Even on a cloudy, cold day it pays to show up right at the beginning of any food-related event in the Bay Area. Because people around here are insane about food. Insane, I tell you. So the prospect of a few blocks full of booths from some of the Bay's most beloved food carts but also some of its hottest restaurants drew everyone, plus of course her dog, because that's the other thing we're insane about. Never mind that with people hip to jowl in a three block radius, plus eighteen billion varieties of meat being cooked in the open air, plus a number of small, fur-pulling children, it was not actually a good environment for dogs. The hell with that. Attending the festival with the one person in the world who is less able to pass a dog on the street than I am might have been a mistake, as we were constantly being stopped while she paused to admire or commiserate or read tail semaphore, or whatever. There was a dude with a bulldog who had the right idea: he simply sat on one of the crates provided to patrons on the sidewalk while women flocked to coo over his dog.*
But the food, right, the food.
Continue reading "My Feet Hate Me: SF Street Food Festival" »
If Manhattan seems overwhelming, visit this little vegetarian oasis. It's open to the street, providing a charming low-key feel, and you don't have to worry if you'll be confronting attitudinal staff, the kind about which someone in a Calvin Trillin book once remarked "This isn't a play about a restaurant; it's a restaurant." Everyone is always extremely friendly and welcomes you to a neighborhood hangout. It's the kind of place which has regulars. I'm even sort of one, since it's the only restaurant I've been twice in my two most recent trips to New York. That wasn't entirely intentional (the second time I was looking for Kate's Joint but didn't want to wander all the way to Avenue B and 4th), but I was happy to end up there, nevertheless. The extensive menu is all veggie-vegan and includes classics like meatloaf, diner-type sandwiches, and Tex-Mex items. There's even something called 'crab fakes,' which is on my list for a future visit. I can imagine crab cakes made with imitation crab like a California roll, but since this place is totally veggie there must also be non-animal-based crab, and that seems so wacky I should try it. Eponymous curly fries are a must, and I enjoyed both the popular sloppy joe and the Philly cheesesteak. Oddly, though, I thought the higher quality of the fake steak, which was thick and chewy unlike much faux meat, held back the cheesesteak from the greasy spoon glory that one finds at, say, Metro in San Francisco. Prices are Manatthan-esque but many of the portions are fairly large. Recommended as a kind of home-away-from-home in the midst of the city for vegetarians.
A Canadian company has started making an entirely vegan shredded cheese (no casein), which is also sans soy and gluten. This type of product is a necessity for strict vegans and it certainly helps to be without soy since vegans usually eat a ton of it and the health outcomes are unclear. However, there is a reason that certain foods have the texture and properties they do, and cheese is one of them. Better to use a cashew-based spread or nutritional yeast, I've come to decide, rather than try to mimic those properties exactly. If the website is to be believed, Daiya cheese is beloved by vegans. This former vegan doesn't care for it. It is entirely possible that after several years back on dairy I have lost my tolerance, because I couldn't tell you for certain this tastes much different from the Lisanti brand I used to like on my vegan pizzas back in the day. I don't remember Lisanti being dry on first bite and oily after (because they wanted this 'cheese' to be able to melt), or having such a strange aftertaste. It just generally isn't enjoyable. That's a shame because it's important to have these types of alternatives, but for the exorbitant price you could buy or make a lot of faux dairy that while not having the exact look of shredded cheese, probably tasted beter.
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