[Update 2/2010: Sadly Weird Fish has removed most of these delicious vegan options from their menu... which sucks. I'll leave this up for historical purposes so that we can all recall sadly what we're missing.]

Let’s head back up north to check out another delicious meal I had on my recent visit to San Francisco. I’d heard quite a bit about Weird Fish, a restaurant in the Mission District that along with serving the real deal, also offers a delicious version of vegan fish & chips, along with many other vegan specialties.

I was eager to try this place… I loved fish & chips as a kid so if they could pull off a reasonable vegan facsimile I would be very pleased.

They did, and I was.

Before we get to the fish, let’s have a gander at this gorgeous appetizer I shared with my buddy, The Buffalo Girls: seitan with buffalo sauce & vegan ranch dressing. I wasn’t quite prepared for how awesome these faux-wings turned out to be…

You’ve got thick & generous breading on the outside covering a well seasoned, slightly peppery hunk of chewy seitan on the inside. This would be delicious on it’s own but then it’s slathered up in the most amazing hot & slightly sweet, perfectly sticky buffalo sauce, turning this into something I was still craving long after devouring every last deep-fried morsel. Hot damn those were good!

Cool off that fiery mouth of yours by dipping your buffalo girl in some tasty herbed vegan ranch. The ranch was so creamy and yummy that I had to ask twice to make sure they’d given me the vegan one. They assured me that they had, it was just that good.

While I of course had to try the seitan fish & chips I’d heard so much about, our server suggested we try the vegan sampler which comes with the fish & chips (the chips being their house fries, a mix of yams and potatoes) along with fried tofu and fried zucchini. Great idea… bring it on!

The pieces you see on the right are the fish & chips. I’m pretty sure this was the same seitan that was in the buffalo wings, though the batter was different, but equally great. This didn’t taste anything like real fish but that’s totally cool with me because it was in every other way fantastic… doused with malt vinegar, it took me right back to being a kid enjoying H Salt.

The fried zucchini was great, they managed to keep it tasting crisp & fresh while not seeming undercooked or greasy. Having a vegetable in the mix was nice for balancing out all the heaviness of the other items. The fries, or chips if you will, were good too though ours were slightly overdone.

The tofu was ok but my least favorite. It had the same tasty batter but the inside was just a plain slab of firm tofu. It didn’t taste like it had had much done to it, so it was kind of boring. The sampler came served with a trio of sauces on the side (sesame, vegan ranch and I think, BBQ), so dipping the tofu into any one of those boosted it from bland to pretty-good-for-fried-plain-tofu status.

My companion in foodeating was even more of glutton than I, he also ordered the beautiful item you see below, the Chico Taco: vegan chorizo, guacamole and sour cream. They do have a vegan sour cream but he had them leave that off for some reason. (what?!)

I didn’t get to taste this because I was already so stuffed, but I trust my friend’s opinion when he told me that it was excellent. Sure looks good, doesn’t it?

Weird Fish has a bunch of other scrumptious sounding vegan goodies on their menu (which does change so don’t expect all the same stuff all the time), such as the “Wako Taco” (with yams, market greens, guacamole & pepitas), fried kosher dill pickles with chipotle & vegan ranch, spicy tortilla soup, something called “Little B. Stack” (which involves grilled yams, tofu, market greens, vegan mozzarella with buffalo sauce), fried plantains and more.

They also have a famous weekend brunch, also with vegan goodies like pancakes, chorizo tofu, a “Fake Philly” (comes with seitan, onions, peppers & vegan jack cheese) and more. YUM… everything sounds amazing!

Now apparently the deal with this place according to some is that they keep weird hours, sometimes have a long wait (it’s pretty small, only a few tables), have an occasionally rude staff and are known to run out of things. They’ve got some terrible reviews from disgruntled customers on Yelp mixed with some very positive ones. I can only speak for my own experience which I highly enjoyed. They were open when they said they’d be, we were the only people there at the time and didn’t have to wait, they had everything we wanted to eat on hand and our server was super friendly, very helpful and actually excited to help us pick out our vegan options. So cool in fact that they even drew me this adorable little vegan doodle on the back of my receipt:

In case you can’t read the tiny writing, it says “I’m gonna be a vegan!“… so cute!

You’ll just have to see for yourself what you think of Weird Fish if you ever get a chance to try it out, and try it out I suggest you do. I wouldn’t let the naysayers deter you from getting to eat at this unique and delicious restaurant. We don’t have anything like this in L.A. and I’m really glad I got to go there and can’t wait to go back. I recommend calling ahead to find out exactly when they will be open and what vegan options are available that day. Brunch guarantees a long wait so bring a book or a friend and deal with it, it’ll be worth it. Cover your bases and you should be good to go. Enjoy!

Weird Fish
2193 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-4744
www.weirdfishsf.com

One door closes, another door opens. Here in L.A. I’m still mourning the closure of one our best vegan soul food restaurants, Taste of Life (still serving weekend’s at the Hollywood Farmers Market), but up in Oakland they’re celebrating the re-opening of their best soul food place, Souley Vegan.

Souley’s had been a staple at the Oakland Farmers Market in Lake Merritt and had also opened up a restaurant, but they didn’t stay open for very long. Much to my luck, my recent visit up north coincided with the grand reopening of Souley’s in their new Oakland location in Jack London Square. Even though they’d only just opened their doors to the public, they were more than ready to take care of us, both with very friendly service as well as enormous portions of amazing food. They might have been extra nice to us that day because my friend and I were dressed as superheros (don’t judge) but I’m pretty sure they’re just as nice to everyone. As much as I love Taste of Life, I gotta admit the incredible food at Souley’s really gives them a run for their money. Have a gander…

These little bites of ridiculous deliciousness are the Fried Okra. Pretty much just what the sign says… battered up, deep fried, served up hot & crunchy. These are so damn good, my partner in crime Jason & I practically devoured this entire plate in seconds flat.

And that was just for starters…

This gorgeous ensemble is the “Everything Plate”, which gets you, well, just about everything. Perfect! We’re talking black eyed peas, lentils, potato salad, BBQ tofu, collard greens, macaroni & cheese, sweet yams… damn, it was a lot of food, and every forkful of it was pure southern style heaven.

The mac & cheese is so yummy… I wouldn’t say it tastes like real cheese, but who cares, it’s delicious. I love their BBQ tofu which tasted is if it had been marinated a good amount of time in the sauce which was nicely infused and slightly caramelized. The greens were excellent, as were the beans and lentils (though one of those two was a little bit on the salty side for me, though I can’t remember now which one). The yams were sticky and sweet and just right.

Along with the Everything Plate we splurged even further and also got the Southern Fried tofu which is meant to approximate something like fried chicken, but which, like most vegan stuff made by people with mad skills, actually tastes so much better than the “real” thing.

Seriously folks, this Southern Fried Tofu is no joke, it’s one of the best things I had on my whole trip (and I had a lot of good stuff!). It’s all about the breading with this, which is very thick, layered in scalloped chunks, crunchy and perfectly seasoned to be reminiscent of all the good things you might remember about fried chicken, but minus the dead bird of course. The inside is just basically a slab of tofu, but the tofu soaks up the flavor from the batter and once it all comes together in some blessed hot oil, something miraculous occurs and this glorious hunk of crispy fried love is the result. If you’re ever at Souley’s you absolutely must order this… do not miss the opportunity, I would say it’s their specialty and I’ve never had anything like it anywhere else.

Surely you can’t have a proper soul food meal without cornbread, and you know I wouldn’t have it any other way. The cornbread at Souley’s is extra tasty, just like everything else. I love this place and it’s one of many reasons I can’t wait to get back to the Bay Area for another visit as soon as possible. If you find yourself anywhere near Oakland and are ready for some excellent food that I guarantee will rock your world, venture on into the hood and move Souley’s right up to the top of your list (and please bring me back some of that fake fried chicken- I’ll do anything).

Souley Vegan
301 Broadway
(at 3rd St)
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 922-1615
Tue-Sat. 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

p.s… I’ve learned that since I was there they’ve also started serving desserts such as sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, carrot cake, cheesecake and all sorts of crazy delicious shakes & juices… geez, won’t someone please take pity on me and donate a round trip ticket for one from Burbank to Oakland???

I recently paid the San Francisco Bay Area a long overdue visit, and as you might expect my primary activity while there was eating. In this next series of posts I’ll share with you some of the awesome stuff I got to try. There were so many new and as of yet undiscovered (to me) vegan options to enjoy since my last trip north, I could barely fit all the stuff I wanted to try into my few days there. Not easily deterred, my friend and I were determined to fit as many meals into five days as possible.

Barely off the plane in Oakland and into my host’s snazzy convertible, he quickly whisked me away for my first meal in town. Now, where we went was definitely not on my list of places to go, and frankly, is not the sort of place I’d usually think of or want to eat at. He assured me however that not only would I get a delicious meal where we were headed, but that I’d also really enjoy the scenic location. Ok, I’m good for whatever and I’ll trust a 20 year vegan to show me where to find yummy food while in his own hood. (yeah 20 years- he’s a superhero!)

Where did he take me? Chevys Fresh Mex. Chevys is part of a mega-franchise that also owns El Torito and Acapulco, some of the more popular “casual dining Mexican restaurants” across the country. Walking into Chevys is like walking into Disneyland meets a cantina meets a sports bar. At first I didn’t get where he was coming from telling me this place was scenic, but that all changed when we were taken to our seat on the outside deck, and suddenly I realized we were perched right above the water! I didn’t even know we were near the beach but here I was, magically transported to the water’s edge on a beautiful pier just before sunset. This location truly was lovely and I could see why my friend knew I would like it. This was the Emeryville location by the way, but you’ll find Chevys all over the country. The nearest one down here in L.A. is in Burbank, which for those of you who are geographically impaired, is not near any bodies of water- and therefore probably nowhere near as cool as this one.

To start things off right I had the ginormous green margarita shown up at the top. After drinking that whole thing down during the course of dinner, I have no recollection of exactly what type of margarita it actually was… they’ve got a giant drinks menu filled with fancy Tequilas that those of you who care about that sort of thing will probably find impressive. Me… I just told my friend I wanted something fruity and that’s what I ended up with. And it was good.

[Update: It was a Midori Melon Margarita]

We were served the ubiquitous chips & salsa, and their spicy roasted salsa was quite good. Along with that we also ordered the guacamole, which is prepared fresh tableside right before your very eyes. Be sure to tell your server that you want it vegan so that they don’t put sour cream in it.

Something about being so attentively catered to, along with the fresh ingredients of course, made this guacamole extra delicious. That, and our waiter was also totally cute and having fun serving us because he said had a roommate who is vegan and he seemed to want to impress us with his knowledge on the topic. Cool, we felt taken care of and in good hands.

I let my friend do the ordering. I can’t find exactly what we had on their condensed online menu, but this is basically a vegetarian fajita combo platter that comes with an epic amount of gorgeous food. The rice and beans are vegetarian.

You get a giant serving of fresh grilled mixed vegetables, spanish rice, black beans, even more guacamole, and a tasty sweet corn tamalito… this was basically a dallop of mashed up sweet tamale and it was really, really good.

This all comes served with their fresh tortillas which are flipped and baked on site by a machine they’ve named El Machino. How authentic! Not really, but you can watch it through a big window and you can’t say they don’t try hard here to entertain. I’ve received conflicting reports as to if these tortillas are vegan or not. One source said they are made with whey, another said they are vegan, so unfortunately I can’t tell you for sure. If that’s a concern, opt out on the tortillas (which do not contain lard). I’m in touch with company and will update this as soon as I get some verification either way.

[Update November 5th: Nope, the tortillas are not vegan. I've confirmed this with their management, as well as the fact that the beans and rice are vegan. So, if you're vegan- don't eat the tortillas and have at it with the rice & beans.]

While this certainly wasn’t the best Mexican food I’ve ever had, it was quite good and managed to surpass my expectations. Maybe not authentic but definitely fresh (and delicious) as promised.

I can’t vouch for the local version of Chevys in Burbank because I haven’t been there but the one in Emeryville was quite nice and the setting is genuinely lovely. While this isn’t necessarily going to be your first choice for a top-notch vegan meal, it’s good to know there are options available should you find yourself there. If you’re in the area check it out the next time you want a meal with a view or just feel like kicking back with some handmade guacamole and a bigass green margarita.

www.chevys.com
Chevys Fresh Mex
1890 Powell Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
510-653-8210

or locally at:
701 N. San Fernando Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502
818-846-6999

[Update: Wow, this post hasn't even been up 24 hours and strangers are already coming here to give me shit about it. Yay! Look folks, I haven't claimed that Chevys is the mecca of vegan food, I've merely singled out one dish that's your best meat-free & dairy-free option at this place. If you're not comfortable eating at restaurants that aren't exclusively vegan than just don't eat there! In the meantime I'll continue to let you know about vegan options at omnivore restaurants whenever I feel they are worth sharing. Have you had any good experiences at Chevys with vegan or vegetarian meals? Bad experiences? Please tell us about them in the comments, but kindly keep the insults and rude remarks to yourselves, they will just be deleted.]

My reports back from my Bay Area visits are usually chock-full of tales about all the fantastic food I’ve had the pleasure to consume. Sadly my most recent visit was marred by the sudden onset of a stomach-flu type dealio which stuck around wrecking havoc with my tummy for about two days… with loss of appetite being the least of my worries (I’ll spare you the gory details). Thankfully I’m feeling much better now, and luckily I was able to get in a few great meals both before and after I got sick.

First up, vegan Vietnamese food in Alameda. Central Vegetarian Cuisine just recently opened up so I was excited to check them out. They are all vegetarian but not totally vegan, but most everything on the menu looked vegan, and they’ll veganized most things listed if you ask them to.

I ordered the Spicy Garlic Green Bean Tofu. This was a lot like Thai style Prik King, though not as spicy… I don’t think the sauce was chili based like the Thai dish. Still, the flavor and idea was similar. Very tasty, and a bit milder than it looks.

My non-vegetarian, salmon-loving friend had their Teriyaki veggie-Salmon and he appeared to really like it. I enjoyed it too… amazing how they can capture that fishy taste and texture without involving any real fishies. We had their spring rolls too, which were great as well. There were many more tempting options on the menu. Next time I’m going to have to try the caramelized chicken because it sure sounds like something my mouth would love.

After reading many reviews of the awesome tofu scrambles at Mimosa Cafe I finally had the chance to find out for myself. I’ve tried to eat there on a couple previous occasions but somehow always ended up there when they are closed (don’t go on a Monday or a holiday).

The scramble was very tasty. Unfortunately my stomach ailment was moving into full effect at this point and I only had a few bites. Too bad too because it was great and most of it just got wasted. This one came with tomatoes, spinach and mushroom. The mushrooms were supposed to be green onions but I asked for the substitution. They would normally have served this with grilled potatoes, but we got there as they were stopping their breakfast service and the grill was already off, so they let me get the veggie sausages instead. I think they were pretty good too, but by the time I tried them food was making me want to puke, so I’ll need to get you a better review next time I go. The plate also came with a tasty mango muffin. Good stuff… I regret being too ill to eat it at the time.

Next up we have some delicious Ethiopian food from a restaurant that I am ashamed to tell you that I don’t know the name of. See, a bunch of us were supposed to meet up at the Herbivore on Valencia, however, they were way too full at dinner time and we didn’t want to wait. Instead we tried the Ethiopian place about two blocks down and on the opposite side of the street. If I can get you more specific details I promise to pass them along!

This was the vegetarian combo for three people. In the middle is a spinach-potato item, surrounding that are the lentils, and on the outskirts of that, a carrot and potato combo. Served with green salad and injera bread. All of what you see here was fantastic. Again I was only able to eat a small amount but I did get to try everything, and it was all good.

Last but certainly not least, what trip up north would be complete without a stop at Herbivore? This went down the next day, and at their location in Berkeley, so there was no wait to contend with.

I got the vegan Shawarma (hard to resist getting this every time I come here). This time though I got the soy-chicken version (as opposed to the seitan version with eggplant) which comes with avocado & potatoes, seasoned onions, tomatoes, hummus, hot sauce, pickles & tahini in a wrap, and a green salad. I should have remembered to snap a picture of the inside to share with you all, but after a couple days of eating very little, you can imagine that I was ravenous by the time my appetite came back. When presented with such a delicious hunk of goodness, I was powerless to do anything other than devour it as quickly as possible.

I’m only now getting around to sharing my bay area food stories with you nearly a month after the fact, but as they say, good things come to those who wait. So without further adieu…

My first stop was Neecha Thai which recently opened in the Grand Lake district of Oakland. They are not an exclusively vegetarian restaurant but they have a plethora of vegetarian/vegan choices. For starters we had their incredible corn cakes. Think of these as an edible orgy of crispy, slightly chewy corn and lime love. Fantastic. [Update: Probably made with egg]

As I’d just stepped off a plane I opted for a lighter meal and went with their salad. Sadly I can’t recall it’s name or all of what was in it, but I do remember it involved apples, crispy yams and a very tasty, citrus dressing.

The next day we got to catch up with the folks vending vegan soul food at the Lake Merritt farmers market. Wow… this was so awesome! My plate consisted of spicy greens, stickily-sweet amazing yams and finger-lickin’ good BBQ tofu. They also had a great potato salad as well as a lentil dish. Now that’s some good eating right there.

Next came a special treat as we learned that Herbivore had just opened in their new Berkeley location on Shattuck. Of course I had to go!

First came our appetizer of soft tacos: “two soft taco shells with beans, guacamole, vegan sour cream and salsa”. Yum!

My entree was the Lemongrass Noodles: “Char-broiled vegetables garnished with fresh cilantro and crushed peanuts in a lemongrass-ginger dressing over rice noodles with tofu”. It was delicious with the strong and pungent flavor of the lemongrass and the spiciness of the ginger. Berkeley just got even that much cooler.

I’d heard tell that the vegan brunch at Fellini (also in Berkeley) is something else. I can now attest to the fact that these rumours are all true, it was excellent. I had the tofu scramble with vegan sausage, which came with grilled potatoes & vegan sour cream, wheat biscuit, jam and vegan butter.

Yet another breakfast spread, this time on another visit back to Herbivore.

I tell you, I can’t get enough of their blueberry cornbread. It’s the best thing on earth!

I had already starting moving stuff around on the plate before remembering to take a picture, which is why it looks a bit of a mess. Anyhow, this was their Southwestern style tofu scramble which comes with potatoes, black beans, guacamole, vegan sour cream and spicy cornbread. All of it rocked. Talk about being in multi-flavored cornbread heaven! I actually only tasted some of this savory-spicy version, which was great, but at that point I’d really had my fill and needed to go catch my plane.

Here’s to another delicious time well spent eating and cavorting up north. I highly recommend it.