Thanks, Merdian Pint!

The other night I went to Meridian Pint, a new restaurant in Columbia Heights that has been open for less than a month. From the owner who brought you the rock-and-roll lounge, Asylum, opened a second restaurant featuring creative vegan dishes alongside great beers and fun atmosphere.

There are so many cool things about Meridian Pint that I just have NO idea where to begin:

1) Vegan fare. I got the bean and vegan cheese Quesadilla and veggie vegan chili. But there's lots more... Like the soy half smoke, and the roasted vegetable sandwich with vegan cheese.

2) Beer. Meridian Pint only tries to buy local beer to keep the beer money in the area and to also reduce the carbon emissions from shipping overseas. BUT the coolest thing is the "bombers for brewers" program where the restaurant gives local brewers their used beer bottles to make their home-brews.

3) Composting. The restaurant hired Envirelation to compost most of Meridian Pint's waste.

4) Reuse. Most of the furniture, equipment, design and construction materials are recycled.

5) Clean Energy. Meridian Pint's energy source comes from wind mill farms in the way of green energy credits.

Is Meridian Pint humane? Unfortunately not, but clearly not because of lack-of-will. The moral of this story is that humane dairy, cheese, eggs and meat is not accessible unless the restaurant owner/chef/buyer actually goes to a farmers' market/farm/distribution center and literally picks up the food.

Meridian Pint is still a-okay in my book though, and I will continue to enjoy my vegan Quesadillas until they take the next step toward humane dairy, cheese, eggs and meat.