My eating frenzy this weekend while in San Francisco began appropriately enough at Herbivore, a vegan restaurant with two locations… I visited the one in the Mission district on Valencia. I think it’s safe to say that this place is any vegetarians dream eatery, with an extensive and affordable selection of items ranging from American style burgers and sandwiches, to Asian noodle and curry dishes, through to Middle Eastern and Italian style fare. Seriously, they’ve got anything you could possibly want.
I ordered the shawarma wrap which is made with grilled seitan, seasoned onions (and I didn’t even hate them), tomatoes, hummus, hot sauce, pickles and tahini, and served with a green salad. For a bit extra they’ll also stuff it full of potatoes and eggplant. Who was I to say no to that?
It was so totally yummy! I can’t really say that it tasted anything like real shawarma, but that hardly seemed to matter considering just how delicious it was on it’s own merit. As you can see, it’s gigantic and could easily feed two or three people. And no, I didn’t share.
On my second visit to Herbivore I got their veggie shish kabob. This was basically grilled tofu and vegetables on skewers (corn, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms) served over brown rice and with two different sauces (lemon-garlic & peanut orange-miso). Simple yet delicious.
And how could I pass up dessert? We’re talking a vegan carrot cake the size of a small island in the Pacific. Truly delicious, and so big that even with four of us digging into it, there was nearly a third of it left over when we were all stuffed. How is it that some people still think that vegan food is boring?
Last but certainly not least, I had breakfast at Herbivore on my last day there. I got the scrambled tofu with with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes (and a lot of garlic) with house potatoes.
As you see it comes with yummy whole grain toast, but I passed that up in favor of a sideorder of the blueberry cornbread. Words really cannot convey how amazing this bread is…cornbread has always been one of my favorite foods on earth, and the addition of delicious blueberries along with vegan buttery spread just took it over the top. All this along with the double soy-latte that I ordered had me in a sufficent enough breakfast food coma just in time for my flight back home to L.A.
that shawarma with roasted eggplant and potato is my favorite thing on the herbivore menu! i also love how they roast their corn there–so good. looks like you ate well, but then, in sf how could you not?
Emilie: For sure this was one of my favorite meals of the trip. Anyone who lives up there that I mentioned it to was like “oh yes… that’s my favorite”. One gal I met eats there all the time, but she said she’s never tried anything else on the menu because once she gets there, she can’t resist the shwarma!
everything looks amazing, but the blueberry cornbread is calling my name!
Emily: Yes, that blueberry cornbread was so good… out of all the amazing stuff I ate while on my trip, I must admit that in the long run, the simple cornbread will be what lives on in my memory. Gotta go back soon for some more!
it’s so good to have you back! so many tempting pictures. I’m going to NYC soon, but you’re making me wish I would go to SF and LA. ;]
[...] wasn’t constantly in danger of exploding and dripping like wraps are wont to do. (These pictures are much better than [...]