a seagull with one leg on alcatraz!

this post is like a joke with a crappy punch line. there’s no food at all (vegan or otherwise) on alcatraz island, and the stuff that’s available on the ferry is nothing to write home about. that being said, i’m sure some that someday a starving tourist who has skipped a meal will wind up in the long ass line to get a boat to the island, and search for vegan alcatraz options on their smart phone. it’s that person who this post is written for…because that’s EXACTLY what i went through a couple of months ago.

i booked my alcatraz tickets way in advance (you have to—tours fill up quickly), i mapped out the appropriate public transport, and i allowed for enough time to eat breakfast at a nearby vegan-friendly restaurant. however, the bus was late and my plans were foiled. i boarded the alcatraz ferry hungry as fuck and was beyond relieved to see an old vegan standby staring me in the face.

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san francisco seems to be the city of awesome sandwiches. they’ve got fried tofu banh mis at dinosaurs, fake meaty masterpieces at ike’s place, and now i’ve fallen in love with the wheat meat cheesesteaks at jay’s.

mushroom style seitan cheesesteak with vegan mayo, mustard, lettuce and tomato. $8.45

although jay’s cheesesteak isn’t a vegetarian restaurant by any means, they do their vegan sandwiches right with over 10 seitan styles to choose from and a vegenaise option so we don’t have to skip the mayo altogether.

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no trip to san francisco is complete without visiting ike’s place. the small hole in the wall in the castro consistently turns out the best sandwiches i’ve ever eaten. i’m on a mission to try everything on their vegan menu, and now i can officially cross the vegan reuben off the list.

vegan reuben: vegan turkey, homemade poppy seed coleslaw, french dressing, soy cheese. $9.99

this sandwich is no joke. it’s fully loaded, costs just under ten bucks and could easily feed two people.

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an old school diner that’s been around for almost a century, serves breakfast all day, and has loads of vegan options? sounds to good to be true! well believe me folks, it does exist…it’s called st. francis fountain, and it’s located in san francisco’s mission district.

we schlepped our bags to st francis straight from the airport when we visited SF a few weeks ago. our flight got in at around 9am, and we were ravenous. i was immediately taken aback by how crowded it was for a weekday morning! almost all the stools at the bar were taken, and the booths along the wall were full. we were lucky enough to get the last seat in the house, a small two top tucked away in the corner under a window. i loved the vibe of the place right away, decorated very 50s style with a friendly staff.

the menu was huge with lots of hearty vegan options. it’s completely different and much more vegan-friendly than the one posted on their website, so don’t even bother looking there. scrambles, pancakes, milkshakes—all available animal-free.

vegan thing: breakfast potatoes covered in vegan cheese, guacamole and salsa. $7.50

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recently the husband and i took a 4 day trip to san francisco, and we ate and drank far more than any person should. in our culinary adventures, one of our favorite discoveries was the somewhat new vegetarian restaurant, source. to say that we enjoyed our meal at this place would be a severe understatement. we’re officially smitten, and i’m looking for excuses to book bay-area travel just so i can get another taste of this restaurant.

source started out on a great foot. we arrived at around 6pm and the place was somewhat busy but not uncomfortable. they have an order and pay at the counter policy, which is my favorite! no waiting around and trying to get a server’s attention, no time gap between finishing the meal and leaving. source also rules due to the fact that it’s an all vegetarian restaurant, and EVERY ITEM can be made vegan! this isn’t obvious on their website, but it’s true! all the pizzas? veganizable. the mac and cheese? that can be vegan, duh. the lasagna? vegan version available. plus, all the desserts (and there are many!) are already vegan. other than a totally vegan restaurant, this is definitely my favorite model. (just be sure to ALWAYS specify vegan when you eat at source. play it safe!)

the menu at source is massive, so we had a pretty hard time deciding what to order. we were determined to have a slap up feast though, and finally settled on the “buffalo cluck” as an appetizer. all the fake meaty menu items at source have cutesy names that echo the sounds of the emulated animal. cluck for chicken style meat, moo for fake beef, quack for duck and so on.

buffalo cluck with slaw and sweet jalapeño chutney. $5.95

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hey everyone! time for another field report from VeganHeartDoc. this time she hit up loving hut in san francisco. check it out:

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I was staying at the Marriott Marquis, right next to the San Francisco Westfield shopping mall. Right there, in the middle of the food court was Loving Hut, in all its vegan glory.

I’m stunned, but very excited, to see something so clearly labeled as a vegan restaurant in the middle of a food court. Loving Hut is a chain of vegan fast-food restaurants under the supervision of the Supreme Master Ching Hai. Depending on the account that you read, Supreme Master Ching Hai is a loving spiritual leader, and others describe her as a cult leader and attention seeker.

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my friends who live in the bay area jokingly refer to this restaurant as herbi-bore, in reference to what they say is bland food and an unimaginative menu. i don’t know though, it seems like i always end up having a pretty good experience at herbivore.

on our recent trip to san francisco, we decided to hit up the divisidero location for an early meal. one thing herbivore really has going for it is it opens daily at 9am and is one of the few places in the city to get a great vegan breakfast. we weren’t coming for breakfast though, even though it was morning time. after reading on the herbivore website that the “lunch and dinner menu is always available,” we had our hearts set on the grilled seitan shawarma, which we’d had before and is absolutely incredible.

unless i have reading comprehension problems, i think that means shawarma should be available at 9:30am

unfortunately, our waitress informed us that ONLY the breakfast menu is served at breakfast time, and she had no clue about the website. so sad. we’d walked across town for that shawarma, but had to settle on morning-appropriate food instead. luckily, it was pretty tasty.

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on a recent trip to the bay area we decided to check out the plant cafe, a sleek healthy restaurant with loads of vegan options, located on san francisco’s pier 3.

it was late afternoon when we visited and we weren’t super hungry—so after browsing plant’s menu online, we went with the plan to share a tempeh reuben. however when we arrived at 3pm, the hostess presented us with a special happy hour menu, which didn’t list the sandwich. this was okay though, because this menu was loaded with great vegan items from sliders to appetizers, and everything was small and cheap. perfect!

we grabbed a seat across from the long bar and set about deciding what to order. the decor in plant was absolutely lovely—roomy and comfortable with large tables, high ceilings, and moody lighting. it was pretty empty when we were there as well, which suited our misanthropic nature.

they had some pretty tempting boozy creations on the happy hour menu, as well as beer and wine. we were already pretty buzzed from an afternoon drinking session at magnolia though, so we decided to pass on the alcohol this time (crazy, i know!). we started with a plate of the patatas bravas to share, which was excellent…

patatas bravas. $5

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not every place we review serves the end-all be-all, best vegan food ever. sometimes it’s nice to walk into a “normal” establishment and get a decent cruelty-free meal at a low price.

vege peppersteak sandwich on a sourdough roll with pepperoncini < $6

such is the case with love ‘n haight in san francisco. the unassuming hole-in-the-wall sandwich shop goes out of their way to cater to herbivores, and the food is pretty damn good.

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you guys already know how much we LOVE gracias madre, san francisco’s entirely vegan mexican restaurant.

welp, we checked them out for a second time over the holidays, and i’m happy to report that our meal was just as epic as on our first visit. here are the pictures to prove it…

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hey everyone! today’s quick bite comes to us from fred (aka @cycled) who visited maggiemudd, a very vegan-friendly ice cream parlor in san francisco, over presidents day weekend. man, i really wanna go here someday. check it out.

We arrived here on a Sunday afternoon looking to indulge in some tasty treats after withstanding the deluge on Saturday. After staring at the menu board denoting a multitude of variations available to make your ultimate frozen treat, I couldn’t help but feel indecisive.

Mudslide and Birthday Cake, covered with soy whip, sliced almonds, and cookie crumbs. $7

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vegan pizza day is less than 2 days away! how are you going to celebrate it? if you are in san francisco, i can highly recommend the vegan pie at escape from new york.

the small chain has 6 locations in SF, and has recently started carrying daiya. we found them by accident when we were vacationing last month, and the haight restaurant was just steps away from our hotel. the pizzeria is very new yorky-themed, from the name of the business, to the statue of liberty logo, to the massive thin ny-style pies and pizza by the slice.

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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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