I know it's been far too long since I've posted a recipe, but in my defense, I've been eating up a storm in some of the Bay Area's best restaurants! My husband and I are living on a tight budget, so we've foregone dining out with the exception of a celebratory burrito in the Mission or a slice of pizza from Dino's on Fillmore. However, my wonderful in-laws were in town this weekend, and we wanted them to truly taste the town!
If you live in the area or are thinking of visiting, it's good to have a few places in mind that also have meat options in case your friends or relatives prefer a little carne with their meal. I'd love to take everybody I know to Greens in Fort Mason, but curried sweet potato souffles won't please everyone ;) So, here's a quick summary of the places we tried. I'll never be a food critic, but I can just share my opinions (and veggie option availability).
Fresca on Fillmore is an amazing Peruvian restaurant. I ordered the bell pepper stuffed with quinoa risotto, cheese, vegetables, and a spicy cream sauce. I was really excited to get a vegetarian option that wasn't pasta with tomato sauce, and this dish really was up to par. It was served a little bit cold, but I attribute it to the packed restaurant as opposed to the dish itself. The cream sauce is made without chicken broth, so it's a truly vegetarian dish. If you were to skip the sauce, it could be made vegan. My meat-eating compatriots were impressed by the cerviche as well as the sangria!
Scoma's on Fisherman's Wharf is nationally famous for its seafood dishes, but I was interested to find out what the vegetarian options were (and how they tasted). They had the requisite pasta dishes on the menu ($28 for pasta with tomato and basil? Are you serious?), but they also had a vegetarian risotto that looked promising. Our server was happy to check with the kitchen to find out if it was made with vegetable broth, and it was! It was served with perfectly al dente rice, a cornucopia of vegetables, and no cream or cheese at all (I got some parmesan added on the top). A truly vegan risotto is almost impossible to find, but the creaminess inherent in the rice made it a rich dish nonetheless. It's not the highest-protein dish, but it was great for a single meal. Needless to say, the seafood dishes left everyone stunned and raving, especially the sea scallops.
Squat and Gobble in the Marina has always interested me because of its.... unique name. When I heard that it had the best patio brunch in San Francisco, I knew we had to go. Brunch is often a more veggie-friendly meal, but their diverse offering of vegetarian crepes, omelets, pancakes, and breakfast sandwiches gave me a huge smile. I loved how the different omelets are named after San Francisco neighborhoods. I got the Lower Haight and loved the veggies, mozzarella, and pesto (!!!). Although my father-in-law is a generally happy guy, he really couldn't stop raving about this place! Any restaurant that can satisfy a hippie veggie like me and a meat-and-potatoes guy like him gets my stamp of approval :)
That was just a sampling of restaurants we visited, and I have a few I've been meaning to write about (including a Chinese food place that actually lets you know which of their sauces can be made with vegetable broth!). Perhaps I'll post a part two soon :) Enjoy!
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