As you may have read yesterday, I didn’t get off to a good vegan start in San Francisco, but then on Sunday night we walked to a restaurant on the pier called The Plant Cafe. Oh. My. Heck! Talk about amazing and delicious choices. I was almost overwhelmed.
The menu at The Plant Cafe is not all vegetarian/vegan, but it is super vegan friendly (AND gluten free friendly) with all items clearly marked. It’s also almost 100% organic and primarily local. Sweet! The ambiance is quite lovely, and you can elect to dine inside or on the deck. I had booked an inside table when I made the reservation, not realizing how warm it would be, so we did stay inside.
The drinks menu has some crazy interesting options (scotch and cranberry… hmm…) as well as quite a selection of organic wines and beers. I stuck with a draft local beer, because drinking local beer is what I do when I travel 🙂
Then it was on to the menu choices, where I, and my dining partner Maria, waffled for an extended period about what to get. I was interested in several of the salads, the spring rolls, the flatbread plate, the pasta, the plant burger – yeah, pretty much most of the vegan items on the menu looked good to me.
Ultimately, I settled on the avacado salad and the plant burger. The salad was superb, with avocado, arugula, grapefruit, fennel, and a creamy peppercorn dressing. How have I not thought to put avocado and grapefruit together on a salad before? This will be rectified. Mmmmmmmm!!!! The signature plant burger, made on site, is a combination of lentils, mushrooms, beets, cashews, and bulgur. They top it with a little onion, lettuce, tomato, and aioli. It’s a rather pink looking burger from the beets, and let me tell you, it is exceptionally good. The combination of the sweetness of the beets against the richness of the lentils – cut it out! I was full by the time I finished half of it, but I bravely continued on and ate it all. Sometimes a vegan has to do what a vegan has to do. Maria had the clams (which were apparently delicious enough to make her consider using the sauce as a conditioner) and the plant sandwich as well.
We didn’t make it to the desert menu, which was sad because I know there were probably some kickass things on there, but I was way too full. As we walked out, the owner stopped us and inquired as to how things were and generally chatted in a super friendly and enthusiastic way. I wanted to go back in and have another meal just because I liked him that much.
So, yeah, if you can’t tell, I would recommend this restaurant to vegans and vegetarians traveling or living in San Francisco. They have three locations, so there are some options that way. They also serve lunch and weekend brunch at some of the locations.
**I received no special whatevers for this review – just really dug the place
L
