Monday, November 26, 2012

Dos Coyotes Border Cafe

UPDATE: THE CHIPS AT DOS COYOTES ARE APPARENTLY FRIED IN THE SAME OIL AS ALL THE OTHER FRIED FOOD, SO YOU MAY WANT TO AVOID THE CHIPS.

I stopped in for lunch recently at Dos Coyotes Border Cafe in the Market Square at Arden Fair. The first thing I do at any chain restaurant serving Mexican food is to ask which beans are vegan, if any. At most restaurants, it seems as though only the black beans are vegan. At Dos Coyotes, however, the refried beans are vegan but the black beans are not.

I ordered the Southwest Burrito with rice and refried beans, and asked that the cheese be omitted. The burrito included guacamole and salsa, although I had them leave off the salsa and then I picked a different one from the salsa bar near the counter. The burrito came with a side of chips, and it was a tasty and filling meal.

It appears that other items on the Dos Coyotes menu can be made vegan, such as the Border Bowl (a burrito without the tortilla) or the Coyotes' Yin Yang Salad (a vegetarian version of this chicken salad is available, which includes jicama, red bell pepper, scallions, cashews, snow peas, and mixed greens on a flour tortilla with sesame dressing). You should always make sure to specify that you don't want cheese or sour cream.

Check the special Chef's Menu too. Currently, for example, some Dos Coyotes locations are offering a vegan Spicy Tortilla Vegetable Soup. It wasn't on the menu at the Dos Coyotes I visited, but there's a recipe for it on the restaurant's website.

In addition to the Dos Coyotes at Market Square there are Dos Coyotes Border Cafe restaurants in North Davis, South Davis, Roseville, Folsom, Elk Grove, and East Sacramento. More information is available on the Dos Coyotes website at http://www.doscoyotes.net/home.html.




7 comments:

Jenn said...

Hi Pam,

I love Dos. I usually get the southwest burrito with the anasazi beans also. I didn't know the black beans weren't vegan. Surprising. Do you know what is in them?

Pam said...

Good question, Jenn -- I should have asked at the time, but I didn't, so I called them just now to find out. The guy I talked to said they add butter to the black beans. So now we know!

Jenn said...

That is a weird thing to add to beans! Thanks for doing the research. I'm glad I prefer the refried beans!

Pam said...

I thought it was an odd thing to add to the beans too, Jenn. If butter is going to be added to anything in a Mexican restaurant, it's usually the rice.

Unknown said...

The chips are fried in the same oil as meat. :(

Pam said...

Thanks for your comment. I wasn't aware of that, and I've sent an email to Dos Coyotes to ask about their chips. I'll let you know what they say when I hear back from them.

Pam said...

I just heard back from Dos Coyotes about whether they fry the chips in the same oil as everything else. The answer is yes. They have only one fryer, so everything is fried in the same oil. Thanks for bringing that issue to my attention!