been eatin' chaat and cookin' with garlic

i haven't eaten out in a few days. i just spent way to much money at rainbow which i always seem to do. so for the next few days i am taking it easy. ok, whoops... i just remembered i did actually eat out today for lunch. i had a super huge craving for the Chaat Cafe. they have a great paneer wrap there. if you haven't had the experience of indian food in a wrap then you should go check out the chaat cafe. my favorite is the paneer wrap. the grilled paneer is warm and just ever so slightly tough on the outside. you also get a side of either potato salad or cucumber salad. my only complaints are, i think the paneer wrap could be a little spicier and sometimes the naan is not warm enough. as a side note, i had a wrap similar to this in bombay that had way more kick to it and was a bit smaller and used roti instead of naan, so wraps similar to chaat's really do exist in india. one other thing, i have only eaten at two chaat cafe locations: sf and berkeley. the one in berkeley is way better than the one in san francisco. once i got the paneer wrap at the sf location and it was gross and runny. no good at all.

when i haven't been eating a huge paneer wrap i have been eating my favorite standby, the tempeh sandwich. i buy the fakin' bacon brand tempeh and pan fry it in a medium amount of oil (i like to fry). the strips get just right when they get sort of dark but not burnt looking and that also means they will be crispy. i put fresh tomatoes on the sandwich which i make with toasted sandwich bread. also, fresh basil and some mayo. you have to eat mayo with the fakin' bacon; the two go together like milk and cookies.

just so you know i do eat some healthier stuff. monday i made fresh pasta sauce with heirloom tomatoes. it was complemented by sautéed onions, basil, oregano, garlic, fennel, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. i have been eating a lot of garlic lately and i do think i put a tad too much in but whatever, garlic is always good!

speaking of garlic, i also put a ton in the fresh salsa and guacamole i made last night; i made enough to munch on for about three days! for the guacamole i halved some sungold cherry tomatoes (which plain make a very nice sweet snack) and put them in. they added just the right amount of sweetness i wanted in the guacamole and helped to put some of the garlic in it's place. i still had some pretty icky breath in the end though.

yum yum chinese

last night, after a long day at work, geoffrey and i both decided to be lazy and order out for food. around 8:30, while geoffrey was out working up an appetite, i decided on yum yum house. yum yum is located on valencia (cross st. 17th). i thought ordering three dishes would give us a better idea if yum yum would warrant a third visit (note: the first time was good but not entirely memorable and the ma-po bean cake was not spicy).

with that said, i ordered the garlic eggplant, mandarin meatless chicken, and veggie chow fun. i don't typically go for ordering a while dish that is 100% eggplant; in this case i did because i asked the guy on the phone what the spiciest vegetarian dish was. the eggplant wasn't even close to spicy and now i wonder if he thought i meant which item was the least spicy, but nonetheless the eggplant was flavorful and after having recently trying to cook this dish, i can say that the yum yum house does a good job. the eggplant was soft tender but not mushy. i would get this again if i ate at the restaurant in person (which i never have).

onto the fake meat. i had to try to their mandarin meatless chicken. i am huge fan of chinese fake meat dishes and this is listed in their menu as a Special dish. i have to say i loved it. fyi: it's pretty boring, just straight-up fried balls of fake chicken with a sweet, tangy sauce all over. i know it's a little boring but i get excited when i actually find some fake chicken that i like.

the chow fun was standard. we had gotten it before and there weren't any differences or surprises.

with all of this said, i will say that yum yum is shaping up to be on of my standard chinese take out places. the food gets to you in no more than thirty minutes and the portions are large. an average veggie dish will range between 7 and 8 dollars.

next time i will try the kung pao meatless chicken and if that's good then i will be hooked.

what i eat and want to talk about

i never much thought i would care to blog, but finally i have a reason to. i want to let all of the people out there that don't eat meat, vegetarian not vegan (sorry, i love cheese), what's up and where to treat themselves to yummy bites to eat. this will mainly occur in san francisco and the greater bay area with occasional trips home to north carolina as well as great places i try while on vacation. so, in the coming days, i'll be creating posts based on various restaurants i love as well as new ones i try.

as a lover of food i also pay close attention to what my meat eating friends enjoy at the same restaurants, and therefore i will be happy to pass this information along. i know most of us veggie folks have meat eating friends and so if you are part of a friendly dinner club or eat with different friends/family/co-workers whenever, then you'll want to be able to pass on the meat scoop since so many people can cringe up when they first hear you talk about veggie offerings, because they suddenly conclude it's going to be all vegetarian. this is quite silly because as most of us know the majority of restaurants out there are not all pure veggie or vegan.

and, so just to make things clear i will not be posting about hardcore veggie or vegan places. i enjoy the variety of veggie food from all types of restaurants and refuse to limit myself in such an extreme way.