Chow Vegan

Lately, I been dining at California Pizza Kitchen after a decade long hiatus. I remember back then, I had to quiz the waitperson to figure out what was vegan on the menu. Nowadays, they have a whole section listing what’s vegan, what’s lacto vegetarian, and what’s lacto ovo vegetarian on their website. It’s very handy.

There’s two options for vegan pizza. I always get what’s pictured above – Vegetarian with Japanese Eggplant – baby broccoli, grilled Japanese eggplant, roasted corn, sliced red onions, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and tomato sauce. Asked for no cheese and on the Neapolitan dough (thin-crust).

I love thin crust pizza. The thinner, the better as far as I’m concerned. CPK’s is so thin and crisp, there’s an actual crunch to certain parts. And I love the flavors of the toppings, they’re not your standard veggie pizza toppings.

The second vegan pizza option is the Tricoloré Salad Pizza – chilled arugula, baby red leaf lettuce, radicchio, diced tomatoes with homemade Dijon balsamic vinaigrette dressing and no cheese – which I have not tried. To me, it just sounds like salad on a pizza crust.

I’ve also tried the two vegan soups, the Asparagus Soup with no croutons and the Dakota Smashed Pea and Barley Soup, pictured above. They’re both alright, kinda on the salty side though.

I usually get the soup just to round out my meal but I might try a salad or an appetizer next time instead. I heard about their Menu Adventure Guarantee as I was leaving – try something new, if you’re not thrilled, they’ll replace it with one of your usual favorites. I might have to take them up on that.

Continuing in my gluttonous ways, I recently dined on a very lovely 8 course Japanese vegan meal at Kaygetsu in Menlo Park, California. This style of meal service is called kaiseki. It has its origins in tea ceremony, where small multi-courses was served to compliment the tea.

The menu is carefully selected to reflect the season and is changed monthly. For the vegan/vegetarian menu, the restaurant requires 3 days advance notice.

The first course (pictured above on the left) is tomato water, mochi with grated cucumber, tomato marinated in kelp and pear with sesame cream. It’s a great beginning. I love tasting menus where you get a little taste of everything.

The second course (on the right) is a slow-cooked dish. Kabocha squash, wheat gluten, carrot, taro and spinach cooked in a clear broth. Very tasty, I ate everything including the broth (I want to make sure I get the whole experience).

The third course (above left) is tofu “sashimi” along with yuba and avocado rolls topped with seaweed “caviar”.

The fourth course (above right) is an amazing assortment of flavors: avocado, mizuna green, shiitake, tonburi and chrysanthemum in oshitashi sauce. Salad with avocado, orange, cucumber and wakame seaweed. Gingko nut and red bell pepper on skewers. Eggplant with miso sauce. Minced tofu ball cooked in soy based sauce. Once again, I devoured everything. Even the ginko nut and bell peppers which I am not a big fan of, but I ate it anyways.

The fifth course (above) is a steamed dish. Yuba stuffed with lotus root, shiitake, romano beans and topped with wasabi. It came with a lid on the bowl. My absolutely favorite course, so very flavorful. I would be happy to eat this everyday.

The sixth course (above left) is the fried dish, think tempura. Corn and onion, somen pine needles, potato gingko nut, seaweed, shiso, served with green tea salt and lemon. The waitress said the somen pine needles were for decoration and not meant to be eaten. I ate them anyways, they were actually quite good. I also really like the green tea salt which I never even heard of before.

The seventh course (above right) is the rice dish. Rice mixed with shiso served with house pickled vegetables and a clear soup with vegetables. Compared to everything else, the rice wasn’t anything special and probably the weakest dish. It’s also the only course where I didn’t clean my plate.

The final eighth course was dessert. Two different desserts. And it’s not either or, it’s both! A pear compote with sweet gelatin (above left) and house made sorbet (above right). It’s a nice, light, refreshing end to an awesome meal.

I had no idea there’s a restaurant serving this caliber of vegan food right here in my own backyard. Kaygetsu is now my new “go to” restaurant for special occasions as it’s a bit pricey. But it’s so totally worth it.

While in Carlsbad, I stayed at the Four Seasons Resort Aviara. Living up to the Four Seasons reputation, they had some very good vegan and vegetarian food options.

Over at the pool (pictured above), one can order a Gardenburger, among other things from the Ocean Pool Bar & Grill. Imagine that – a veggie burger with fries poolside, and you can get it “to go” as well. I had it twice and both times the burger was nicely done with fresh tomato, red onion, lettuce and alfalfa sprouts on a fluffy toasted bun.

I also had an opportunity to dine at their signature Italian restaurant, Vivace. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I haven’t had much luck with Italian places besides the typical Angel Hair Capellini something or other pasta dish. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

Vivace serves its food in the Italian style of separate courses; they printed out a whole separate vegan menu for me. It actually says “Vegan Menu” on the printout. That blew me away, that I could actually pick from two different options for each of my courses.

For the insalate course, I chose the spinach with peaches salad. For primi (first course), I had the mushroom risotto that was so good – it’s my favorite dish of the entire trip. For secondi (second course), I had grilled vegetables with farro. And for dessert, a selection of various sorbets.

Sadly, I didn’t bring my camera to dinner so no pictures of the meal. But what a great and delicious surprise to find that they had already planned a vegan menu for anyone who asks (it was a last-minute decision to eat there). I would happily eat here again.

Now we’re talking, this is the kind of vegan sushi I’ve been looking for, something new and different. I was down in Carlsbad last week and stopped by Nozomi Japanese Fusion restaurant for lunch.

I started off with organic Genmaicha, a green tea combined with roasted brown rice for a little bit of a “popcorn” taste. It’s delicious, but don’t let it steep too long or it becomes bitter-tasting.

For my entree, I had the vegetarian sushi combination which including the chef’s choice of 6 pieces of vegetable nigiri and a 4-piece vegetable roll, all made vegan. From left to right the different types of nigiri were: a leafy green wrapped around sushi rice, some pink vegetable that I don’t know its name, a strip of some preserved vegetable topped with avocado, eggplant, greens on top of rice in a wrapper, and shiitake mushroom. The veggie roll was similar to other veggie rolls that I’ve had before. But it was all tasty.

I also tried a tapas styled appetizer, steamed mushroom and leek dumplings in a truffle and miso broth.

I ended up eating there twice during my trip, both times for lunch. I got the sushi combination again and got slight variations on the offerings. The second time I got a few pickled leeks on the plate, I normally eat them in my Chinese Veggie Chicken Salad but I’ve never seen them before in a restaurant.

Now I’m more inspired than ever to try to make my own sushi at home.

I’m traveling this week so my eating options is a bit on the limited side. I had read that Papa Johns had vegan pizza dough and sauce. That was to be my backup plan if all else fails. After five days on the road, I placed an online order for pizza delivery. Now I haven’t had pizza delivery in years but desperate times call for desperate measures.

The online ordering was super easy and straight-forward. There’s options to change the toppings and even a “no cheese” button. I went with a large veggie thin crust pizza with no cheese.

Sadly, their thin crust is not vegan, its got some milk product something or other in it. I got all mixed up after reading about which pizza chain has what vegan crusts. I thought it was but it’s the original crust that’s vegan. Lesson learned. I should have double-checked before placing the order. Duh.

Otherwise the pizza was great, the veggies were good, the delivery was on time, and the delivery person pleasant. It came with a couple packets of special seasonings which I didn’t use, and a pepperoncini pepper in the corner of the box. Apparently, pepperoncinis are a traditional Italian garnish. I even got an online discount. Not bad for a chain restaurant in a small town.

A couple of weeks ago my siblings and I were in Las Vegas to surprise our Mom for her 70th birthday. Mom and Dad love going to Vegas; it’s like Disneyland to them.

For the celebratory birthday dinner, we had a reservation at Thomas Keller’s French bistro Bouchon. Now, traditional French country cuisine is not exactly known for vegan fare, so I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing. So much so that I had packed a Clif Bar in my backpack just in case I needed something else to eat as I was flying home right after dinner.

To ensure that everyone enjoyed their meal on this happy occasion, my sister must have told the Bouchon people at least three times that there will be a vegan in our party. I thought I would have to remind them again but after we were seated, our waiter beat me to the punch and asked who was the vegan? And then proceeded to ask what I could and could not eat.

The meal started off with warm, crusty, French bread shaped to look like a wheat stalk and sparkling or flat Evian bottled water. I won’t bore you with the details of what the rest of my family ate. I had a beet salad without the cheese. Normally I don’t like beets but I figured it’s the world-renowned Thomas Keller, of all the times to really try beets, this would be it. The beets were delicious and that’s saying a lot from a former beet hater.

My main course was whatever the chef was willing to put together for me; it’s pictured above. A plate of vegetables exquisitely arranged, it was very tasty. But the portion seemed a little on the small side for just being vegetables. Hello, just because I’m a vegan doesn’t mean I’m on a diet. Oh sure, I see you piling on the pommes frites (french fries) with the steak entree like there’s no tomorrow. But you’re stingy with the veggies? And it’s not just Bouchon, other fine dining restaurants are the same – delicious, expertly cooked vegetables, just not very much of it and not exactly cheap.

For dessert, everyone else had the birthday dessert plate – an assortment of miniature cakes, ice cream and cookies with a candle. I asked about the sorbet but the waiter said it had a little cream in it but he offered a bowl of fresh berries instead. Good enough for me.

Overall, a great experience for everyone – the decor was beautiful, the ambience was relaxed and the service was impeccable. It may sound like I’m complaining a little but I’m not. I’m happy and grateful that I was able to enjoy a nice dinner with my family at a famous restaurant. As it turned out, between the bread, salad, vegetables and berries, it was just the right amount of food. I didn’t even eat the peanuts on the flight home and that Clif Bar is still in the backpack.