Our first stop was Chico (home of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.!), and had we not gotten there at seven a.m. I'm sure we could have enjoyed the wide culinary variety of restaurants it had to offer. We left that night, though, for Davis, to see a friend and stay the night before the drive to San Francisco the next day. Before which, of course, we had to stop at Trader Joe's to stock up on Charles Shaw, banana chips, and chocolate dunkers. Oh TJ's, how we miss you in Colorado!
And so began our food journey in San Francisco. Our first meal was a spontaneous stop that night at a cheap Indian place in the Mission. It didn't quite compare to Taste of India or Cedar's in Seattle, but for the prices, we were astonished at the quality. I got what I always get when it's available--plain and simple dhal. The spiced lentil dish is just too delicious for me to turn down, no matter what else is on the menu. I neglected to write down what everyone else got, and also scarfed down half of my meal before the thought of taking a picture even crossed my mind... so feast your eyes on the half eaten dhal in the photo. The place was packed, but food only took around twenty minutes. Impressive.
The next morning we walked from Market to Haight Ashbury, and found Kate's Kitchen on the way. This was a great stop for breakfast. Homey with great art on the walls, Kate's offered a variety of brunch options. We opted for a breakfast sandwich, some simple eggs and toast, and there it was: the fruit orgy. This menu item speaks for itself: french toast topped with yogurt, honey, granola, and tons of fresh fruit. There may have been some syrup in there, too. Either way, we finished all of it. Here are the before and after:
That night we hit up Chinatown for Dim Sum. The first round was great. We managed to find and split a few different veggie orders and one with meat for Elizabeth. The second round didn't go so hot--they were out of a few of the things we wanted to try, so we took a stab at a few different things. Unfortunately, since we didn't specify that we wanted vegetarian, we weren't told that the pan-fried turnip cakes had tuna in them, or that the taro balls had meat as well. And when we confronted the waiter about it he got pretty huffy with us: "You say vegetarian? Noooo." Either way, we ate quite a few things that were both delicious and strange, and documented our faces in the process. It was an experience, to say the least.
Our last stop in SF was the infamous Ghirardelli factory. It was Gracie's birthday that day, and we all split a drool-worthy ice cream sundae to celebrate. Yum.
On our way to LA, we drove to Santa Cruz to visit and stay with my dear friend Dylan at UCSC. He took us to Saturn's--a ROCKIN' all vegetarian/vegan diner where they gave us coloring pages and sang to Gracie for her birthday. The food was awesome. And I don't use that term lightly. I opted for the breakfast sandwich (egg and veggie sausage patty on an English muffin), Eliza had a quesadilla, Dylan had vegan pancakes, Gracie got nachos (definitely the most epic plate of the night), and Christina went for the veggie burger. Here are the gems, respectively.
Unfortunately, I skimped quite a bit toward the end of the trip on documenting and photographing our culinary adventures, which is sad because LA had quite a few restaurants to impress. The rest of this post will just be minor descriptions with pictures below them, like this one of churros from Venice Beach.
We of course had to try the Tres Leches cake from the Mexican bakery around the corner from my uncle's house, where we stayed and were treated to his mouthwatering vegetarian/vegan cooking skills. Anyway, the TLC wasn't quite up to par with the Salvadorean Bakery's in Seattle, or my homemade one for that matter.
We stopped in Las Vegas at 10 a.m. on our way back to Colorado to see the sights and eat some food. We were all jonesing for an ice cream sundae again, and after traipsing through the Bellagio and the Aria for what seemed like hours, we ended up at the Jean Phillippe patisserie downstairs at the Aria and devoured this beauty.
We also ogled the chocolate fountains for a while...
And lastly, car food, of course. We called this one Gracie's specialty: veggie meat on whole grain bread with avocado and cheese. Mmm.
