vegan pizza, we love it! and with vegan pizza day less than a week away, we wanna be sure to get you prepared by telling you about as many vegan pizza options as possible.

today’s vegan pizza comes to us from mythic pizza in san francisco…a small little take out and delivery joint on haight with awesome late hours (until 2am, and even open on xmas!). while mythic pizza doesn’t carry any fake cheese, they do have a clearly marked vegan option on the menu, and we became quite addicted to it last time we were in SF…

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One of the greatest poets of our times, Robbie Williams, penned the now-classic song “Millennium” to commemorate the demise of San Francisco’s famed restaurant of the same name.

The prescience of his words cannot be understated, as we witness first-hand the falling from grace of this much-hyped, over-priced restaurant:

We’ve got stars directing our fate
and we’re praying its not too late
‘Cause we know we’re falling from grace
Millennium
And when we come we always come too late
I often think that we were born to hate

Let’s deconstruct these inspired words:

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as much as i love to travel, sometimes when i’m out exploring vegan options in other cities, i get homesick for all the good eats we have here in los angeles.

vegan tofu sausage with sauerkraut, grilled onions, and mustard. $6

this is how i felt when i visited san francisco over the holidays. two days into my trip, the xmas spirit had me all weepy and wishing i was back at home, seated comfortably in tony’s darts away with a beer and a vegan sausage. thankfully, my twitter buddy @ks turned me on to the next best thing: rosamunde sausage grill.

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the best indian pizza (vegan): Topped with Spinach, Egg Plant, Cauliflower, Ginger, Garlic, Green Onions, Cilantro. $23.99

i spent new years weekend in san francisco. if that wasn’t awesome to begin with, my group of friends’ new years eve plans involved dinner at zante pizza. the option of having dinner at zante’s was presented to me over IM:

“hey, how does vegan indian pizza and $5 pitchers of beer on nye sound?”
“UM, AMAZING”

and so it was decided.

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i’ve said it before, and i will say it again: ike’s place makes the best sandwiches, vegan or otherwise. the small san francisco shop is nothing short of legendary (i mean come ON, it has almost THREE THOUSAND yelp reviews) and is loved by herbivores and omnivores alike. when we checked them out in fall of 2010, they were having some major dramz with neighbors and were in the midst of being forced to shut down. fortunately for us though, they’ve found a temporary home at lime nightclub just around the corner in the casto district, and are still serving their famous sandwiches for the time being until they move to a more permanent location. (huge thanks to our BFFs at vegansaurus who keep us updated with ike’s info!) we checked out ike’s new digs on our trip to SF over the holidays, and i am happy to say that they officially served me the best sandwich i’ve eaten, ever.

vegan sometimes i'm a vegan: grilled mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts, soy cheese. $7.97

here’s how it went down…

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… and I mean “SHIT”, rather than “THE SHIT”, which has a positive connotation.

My recollection from the first time I visited Cha-Ya Vegetarian, was of bland food in small portions, rude service, high prices and extremely bright fluorescent lighting. I have to admit, though, that I was a little (a lot) inebriated after spending a few hours beforehand in Monk’s Kettle, one of Mission’s best bars. I’ve heard the odd good review of Cha-Ya, so was determined to go back again one day while sober and see how things panned out.

Well, after a late afternoon flight to San Francisco on Christmas Day, I was delighted to discover that Cha-Ya was open at 5pm so after a quick hop and skip from the BART we were walking up to the restaurant within an hour of touching down…. and stone cold sober I might add!

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today’s quick bite comes to us from greg kanimian who recently visited fancy pants restaurant masa’s in san francisco. this isn’t a vegan restaurant by any means, but the chef accepted the challenge of making greg a 4 course animal-free dinner, and apparently it was awesome. here goes:

I don’t remember exactly what each course was since I didn’t have a menu to read off of. I was just told what I was eating as it was given to me.

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the quick bite series continues! this one comes to us from tettes, who recently hit up gracias madre in san francisco. as of recently we are HUGE FANS OF GRACIAS MADRE….so we were super excited to receive tettes’ glowing review. here goes:

I visited San Francisco during the Thanksgiving holiday, and I went to Gracias Madre twice.

Here are a couple of pics of food items that Quarrygirl didn’t order, including a butternut squash tamale smothered in mole sauce, a butternut squash quesadilla and one of the best items I’ve ever eaten: roasted brussel sprouts in a cashew cheese sauce baked with garlic breadcrumbs on top. OMG!!!

This place is beyond amazing. Perhaps the best vegan place I’ve ever visited!

Butternut squash tamale smothered in mole sauce with a side of refried black beans and spicy pickled vegetables.

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i’ve only been there once, but i’m head over heels in love with gracias madre. the entirely vegan restaurant in san francisco’s mission district serves up huge portions of organic mexican food that’s just fantastic.

we hit up gracias madre a couple months ago, and were shocked by how good it was. we were first taken aback by the amazing atmosphere. i’m used to vegan restaurants being small and often times dingy…but this was a huge wide open space with a clean and colorful decor.

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on a recent trip to san francisco, the place i was most excited about visiting was patxi’s chicago pizza. three words, people: VEGAN DEEP DISH.

there are a few paxti’s scattered around the bay area, and we hit up the hayes street location for our vegan pie. we got a great table by the window, and i was immediately pleased with the comfy atmosphere. dim lighting, warm colors, and an exposed brick wall decorated with pretty paintings.

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we visited a lot of restaurants last month when we were in the bay area, and one of the highlights was cafe gratitude in san francisco. the small eclectic eatery specializes in mainly raw healthy food and is almost entirely vegan, with only a few dishes that contain honey. i’d heard mixed reviews about the place, from people saying they were wonderful to people calling them a cult, and i’m just glad we decided to check it out for ourselves because the food was absolutely delicious.

as i said earlier, the cuisine at cafe gratitude is mostly raw….but we were in the mood for something cooked. we tried to order a couple of the cooked entrees off the menu, but the waitress informed us that they weren’t available at this location (there are a few other cafe gratitudes in the bay area). she then quickly pointed to a “grain bowl” section on the menu and said that they were cooked and available to order. BOWLS! yes, i fucking love bowls, so i knew we were in business.

i am graceful indian biryani bowl: Steamed brown rice or quinoa tossed with seasonal veggies, basil, cilantro, mint & cashews in an Indian coconut-curry sauce. $15

one thing you gotta get past right away at cafe gratitude are the menu descriptions, which i will admit made me giggle a bit. they are all worded as affirmations, stuff like the “i am insightful spring rolls” and “i am fabulous lasagna”. we decided to get a couple bowls, starting with the “i am graceful indian biryani bowl,” which came with steamed brown rice, vegetables, basil, cilantro, mint and cashews in a coconut curry sauce. each bowl is available in a half size for $10, or a full size for $15. because we were hungry and wanted to get the most for our money, we ordered full-sized bowls, and they were HUGE. i mean MASSIVE. enough to feed 2 people each for sure. anyways, the indian bowl was actually my husbands meal, and he assured me it was amazing. i didn’t try it because it had bell peppers in it (which i hate), but the creamy sauce looked and smelled really good.

i am whole macrobiotic bowl: Shredded kale, sea vegetables, choice of grain, house-made kim chee & sprouts with garlic-tahini sauce & teriyaki almonds. $15

for my lunch, i went with the “i am whole macrobiotic bowl,” which was absolutely fantastic! it came with brown rice, shredded kale, sea vegetables, house-made kim chee, and sprouts with garlic-tahini sauce and teriyaki almonds. i got mine with no nuts and the sauce on the side, and i just couldn’t believe how flavorful all the fresh and pickled vegetables were. i did eat a little bit of the sauce (which was phenomenal), but the bowl honestly didn’t even need it. it’s a shame the photo doesn’t do this dish justice, hidden underneath those carrots is a whole array of greens and vegetables. i would definitely order this again.

we went with every intention of sharing a piece of raw vegan tiramisu, but after eating 2 entire rice bowls that were bigger than my head, we had absolutely no room for any more food. i hear the desserts at cafe gratitude are awesome though, and i can’t wait to return.

inside, cafe gratitude has a sort of hippie vibe going on. it’s light and airy with a long bar, huge communal tables, and extremely friendly staff. they’ve even got this inspirational and spiritual board game available to play at your table. whaa??!! definitely unlike any restaurant i’ve ever visited before.

the atmosphere and affirmations may not appeal to everyone, but i can promise you cafe gratitude has insanely tasty food. that alone is worth the trip. i know i will be back whenever i am up north.

check out cafe gratitude’s website for hours and locations.

UPDATE: ike’s place has RE-OPENED in san francisco at a club called lime. from what i understand, they are kinda squatting there until they get a better location. follow their twitter, and check out their constantly updated website for more info!

we have been watching the ike’s place eviction drama unfold on vegansaurus for quite awhile, and sadly it looks like the amazing san francisco sandwich shop is finally closing down for good as of monday at midnight.

we were in SF last weekend, and i’m soooo glad we got a chance to eat at ike’s one last time. naturally, our meal was epic, as ike’s place really does make the best sandwiches known to man. thank god they have another location in the bay area.

vegan tom brady: vegan breaded chicken, zesty garlic and herb sauce, mushrooms, avocado, soy cheese. $12.21

we ordered the vegan tom brady and the vegan pilgrim to share, both of which were fan-bloody-tastic. the tom brady came stuffed with breaded chicken, zesty garlic sauce, mushrooms, avocado and teese. at $12.21, it’s the most expensive vegan sandwich on the menu, but it’s worth every penny. by far the most delicious, heartiest sandwich i’ve had in a long time. NOBODY DOES IT LIKE IKE’S!

vegan pilgrim: vegan turkey, cranberry, sriracha, soy cheese. $9.99

the vegan pilgrim was equally as impressive, stacked with slices of faux turkey, teese cheese, and covered in sriracha and cranberry sauce. the spicy sriracha was the perfect compliment to the sweet cranberry…and all mixed in with ike’s famous dirty sauce, it was incredible.

we arrived at ike’s as soon as they opened at 10am, and even though that’s pretty early to be eating a sandwich, there was already a line of people at the door. you know why people line up for ike’s? because the food is THAT FUCKING GOOD.

ike’s last day in business is gonna be monday september 13th, and they’ll be open from 10am – midnight. so go show some support and order like ten sandwiches!

ike’s place
3506 16th street
san francisco CA 94114
(415) 553-6888

In a way, I feel sorry for Millennium restaurant in San Francisco. I mean, just about every vegan or vegetarian (and omnivores on occasion too) will say that Millennium has some of the best vegan cuisine in the world, and is probably North America’s finest vegan dining experience.

Having enjoyed amazing meals at fine dining establishment Sublime in Fort Lauderdale, and the incredible Madeleine Bistro in Los Angeles, I had stratospheric expectations when I reserved a table for two at Millennium. Although the experience didn’t meet our very high expectations on a number of levels, we did have a thoroughly nice time dining on some of the most special food I’d ever eaten.

It’s critical to make a reservation, as the place fills up hot and fast most evenings. As with anywhere this popular, you’re going to find the proprietors drawing a very fine line between retaining a pleasant environment, and packing people in like cattle. Sadly, Millennium crowds its patrons into small two-top tables, close together. There are a couple of larger booths by the entrance, but I bet you have to be Alicia Silverstone or Natalie Portman to get seated in them.

Once you get over the cramped experience (you can literally hear every word uttered by both adjacent tables, as well as smelling the food they are eating), the menu hits you right between the eyes: on the night we were there dishes from France, Germany, Spain and Italy. And I’m not talking about paella and vegan sausages here, but full-on inventions, based on familiar European dishes, all prepared entirely vegan, non-GMO and organic.

grilled flatbread: spring onion confit, black olives, "gorgonzola" cashew cream, dried chile flake & oregano., radicchio salad. $10.50

To start with, we ordered the Grilled Flatbread which was a scrumptious rendition of crispy bread, pizza-style with cool raddiccio salad, olives and a pungent, gorgonzola-style cheese. Although the tastes were interesting, this was the most unimaginative dish we had: it looked like somebody threw some vegetables on flatbread and plopped it down on the table. It reminded me of what I usually get when I order a vegan pizza from an omni pizza parlor: a selection of vegetables with no sauce or cheese on a crispy crust.

sesame crusted oyster mushrooms: lemongrass-grapefruit-chile sambal, watermelon radish relish. $10.25

Moving on, we ordered the Sesame-encrusted Mushrooms, which were much more up our street. This dish has been described as “the vegan calamari”, and I’m told (by people who have eaten calamari) that it mimics the taste and texture pretty well. I can’t vouch for that, but I can tell you it was the greasiest, oiliest and most scrumptious thing I’d eaten in a long time. While it might be organic this and non-GMO that it was anything other than healthy due to the thousands of calories of oily delicious madness.

So, awash with flatbread and oil, our entrees arrived very, very quickly, leading to a theme I note about us feeling somewhat rushed. Cramped in + rushed = more $ for the proprietors…. Just sayin’. Oh and talking about that, Millennium charges $1 per person for a glass of tap water. That’s plain greedy!

almond and black pepper crusted portobello: sesame, sea palm & scallion barley cake, saffron, IPA & french lentil sugo, seared jerusalem artichokes, carrot & escarole, spring garlic-sage tahini cream, parsley-meyer lemon salad. $23.95

As luck would have it, I am also greedy, otherwise there’s no way I could have polished off the entrees. I plumped for the Almond and Black Pepper Portobello, a dish which took rather uninteresting (but sexily named ingredients) and delivered an intersection of tastes that were downright amazing. I found myself picking at bits of the food so I could enjoy each texture and flavor in and of itself, then scooping up a cross-section of the goods to get the mashup to my taste buds as fast as possible.

mushroom and walnut strudel: flaky pastry crust, green garlic mashed potatoes, seared asparagus, herbed green peppercorn cashew cream, blood orange and black olive relish. $23.9

Our other entree was Mushroom and Walnut Strudel, a sort-of pastry chimichanga crammed full of walnuts, mushrooms (yeah, pretty much everything on the menu was based around mushrooms) floating in a cashew cream sauce with an incredible olive and mushroom relish. Seriously, this is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever eaten: crispy, decadent, filling. Words really defy this dish, other than it had more of the consistency of a dessert, like a cannoli, but without the sweet.

Talking of dessert, as our tubby tummies were about to explode we made a pact NOT to order dessert UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Well, that was until the people NEXT to us ordered dessert. Once I laid eyes on what they had, I knew I had to have it. I feebly muttered: “errr, one of those, please….” as I pointed to the next table when the server asked if we were ready for the check (like I said, they were rushing us).

vegan chocolate midnite pie

Within about 11 seconds, something called a Chocolate Midnight Pie arrived on our table and was gone in not many more seconds. I can’t really describe its creamy chocolatey taste in any words, so I’m going to let you look at the picture, and can reinforce that the dish was at least 14X better than it looks.

After the obligatory bottle of organic wine, our bill was well into car payment territory, but we felt that it wasn’t quite worth every penny. The obvious intent to turn many tables quickly really spoiled what would otherwise have been a perfect dining experience. The menu combines the exquisite with the mundane, and the descriptions really don’t give you much of a clue about what you’ll actually get. Add to that some rushed servers, and this place isn’t too friendly.

Also of note is that Millennium is in the lobby of a Best Western hotel, on the edge of Tenderloin: basically, Downtown San Francsico’s Skid Row. If you go West or South from the restaurant you’re walking through some pretty bad urban decay complete with all the trimmings: aggressive homeless people, syringes, toothless crackheads and all sorts of bodily ejected solids in your way.

It was just our luck that we walked to Millennium from the south and west, so we were treated to several interesting run-ins with street-folk, and as we approached the restaurant watched somebody taking a noisy shit against the wall on the west side. After ducking into the restaurant, I was half-way through my meal when I realized the defecating gentleman (or his defecation, at least) was within about six feet of where I was eating.

Millennium will risk your life with a dodgy journey, fleece you for every penny it can get from you, and pack you in like vegan sardines in a recycled, non-GMO can. I’d probably be back there in a heartbeat, though.

Millennium
580 Geary St
San Francisco, CA 94102-1650
(415) 345-3900

one restaurant that all my vegan friends in the bay area constantly rave about is cha-ya vegetarian. the san francisco casual eatery serves up fresh vegan japanese fare that tastes great and is relatively healthy. i went there when i was up in SF and i felt that the restaurant had great potential…you just gotta know what to order. the menu is absolutely huge, daunting, and in some cases unspecific. unfortunately on my visit, i felt i ordered the wrong stuff, and found myself drooling over the food being brought to the other tables. oh well, i guess this just gives me a chance to return to cha-ya, because it seemed like a really great place.

Haru Maki ( Spring Roll) Asparagus, shitake, carrots, long beans silver noodles, and atsuage tofu rolled in rice sheet. Lightly fried and served with sweet and sour sauce (2 rolls cut into 6 pieces). $6.25

we started out with the haru maki spring rolls which were very tasty, but a lot heavier than i expected. the fried tofu and vegetable concoction ended up being the highlight of our meal.

Natto Fermented soy beans sushi roll. $4

we also ordered the fermented soy bean sushi roll, which was decent, but not very flavorful. i don’t think i would order it again.

Soba Salad Soba noodles topped with various seasonal vegetables, sesame-oil vinaigrette dressing. $7

the meal took a turn when they brought out or soba salad dish. the plate of noodles was covered in a mish mash of fruit and vegetables that didn’t seem to go together at all: strawberries, onions, bell peppers, carrots, broccoli, and edamame. seriously who thought of this dish? does that look or sound tasty to you AT ALL?

Cha- Ya Nabe ( Vegan Sukiyaki) Nappa cabbage, spinach, red onion, carrots, mushrooms, kabocha, broccoli, cauliflower, lotus root, zucchini, snap peas, snow peas, silver noodles, and tofu in sukiyaki broth. Served in an iron pot. $8.75

for our entree we ordered the cha-ya nabe, which turned out to be a vegetable soup in a hot pot with tofu and noodles. there was very little tofu in it, and i when ordering, i was expecting it to be more of a noodle dish than a soup. it was good, i just wasn’t prepared for it. we also got the vege-tofu curry soup (pictured below) so we wound up having two soup entrees for dinner on accident. they both kinda tasted the same, and i have to say we were pretty underwhelmed by these dishes.

Vege-Tofu Curry Curry soup topped with tofu, pearl onions, kabocha, celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms, and sugar snap peas. $8.75

as we were leaving chay-a, completely full of soup, i couldn’t help but notice all the beautiful dishes on other tables that i wish i’d have ordered. colorful sushi rolls, mounds of vegetables, and plates piled high with thick noodles. how did i end up with all the liquid and a strawberry bell pepper salad?! i have friends who went there recently cha-ya recently and had a very similar experience. they ordered tons of things off the menu, and when the food arrived, everything turned out to be fried! just be sure you know what you are ordering when you dine at cha-ya.

ah well, i guess i will just have to go back to san francisco and eat here again to set things right.

cha-ya vegetarian
762 Valencia St
(between 18th St & 19th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110

As a boy growing up in England during the 70s, “fish and chips” were a real staple food for me (yes, the stereotype about us Brits is true). I was never that much into the fish part as my preference was to peel off and eat the crunchy batter with my tiny, newsprint-blackened hands and consume huge mounds of chips and mushy peas at the same time. After becoming vegetarian, I used to eat just the chips and mushy peas — an unbeatable combo of grease and greens!

So, it was with much anticipation that, on a recent trip to San Francisco, I sampled the offerings of Weird Fish – a pescetarian restaurant in the Mission District that has a vegan Fish and Chips option on the menu. I was quite intrigued to understand how one could veganize the “fish” part of the fish and chips, and my intrigue quickly morphed into a very full belly not long after our order arrived.

Before we talk about the food, though, it’s worth mentioning that Weird Fish is rather small inside and can get very crowded at meal times. When we were there, around 1pm on a weekday, there was a line outside as well as way too many people cramped over tiny tables inside. Whenever something like that happens, you know you’re either somewhere trendy or somewhere really special. Well, I guess Weird Fish is both trendy and special, something we experience rarely in Los Angeles – usually places are firmly in the trendy or special camp and almost never both.

buffalo girls: seitan with buffalo sauce & vegan ranch dressing. $7

We ordered the Buffalo Girls (seitan “chicken” wings with buffalo sauce and vegan ranch dressing) as an appetizer, and were very pleased. Each piece was coated in a perfectly crunchy and spicy batter that was red hot (temperature AND spicy hot), yet the inside was warm and very chewy. I’ve never eaten “real” chicken wings, so I can’t compare these to them, but I can tell you they were absolutely delicious and I’d eat them again in a heartbeat.

tofu fish and chips: sweet and sour cream vegan soy-batter (gluten free) 2pc $8

For our main course we ordered one vegan seitan fish and chips (fries for you Americans), which came with vegan tartar sauce, wrapped in soy batter, and one tofu fish and chips entrée which was similarly presented, yet the sauce was vegan sweet and sour cream. At only $8 for two pieces with chips, this was not only a huge portion of food but great value too. If you’re extra hungry, you can get an additional piece of tofu or seitan “fish” for only $3 more. No wonder this place is so crazy busy!

seitan fish and chips: vegan tartar sause vegan soy-batter (gluten free) 2pc $8

The tofu choice was a huge, hunking chunk of firm, seasoned tofu with a very steamy inside…

yet the seitan “fish” was much more chewy (the same inside, I think, as the Buffalo Girls).

What’s special here is not a chunk of vegetable protein per-se, but what they DO with it. The vegan batter is incredibly tasty, soaked in oil and so crunchy that it breaks into bits that fly all over the place when you bite into it. The chips are also similarly perfectly prepared — probably from fresh potatoes which means you can actually taste the potato rather than the freezer bag that held them for months before you ate them.

The only downside I can think of for Weird Fish is the humongous amount of oil and calories one must consume when eating there. I must have had over 600 calories (most of them fat) from the one meal I ate. You know what, though? I’d eat that again if it was twice the calories and happily skip another meal to make up for it, even if that meal was at Millennium, allegedly one of the finest vegan dining establishments in the world, where I happened to have a reservation the very same evening I ate at Weird Fish.

weird fish
2193 Mission Street,
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.863.4744

Days
Mon – Fri: 11am – 4pm
Sat – Sun: 9am – 4pm
Nights
Sun – Thu: 5pm-10:30pm
Fri & Sat: 5pm-11:30pm