Chow Vegan

While down south for the holidays, I picked up take-out from Bliss Cafe. They’re a tiny, all vegan place in downtown San Luis Obispo, CA. The “yogi style, karma free” menu offers wholesome raw and cooked food, sourced locally and organically whenever possible and as close to zero-waste as possible.

Since I couldn’t decide on what to get, the Peace Plate ($10) seemed like a great choice. I got to try a little bit of everything – eggplant parmesan, grain of the day with a chutney, curry vegetable and a side salad.

The eggplant parmesan was delicious – the flavor of the marina sauce and eggplant really comes through. The grain of the day by itself was nicely seasoned with bonus spiciness from the chutney.

The side salad wasn’t your typical pile of lettuce with a token piece of tomato thrown on top. It’s like a real salad – lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, red cabbage in a creamy dressing with a bit of nutritional yeast taste.

I also couldn’t resist trying a dessert – a pecan banana cream pie ($6). I’m not exactly sure of the name but it sure tasted good. Light and not overly sweet, it’s more than enough to satisfy a sweet tooth.

Very reasonably priced for the amount of food received, I had enough for two meals. The people working there are also super nice. So happy to have such an awesome vegan option in SLO town.

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Over the holiday weekend, I was down south visiting family. Deciding where to eat out is always a challenge, between everyone’s various taste preferences and schedules, we quickly ate through the usual places. Time to try someplace new.

We ventured into Klondike Pizza, located in the downtown village of Arroyo Grande (about halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Central Coast). It’s got a fun, flunky, family-friendly Alaskan atmosphere. Where you get a basket of peanuts while you’re waiting for your food, and toss the shells onto the sawdust floor. It’s probably the most fun I ever had shelling peanuts.

For lunch, I got the Veggie Pizza – mushrooms, zucchini, black olives and tomatoes. It comes with onions and the much dreaded bell peppers which I had them leave off as well as the cheese. Instead of red sauce, I got garlic sauce – olive oil, herbs and lots of minced garlic.

They also make their own dough which is vegan. The crust is thick, I prefer thin crust. Still, I’m very happy to have a vegan option without any fuss. It’s not listed as vegan anywhere on the menu, but the super nice people working there confirmed it.

After waddling out of Klondike’s extra full, we crossed the street to Doc Burnstein’s Ice Cream Lab for a little sorbet (there’s always room for dessert). For some sweet vegan baked treats, Eclair Bakery is also just down the street.

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Last weekend, I checked out WonderCon at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the annual comic book, sci-fi, and popular arts event. (Yes, I’m geeky that way. But not as geeky as the people who dress up in costume and walk around in character. Bless them, they certain make the whole experience that much more interesting.)

Rather than eat the convention center food and wonder about the veganess of it all, I took a short walk over to the Loving Hut located in the food court of the Westfield Shopping Center.

I ordered the Grilled Philly Sandwich – marinated soy protein with BBQ sauce, vegan mayo, tomato and lettuce for $8.95. It was good. The bread is nice, warm and crispy; the insides had a meaty texture with good flavor. It came with a little container of cole slaw which had a nice twang to it and a couple of orange slices.

Since my order was to-go, I got a pager that lights up when the food is ready. But it didn’t take long at all, probably between five to ten minutes. There’s also a small buffet besides the sandwiches and salads on the menu. I actually like this location better than the Loving Hut in Palo Alto. And it’s definitely way better than eating at the convention center.

Yeah, I’m having a bit of a pizza binge over here in Chow Vegan land. You would think I had my fill of pizza after reviewing three Tofurky Pizzas in my last post. But hey, it’s pizza! And man, I haven’t had deep dish pizza in years, decades even.

Needless to say, I was very excited to try the vegan deep dish at Patxi’s Chicago Pizza in Palo Alto. I got the small 10″ Stuffed Vegan – spinach, crushed garlic, red onions, and Daiya vegan mozzarella cheese on a whole wheat crust.

After waiting 30 minutes for the deep dish to cook, it didn’t disappoint. The crust is nice and crusty, you can’t even tell it’s whole wheat. The Daiya cheese is nice and melty. Creamy too.

One slice and I was pretty much full. I haven’t had this much cheese in ages, it seemed really rich. Maybe because I’m used to eating lighter, cheeseless pizza. Next time I would leave out the onions and add other veggies instead.

Patxi’s also offers thin and extra-thin crust pizza which I would like to try sometime. All of their sauce and dough is vegan and made fresh daily.

Located in downtown Palo Alto, I’ve been racking my brain trying to think what was there before the pizza place (I use to live right around the corner). The decor is nice, the servers super friendly and the vegan pizza is clearly noted on the menu. A great addition to the list of places to eat vegan in Palo Alto.

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California Pizza Kitchen Review – There’s a CPK downtown, they have vegan thin crust pizza but it’s cheeseless.
Garden Fresh Vegan Cuisine Review – All-vegan Chinese restaurant, also located downtown, one street over from Patxi’s.
Vegan Red Velvet Cupcake From Sprinkles – A little further away at nearby Stanford Shopping Center, but totally worth the walk or drive over there.

While down in Southern California, Legoland in Carlsbad popped up on the itinerary a couple of times. For lunch there, I usually go for the salad bar at the Fun Town Market Restaurant. As you can see above, I really loaded up my plate.

After all that walking around the park, I need every single morsel. Because of the high turnover, the salad bar seems very fresh. The workers are constantly refilling the different items. I’ve even seen marinated tofu cubes, not on day 1 when I took the picture but they had it on day 2. It’s about 10 bucks a plate.

Usually the family eats over at Fun Town to accommodate me, the vegan. For one meal, we tried Upper Sports Deck Cafe for a change. When asked about vegan options, the waitress mentioned the Gardenburger and the entrée salads without the meat.

I got the burger with no mayo or dressing, it came with waffle fries, also for around $10. I think the patty may be vegan but I’m unsure about the bun. Also ordered the hummus with vegetables appetizer to share.

While Legoland has vegan options, it seems like Disneyland has more to offer. Although, probably the healthiest option of all the theme parks, is the Fun Town Market salad bar.

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Vegan Dining at Disneyland

Visited Disneyland again this year and got to try different places to eat as there’s quite a few options nowadays.

At the Mexican place, Rancho de Zocalo over in Frontierland, I ordered the Soft Tacos Monterrey for $9.99 – two tacos with sautéed vegetables on top of rice and beans in a flour tortilla (pictured above). Included is more rice and beans on the side along with a dollop of guacamole, salsa and shredded lettuce. Request no cheese and no sour cream.

The veggies in one taco had zucchini, squash and onions; the other had mostly onions and horror of horrors, bell peppers (I’m not fond of bell peppers). I’m not sure if it’s possible but if I ever eat this again, I’m going to try to request less of those bell peppers. Other than that, it’s not bad. The rice is nicely spiced and flavorful and everything seemed fresh.

It’s served cafeteria style and the service is fast moving once you get to the front of the line. I had to say “no sour cream” quickly as I saw the plater reaching automatically for the sour cream spoon. Everything is open so you can talk to the order-taker and the plater.

Tried the veggie burger with fries at the Village Haus in Fantasyland, $7.99 (pictured above). It was just ok. The patty tasted like a brand that I had before but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I didn’t confirmed that it was vegan. I thought I read somewhere that the veggie burgers are vegan but maybe I’m getting it confused with Walt Disney World (which apparently has better and more vegan food).

Over at Disney’s California Adventure, it was lunch at the Lucky Fortune Cookery in the Pacific Wharf area. They have fast food Asian Rice Bowls with tofu and one of four sauces over seared Asian vegetables and steamed rice for $9.49. I asked if any of the sauces were vegan and was told none of them were at first.

Then the super nice chef came out to talk to me and showed me the labels for the sauces. All of them except the Thai Coconut Curry is vegan. I went with the chef’s recommendation of the Teriyaki sauce (pictured above).

I thought it was good. I especially liked the soft tofu. The only thing is, it comes in a rather tall to-go container, making it hard to eat as the rice is all at the bottom and most of the sauce ends up there too.

Also had dinner at Blue Bayou in New Orleans Square again this year. Yes, they still have the Portobello Mushroom and Couscous Maque Choux, it’s still vegan and it’s still $27.99. I didn’t really think the price would go down but glad it didn’t go up. Although I only got a stack of two portobellos, last time I got three. Comes with a salad, but be sure to ask for it to be made vegan.

Didn’t get around to the veggie gumbo or veggie po’boy on this trip, but there’s always next time.

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For awhile now, I’ve been hearing about Ike’s Place this and Ike’s Place that. Basically, how wonderful it is, from the delicious sandwiches to the super nice employees. I’ve always wanted to eat there but never seem to find the time to make it into San Francisco. Little did I know there was an Ike’s location right around the corner from me.

It’s literally located in a business park office building in Redwood Shores. If you drove by, you would never know such culinary delights existed within. There’s no sign on the outside, just a plain, ordinary office placard outside the hallway door.

But step inside and you’re greeted with a menu divided by meat, vegetarian and vegan. That’s a whole section devoted to just vegan sandwiches!

(At this location, they now only take phone orders, no more walk-ins due to fire and safety codes. That’s actually better, no more waiting around in the hallway.)

After much study, I went with the Meatless Mike – vegan meatballs, marinara, and soy mozzarella on freshly baked sourdough bread (pictured at the top). It’s served hot and with dirty sauce – Ike’s own garlic aioli sauce with herbs and spices that’s baked right into the bread.

It’s so incredibly good. And so flavorful, everything blends together so well. The bread is deliciously crisp without ripping apart the roof of my mouth. They actually finish baking the bread when you order the sandwich.

I’ve also tried the Vegan Backstabber – vegan turkey, marinated artichoke hearts, garlic and herb sauce and soy cheese. Also very good but I liked the meatball sandwich better.

Normally I’m not a big sandwich eater but I could go for an Ike’s sandwich anytime. With such an extensive and creative menu, I could eat a different one every day for three weeks and still not eat the same sandwich twice.

The Get Healthy, Go Vegan Cookbook Giveaway
Don’t forget tomorrow is the last day to enter the giveaway.

Oh sure, back when I actually lived in Palo Alto, there wasn’t one vegan restaurant in sight. Now there’s two. Garden Fresh Vegan Cuisine opened earlier this year and I finally got around to eating there. Like their other, older location in Mountain View, they serve Chinese vegan cuisine.

On the menu, there’s plenty of imitation meat dishes (but if you’re not into that, there’s also tofu and just veggie dishes). Pictured above is Veggie Ribs – pressed shiitake mushrooms sautéed with onions and green peppers in a black bean sauce. It’s hard to believe it’s made out of mushrooms; they have such a nice, meaty texture.

Veggie Chicken Chow Mein – Soy chicken with cabbage, carrots, onions and bean sprouts. I love the fat wheat noodles and the fact that it’s not drowning in sauce.

Hunan Veggie Chicken – Shredded soy chicken with celery, carrots and bamboo shoots sautéed in a special hunan sauce. While this dish tasted good, it seemed a lot like the chow mein only without the noodles.

Next time, I’ll have to do a better job of ordering. All-vegan restaurants are so few and far between that I get a little overwhelm when I’m presented with an entire menu of dining options. But that’s a good thing.

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