if you go to san francisco, i highly recommend you eat at herbivore as many times as you can, ’cause that’s what i did. the menu is massive, the food is all vegan and everything tastes amazing. we made two stops at herbivore on the quarrygirl road trip, once for breakfast and once for the most delicious lunch. we dropped in to the valencia location on a sunday at 11am and the place was already in full swing. the service was a bit slow, but the meal more than made up for it.

grilled tempeh sandwich: lettuce, tomatoes, onions & pickles on french bread w/ garlic-lemon sauce. $9.50

a tempeh sandwich has the potential to be pretty boring, but in this case it definitely wasn’t. first off, the tempeh was juicy and perfectly flavored, and there was slice after thick, luscious slice of it piled high atop the bread. the french bread itself was fresh and baked just right: fluffy and pillowy on the inside, crisp and chalky on the outside. not to mention the crisp vegetables and the runny garlicky sauce. dude! it was great.

did i mention it came with a light and tasty side salad, as well as some ridiculously good potatoes? they served ours with breakfast potatoes that were so much better than the ones we had previously at the other herbivore location. they didn’t even need hot sauce to make them flavorful…which means a lot coming from me!

next up, and definitely the eating highlight of the entire road trip, we ordered the grilled seitan shawarma. now, i’d read about this before and knew i’d love it, but nothing could prepare me for the delicious repletion it provided.

grilled seitan shawarma: with seasoned onions, tomatoes, hummus, hot sauce, pickles & tahini in a wrap, with a green salad. $7.75

i got my wrap without pickles of course, and i gotta say it’s the best meal i’ve had in a long time. each bite was a flavor explosion, oozing creamy hummus and oily hot sauce. it was so freakin’ scrumptious. the seitan was also top notch—peppery, thick and juicy.

in this case, the picture really doesn’t do the food justice. but i guess a photograph can never really capture the most savory wrap i’ve ever eaten. you will just have to take my word for it!

i’m hoping herbivore opens a location someday in los angeles. did i mention they also have a dessert menu, a full bar and tap beer? it’s about time someone gave pure luck a run for their money.

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…and wow, i was impressed! the food was just incredible, and i managed to show up at a time when it wasn’t crowded and the atmosphere was pleasant. yay! here’s to one of LA’s tastiest breakfasts! thanks flore!

tofu benediction: fluffy sliced tofu, tomato slices, kale and avocado piled atop toasted batard and smothered in our own take on hollandaise sauce. served with tempeh bacon. $9.95

breakfast burrito: tofu scramble, tempeh bacon, potatoes, cashew cheese and avocado wrapped in a tortilla. served with pico de gallo and a side of fruit. $8.95

now as you know, i love saying what annoys be about any restaurant, or how i think they can improve. the thing about flore is, there’s nothing wrong with it—except maybe that there’s too much delicious food to choose from.

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wayward cafe is a modest cash-only co-op—a small house that’s been converted into an entirely vegan restaurant, located in a residential area of seattle’s university district. more importantly, it’s where i had the best breakfast of my entire life.

tempeh scramble: fried tempeh wedges, scrambled spicy seasoned tofu and steamed broccoli on a bed of spinach. served with a side of tahini sauce and toast. $7.50

breakfast burrito: scrambled seasoned tofu, tvp chorizo and spinach wrapped inside a grilled flour tortilla. topped with cilantro sour cream. served with a side of salsa fresca and home fries. $6.75

while there are a few things that kind of irritate me about this restaurant, the food is so wonderful it makes them all irrelevant. if i lived in seattle, i would eat at this place several days per week. i’m talking food so good, it rivals pure luck…if wayward cafe had tap beer, i’d surely move to washington.

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at my job, i am that “weird vegan”. you know the one i mean. i don’t eat anything at company meetings because i’m skeptical that any of the catered food is vegetarian, let alone vegan (vegetables have been known to take baths in butter or chicken stock before making their way to your plate)! i don’t eat birthday cake on co-workers’ birthdays. when benevolent people leave a tray of homemade goodies in the conference room, i don’t indulge. i err on the side of eating nothing that’s given to me, trusting nobody, and finding solace in my grocery store noodle bowls when everyone else is chowing down on company paid for meals. since you have reached the bottom of a paragraph on this vegan blog, maybe you are that “weird vegan” as well, and you can identify.

well, imagine my shock when my meat-eating co-workers insisted that i join them for lunch at a restaurant that was “right up my alley”. a restaurant i’d never tried. a restaurant that was almost entirely vegan. a restaurant that ended up being so good, i’m pretty damn pissed at hadn’t already discovered it myself. a restaurant called m café de chaya.

m café is a macrobiotic restaurant, which means almost all its food is vegan. the only animal product they use is fish, which is marked clearly on the menu in some dishes—everything else is completely meat, egg, and dairy free….even the pastries!

gado gado: organic mixed greens, napa cabbage, crisp vegetables, golden tempeh triangles marinated with ginger, lemongrass & lime, frizzled onions & spicy peanut dressing $11.45

the food was so good in fact, that i emailed my husband from the restaurant and insisted that i bring home m café carry-out that very night. please note, i specified carry-out. the atmosphere in the restaurant left much to be desired (tons of pushy customers, tiny tables, long wait times). so i thought i’d see how the food held up on its own.

and that all begs the question…m café: to go, or not to go?

the m chopped: organic hearts of romaine & mixed greens, avocado, cucumber, chickpeas herb-baked tofu, scallions, ume-pickled radishes, carrots, beets, tamari-roasted almonds, crumbled tempeh “bacon” , tofu-peppercorn ranch. $11.45

the big macro: whole grain brown rice and veggie burger, special sauce, lettuce, tofu cheese, pickles, onion & sprouts on a house-baked whole wheat bun. $11.45

so what was the result? should you order food at mcafé to go and have to warm it up yourself and do your own dishes? or should you suffer the fools and claustrophobia, and eat your food at the restaurant?

keep reading…

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congrats veggie grill, you have yourself another return customer! i went once before, i was kinda impressed, and now i’m back! despite the rampant blog controversy, i trust you veggie grill, plus i don’t give a crap about the egg content of your wine, because i don’t drink it.

bali bliss: indonesian styled tempeh, sauteed and grilled, lettuce, tomato, red onion, chipotle ranch…with a side of kale (an additional $1.95) $8.45 total

the v-burger: marinated and grilled veggie-steak burger, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onion, chipotle ranch…plus a portobello mushroom (an additional $1.50) $9.75 total

now before you start to think this is merely a fluff piece praising the VG, i want to make it very clear that i definitely have some complaints about the restaurant:

1. it’s expen$ive!
and mostly because of add-on costs, which i completely hate. most restaurants give you a sandwich and a reasonable side for no extra charge. well, not the veggie grill. they give you a sandwich and thimble of coleslaw. if you want fries, salad, or kale you are gonna pay an extra $1.95. that’s like an additional 1/3 of the price! ugh. similarly, if you wanna add some avocado or mushrooms to your stack, it’ll cost ya $1.50. i myself prefer the pure luck model: they give you avocado on almost everything, and then charge you a buck if you want more of it.

2. bell peppers are inevitable.
yep, on every dish they sprinkle an un-announced bell pepper/parsley combo, not to mention the unexpected vomitous “relish” that sporadically appears on a number of dishes—this pukey mixture contains not just bell peppers, but other unmentionables that taste like fruit? pickles? onions? snot? i dunno. it’s the hotdog of condiments, you aren’t quite sure what you are eating. suffice to say, i always specify that i want my meal without any bell peppers or relish, and since these items aren’t even mentioned on the menu, you are on your own to remember!

3. i hate the word veggie.
i always have. it’s way too cute, and i feel embarrassed even saying it. i think “veggie grill” is a stupid name…not just because of that word, but also because it’s too damn literal.

phew. now that i can put all that petty animus behind me, i fully endorse the veggie grill. at the end of the day, the food is pretty damn good.

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the final day of coachella 2008, sunday april 27, featured the best vegan festival food to date. yet it was a bitter-sweet victory over the past couple days, because the selection of food (and alcohol) was just TOO GOOD.

so good, in fact, that your humble narrator spent most of the day relaxing in the shade, munching on snacks, smoking cigarettes and sipping cocktails…rather standing in the heat, fighting off hipsters, coughing up secondhand weed and waiting for the “next big thing(s)” to take the stage.

vegetarian sushi with a side of inari: $12.

marinated tofu wrap with vegetables and peanut sauce: $9.

marinated tempeh burger with vegetable and tahini: $9.

that’s right, my friends…i was so seduced by the fresh sushi, crisp wrap, and savory burger, that i barely had time to enjoy any music at all. oh…and did i mention the alcohol?
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