Big VEGAN COOKIES at IB's Hoagies in Oakland! Only $1.50 each!

[Guest guest]

I have just discovered that IB's Hoagies in Oakland sells bakery

goods from " Zoe's Cookies and Other Delights, " based in Richmond, CA.

 

IB's isn't the kind of place that has a lot of options for veg*ns,

and it's not health food, but once in awhile I like to treat myself

to the HOT GRILLED VEGGIE hoagie (I order it with no cheese or

mayo .... and extra hot sauce .... Mmmmm-mmm, good!).

 

Anyway, the other day I stopped in, and was SHOCKED to see that they

had two varieties of vegan cookie there .... peanut butter, and

chocolate-chip banana. I had the CCB yesterday, and went back for

another today, IT WAS SO GOOD! HOLY COW! We don't have a lot of

options for fresh-baked vegan goods in north downtown Oakland, so I'm

SUPER-EXCITED and totally wanted to share.

 

I don't know if this place could ever be in the Ultimate Guide,

because they don't cater to vegans or even vegetarians at all. But

the fact they have vegan cookies there is a REAL FIND. (TAMMY/CHRIS,

let me know if this warrants them being in there ...)

 

You can read more about them on Yelp ...

 

http://www.yelp.com/biz/ibs-hoagies-oakland-oakland

 

IB's Hoagies

400 21st St

(between Broadway & Franklin St)

Oakland, CA 94612

(510) 893-3944

 

Happy Wednesday everyone,

Rachel

[Guest guest]

The chocolate-chip banana walnut cookie from Zoe's (which I'm buying

at IB's Hoagies) is really amazing! I had it four days in a row,

until I finally decided to try the vegan peanut-butter cookies. The

PB is good, too, but the chocolate-chip banana cookie is out of this

world. So I decided, I MUST send a batch of these to my doubtful

friends on the East Coast, so they can see how frickin' kick-a$$ a

vegan cookie can be! I googled Zoe's and found their contact info,

called them, and found out they DO NOT do any kind of gift orders.

They only sell to wholesale retailers. The cookies are baked the

day before delivery. Maybe that's why they're so good, because

they're SUPER-FRRRESH! I'm thinking of asking IB's to pre-order like

a batch of 10, and I wonder if I overnight mail them to my friends,

if they will still taste fresh ... but that will be expensive. Well,

it might be OK as a special birthday gift!

 

Note that this company is a local bakery with a vegan line of cookies

(the only flavors I know of are: Fruity Oatmeal, Peanut-Butter, and

Chocolate-Chip-Banana-Walnut), and so most of their products, I would

assume, are not vegan.

 

Zoe's Cookies and Other Delights

1080 Marina Way S

Richmond, CA 94804

Phone: (510) 237-2495

 

Thanks to the internet, I found a link to an advertising article

entitled " Richmond's Marina: Gourmet Bay! " , in Bay Crossings

magazine, July 2006, and it features Zoe's cookies:

 

http://www.richmondca4business.com/news/documents/Speciality%20Foods%

20in%20Marina%20Bay%207-06.pdf

 

The link will probably get split, so here's the tinyurl:

 

http://tinyurl.com/yrauu9

 

Here's the text ...

 

Zoe's Cookies

 

Zoe Smith started selling her home-baked 500 locations she serves.

Smith is also her own sales force, personally opening new accounts.

That's no small feat for someone with an art background and no formal

business training. Smith has six vans making deliveries in the Bay

Area and as far away as Sacramento.

 

All deliveries are made the day after baking to ensure the freshest

products are on the shelves. Everything is still made from scratch

despite the constant efforts of her suppliers to sell her premixed

products. " I'm a perfectionist, I like things to be done as perfect

as possible, " Smith says.

 

As an example, she started offering a line of vegan cookies a couple

of years ago. " I worked on those recipes for over six months before I

started selling them. They're so good that if I didn't tell you they

were vegan you wouldn't know. They're that good! "

[Guest guest]

I agree with Rachel - Zoe's vegan cookies are great. They used to sell

them in a cafeteria where I was working. Seems like there was a

chocolate chip one, too, but not sure. It's been a while. Too bad

they are not more widely available in the bay area.

 

For sending to your friends, you might want to consider Allison's

Gourmet. Her chocolate chip pecan cookies are the best ever. And she

is set up to mail them so they arrive fresh. They are expensive, but

worth it. The brownies are also wonderful - very moist and chewy, no

icing. (http://www.allisonsgourmet.com/) Allison's is an all-vegan

operation, too.

 

Karen