My job for Bay Area Vegetarians

[Guest guest]

Phew—I’m exhausted!  I’m a professional restaurant reviewer

for Bay Area Vegetarians.  This means I

have to go out to restaurants, eat fabulous vegan food with really great

people, and then type in 30 second reviews to the Ultimate Guide.  I don’t know how I do it, to be honest.  I guess the pay helps me deal with the

intense pressure.

 

(I get paid with a full tummy and when I submit my

restaurant bills to BAV they promptly reimburse me with an e-mail message that

says, “Thanks, Alex!”)

 

This past week I put in a lot of extra hours, and I want to recommend

one new place and one new-to-the-veg-world place. 

 

 

All About Herbs near Union

Square:  Drop whatever you’re doing and go

there now.  Tiny restaurant that

only exists at night, without any signage, sort of like Narnia.  You have to walk through the decidedly

un-interesting Café Paris to get to the magical land where organic tofu is

the Lion King and the evil monster Meat has been banished.  It’s mostly Thai food, or at least

Thai-ish, and it’s all veg. 

Quite simply the best veg Thai food I’ve had.  Ever. 

And yes, I do get out often. 

The tofu and vegetables are all super fresh and perfectly cooked—perfectly.  The sauces are seasoned with things like

fresh kefir lime leaves and ginger, full of flavor instead of the

imitation stuff that just tastes like sugar and soy sauce and coconut milk.  Nothing is heavy or greasy, not even the

fried oyster mushrooms.  Healthy

portions, gorgeous presentations, and great prices!  My date and I had one appetizer and two

entrees and we were full (I’m a big eater).  It’s an itsy-bitsy place so you

might have to wait for a table or wait a bit for service, but they are

anxious to make their customers happy.  They thought our app was taking too long

and brought us fresh tea on the house before we even thought to

complain.  So don’t go if you’re

in a rush or you have a movie to catch, unless you get there right at 5:30 when they open. 

 

 

 

Weird Fish on Mission.  This is not an all-veg place, sadly, and

I apologize in advance to all who are offended by this.  But I don’t apologize very much

because I think it’s fabulous to have a non-veg place proudly

serving vegan food.  The food is yummy, like only good comfort food

can be. Fresh, home-made, light, organic. 

A lot of it’s fried.  I

know I said it’s both “light” and “fried.”  Taste it to see why.  They have vegan fish and chips made with

your choice of tofu, tempeh or seitan. 

The chips are home-made potato and yam fries.  Tofu tacos.  Tofu scramble and vegan pancakes for

brunch.  Unusual side dishes like

spinach with lemon and dates, or a salad with green olives and roasted

beets.  They have…stop reading

if you’re delicate…deep fried pickles.  Vegan. 

YUM.  Vegan buffalo wings,

tortilla soup, rice and beans.  Even

special vegan home-made desserts like fried bananas, cheesecake, and banana

bread with (vegan) ice cream.  Beer

and wine.  Great looking little

place, wonderful atmosphere and people-watching, and good service once you

get a table.

 

 

I also wanted to share with the list that Green’s

restaurant keeps getting more and more vegan and more and more delicious…Vegetarian

House in San Jose is now all vegan and the food is even better than it used to

be…Fellini’s in Berkeley has more vegan options than ever (particularly

their pasta dishes) and the food just keeps getting better and better. 

 

So the next time you’re taking a non-veg friend/date/parent

out to eat in the lovely Bay Area, check the BAV Ultimate Guide for the best place

to show a carnivore how good veg*n food can be and should be.  You’ll be promoting veg*n food and

supporting these hard-working businesses at the same time.

 

Happy New Year!

Alex

Team Vegan

http://veganhealth.org/colleges/run/home

 

p.,s.

There will be a group dinner at All About

Herbs on Wednesday evening, January 9th.  Marathon Matt will be there

to answer questions about how a non-runner can train to finish a 10k or

half-marathon in 12 weeks.  And enjoy it.  Details coming soon.