Vegan in San Francisco

Last weekend I went to visit my best friend in San Francisco. It was great to go back to my old stomping ground and spend some quality time with the woman who has been my friend since the first day we met back in 4th grade at the bus stop.

We had a blast with happy hours, wine tasting, and watching the entire first season of Girls, but in honor of Vegan MoFo I wanted to highlight some of the food I had over the weekend.

On Friday I worked in my company's SF office and one of the assistants was nice enough to walk over to the Ferry Building with me to get a vegan donut from Pebbles Donuts. I opted for the salted caramel and it was delicious! I wish I had taken a picture of it but I forgot. You can check out their donut porn on their website though.

That night after work we went to Off the Grid at Fort Mason which is basically a food truck extravaganza with live music. I know food trucks are necessarily known for being super vegan friendly, but I was SO happy to find a stand that offered a fried tofu vegan taco. I got two of those and they were like heaven in my mouth. I scarfed one down so fast before I realized I should take a picture, so here is the second one before I devoured it as well.

Fried tofu, cabbage & pure awesomeness

The next day we went wine tasting in Healdsburg. We stopped at Agave restaurant before hitting the wineries and I was able to get veggies fajitas free of dairy and it was ok, kinda of bland and not the best thing I had ever eaten, but at least I had a full stomach before embarking on lots of wine!

That night, back in the city, we went to one of my all time favorite restaurants: Gracias Madre. I have missed this restaurant so much since leaving the Bay Area, so I was grateful I could convince the omnis to go.

Cue angels singing...

There were four of us and we decided to order a few different dishes and eat them family style. We started with the Gorditas: potato masa cakes covered with salsa verde, avocado and cashew cream. Once again we torn into these before I had a chance to take a pic, but I was able to make everyone pause for a moment before they were all gone.

Try not to lick your screen.

For our other entrees we got a huge plate of sauteed kale with pumpkin seeds. Still the best kale I have ever had.

All hail kale

The second dish we ordered was the Enchiladas con Mole. I had never had mole before and holy cow, I have been missing out. It's spicy, rich and full of pure win. These are served open faced with the most amazing mushrooms I have ever had and cashew cheese. My mouth is seriously watering just thinking about it!

I MAY have started on the beans before taking this pic...

And lastly we ordered the Platillo de Legumbres which is rice, beans and two sides of your choice. We went for mushrooms and fried plantains. 

So much goodness on one plate

All the food was beyond amazing, I was so sad to leave. I have heard a rumor though that there will be a Gracias Madre in L.A. within the next year. I can't even put into words how happy that would make me!

Overall I had so much fun in SF with my bestie (I really do hate that word) and it was fun subjecting her to some amazing vegan food!