Mourning another cracked pizza stone. Might be time for an upgrade. They had me with “…ultimate, cheap home pizza oven.”
Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
How Young Tran blew my mind on election night
Young Tran, on the most historical night of our generation, presented The Goodman household with not just any baked tofu…it was the marinated, baked tofu of my dreams.
Many years ago, during The Mustard Days (literally: The Salad Days), numerous Intermezzo salads were consumed. It became obvious over the consumption of dozens of salads that their marinated tofu was the most unreal, delicious substance I have ever had the delight to eat. Naturally, we tried to make it at home with little success. The dream died.
Young single-handedly revitalized the taste sensation with his brilliant interpretation of this recipe. [Also: I am thrilled to have liquid smoke in the house.]
Note: photos were taken of my own interpretations of this recipe, but tofu, without fail, looks really gross when photographed by me.
Souley Vegan
Warning: this post mentions “tofu” a lot.
Souley Vegan, located right next door to Radio, is currently my favorite place to eat on a Tuesday night. I was worried that since I liked it so much…it would close up and some weird copy shop or bail bonds place would take it place. This worry now seems silly since it was packed with normals and vegan freaks alike last night. SV also upgraded their ambiance from “that vegan soul food place with the bare light bulb as decor” to “that charming little vegan place right near 12th Street Bart that offers baskets of fried okra amongst other things like tofu spinach pie and two kinds of delightfully prepared tofu.” (SF Weekly writes well on the experience.)
I honestly don’t know how they do it (probably frying? baking?): the crispy tofu is coated in some sort of delicious, crunchy shell in portions that dares you to finish either two large pieces or a basket of minis (attention fatties! I feel like the basket gives you more. I struggled to finish all six or eight pieces, though I regretted not wrapping the unfinished one in a napkin and eating on the drive home).
With The Breakroom doing what it does so well, Golden Lotus doing its thing with flaky service but the best Gourmet Chicken, New World doing its thing at a higher price with sometimes erratic results, and Souley Vegan coming into its own, I’m totally pumped to see Oakland turning into a vegan wonderland. (Note: sorry to end this entry like a 5th grade essay.)
The growing McDougall empire
I first heard of Dr. McDougall last summer in an out-of-the-way Mexican restaurant, where I wrote:
"I appreciated that in the middle of a strip of massive restaurant chains there was a little shop for Mexican food. I also appreciated the McDougall Menu which explicitly stated the items were made without dairy, meat, oil or lard. I don’t know where I’ve been, but I haven’t heard of this “McDougall” movement. If it helps put more tasty, dairy-free items on menus where you wouldn’t expect them, I’m all for it."
Even Annie gets in on the action!
I’m happy to see that he now has a growing food empire: oatmeals, soups! What does the future hold for this good doctor??