To Live and Eat in L.A. – A Vegan Food Photo Blog

My latest visit to the Bay Area involved a whole lot of fun, and a whole lot of eating. Here are some of the highlights:

This was the Aloo gobi (potato and cauliflower curry) from India Palace restaurant in Oakland. It was really good, as was the garlic naan, rice and yummy chutney. In retrospect this was probably not vegan, I always forget that most Indian food is cooked with ghee (clarified butter), which no doubt went a long way in making it taste as good as it did.

This tasty vegan sweet corn tamale with vegetables and black beans came from the Grand Lake Oakland Farmers’ Market.

Ah, now we’re getting to the seriously good stuff! After my failed attempt at having Zante’s pizza the last time I was in San Francisco (they are closed on Sundays despite the 7 days a week sign!), the efforts of my trusty pizza pals and I finally paid off.

Zante’s is an Indian restaurant with a twist… they also serve pizza… vegan Indian food pizza! I know it might sound weird at first, but trust me, it’s the most brilliant thing ever. We ordered the “Best Indian Pizza” (that’s really what it’s called, and it’s true), vegan style. They use crispy, thin crust, a very special green onion based sauce (and you know I don’t like onions, so that should tell you just how good this is if I love it) and top it with spinach, eggplant, cauliflower, ginger, garlic (a whole hell of a lot of garlic!), green onions and cilantro.

Mere words cannot describe how amazing this pizza is. If you live in the San Francisco area or plan to visit, you absolutely must try it!

Another very satisfying discovery for us… vegan Jamaican and African food at Vital Ital Calabash in Berkeley (there is also one in Oakland). Everything on the menu here was healthy and sounded amazing. I had the “Negril Jerk Bliss”, homemade jerk sauce on a tofu-veggie patty with lettuce and sprouts on a cracked wheat bun. I got it with all the fixin’s, all of which I don’t remember, but in looking at the picture, obviously one was vegan cheese. As the menu says: “from Negril to the Bay, this burger screams Reggae!”. It was really good, the sauce was slightly sweet with a hint of spicy. If I lived up there I’d probably eat at this groovy little place all the time.

These were the super good fried plantains with jerk sauce. Though they were fried, they weren’t at all greasy.

Here’s the cool and spicy ginger beer (non-alcoholic). It tasted freshly made, not something they just poured out of a bottle. Delicious and refreshing.

This was the eggplant and roasted red pepper sandwich at what I think was called the Lakeshore Cafe in Oakland. Everything about it was great, though I also realized about halfway into it that the pesto on the sandwich probably wasn’t vegan as it had probably been made with parmesan cheese. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. The salad was good too (I was quite in need of fresh vegetables at this point), as was the strawberry mimosa.

Last but defintely not least, a fabulous way to end a fabulous weekend, a fine meal at Golden Lotus vegetarian restaurant in Oakland. Golden Lotus is one of those awesome veggie restaurants known for their fake meat dishes, and they specialize in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine. And boy do they!

First up we had the Vietnamese style spring rolls. These were really good and I regret not taking a picture of the inside to share with you. They were stuffed with basil and mint and nuts and I don’t even know what else. The sauce was tasty and mild and heaped with peanuts.

This was the delicious Spicy Lemongrass Chicken. I’m not sure what the fake chicken is made of but given the texture I assumed it was seitan. The flavor of the sauce was just perfect.

This dish, the Tamarind Beef, was out of this world good. The sauce was thick, almost gravy like, with a sweet-spicy tamarind tang. The faux-beef was covered in heaping mound of mint leaves and peanuts, and served with puffy rice crackers. Like the chicken, I think this beef was also made of seitan.

Not the best photo, but here’s a close-up to give you a better look under all the toppings. Like Zante’s, take my word for it and consider Golden Lotus in Oakland a must stop for amazing vegan food that even your meat-loving friends will be able to enjoy.

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.

Finally, the highlight meal of the weekend took place at Greens Restaurant, the holy grail of upscale vegetarian restaurants. I was so looking forward to visiting this place, and it didn’t disappoint one bit.

When we were there, they were serving from their prix fixe menu… a set price with a selection of appetizers, entrees and desserts featuring fresh, organic ingredients.

My appetizer was the wilted spinach salad with treviso, red orach, frisee, pink lady apples, roasted onions, pumpkin seeds, cider vinegar and hot olive oil. This would also come with chevre cheese which they leave off by request for vegans. After picking out the easy to spot onions, I happily gobbled this right up.

My entree was the ‘Tagine – Spring vegetables’ with tomatoes, chickpeas, saffron, ginger and cilantro. Served with cherry pistachio pearl couscous and grilled artichokes with lemon oil. Hot damn was this good! By the time I was done with it, the plate was spotless and without even one couscous pearl in sight.

And finally for dessert, the vegan chocolate cake with poached Michigan cherries. Rich and delicious.

Wow, not only was everything here fantastic, but it’s also in a beautiful location at Fort Mason, right on the water. Greens Restaurant would be excellent for any sort of fancy dining events such as birthdays, anniversaries, and I’d imagine especially a nice romantic date with someone special. The view is breathtaking.

I had a great time visiting with friends and eating my little heart out on all the fine vegetarian fare that the bay area has to offer. Now it’s time to get back to reality and hit the gym. I don’t even want to think about how many calories I consumed in a short three days… yikes! What can I say, sometimes you just gotta live it up and throw caution (and diets) to the wind in order to experience the bounty right in front of you…though I’ll probably be singing a totally different tune once I step back on the scale. Goodbye San Francisco, hello Stair Master.