Currently, using version 2.69, the version that is in the linux mint repository, and the option is not available from the GUI, either. On my other machine, a windows machine with 2.70, the option is available, so it looks like it was added at that point. Thank you.

Hmmm, I'm getting an error that TriangulateModifier has no attribute quad_method. I was able to work around it by manually triangulating the output, but I would prefer your method if I can get it to work, as it is much cleaner.