BARTin out to Berkley!

Becky & Nona

These are my Berkley peeps.  I've been out there twice now since I moved down.  Both  times we've been to The Saturn Cafe.  Generally I would attempt to switch it up but me gusta mucho, and Nona likes it darnit! ( That's the littler cute one! Luvin' her some Mom's before she put on her sassy pants for the day.)   Becky, the larger of the two, is one of my oldest friends, we're talking Junior High days, and the first person I ever knew to go vegan. So I think in large part we can blame my current shame spiral of obsessing about food and stuffing my face full of vegan treats on her! Speaking of stuffing face not this particular visit, but the time before, we stopped by Cinnaholic after, and that was ridiculous.  And yes, I ate the whole thing.  REDICK! I didn't want to....It just happened...

Plain ol' original cinnamon roll with cookie dough crumbles on top

Vegan Breakfast Burrito from Saturn Cafe

Nacho fries!!!

At this point I'm just shamelessly exploiting how cute this kid is for my blog...but look, she got tatted up like Mom!

 Check out the online menu if you want a full description but there was definitely some soyrizo in there and tofu and tatters.  Served with some guac, salsa, and a tofu spread that Becky would give two nuts for if she had them. That was the first trip though, this particular visit the nugget ordered the Nacho Fries which were a little too covered in amazing awesomeness for her, so we traded. I had plain ones that came with my vegan burger.  No pictures, didn't really seem necessary for a burger, not that I didn't enjoy it, it's just, you know.....a burger. They honestly don't usually appeal to me but I was in the mood that day. A note on the menu...I don't think the online version designates which items are vegan, unless it's actually in the title, but the actual menus in the restaurant are very specific about what is vegan and  what can be  made vegan.  The staff is very knowledgeable also, and the decor rocks, and it's right around the corner from Cinnaholic! So do both, cuz it just feels good! It's actually very convenient that I have to ride the BART out to Berkley, approximately $8 for a ticket out there, you get to look out at Oakland from a safe vantage point, and after eating way way too much food you can sit on your butt and food coma out for about 45 minutes.  It's a good thing. 

Jay's Cheesesteak

I'm gonna keep this one short.  For a place called Jay's Cheesesteak it's shockingly vegan friendly.  Thank you San Francisco for loving me. While their website is sorely lacking in information on these options, they are there, I promise.  And they're also on Divisadero as well, right next to Herbivore as a matter of fact, why the website doesn't feel like advertising that either is beyond me.  Basically you order their seitan sandwich without mayo or cheese (and why don't you leave off the pickles too, ya nasty!).  It still comes with a ridiculous amount of other condiments, which somehow worked, even with my pizza seitan sammy.  Your seitan options are varied and unexplained, although I didn't ask too many questions either because the man behind the counter seemed unthrilled to be taking my order. So I went with the pizza seitan because it seemed safe, and garlic fries.

Not the best photo ever, sorry.  My hand may have been shaking with anticipation! It was tasty! The garlic fries though.....oh sweet baby jesus! Cooked to perfection, and the garlic was really fine, almost crushed, or paste-like, so that it coated each and every fry.  Soooooooo bomb.  Unfortunately, the side effect was garlic burps for the next 12 hours, which friend #2 in SF did not appreciate.  Especially since he was doing me a favor by letting me come over to get out of my dark, powerless house....oops.

Just looking at the photo is making me hungry again. Nom noms.  Normally I'd include hours and location here, but I gave you a link, and I really was trying to keep this short, so figure it out like a genius. 

PS-Although I naysayed the man behind the counter, he actually ended up being quite nice, and leaned over the partition that keeps the savages out of the kitchen, to make sure that I was enjoying everything (which I wouldn't even expect from a place where you order at a counter and then that person cooks your food)...So suck on that Herbivore.  It's called a checkback, WHAT?!?

Jumpin' on the Jackfruit Bandwagon

Maybe you didn't realize but there is a Jackfruit bandwagon, and I wanna ride that ride!  Basically if Vegan Dad attempts it I figure it's worth a go-ahead.  And yes, I do realize that in my first week of blogging I've mentioned this dude like 3 times, I can't help it, his food gets my cooking panties wet! (Don't email me when you read this Mom! The guy knows his shit! If I can't obsess over another foodie then life just isn't worth living.)

So, once again, huge score at the Asian Market!! That'll be another post, but Inner Richmond you rocked my socks off.  Once I get a couple paychecks under my belt I will be back, fo' sure!  I found the Jackfruit, which bestie #1 in Washington had mentioned before ( and of course I'd seen on Vegan Dad's blog), and I bought some barbecue sauce in the can.  That's right, I'm not embarrassed, I've proven my bbq skills, shoooot. The Jackfruit looks pale, and pink, and like some kind of dead meat that you've never eaten before cuz it was too gross even when you did put dead things in your mouth, and the barbecue sauce was not good.  Or maybe just way more Asian inspired that what I had in mind...Or gross.  Way too much of a soy/peanut flavor, no sweetness, and too much fivespice.  And the whole thing in general was too greasy and grainy.  So this next step just goes to show why I will never have a cookbook. To try and compensate for the obvious flaws in this bbq sauce, I added marinara (that's right, I added Italian to my Korean flavor-call it a fusion if  you will), and then I added this little to-go ramekin of this spicy sauce that the world's best falafel place gives you when you get takeout (perhaps this is the trifecta of world flavors? or perhaps not), and then I added a fair amount of sugar, and red pepper flakes.

Does it look super greasy? That's cuz it is.  On the plus side, this is not dinner tonight.  From reading VD and Chow Vegan's blog supposedly this is supposed to taste waaaaaay better after having a little downtime.  So I'm thinking, probably not this weekend cuz I work doubles like hella, but maybe on Monday, I make a little slaw, get some buns, and really do this right.  Also, I bet if this sits in the fridge for a couple days the oil will separate and I can possibly skim it off.  Yep, brainstormin' like a madman up in this kitchen.  So I'll let you know.

On a side note, I'm probably going to throw the seeds away, but I found several recipes online for roasting them.  Supposedly they're super tasty....

The Next Day...

So I know I said I wasn't going to eat these til after the weekend, but I took a little nibble after I shut down my computer, and it tasted fine.  In fact, all i tasted was bbq sauce, so I'm going to go ahead and call this recipe a success! I ended up putting it in tacos with some vegan cream cheese and a little daiya, super tasty.  My end result was waaaay more saucy than the other examples I've seen, so maybe I just drowned the natural flavor of the Jackfruit, but still, the texture was right on.


* I also remembered after the fact that I started out by sauteing  up some onions before I added all the other ingredients and somewhere in there I added 1/2 glass of wine or so.  Shiraz, from Australia.  Now it's a quadfecta!

Cleaning out the Fridge

So, due to circumstances somewhat beyond our control my roommates and I spent the last couple days without electricity and heat.  Which is part of the reason I got back into blogging since I've spent a lot of time at coffee shops lately.  Despite filling the fridge/freezer with ice, and maintaining a somewhat normal temperature, some of the veggies definitely needed to be used significantly sooner than they did 3 days ago. Yesterday was one of those days where I had too many good ideas floating around in my head, and I ended up attempting to combine them into one recipe, sometimes this works out really well, sometimes not so well.  I'm going to give my Chx Scaloppine a 5-star on that one.  Yummy, yet I feel the urge to remake it with some significant changes.

Although I got the idea for this dish from Vegan Dad who was inspired by an equally delicious looking recipe on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, the end result was pretty different for a couple reasons.  Firstly, I had some Fresh Wheat Gluten that I had found at an Asian market, and it had to go.  I had opened the package the day before we lost power and the texture is similar enough to bread where it seems to me that it would go bad fast. Secondly, years ago, when I ate meat, I had a favorite spicy, olive chicken recipe that I actually got from Giada on the Food Network, so I ended up referring back to that recipe more than either of the others when I was cooking.

For those of you that haven't seen Fresh Wheat Gluten at a store before, it is weird.  I don't know if it always comes the same way, being as this is the first time I've ever seen it.  I honestly can't remember how much I paid for it either, since I saw it, knew I must try it, and that was that!  But I'm guessing still a better deal than the typical Westsoy seitan pieces you see more often in a grocery store.  And totally different.  Did I say it was weird?  It basically looked like a chunk cut out of a big round loaf of bread.  Very spongy, and way dryer than any seitan I've seen.  It makes me wonder what Quickie's seitan looks like before it's marinated and cooked.....

I'll have to do some research on this style of seitan and get back to you, but I think for certain recipes it could work really well and and be totally delicious.  For my recipe, I'll make my seitan from scratch next time.

This is what the Fresh Wheat Gluten looked like after I breaded and pan-fried it.  Probably not necessary, but I was hoping the Whole Grain Drink (how does that manage to sound ghetto?) I soaked it in would stop it from soaking up all the wine/lemon juice from the scaloppine  portion of the dish, and then since I had it soaked in Drink, I figured bread that shit and fry it! Hells ya!

This is the Fresh Wheat Gluten back in the pan with all the other ingredients from the recipe, plus tomatoes.

Individual portion.  I made pasta because that's what I used to eat with it when it was a dead thing....in hindsight, waaaaay too many carbs.  I felt incredibly full afterwards, yet still hungry.  Dammit all to hell! But isn't it purty?

I think after all these paragraphs and pictures the life lesson of the day is: why would you ever deviate from Vegan Dad's idea.  DUMB!

Less Exciting Than Cookin'

Before I went to Cookin' today, I had myself some lunch with my lonesome at Herbivore.  Now, I don't want to hate on anything vegan, especially something that is fairly well-known, and been around for awhile.  And let me preface this by saying I've only been here a grand total of 3 times, and none of those times have I gone all out in the manner that I usually do when visiting a vegan joint that is new to me.  So for instance, while at Millenium for the first time I managed to test at least 2 appetizers, 3 entrees, and 2 desserts thru the skillful planning and huge feedbags of my friends and I, even though I've  been to Herbivore 3 times, I've only tried 4 things.  Getting the picture? So now that I've explained why my Herb. experience might be a little shortsighted let me go ahead and speak what's on my mind...is it just me, or does Herbivore kinda suck? They have the word grill in their title, but nothing I've ever had there has been hot, luke warm across the board.  That's including the grilled veggie appetizer and the Black Bean soup of the day that I had for lunch today.  Then there's the bruschetta app. I've had before (which technically doesn't need to be served warm, i guess), and my sammich which described grilled tempeh, which again, could reasonable be served cold, but the fact that it was luke warm leads me to believe that perhaps it should have been hot.  I dunno.

On top of this, the waitress was uninspired.  My afterglow from Cookin' is going to keep me from climbing up on my service industry soapbox, but I just really have no appreciation for someone that is going to completely half-ass their job and then expect a tip for it.  After being a bitch to the restaurant world for the last ten years I'm going to share a secret, something that I myself invented.....it's called the checkback.  OH WAIT!! I didn't invent that: call it common sense, call it corporate training, call it being a good server.....if you drop off my food and I don't hear a word from you until you drop off my bill, you suck.  What if there was a problem with my food (despite it just being mediocre)? What if I needed a condiment? What if I wanted another beverage? or dessert? You don't know, because you never bothered to check back with me.  And by the way, part of the perk of any restaurant, and I assume definitely a vegan restaurant, is the fact that you can eat at your job! But don't do it in front of me.  Do it in the server  aisle where everyone else is eating, or the breakroom.  You don't even need to wash your hands before coming  back to me, I'm not weird about that kind of thing, but don't feed yourself with your hands and then drop off my food.  GROSS!

*Climbs off soapbox*  Anyway, I'll probably give it another try, maybe an entree (although lord help them if that's not HOT), but to be completely honest I went to Jay's Cheesesteak the day before, which is not vegan, but has vegan options, and I was much  more pleased with the food and the service.  More on that later.

Cookin'

My first post is gonna be something I'm really truly excited about and in fact, may still have an afterglow. A little, used, kitchen-supply store called Cookin'!  I've heard good things from my roommate (and person #1 I know in SF), and looked it up online.  Oh my sweet baby Jesus was Yelp forthcoming with information (insert nervous laughter here)....I don't even know what to say, you basically have to go read the reviews yourself.  All I can say for sure is that after reading them I wanted to go even more!!  Commentary ranges from how helpful the staff is to how the owner might potentially suck out your soul and crush it with her black heart!  Maybe this is the Tacoma talking in me, but that just sounds like a good time.  HOWEVER! I was disappointed, because apparently the owner is in France, and in her place was a very helpful, nice man named Rico.  We talked periodically over the hour, hour and a half that I spent trying to explore every nook and cranny of the shop, during which I mentioned the reviews online and assured him that he was not mentioned.  Apparently the reputation of the owner and the shop is well known, even by the staff.  I grabbed a business card on my way out, I totally know her name, I just can't remember it right now, so until I get my shit together we'll just say she's like Voldemort, and you can't say her name out loud. 

The shop is tiny. And it is cramped. And it is dusty. And everything is piled in stacks that seem to recommend not touching anything (you break you for sure buy in this place), but it is truly amazing! Anything you need they have five of (at least).  I have a ton of stuff in storage in Washington that I need to go back for soon, but lately I've been developing an interest in baking, which I've never really done before.  So I figure, buying a few baking supplies is completely legit and necessary in order for me to scrape by in the kitchen....right?  So i got a pastry scraper, and a french rolling pin, and a ricer (not really a baking item, but I've been wanting one, and I wanna perfect my gnocchi, and I hear they help), oh, and a dough blender, which is completely unnecessary, but it was $5 and looks vintage. So I feel like I made out like a bandit, and couldn't be happier, and yes I'm still glowing from the joy of being completely immersed in cooking supplies.

The Deets
Cookin'
339 Divisadero St.
(b/w Oak & Paige)
SF, CA 94117
Tues-Sat 12pm-6:30pm
Sunday 1pm-5pm

*Two things of interest, despite being right down the road from me apparently this is considered part of Lower Haight, hopefully that helps you find it. Also, apparently Tuesday is a good day to go because it's "pricing day" and new stuff gets put out.