninth) to Antelope Island State Park, which rests along the shores of the Great Salt Lake about 45 minutes north of Salt Lake City. The daily access fee is $15, but once you're on the island, there are lots of hiking paths and beaches that you can explore. We hiked to the top of the Buffalo Point trail, laid out all of our treats to look pretty, poured the tea, and enjoyed a snowy tea party with a view of the Great Salt Lake.

For dinner, Grid City Beer Works is the perfect spot for both vegans and omnivores, with a wide range of options and a big vegan menu (including the meatiest-tasting veggie burger I've ever had). Don't miss their high-gravity wine/hybrid seltzers, which taste incredibly light but pack a punch at 9.2% ABV--I loved the peach bellini, but all the flavors at the table were great!