San Francisco and what to do in it

anyone got some good recs for vegetarian/vegan restaurants? and a good place to get a tat while wasted?

http://www.societyofrockets.org/images/2-17-08_HemlockTavern.gif

There are probably a bunch, but I only know/like the most famous one Greens. Otherwise I recommend veggie food at regular restaurants.

I DO NOT recommend Herbivore, which I find mediocre with horrid service. Supposedly Cafe Gratitude is okay if you can get over the terrible food names and hippy-dippy-ness.

yeah Greens is the most high profile one I can think of - there are plenty of veggie options in most restaurants and a fair amount cater to vegans too (I mean shit the local diner around the corner from my house has vegan breakfast scrambles and vegan sandwiches etc)

Herbivore is more like fucking Horriblebore

Dosa next door is fantastic and has great veggie south Indian fare

I'll be in SF Thursday -> Sunday to record. Looking forward to it!

where are you recording..? (just curious)

Just about every restaurant on Valencia has better veggie far than Herbivore.

Millenium is the other well-known one, and may be vegan (?). Greens isn't cheap, but I thought it was very pleasant, both food and otherwise. I can't imagine you'd have trouble finding good veggie options at restaurants not explicitly veggie.

dude go get veggie cheese steaks at Jay's they are yum. also hit me up if ya wana get yo drink and smoke on.

^^^Jay's is teh awesome

this thread is actually pretty useful if you decide to actually scroll up and read it:

vegetarian:
there are some famous/pricy veg/vegan restaurants (most notably millenium and greens), but here are some other more reasonable ones:
golden ear (o'farrell btw. jones/leavenworth)
herbivore - a small chain: divisadero/fell & valencia/21
legume - 24th/noe

another suprise to look out for:
the tamale lady, a woman (just turned 50 last week) who travels from bar to bar in the mission (sometimes lower haight) has a rolling cart full of fresh tamales (and hot sauce) which is always a treat.

IMPORTANT REMINDER:
don't think because you're going to california in the middle of august that you will be greeted with blue skies and a warm sunrays washing over you. san francisco is notoriously gray and foggy and cold and windy in the summer months. (i spent the fourth about 100 miles inland and it was in the 90s. when i drove back into SF it was 57 mid-day). bring layers. the east bay (berkeley/oakland) is about 10-20 degrees warmer on average. even the east side of SF can be 10 degrees warmer than the west side. again: BRING LAYERS.

-- gygax! (gygax!), Sunday, July 6, 2003 11:55 AM (4 years ago)

i mean, otherwise i defer to gabbneb's expert googlisms.

sheesh

i like herbivore's brunch!

omg i heard about this veggie cheese steak place! sounds DIVINE! also I am staying near millenium so I'll prolly try that out.

chaki lets guzzle fernet! i should note i will be accompanied by the littlest wright sister.

sorry for wasting your precious time shasta

i see it as just saving you time! but whatevs.

are the tamale lady's tamales made with lard, steve?

also, how much should I value Michael Bauer's opinion? Patricia Unterman's?

1) lard.

2) those guys are okay, they're both somewhat stuffy 50 somethings with somewhat conservative tastes. i prefer chef's opinions to pro reviews.

Bauer is a bit of a twat, imnsho.

Bauer named a friend's then-5-year-old restaurant one of his top 10 new restaurants of 2006...

(not to be all DJ Martian or anything)

I mean, Steve, do you or anyone you know bother to read his reviews except to see whether a new place/makeover is getting good press?

Inside Scoop and SF Eater have better new chef/makeover info IME. I only read his reviews of places I like just to compare notes. I'm pretty douchey about what I really like so I'm curious of his angle of criticism.

last time i was in SF there was some local cable access show with a panel of random people who review restaurants and it was so mesmerizing.

where are you recording..? (just curious)

Here: http://www.snoppyquop.com/

"last time i was in SF there was some local cable access show with a panel of random people who review restaurants and it was so mesmerizing."

That's not Cable that's PBS!

http://blogs.kqed.org/food/

Here: http://www.snoppyquop.com/

huh - never heard of it. got some nice gear though. don't recognize anyone that's recorded there, makes me think they haven't been around for too long...? how'd you hear about 'em?

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/8594/crw1863oz3.jpg

This is my fave place for vegetarian burritos in SF. Lots of haterz will tell you how it's so inauthentic and shit, but the Jerry's burrito is absolutely the yum.

Otherwise, it's almost impossible to sit down at a restaraunt in SF and not have at least vegetarian options, if not vegan. And if you don't see 'em, ask. I went to Gary Danko for an anniversary some years back and they had no vegetarian options on the menu but they served me one of the best vegetarian meals I have ever had.

Also, I like Herbivore, so this certifies me as totally mad.

I like Balazo a lot but yeah "authentic" eh, I dunno.

who cares about authenticity anyway

libcrypt, I could care less about burrito 'authenticity' and it's not my absolute favorite but I like Balazo's fine.

I am a raving carnivore but I've liked Millenium the few times I've been, Herbivore, not so much.

altho honestly I don't usually get the burritos when I go to Balazo - I usually get the chille rellenos or taco salad

who cares about authenticity anyway

These people seem to care about it:

http://www.burritoeater.com/main.php

I find their reviews to be absolutely and totally off the mark, tho.

Millennium is good, but I think that Greens has a slight edge if only because of the nice view.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6758/imageuploadimageye0.jpg

You can get some really fine vegetarian tapas here^^^ (yes, I live in the upper haight) and quite potent sangria. No reservations, so you just have to arrive at the right time or else wait an hour.

okay I draw the line at that place. ugh

here are some places i scribbled down based on looking at vegdining.com - i think i actually ate at the golden era last time i was in town and they had some pretty radical fake chicken drumsticks:

- Ananda Fuara
- Bok Choy Garden
- Golden Era Vegetarian Restaurant
- Herbivore
- Millennium Restaurant
- Ike's Place
- Under dog
- Squat and Gobble

i might rule out squat and gobble based on the name.

Squat and Gobble is a chain - okay but nothing special, and definitely not specifically vegetarian

those liars!

they have one of those generic chalkboard menus and everything is either a crepe or an omelette or a sandwich

I avoid vegetarian asian restaurants, as a general rule. They all seem to be the same bland thing as far as I can tell. Squat and Gobble is good for vegetarian lunch/brunch: They have tofu scramble, pretty good salads, and vegan chili.

I went here a few weeks ago and I was impressed with the chili rellenos.

I really want to check that place out.

Mexico-DF was practically empty on the Thursday night I was there. The service was good and the food rich and reasonably interesting. They have these cheesy lighted paintings, though, which change every 15 minutes or so.

cheesy? more like classic.

dude at Jay's cheesesteak ruined their veggie options for me by pointing out to me that they cook the veggie stuff over the same areas where they cook the meat, and they do the fries in lard, so it's not really veggie.

I think herbivore is pretty good, personally. It's not expensive and it's alright. but i go to the one in berkeley more than the ones in SF.