Layonna's

I haven’t updated this blog in a while. I haven’t been eating out as much. But I have been cooking exciting stuff, mainly thanks to Layonna’s, a veggie meat grocery store in downtown Oakland. I Love this place and I consider it the gold standard to judge other veggie meats against. Restaurants such as Golden Era, Love and Haight and Bang San all use the type of veggie meat that you can find at Layonna’s. This veggie meat is more moist, tender, tasty and honestly more greasy than other veggie meat. After eating fake meat from here you won’t wanna buy Yves brand or anything else you could find at Safeway. They have every type of meat you could want, and some that you wouldn’t (veggie tendon!). My favorites are the drumsticks the fried chicken, and really all the chicken products are good. Also its damn near impossible to find vegan bacon thats worth eating and layonna’s bacon is better than morning star brand and its vegan. Sometimes I feel like there are so many veggie options for sandwiches and asian food, but slim pickings for other cuisines. Thats what I really like about having Layonna’s around, anything you are really craving you can make at home and have it be delicious.

Heres some stuff I made at home. I'm not a very great cook, so if you are just imagine the veggie goodness you could create!

A meal like mom used to make, veggie pepper steak with mashers and brussels sprouts:


So bad for you but I don't even care. Hot wings and mac n cheese!



Layonna Vegetarian Health Food Market
443 8th Street
Oakland Ca 94607
510 763 3168

The Breakroom

The breakroom is a cute little cafe in downtown oakland. They have small menu consisting of vegetarian and vegan sandwiches and baked goods. I like this place, its simple and it’s tasty. Definitely not as exciting as Love and Haight or Ikes, but still delicious. They offer sandwiches with fake meat and tofu and veggies incase you’re not faux meat fan. The veggie meat they use can found in a grocery store, it tastes like maybe smart deli or yves and all of it is vegan. The veggie ham and turkey are really good, but the veggie bacon and salami is seriously lacking. Don’t they realize that they can get the best vegan veggie meat only a few blocks away at Layonna’s? Today I got a veggie salami sandwich and the meat was only good when disguised by the bread and veggies. The club sandwich, turkey bacon and ham n swiss were are perfect tummy pleasers though. This place is especially appealing to vegans, they have vegan cheese, vegan mayo and a ton a vegan baked goods. They have amazing coffee but not a whole lot of exciting beverages otherwise. Other things that are not so great is the seating area is small and they close at 7.

A tasty club sandwich:



Check out their menu:



The Breakroom
300 13th Street
Oakland Ca
510 836 3864

Love And Haight

Love and Haight is a great little hole in the wall deli on lower Haight street in the city. They serve fake meat and real meat sandwiches. What really makes this place stand out is the veggie meat. They use hot thick filets of moist fake meat. Its the same type of meat available at Layonnas, Golden Era or Bang San. My favorite sandwich is the veggie smoked ham. The veggie smoked duck is also a good one. The sandwiches themselves are pretty standard, your choice of bread with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, sprouts (yuck), dijon and mayo. If you wanna eat light they have pretty basic salads with veggie meat as well, but personally I can’t pass up a good sandwich.

Its hard to say if you get a better fake meat sandwich at Love and Haight or at Ike's. Although many of my friends disagree I say they are too different to compare. Love and Haight makes a simple sandwich with the best veggie meat you can find, whereas Ike’s makes an exciting sandwich with good but average veggie meat. I guess is depends what you are looking for.

Inside there are a few tables to eat at, but if you a large group it might be a challenge to find a spot for everyone. There is also totally bizarre artwork on the ceiling and sometimes there is a little old guy in the back who will stare you down through out your whole visit. But I like this place, their sandwiches are juicy and satisfying. Plus they’re open until 2am, you can’t beat that!

Veggie smoked ham sandwich:





Love and Haight
553 Haight Street
San Francisco Ca
415 252 8190

Tofu Yu

Today I took a much anticipated trip to Tofu Yu, a deli and cafe dedicated to tofu. As much as I love fake meat, tofu is by far my favorite food. You can see why I would be excited about this place. Their website looks sharp and the online menu has a lot of tasty sounding dishes. However, when I went in today it wasn't quite what I had expected. From what I gather, the sandwiches are made to order and the other food on their online menu can be found pre-made in the deli case. I showed up in the afternoon so maybe they sold out of a lot of their already prepared items. I was excited to try things from their website like tofu sushi rolls, tofu skewers, fried tofu sandwiches or tea smoked tofu but I didn't see them on the menu inside or in the deli case.

I ordered the BBQ tofu sandwich. It was good, but also weird. The tofu is pressed into thin sheets, which I guess makes it interesting, but it doesn't taste or feel like tofu. It kind of reminded me of fake deli meat before soy meat got tasty, like yves brand in the 90's. From the look of the food in the deli case the soy chicken is made of the same tofu sheets. Instead of the usual sandwich veggies, my sandwich came with cabbage and pickled onions, again, not bad but definitely strange.



I really want to like this place, so I'll try it again. I think it is more appealing for vegans than regular vegetarians. They serve Maggie Mudd's ice cream, have vegan mac and cheese, and special desserts like tofu cheese cake. They gave me a sample of the cheese cake and it was actually really good. They also sell their own tofu in different flavors and veggie meat balls. When I go back, I'll make an update.


Tofu Yu
2929 Ninth St. (at Ashby)
Berkeley
510 665 TOFU

Ike's Place

Ike's Place a sandwich shop in the castro with options for vegetarians, vegans and even meat eaters. Ike's has really unique sandwiches, with combinations of ingredients I would have never thought of. I find myself day dreaming about Ike's, and longing for a juicy, tasty fake meat sandwich all week long. I can only make it there on the weekends but that just makes me savor the experience that much more. My favorite sandwich is the veggie Al Bundy. It has smoked veggie turkey, avocado, gouda and french dressing. It's incredible, huge, satisfying and everything I could want on a sunday afternoon. Here's a picture to really get an idea of the goodness going on here:


I went there twice over the weekend so I decided to branch out and get something other than the bundy sandwhich. I ordered the veggie Heart of the Castro; veggie turkey and brie. Thinking about it is making my mouth water. I love having the option of not only getting veggie meat on my sandwich, but also exciting cheeses like brie or gouda. The sandwiches come with the usual fixings and something called dirty sauce, which from what I can tell is a yummy take on mayo. They also have vegan dirty sauce and vegan cheese for those who need it.

The veggie meat they use here is really good, but nothing you can't find at safeway. I think it's smart deli smoked turkey or something similar. The veggie meat isn't what makes the sandwiches stand out though, so the smart deli veggie meat totally works. They also have a lot of sandwiches with veggie meatballs but I haven't tried those. I would like to see them carry more types of veggie deli meat. Maybe veggie ham, veggie bacon, or even veggie roast beef! Just imagine the possibilities!

Another thing I like about this place is that Ike himself works there, and so does his mom. How cute. Also I hear my friend Dante knows Ike and helped to convince him to make vegetarian sandwiches along with meat ones. Way to go Dante.

Patience is something you should have when eating here. The place is really popular, they make a damn good sandwich and its no secret. When you order a sandwich expect a wait, but it will be worth it. I will often call mine in in advance, and they will give me a precise pick up time, which I like because it eliminates the wait.

Ike's Place
3506 16th St
(between Prosper St & Sanchez St)

San Francisco, CA 94114

415 553 6888

Bang San

Last week I had dinner at Bang San. It occupies the space that used to be Meekong. I never ate there so I can't say if I like it better although I've been told Meekong is far superior to Bang San. But thats neither here not there, because Bang San is open and Meekong is not! Bang San has a vegetarian section of their menu where you can order tofu and gluten dishes. Thats cool, but what I really like about this place is that you can order ANYTHING off the menu and have the option to have to made with veggie chicken, veggie ham OR veggie beef. Its really good veggie meat too, the type of stuff you could find at Layonna's or Golden Era. I ordered the fried chicken over fried rice, and pad kee mao with veggie beef. Both of which were delicious.

Veggie fried chicken over fried rice:


The restaurant itself doesn't have much character and kind of smelled like death the last time I was there, so if you are looking for a fancy night out you might wanna try some where else. But the veggie meat is bomb, they stay open until 11, and they deliver so I'm pretty siked on this place.





Bang San Thai
791 O'Farrell St.
San Francisco, CA
415 928 2772