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March 1, 2010 at 10:25 PM 8 comments Food: San Francisco
Week 4 for an Unlikely Vegetarian

The madness is over. Today I had a combo plate of Angus beef sliders and BBQ pulled pork, washed down with a pint of blond pilsner. Having said that, it was a worthy experiment, resulting in a personal triumph of discipline, self-determination and enlightenment. Did I mention the Angus burger sliders?

I rounded out my world vegetarian cuisines by eating Thai, Indian, more Thai and a variety of pastas. Over the course of the four weeks, I only had one truly bad dining experience. Sadly it was at Slowclub in San Francisco, a long-time favorite of Jessica and I. I ordered a baked pasta dish made with squash, herbs, cheese, heavy cream and spinach. It sounds good now reading this, but it was truly awful. I ate a pound of french fries that night, and some really tasty Bi-Rite ice cream. I'll go back to Slowclub soon, and I'll get the burger. They have a supreme burger, and the best fries in San Francisco.

As I wrote before, I didn't have a specific objective in mind other than to challenge myself to last the four weeks, but also to try things I wouldn't try ordinarily. My hope is I would expand my view of food, and widen the rotation of things I eat frequently. I feel I succeeded on both accounts. I actually like tofu (particularly the fried type), and I've eaten more vegetables this month than I have in years. I also found that I can not only survive, but have an enjoyable meal that is centric to meat and potatoes, though I still have a fondness for each.

Case in point: last night we had a vegetarian pizza at Little Star, and it was just as tasty as I remembered their other pies being. Perhaps I was delirious, or perhaps it was pepperoni and sausage by osmosis from adjacent entrees, but I would order it again. It was less greasy, presumably lower fat and just as tasty. This raises the obvious question: why not?

Today I also lifted the month-long ban on alcohol. I had a beer, and I know Jessica is toasting the end of prohibition 2,500 miles away in New York City. The sobriety was a challenge, and the vegetarianism was daunting, but combining the both for a month's duration was maddening. For the balance of this week I'll be making up for lost time I'm sure, but responsibly easing my way back into epicurean ruin, culminating in this weekend's reservation at the House of Prime Rib. There is no greater destination to over indulge in food and drink. Even the salad tastes like beef. Its a place I know well, where they greet me by name when I call the restaurant. I mostly just want to call and be reassured they remember me. Once I accomplish this milestone, I'm sure I'll be back at the House of Buckwheat Hemp very, very soon.

February 21, 2010 at 08:05 PM 5 comments Food: San Francisco
Week 3 for an Unlikely Vegetarian

This week was burger week. I decided to try a variety of veggie burgers as they seem to be the most mainstream of vegetarian cuisine, and I had such good luck at Hillstone in Manhattan. I tried three; the Boca Burger, the Gardenburger and Veggie Burger at Custom Burger in San Francisco.

I'll start by saying that despite my enthusiasm for dining at Bogo in Manhattan, I really don't care for vegetarian food that attempts to be something its not. A well-prepared burger is a nearly perfect food. A burger that contains something that attempts to be beef, is nearly perfect failure. However, a "garden burger" (small g) is something entirely different and thus may succeed or fail in its own right. This in mind, my review.

I liked the veggie burger at Hillstone as it was something well-conceived, well-executed and unexpected. It had a rich, smoky BBQ flavor and a texture that was earthy and grainy, but not squishy. For this reason I didn't care for the Boca burger. To me this food was a poor attempt to simulate the texture of meat. If I was passionate about not eating meat, I'm not sure why I would eat this at all. To me this says, "I know you're uneasy about killing an animal, but let's approximate that experience as closely as possible without actually getting blood on your hands." The harder you try to simulate meat, and the closer you come to getting it right, the more you simply gross me out. I wanted nothing to do with this.

Alternatively, I did enjoy the Gardenburger. It had a savory, well-seasoned vegetable flavor consisting of grains, black bean and rice. Adequately dressed, it was a great sandwich. The Custom Burger Veggie Burger fell short in my experience. Although, it was more grainy than a Boca burger, it had its own disturbing squishiness that left me a bit unappetized. Nevermind the bun was a bit stale, the restaurant a bit dirty and the fries soggy. I would say that place has sadly gone downhill (I was also going to add that I found the staff particularly unattractive, but felt that would be an inappropriate remark).

Other than this short comparison of burgers, I don't have much else to say about the third week of being a vegetarian, other than I'm getting bored with the whole experiment. I have a greater appreciation for vegetarian options that I never would have considered otherwise, and I'm happy to introduce some of these into my regular rotation of eating, but I'm looking forward to enjoying a greater variety in a week or so. I'm especially looking forward to enjoying some of the foods I really love (for example, I'm not going to Shabu House to order the Kobe broccoli).

I've also become a dining liability with friends, afraid to ask me to dinner for fear they too will have to eat something made of hemp. Add the no drinking policy and I might as well have swine flu.

Matt and Nicole: we'll get bourbon and steaks next week, I promise.

February 16, 2010 at 08:31 PM 8 comments Food: San Francisco
Week 2 for an Unlikely (Part Time) Vegetarian

During the past week I've continued to my exploratory challenge into vegetarianism with mostly positive results. I was traveling to New York for the week, and anyone who has ever tried any type of restricted diet well knows, its really hard when you're traveling. Its especially hard when traveling to New York, America's premiere foodie town (sorry, Las Vegas).

New York excels at many cuisines, but what excites me the most is that it has some of the best steak houses in the country. My once a year pilgrimage to Peter Luger's in Brooklyn was not to be had on this trip (thankfully I did that about a month ago). Fortunately, there are a number of attractive vegetarian options as well. New York pizzas are great, and there are a number halal and falafel carts if you're in the mood for something both savory and middle-eastern.

We did some research and found several polls citing the best veggie burger in the City to be at Hillstone, the recently renamed Manhattan flagship of the Houston's restaurant chain. We trudged through a pounding blizzard (only a 5 minute walk) to try the burger. I found it be quite tasty, while Jessica thought it was too drenched in BBQ sauce. The patty consisted of rice, black beans, beets, olives, onions and any number of other items pressed together with sweet and spicy sauce, all served with a mountain of french fries. Truth be told, if you put enough of the best burger fixin's on any burger, you'll likely be satisfied with the result; in this case, mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, tomatoes and lettuce all heaped upon a toasted, buttered brioche bun. The meal was deemed a success, and one of the few nights I've felt truly full.

The next night we met up with friend and colleague Brent Kawahara who took us to Gobo, widely reputed to be New York City's best vegetarian restaurant. The food is pan-Asian and features a number of "squishies", Brent's term for fried cutlets of a tofu-like product called seitan. Properly breaded and fried, I would challenge you to tell it apart from chicken. Like chicken, it really takes on the flavor and character of its surroundings. We had a couple of stir fry dishes and a curry appetizer, all of which were very satisfying and filling. For me this meal bordered on the "weird vegetarian food substitute" I had hoped to avoid, but was good enough to recommend.

These highlights aside, the rest of the food was pretty uneventful. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should note that we along with our tradition of abstaining from alcohol, we also make it a tradition to take a break on Valentine's day to enjoy a fine glass of wine with dinner. In keeping with such exceptions, I did allow myself some real meat proteins on Valentine's day.

Perhaps "some" is too fine a word. We went to Hill Country BBQ and had brisket, prime rib, pork ribs, burnt end baked beans and cornbread, washed down with a bulleit bourbon cocktail and few PBRs. But, I was back on task shortly after and enjoyed my french toast and orange juice on the plane Monday morning. I should also note that I didn't experience any unpleasant side effects from my brief, if not triumphant, meat resumption. Call me a cheater, I don't care. I was worth it.

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February 15, 2010 at 07:42 PM 0 comments Culture
Happy Chinese New Year

February 7, 2010 at 03:14 PM 17 comments Food: San Francisco
Week 1 for an Unlikely Vegetarian

Its been a tradition the past few years to use February as a month of reflection, cleansing and post-holiday clarification. By this I mean we typically abstain from drinking for the entire month, a rather arbitrary but useful exercise in discipline and health regimen. I should also point out that February is always the shortest month of the year.

This year I have decided to raise the ~~steaks~~ stakes. Concerned friends are quick to point out that I eat a lot of red meat, but I might also add that I eat a fair amount of other colored meats as well. I've always considered myself a friend to the animals, when I'm not eating them or wearing them. In recognition of such, this February I'm going the whole the month without consuming alcohol or eating meat. Yes, you read that correctly.

I have many vegetarian friends, many of whom are readers of this blog. In my mind I had historically pictured vegetarians as insufferable, politically-motivated meat-haters who had more or less decided to be unhappy. But, with age comes wisdom and I've come appreciate that as a fine choice based on a variety of sensible rationale; humanity toward animals, cost and, quite often, taste.

I should clarify my stance here. I'm eliminating beef, pork, chicken and their combinations such as sausages, meatballs, etc. Where possible, I'm also avoiding foods prepared with meat-based stocks, but that's not always obvious. If in doubt, I'll ask but I don't dwell on it. I do eat eggs, so I suppose I'm cheating a bit here. I've never been a fan of seafood, so it was easy to leave that off the table. I do eat dairy, cheese, butter and the like. I'm not a vegan, because that would just be silly.

The journey thus far has been easier than expected. The reality of the type of foods I typically eat on my own during the work week lend themselves well to this exercise: salads, soups, pasta and the occasional quesadilla or pizza. Weekend dining, which is typically eating out, is only slightly more challenging. In California, the reality is that there are no shortage of options to choose from, but there aren't always attractive options.

I'm happy eating food that doesn't contain meat, but that does not mean to say I necessarily like vegetarian food. Case in point: if you order a vegetarian pizza, the restaurant will likely try to compensate for the lack of pepperoni by preparing some absurdly piled on pie of hippie food; buckwheat, grass and, God forbid, broccoli. I'm quite satisfied with a non-meat pizza of things I like such as peppers, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, jalepenos, pineapple, etc., but please hold the sprouts.

I'm also not interested in any attempt to simulate meat. I like tofu just fine, but I have no interest in tofu pressed into the shape of say a chicken breast or hot dog. Veggie burgers are a different animal (pun intended), but I haven't gone there just yet. I should also note that the Apple cafe has some of the finest vegetarian and vegan food around.

I'm curious about the outcomes of this experiment. Its likely I'll lose a few pounds, but by also eliminating the alcohol I'm unable to isolate the true variables at play. I would suggest that I'm eating more at this point. I don't know the science here, but I understand its the fat content in food that tells your mouth to inform your brain that you're full. Absent that, I just keep eating. Witness last week's pasta escapade and subsequent food coma.

I'm not sure the point of this challenge beyond the challenge itself. I once asked a good friend why he was so diligent in his observation of Lent, a complicated and seemingly arbitrary set of rules. He thought for a moment and said, more or less, that he wasn't interested in a religion of convenience. I suppose that given my well-know reverence for a good prime rib, I too will gain clarity and a better appreciation through discipline and sacrifice. I have a reservation at a steakhouse on March 1 where I will have a Manhattan, a bottle of red win and a ribeye.

Until then, I'll write another update in a week or so. I'm off to Safeway to buy some peanut butter.

February 3, 2010 at 11:05 AM 0 comments Shared Links
The 2010 Big Eat SF: 100 Things to Try Before You Die | 7x7

Alas, this year's list!

Click here to read the article on 7x7.com

January 29, 2010 at 08:30 PM 0 comments Shared Links
Why I Hate Voicemail