Enjoy Vegetarian. Okay, I Will.

My local store on Geary.
Also has locations in the Sunset & Chinatown.

Chinese food in the city can be a hit or miss- even the friendly foodie can admit this. When you find your place though, then you know that’s it. 

After a yelp excursion, I came across enjoy vegetarian but was confused because their menu is full of ‘meat’ items. Feeling silly, I asked. All of their ‘meats’ are soy based and delicious! Not your typical meat-like-substance, but, for a short-term vegetarian, hard to tell the difference. Enjoy Vegetarian is the real deal!

You can order online which makes it easy. Then you can take your sweet time looking over their novel of a menu. When we pick up, they’re always so friendly to us (also rare at Mandarin, Chinese, Japanese food places) and give us complimentary sesame balls.

We always, must, definitely, NEED to order their sweet and sour chicken. They have achieved ultimate perfection in fake meat chicken with this dish. It is crispy but full of the yummy sweet and sour sauce we all know and love.

Another must on our list are the lettuce wraps. They give you almost an entire head of lettuce and a giant pile of miscellaneous vegetables to scoop in and top with ‘vegetarian’ oyster sauce. So delicious! We always have to ask for extra oyster sauce too because it’s that good.

Dining in, service is always there when you need it. And hot tea is complimentary with every meal.

A killer lunch special for less than $10.00 brings me in on the weekdays for a quick bite. You can get an entrée, side of rice or chow mein and an eggroll for various prices under an Alexander Hamilton.

Great, now I’m hungry again. I wonder what I’ll have for lunch today…

Layaly? More like, Lay All Your Food on Me.

 

I’ve always had this infatuation for Mediterranean food. Maybe it’s because when I try and make

anything like it – I fail. Or just say, “That place down the street makes it so well, so why should I try?” That place, being Layaly, where I choose to indulge in a variety of Mediterranean yummies.

Having eaten here multiple times, I’ll have to talk about my favorite ‘go-to’ items.

Beautiful, right?

First and foremost, let me say, BABA GHANOUJ. Probably the best I’ve had in the city to date. It has no bitter background left over from is eggplant origin but you can still taste it’s prominence. It’s a starter for me every time. They serve it with copious amounts of pita to scoop up every last smear of it on your plate.

Choosing an entrée is always difficult. I’m torn between what I know I love and what I want to try. Ultimate favorite is the Ahi salad. The tuna is lightly seared and served perfectly rare over a delicious green salad. It’s so fresh and tastes exactly how I imagine Greece to taste, okay, maybe not exactly, but close.

Speaking of Greece – their moussaka is delicious! They warn you that it takes about 15-20 minutes to cook. But it’s for sure worth it. You get this giant plate of delicious potatoes, eggplant, spices, and cheese, and, gah! I’m drooling now.

Service is very personable and nice. They’ve started recognizing my boyfriend and me when we go in. Overall, a great atmosphere.

What I have yet to try though are their desserts. Yes that is me typing that. I’ve always been too stuffed to have anymore room. But next time I return, I’m definitely at least getting a baklava to go!

Assab So Good.

If you’ve ever had the "pleasure" of being on the 38 or 38L Geary, then you’ve gone by this small green

and gold restaurant plenty of times. I know I had. With every pass, it always struck me – what exactly is Eritrean food? Or, you can ask, where is Eritrea? One adventurous night and I just had to try it and find out.

Assab is an Eritrean haven. For someone who has never even looked up what kind of food it was – the

menu was very well descriptive and our server was sweet as the honey wine they serve.

That’s right – honey wine! Two of my favorite things put together. I’m pretty sure it’s healthy for you too since it is made with honey. Right? That’s how it works? Health beneficial or not, it’s beneficial for my taste buds.

 Next, came lentil soup and vegetable Sambusas. The Sambusas were little fried-fritters of spicy goodness filled with peas and carrots. And when it got too spicy for me, I dipped it in my soup to cool it down. This lentil soup by the way is amazing. It is now one of my favorite soups and I can see myself going back to this restaurant just for a small bowl now and then. Delicious!

When ordering, we noticed that there’s about equal dishes served with meat as there are vegetarian. Fabulous! Most places seem to throw on vegetarian options out of necessity to please the angry vegans. But Assab integrates it seamlessly to the menu. For us two pescetarians, we had a hard time deciding what we wanted.

Our server recommended that we eat family style so we can share. We ordered Kantisha (spicy mushrooms with vegetables and yogurt) and a vegetable sample (came with a little of everything else). spongey-crepe-like-bread. Noticing the lack of utensils, I looked at my boyfriend, looked at the bread, and then dug in hands first.

Pictures don't do it justice!

Our food came on a giant round plate and was served with this

Eating with your hands as a vessel for food means one less stage your food has to go through. And when devouring this meal, it was necessary. We stuffed ourselves to the rim!

The spices were perfect and you can definitely taste the Indian influence in the food. The bread sopped up the delicious sauces. And if I ate anymore you would have had to roll me out of there Violet Beauregard Willy Wonka blueberry style.

Called it a night and happily came home. Looking forward to my next return to Assab, hopefully  soon!

Introduction

Too many food critiques are out there with a vengeance to ruin the local business. Overly analyzing the placement of the garnish and drizzle to substance ratio.

What ever happened to simply enjoying your food? I’m here to bring back what makes foodies enjoy food and do so politely.

Mother (and Bambi) always told me, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say it at all.” So I shall apply this to my food evaluations.

My love for food goes way back to days where I was a willing mouth with an open perspective on food that any mother would love her child to have. I even remember eating calamari at a young age.

Based in San Francisco, the friendly foodie, wishes to change the negative association that comes along with being a “critic” and do the job with a smile. And with the city being home to some of the best restaurants in the nation, this shouldn’t be a tough job! You’re eating food. Might as well enjoy it!

Off we go!