Toby and I leave for our trip to the US this week. If you have any food related tips for New York, San Francisco or Portland please leave it in the comments or email us. Also would love other tips for good but cheap vintage clothes, tours, and anything else interesting. And I need ideas for snacks I can take on the plane since I can't get a gluten free and vegan meal!
We are taking a laptop and may try to blog while we are gone otherwise will be having a break from blogging (after next two posts) for about a month!
San Francisco: Udupi, Cafe Gratitude, Gracias Madre. Philz coffee has a gluten free vegan brownie -- it is prepackaged and is also served elsewhere, I don't remember where. Almost any thai place (and there are sooooooo many). Rainbow Grocery store, for sure! Some things from Mariposa bakery are egg free (it is a gluten free bakery). Have fun!
ReplyDeleteHope you have an awesome time, which im sure you will! Looking forward to hearing about your trip.
ReplyDeleteRose
My mum and dad just returned from similar trip today - should check out any recommendations - all I can remember is dean and delucca
ReplyDeleteAs for plane food - I got some excellent candied nuts come back from interstate last week but I ordered a vegetarian meal on the way over and got roasted veg on GF bread - and airlines never get food right so they just shouldn't try GF bread - it was disgusting!
Check out these lunchbox ideas - I particularly like the hummus in a half red capsicum - http://www.citylifeeats.com/search/label/Today%27s%20Lunchbox%20Series
Enjoy your trip
S.F!: Clothes Contact on Valencia Street is my favorite vintage shop (they sell some clothes by the pound, btw) and I would totally recommend checkin' out Good Vibes & Retail Therapy, also on Valencia. Cafe Gratitude on Harrison is super cosy and the Raw Nachos and strawberry cashew 'cheesecake' are pretty much the best thing, ever. Catching a show at the Filmore or Bottom Of The Hill is always a good time. There's an awesome farmers market in Fort Mason. I <3 the MOMA and can't recommend it enough, right now Matisse, Klee and Picasso are on exhibit. Hope that was somewhat coherent and helpful?
ReplyDeleteI was in New York recently, and you absolutely hands-down must go to Pure Food & Wine - entirely raw and one of the best meals I've had, omni or not. We also went to Candle 79 and that was also absolutely superb. I can't recall in PF&W have an online menu but Candle 79 do, so you can check their gluten-friendliness there. I recall there was a lot of v/g signs on menus!
ReplyDeleteWe also went to Zen Palate near Union Square (and near Pure), which was lovely, and Wild Ginger in Soho, which was too. I was a little let down by Blossom Cafe but didn't go to Blossom proper, and one of my veg friends went there recently and said it was amazing.
I don't know when you're leaving, but if you like I can give you my copy of the NYC Vegan Restaurant Guide? I work at Readings in Carlton if you can stop by.
Unrelated to food - if you decide to go to the Statue of Liberty, buy tickets online first and get there early. The queue for the ferry was 2 hours long. Staten Island ferry would probably have been a better idea. Don't take a bag or coat if you're going to MoMA as the coat check queue was ridiculous when we went. Central Park is amazing. Otherwise have fun!
Eat as many of the soy and coconut-based vegan ice creams as you possibly can, with a wanton disregard for whether or not you have access to a freezer. In other words, travelling in the US gives Aussie vegans carte blanche to eat multiple pints of ice cream in one sitting! Make sure to explore Garden of Eden as well as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's in New York, please visit Lulu's Sweet Apothecary as I've been to New York four times and have never made it there, and most importantly.... have the most AMAZING WONDERFUL TIME and blog every single second! (Or every second second, at least :P)
ReplyDeleteOats (if you can eat them) soaked in soy milk with raisins and blueberries are yummy, healthy, and travel well. Fruit's okay to take as long as you eat it before you hit the US. Maybe a muffaletta?
ReplyDeleteSan Fran has HEAPS of vegan places! For a fancy meal go to Millenium, they do a prie fixe if you're on a budget. Gracias Madre in the Mission district are a MUST, all vegan organic Mexican restaurant, sooooooo good! St. Francis Fountain, also in the Mission is a really authentic old diner/milk bar/type thing has good vegan options for breakfast/brunch, and vegan shakes! Highly recommended.
I could go on and on. I spent 3 months in SF last year as a vegan and was in food heaven. Most places in the Mission District will have vegan options, another place I'd recommend is Boogaloo's. And Saha! Not exclusively vegan but many options and very accomodating. Amazing Middle Eastern food. Also maybe try yelp.com to find places too. It's like a food directory with reviews etc. So helpful. I blogged my stay in sf, you might find some points of interest there. Enjoy your trip!!
Definitely go to foodswing in brooklyn. http://www.foodswings.net/ Delicious vegan fast food.
ReplyDeleteWill you still be there by the 11th July? Vegan Iron Chef is on in Portland then.
ReplyDeleteAlso couchsurfing.org has various vegan and veg groups, if you want to be able to ask locals some questions, or attend a pot luck etc.
We haven't left for the US yet, so we'll have to use your experience as our guide :)
One of the nice (or worst, depending on who you ask) things about Portland is that you can pretty much get a good vegan meal anywhere in town. Even the best restaurants. Even meat-centric places are usually happy to whip something up if you call ahead. But if you're looking for actual options on a menu:
ReplyDeletePortobello Vegan Trattoria is great Italian by any standard - all of it vegan, much GF. Blossoming Lotus is a solid vegan favorite - amazing soft serve. The Bye and Bye is a vegan hipster bar with stiff drinks and great bar food. Food Fight is a grocery story full of vegan junk food. Taqueria Los Gorditos has some of the best vegan Mexican food and a lot that's GF.
There is an inordinate amount of vegan bakeries, but the one that is popular even with non-vegans is Dovetail. There is also Black Sheep, Sweet Pea and Back to Eden, as well as many others that just do some vegan stuff.
A visit to Portland is not usually considered complete without a trip to Voodoo Doughnuts. They're not the best donuts in the city, but they are the mot iconic and still better than almost any you'll get in Australia. They have a huge range of vegan ones and are open 24 hours. I heartily recommend the Old Dirty Bastard, covered in chocolate, crushed Oreos and peanut butter at 3 am.
Food carts: For something very American, I would highly recommend Homegrown Smoker BBQ, which is all vegan and mostly GF BBQ, Other vegan/vegan-friendly carts downtown worth your time: D.C. Vegetarian (junk food), Chili Pie Palace (frito pie), Savor Soup House (soup), Emame's (Ethiopian), Gin Northern Thai, FlavorSpot (waffles), El Cubo de Cuba (Cuban), Beez Neez (the best vegan hotdog you will ever eat). Carts elsewhere worth your time: Potato Champion (fries), Whiffies Fried Pies (deep fried pies; less gross than it sounds), Wolf and Bear's (Middle Eastern), Oregon Ice Works (sorbets), Sushi Tree (all vegan sushi), Ruby Dragon (vaguely asian vegan), Kitchen Dances (mostly raw, all vegan), El Nutri Taco (Mexican).
I wouldn't otherwise mention it as a "dining destination", but you will be within easy walking distance of Prasad. If you want something simple, healthy, vegan and GF, it's a very good option.
If there was one single place I could recommend, it would be Natural Selection. A four-course menu with two options each course - at least one of which is always vegan and GF. It's a really cool place, great drinks, intimate, relaxed, a totally open kitchen, and for $35 per person for all four courses, I think excellent value. Maybe not quite on par with Millenium, but I think equally creative, far more chilled, smaller and way cheaper.
(Excuse the length; I'm not a freak - I write about this stuff for a living)