Fair Weather Vegan

And You Thought Cafe Gratitude Couldn't Get More Annoying

Many San Franciscans already avoid the original because they believe in having their food cooked, and are really nonplussed at being forced to order things with silly names only by the silly names.  In case you don't know anyone who's been there, Cafe Gratitude serves dishes with names like "I Am Enlightened" or "I Am Compassionate," and if you don't order them in exactly this way, if you say 'I'll have the bean dip" or whatever, they won't serve you.  This sort of thing would have lasted about a week in Manhattan.*  Now the ownership has opened a companion vegan, organic Mexican place at 2211 Mission.  It is called, get ready, Gracias Madre.  It is going to be a stretch to get me into a place with a name like that because at some point I'll have to say it.  I can't go around calling it 'the Cafe Gratitude Mexican place' forever.  Which is a true shame because the menu looks awesome.  I will no doubt have to swallow my aversion in order to also swallow some cashew cheese and butternut squash quesadillas. 

*Although they do tolerate Shopsins.  Manhattan likes its eccentrics only in rude genius form. 

Pumpkin Ice Cream, Etc

I have been attempting to read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, an exercise in frustration that I will report on another day, but it has made me more aware of seasonal food changes.  Not that I do anything about them, per se, but there was pumpkin ice cream on the shelf and I picked it right up. 

Because I generally eat non-dairy ice creams Double Rainbow Perfectly Pumpkin was the first of the San Francisco company's flavors I've tried.  It's super-premium, which means a minimum of air whipped in, and also hekshered OU, and gluten free.  Oh, and did I mention it's really good?  Extremely impressive (although at this moment I'm considering what BiRite would do with pumpkin ice cream and nothing could compare to that), natural tasting, fairly subtle pumpkin flavoring and a light, creamy texture.  Following it with Mudslinger's Chocococo does not reflect well on that brand.  If you click on the link, you'll see a charming flash opening in which a contemptuous little girl insists "I hate wussy ice cream."  And in truth, Mudslingers has tried too damn hard to pretend it's not making a dairy-free product.  They're supposed to taste different, as Coconut Bliss has brilliantly demonstrated, but Maggie Mudd's has tried to make regular ice cream out of coconut and what emerges is a heavy, gooey article that doesn't have the refreshing quality of either milk or coconut milk (they create something called coconut cream as a base by gumming it up).  The chocolate flavor is deep and intense, but the experience of eating it is just not that fabulous.  They do make a variety with whiskey and fudge, however, so I'm not giving up hope for them yet. 

What do you eat with ice cream?  Why cookies of course (and a big glass of ice water because the Mudslingers is going to make you hella thirsty)!  But not these cookies, specifically the wheat-free, dairy-free versions.  I don't know that I've ever had a bad Newman's Own product, but these come close.  I blame the wheat-free aspect.  They're not even gluten-free with all that, so why waste the time?  Anyhow, they've still got the quality Newman chocolate, but they're also dry and have a seriously bitter aftertaste.  At least they're hekshered (OU dairy, presumably because of the equipment being used to make dairy products).  But there are a lot of alternatives to try before you end up here. 

More Tasty Non-Dairy Ice Cream

The real surprise is that I have a Post-Punk Kitchen recipe I've been testing and will be ready to write about tomorrow, but in the meantime, have some coconut-milk ice cream.

Larry and Luna's Coconut Bliss is now hekshered parve with the heart-K.  It's also still vegan, gluten-free, and sweetened with agave nectar.  I found the chocolate hazelnut fudge flavor to be less aggressively coconut-y than prior flavors I've tried, with an extra crunch from the nuts and a strong chocolate flavor complemented by the more subtle hazelnut, which creates a drier sensation on the palate similar to some of their other products.  I suspect this is their homage to nocciola, the traditional gelato.  

Turtle Mountain's Purely Decadent coconut milk mint chip, by contrast, is very icy like a sorbet.  It shares all of the positive production attributes listed above  The mint flavor is quite refreshing and tastes natural.  I am a bit taken aback by the ingredient list, which includes beet sugar to make the (Dutch) chocolate used for the chips, chicory, and carob (the root of all evil), and yet when I was eating it I thought it was delicious, so perhaps I shouldn't have revealed this to you before you tried it. 

It's interesting to me how these non-dairy products, and also something like Soy/Rice/Hemp Dream, use words in their names to emphasize the idyll you will presumably enjoy if you eat them.  It's almost like they're trying to convince skeptics that the stuff will taste good ;) 

Organicville Vegan Ranch Dressing

There is a famous story told in the annals of food science about the moment when ranch dressing first left Oklahoma.  Before then it was a regional delicacy, unknown to most Americans.  When they were trying to make a version to sell nationally, they couldn't get it to taste right because some of the original ingredients weren't shelf-stable.  They fretted about this for long hours, until one employee suddenly realized that it didn't matter: since no one who was going to buy it had ever tasted the dressing before, no one would know the difference.  Whether you think this is a tragic moment or an example of capitalist brilliance, or a little of both, it changed food sales forever. 

Nowadays, the nation puts this new version of ranch on just about everything, giving a nice fat, creamy kick to salads and pizza, but especially spicy things like buffalo wings. If you are a vegan but want ranch, there is even a version for you.  Instead of buttermilk it uses soy milk; it's sweetened with agave nectar instead of sugar, and the tang comes from apple cider vinegar, mustard and onion powder.  Needless to say with a name like that, it's also organic.  The company makes a range of organic salad dressings, sauces, and ketchup. 

So how does this ranch dressing stack up against the non-vegan kind?  Basically if you're eating it on a wing-thing, say the Morningstar farms version, it will do its job of pleasantly cutting the spice fine, even if something with dairy would work slightly better (food science again).  Quibbles include the fact that It's too thin, and it's obviously missing the creamy element since soy milk just doesn't have the fat content.  If you taste it on its own it doesn't always stay consistent between the sweet and slightly sour elements.  One could argue this just makes it taste real, unlike the bland flavor uniformity of lots of other kinds of ranch.  Bottled ranch is not exactly a culinary masterpiece to begin with.  I would choose this dressing over the low-fat dairy version with no qualms. 

Zucchini As Pasta

This actually works.  Highly recommended for the carb addict who's going to eat bread with it anyway, but at least then isn't eating bread and pasta.  That's me, of course.  Not dictating to anyone else what they need or want, but I do get kind of worried I'll die of scurvy.  (You know 'strive for five?'  My motto seems to be 'one is fun').  At any rate, turns out if you peel thin shavings of zucchini and then sautee them in medium-high olive oil for about three minutes they make a fine 'pasta' type item: a bit sweeter than pasta and without the heft, so a lovely summer food.  Good served with marinara sauce.  A word to the wise: zucchini do not produce as many shavings as one would expect so one large zucchini may only fill almost one bowl.  Buy too much and it will work perfectly. 

Coconut Bliss Dark Chocolate Frozen Dessert

There are a lot of things to love about the production of Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss.  It's a West Coast family company which makes a line of frozen desserts (ice creams if you will) in small batches using vegan, gluten-and-soy free ingredients which are mostly organic.  The only catch is you also have to love coconut.  Not a problem for most of us, but it took me a long time to get into the dark chocolate flavor because I was expecting, well, the dark chocolate I was used to in ice cream, which usually involves a large amount of sugar and also milk fat.  After a little while I really became affectionate toward the smooth, icy mixture of coconut and subtle dark cocoa powder, and Coconut Bliss uses agave  for sweetener for a more mellow experience.  A nice non-dairy alternative for the non-soy inclined and coconut milk fans. 

It's All About The Tea

It has been ungodly hot here in San Francisco, and the city is simply unprepared for that sort of temperature spike.  Most businesses don't have air conditioning, and the buses certainly don't, which means that although yesterday was technically a "Spare The Air" day in which public transpo was free, the air was not being spared for the passengers inside the actual coaches, which were of course overcrowded due to being free. Plus the city is filled with foreign tourists: from Middle Eastern to Irish (why did you vote against the Lisbon treaty?) we've got 'em all.  I actually worried I was going to faint on the 38L. 

Weather like this prompts the purchasing of many cold drinks.  In search of the lavender lemonade I chronicled earlier, I instead found two beverages from the tea companies that are proliferating like bunnies, and a new type of chocolate bar utilizing tea. 

The Drama Of Ecology and Weird Fish

I was sitting in Taylor's, eating fish and chips at half the amount and twice the price of the SF Fish Company, which stops serving hot food at three.  Overly steaky fish with a thin, bitter batter not easily disguised by liberal applications of the tartar sauce, decent if nondescript fries.   On the far wall are two sets of containers, which because I am a city resident I recognize as our municipal recycling and composting buckets.  But I don't need to be that astute, because on my tray is a nice little paper liner explaining that all the plates and scraps should be composted, and all the bottles and cans should be recycled.  Then the woman in front of me gets up and dumps her entire tray into the trash.  Jesus, how much easier can they make it for you? 

Fortunately my fish and chips week, if not my environmental indignation, was salvaged by a lunch trip to Mission staple Weird Fish.  Weird Fish is owned by the same people who run Boogaloo's; instead of a highly vegan-friendly theme diner experience it's a highly vegan-friendly theme chipper experience.  Yes, a chipper that serves two variations of vegan fish (seitan and soy), as well as a gluten-free batter option,  and, most exciting, either pescatarian or vegan buffalo wings.  Of course any proximity to the Noble Catfish blows any thoughts of the fair-weather veganism right out of my mind.  The catfish po' boy needed to be delicious to overcome the pucker from the house-made ginger lemonade, which just became drinkable after the second packet of sugar and is only recommended for real ginger fans.  Then the catfish po' boy needed to last longer.  Purists may quibble that the bun wasn't that robust, but for flavorful fried fish in a crisp batter I'll settle for any kind of bread.  It was also served with cocktail sauce, which wasn't as annoying as I feared, but I added tartar sauce anyway because breading without mayonnaise is an affront to humanity.  Prices are what one would expect for the city (ten dollars for a sandwich or a two-piece fish basket).  Service is prompt and friendly.  Interior is small and can apparently get crowded and noisy, but midweek lunch was just nicely full.   

Veggie Heaven: Ike's Place

Correction upended to the end of the post! 

I almost went back in the house.  It seems whenever I venture out on Muni for a sandwich, the fog is rolling in icy droplets down the hill.  I shivered waiting for the bus.  I shivered in the deep tunnel of the Forest Hill Muni station.  Then I emerged into the Castro, where the sun was shining and the breeze was brisk.  Crazy climate zones.  Castro in the daytime has a strangely college-town feel to it, and it's great to be one of the few people on the empty streets.  The legendary Ike's Place sits around the corner from a potential dessert at the Bagdad Cafe, and in sight of Mission Delores as well, which means you can enjoy your sandwich-to-go in Delores Park if you have a mind to. 

Attention Gluten-Free Folk

It's Seamaiden's anniversary bash. And you could win a cookbook!