I was very excited about a work-related trip to San Francisco, because I know the city is very vegetarian friendly. A friend and I made a point of trying a number of vegetarian restaurants there and we were not disappointed.
One night we treated ourselves to a more upscale meal, at the gourmet Millennium Restaurant. It’s situated in the Hotel California, the lobby of which has California-related lyrics stencilled all over it.
The meal started with bread served with a lentil spread. My friend told me he hated lentils and never ate them, so I deliberately didn’t let him find out what the spread was. He wolfed it up and said how much he enjoyed it and was shocked when he found out that it was made of lentils. I already knew I liked lentils, but this spread was indeed special.
Appetizers included fried green tomatoes and a spinach salad with smoked tofu. My main was seared tempeh served with grits, a peach sauce, and loads of tasty veg, while my friend had cornmeal-crusted zucchini/courgette (he told me how much he disliked polenta and was surprised to learn that cornmeal was polenta!). We couldn’t resist dessert. My friend had a peach cornmeal cake (since now he knew he liked cornmeal) and I had a chocolate almond cake to satisfy my chocolate-loving taste buds.
Everything tasted really fresh and delicious and it was great to be able to order anything we wanted from the menu and to know it was vegetarian, organic, and healthy. My friend and I were glad we treated ourselves and we’d definitely recommend the restaurant.
Showing posts with label restaurants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label restaurants. Show all posts
Friday, 27 January 2012
Saturday, 12 November 2011
San Francisco
Over the summer, I was in San Francisco for work and I was thrilled to be in such a veggie-friendly and queer-friendly place. I was really spoiled for choice – at least on the food front I was; I certainly wasn’t looking for any other women when I’ve got the best at home.
Every restaurant I went into had a few vegetarian options on the menu, and not just the usual Portobello mushroom burger or stuffed red pepper (I must point out that I didn’t go to any steakhouses or anything like that, so I have no idea if they offer vegetarian options or not). There were also quite a few restaurants that were only vegetarian or even vegan. One I wanted to get to but didn’t have a chance to was called Greens. A woman on the plane was raving about it and I was sad that I never got there.
Golden Era was a vegetarian Chinese restaurant and my friend and I loved it. I often have trouble in Chinese restaurants because they seem to use pork products in a lot of dishes (don’t get me started on my trip to China, where I mostly ate white rice and cabbage), so this was a real treat. I loved not having to ask if any meat was used in the dishes.
We also went to Herbivore and it was so good that we want back another day. I especially loved the carrot cake. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual, which was nice too.
The gourmet treat of the trip was dinner at Millennium, an upscale vegan restaurant. I was with a friend who claims to hate lentils but he gobbled up the delicious lentil spread served with the bread. He also loved the cornmeal cake he had for dessert, though he claimed not to like polenta (which is made from the same thing). I found the food to be thoughtful and flavourful and it was wonderful to sit in a fancy restaurant and enjoy all the things that come with classy eating and to know that all the dishes were cruelty-free.
But while the eating was generally good (don’t remind me of the meal I had at the garlic restaurant, which made me feel sick and stinky for days), other aspects of the trip were less pleasing. The gay neighbourhood, the Castro, had loads of gay men, but I saw few women. The gay bookshops were out of business (though other bookstores have gay shelves). The work event I went to was dreadful. Food makes up for a lot, though, so I definitely recommend San Francisco as a vegetarian destination.
Every restaurant I went into had a few vegetarian options on the menu, and not just the usual Portobello mushroom burger or stuffed red pepper (I must point out that I didn’t go to any steakhouses or anything like that, so I have no idea if they offer vegetarian options or not). There were also quite a few restaurants that were only vegetarian or even vegan. One I wanted to get to but didn’t have a chance to was called Greens. A woman on the plane was raving about it and I was sad that I never got there.
Golden Era was a vegetarian Chinese restaurant and my friend and I loved it. I often have trouble in Chinese restaurants because they seem to use pork products in a lot of dishes (don’t get me started on my trip to China, where I mostly ate white rice and cabbage), so this was a real treat. I loved not having to ask if any meat was used in the dishes.
We also went to Herbivore and it was so good that we want back another day. I especially loved the carrot cake. The atmosphere was relaxed and casual, which was nice too.
The gourmet treat of the trip was dinner at Millennium, an upscale vegan restaurant. I was with a friend who claims to hate lentils but he gobbled up the delicious lentil spread served with the bread. He also loved the cornmeal cake he had for dessert, though he claimed not to like polenta (which is made from the same thing). I found the food to be thoughtful and flavourful and it was wonderful to sit in a fancy restaurant and enjoy all the things that come with classy eating and to know that all the dishes were cruelty-free.
But while the eating was generally good (don’t remind me of the meal I had at the garlic restaurant, which made me feel sick and stinky for days), other aspects of the trip were less pleasing. The gay neighbourhood, the Castro, had loads of gay men, but I saw few women. The gay bookshops were out of business (though other bookstores have gay shelves). The work event I went to was dreadful. Food makes up for a lot, though, so I definitely recommend San Francisco as a vegetarian destination.
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