So here are the places we went to in San Fransicso and Sonoma while on vacation.
Golden Era on Friday night, a vegetarian chinese/Asian place, and had a really good curry with brown rice. The eggplant dish was less spectacular — mostly salty.
On Saturday morning we went to the Market down at the Ferry Building. I bought heirloom beans from a vendor. We tasted fantastic Indian chutneys and bread, and Tom fell in love with some cheese from local cheese producers. I’d go to this place every weekend if I lived in SF — they had lots of local organic farmers there selling, and they say there are even more during the peak season.
We walked to the Fisherman’s Wharf area, which is very touristy, and went up to Fort Mason. Once we finally found the right building, we had lunch at The Greens. The place was packed, and we could see why: the view of the harbor and bay was beautiful. Some of the tables and booths were carved from massive tree trunks. We both had great lunches — mine was a marinated kebob of veggies and chewy tofu with a side of seasoned rice. I also had a great salad with pears(I think it was pears) and walnuts. The server was helpful in pointed out the vegan dishes. Contrary to what I’d heard, there were a few vegan selections on the menu, so it wasn’t as dairy laden as I’d thought it would be. We both died over the German Chocolate Torte for dessert. Delicious.
Saturday we went to Millenium. I was surprised at how busy it was. I guess it’s just hard to comprehend a vegan restaurant doing so well! The place was gorgeous; just as beautiful as any other high-end restaurant. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling all that well that evening, so I didn’t get to fully enjoy the experience. I had a very interesting raw butternut “ravioli” appetizer. Tom had fried oyster mushrooms, which reminded me of a calamari appetizer in its presentation. My entree was a peppercorn crusted portobello, which was good, but not outstanding. I picked it as an attempt to stay away from my usual fare (curry, coconut milk sauces, asian flavors), but I think I would have enjoyed one of the other meals much more. By the time dessert rolled around, I was feeling very horrible, but I did have a bite of it. We tried to be adventurous and got the Raisin Spice flan w/ Rum Raisin sorbet. They were both very strong in flavor, especially the rum in the sorbet! It was interesting to try, but I wouldn’t recommend it. All in all, I wish things had gone differently for the evening. Feeling better and making different menu choices would have made a huge difference.
We ate at Herbivore on Divisidero twice. I had the sausage bisquit for brunch, which had a scrumptious mushroom gravy, and also the blueberry cornbread, which was wonderfully moist and delicious. On our second trip we both got the Tempeh BLTs and enjoyed them a lot. We got the Shawarma Wraps to go to take with us on the road. We ate them cold a couple of hours later as a picnic lunch, and we thought they were great! Kind of like a vegan gyro, with extra seasonings.
In Sonoma:
Maya Restaurant: We had a nice dinner here. The tables and chairs appeared to be hand-carved. The servers were friendly, and the price very reasonable. It’s not listed on the website’s menu, but I had a nice roasted vegetable dish, and we also had the empanadas. It’s the kind of place we’d frequent if it was in Cleveland.
Sonoma-Meritage Restaurant & Oyster Bar advertised a vegan tasting menu, so we went there. Actually, it had a vegetarian tasting menu listed, and in small print, it added “vegan version available”. Unfortunately, all they did was take the cheese out of the vegetarian dishes, so I hardly felt full at the end of the meal. I had to send back one dish because they included the pesto, which contained cheese. The bread wasn’t vegan, either. I was hungry when we were done! The cold cucumber salad was tasty, though, as were the delicately fried portobello slices. I wish I’d gotten more than six of them! The atmosphere here was wonderful, however, with handblown glass lamps and other original decorations.
We had breakfast twice at the Basque Boulangerie Cafe, a cute bakery & deli right on Sonoma Plaza. It was popular with the locals and was packed every moment we were there. Tom was in love with the Sweet Onion Tart (a quiche), and I got to enjoy my morning oatmeal with soymilk, raisins, and brown sugar.
Our favorite meal by far was one that we added on at the last minute. We had lunch at La Salette, a Portuguese restaurant, the day we drove out of Sonoma. I had “The Vegetarian”, which was happily vegan without any modifications. Here’s the description: “baked vegetables with coconut rice, tomato-peanut sauce and plantains”. I’m terribly upset that I didn’t take a picture of it, because it was seriously the most beautiful dish I’ve ever gotten or made. Gorgeous variety of color, and great presentation. Over the mound of coconut rice were roasted shitake mushrooms, cauliflower, white beets, pearl onions, a few leaves of brussel sprouts, plantain slices, and whole carrots. The tomato-peanut sauce isn’t what you’d expect — definitely not overpoweringly peanutty, like a Thai sauce. Just mild, savory, red-orange goodness. Their rolls were also divine (I spent so much time checking the dairy that I neglected to ask about the eggs, so I may have goofed up there). I had a great salad with candied walnuts and a creamed mustard vinaigrette. Absolutely delicious, wonderful, flavorful, fantastic. Tom also loved his dish. I’d heartily recommend it to anyone!!!
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