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Sunday, June 08, 2008
Gestalt Haus
It's not often that I comment on a bar, but it's not often that a bar offers both a wide range of beers on tap that I am willing to drink AND vegan sausages cooked on a separate grill/sandwich press from the animal sausages. This is noteworthy enough that it merits mention here.
Gestalt Haus is just a block or so down 16th Street from THE favorite dive of one of my favorite "mean law firm girlfriends" (as I advertise them), and after a round at that dive and commentary on bars to avoid in the area, we both realized that we hadn't been to Gestalt to drink, either together or separately. She was concerned that, being a "German" bar, it might be too meat-oriented for me, but I had already has assurances from a brown-eyed, hipster bike-boy in the office that vegan sausages are available there. And how many places can you say that about?
My girlfriend was immediately thrilled: she drinks Speakeasy beers, of which there is an unusual abundance of there, and so she had a wide range of choices that she loves. I had some trouble choosing from the dozen or more taps that were protruding over the heads of the boys with uncombed hair at the bar, but only because there were so many of them. (Both uncombed boys and beers.) I went with Blue Moon, a wheat beer that I adore, but I could have also happily had Fat Tire, or Franziskaner Weissbier, or... other good choices that I have forgotten, but which were promising. (Yes, I like white beers, wheat beers, and Belgian beers, but actively dislike regular beer. My immediate family would look over their Buds with me in confusion.)
There were two vegan sausage options, Italian or Kielbasa, and about 8 meat sausage options, all of which come on organic rolls. I went with the Italian vegan with sauerkraut and a bit of mustard, which was exactly what I needed. As with all good vegan sausages, it did not taste like icky meat, but was its own tasty thing. My girlfriend assures me that her animal sausage was both enormous and delicious.
I've actually spent a lot of time in the space where Gestalt now is. I loved Cafe Macando (in which the walls were covered with odd colors of paint and framed black and white photographs of left-wing heroes) and Cafe La (L)Onda (which carried over the mismatched tables with individual, mismatched bedside table lamps, which gave the place a warm, comfortable glow that I swore I would one day commit to paper with pastels, but never did), and was really bummed when the latter closed. Now, I am not as bummed, as I would happily spend time at Gestalt also.
The music was fine. No one hassled us for having combed our hair. My girlfriend got to watch the A's game, and we both were amused by the skateboard videos.
Bonus: the reviews of Gestalt Haus on Yelp are a riot. Everything they say about the bathroom is true.Labels: beverages, restaurant, Valencia
posted by Arlene (Beth)9:15 AM
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Plearn on University Avenue in Berkeley is closed. Don't go there all worked up about the green veggie curry only to find a gutted storefront, like I did.Labels: restaurant
posted by Arlene (Beth)10:17 PM
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Fire damages closes favorite sushi restaurant: film at 11.
No Name Sushi on Church near 15th, whose actual name is Yokoso Nippon, is closed indefinitely due to a serious fire in one of the apartments upstairs. (The building isn't habitable.)
We are so bummed.Labels: restaurant
posted by Arlene (Beth)9:52 PM
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Ramblas
It's been quite a week of eating out for me! Which is not so good for my budget, but I had fun just the same. Saturday, in between films, we went to Ramblas Tapas (ramblastapas.com) at 557 Valencia Street here in SF. Ramblas serves small plates of fresh dishes prepared in a Spanish style. (I remember telling someone that 'i went to a tapas place,' and they wanted to know why people weren't wearing shirts (i.e., they were topless). Most people don't ask me things like that now.)
I enjoyed the meal very much.
We had an heirloom tomato salad, which was a series of small slices of a delicious red tomato, served with some kind of cress and a fresh bean puree in a light dressing. We had wax beans tossed in garlic and spices, which had a wonderful, fresh texture and a great garlicky flavor. We had roasted eggplant slices with a mixed sweet chutney, and a "Spanish tortilla" which is more like a fancy potato gratin, with thin layers of tender potatoes held together with egg, baked and served at room temperature. The bread and dipping sauce (redolent of red pepper and garlic, which I'm saying just so I can use the word 'redolent') were delicious (the bread was VERY fresh).
We were seated quickly and the service was good. The dishes came out just quickly enough so we could clear room on the table for another plate, but not all at once, which worked well. The prices were quite reasonable, and the food was fresh.
I hope to eat there again. I think the food is prepared a bit better than at nearby Picaro - it's less fried and more fresh-tasting, with more crisp, green options. In general, the list of veggie options is much longer at Ramblas.
I failed to order the sangria, however, and I'll need to do that for a complete comparison - I'm quite fond of Picaro's sangria, but I was tempted by Ramblas' exotic peach vodka drink special, and so failed to perform a sangria comparison. So I will return to Ramblas to research that item.Labels: restaurant, tapas
posted by Arlene (Beth)1:35 PM
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Cafe Gratitude
A friend of mine periodically "goes raw:" she goes onto a raw vegetarian or vegan foods diet. Raw foodism has been around... well, literally forever, since people have eaten fresh and natural foods since the most ancient times.
What makes "going raw" novel is largely the extent to which modern Americans eat heavily processed foods which are sometimes cooked repeatedly. (That frozen dinner you just popped into the microwave has been cooked more than once, and some of its components have been cooked separately, then assembled, then cooked, then frozen, and now will be heated by you again.) When you look at some of the alarmingly-non-food-like dishes that most people consider normal, breaking out of your routine to eat something you recognize in its original form seems completely sensible. Eating ultra-fresh foods has an obvious appeal.
Eating GOURMET ultra-fresh foods has even more appeal, and so my friend gathered a group of us, and we went out to Cafe Gratitude (withthecurrent.com), at their location on 9th Avenue near Irving.
This is a fabulous, fabulous, fancy-food place. The level of skill and complexity of presentation of raw ingredients is really stellar; the dishes we sampled were all delicious and subtly novel in some respect; the desserts were heavenly; and I left feeling full, cozy, completely satisfied, and believed that the folks who work there shared a very pleasant affection with us and everyone else present.
*
The restaurant is about positive living, and so the menu items all have positive affirmations as names. (Before you begin to fuss, note that you didn't carry on when the place down the block from you made you order in faux-Italian, you probably don't flinch when that junk food place you go to makes up fake not-Mexican snack names, and you probably use made-up names when you order coffee, so just relax and run with this.) It's not just the names, of course: the workers are pleasant and welcoming, and the food is made with affection and is amazingly good for you.
On this visit, I had the delicious "I am inspired," a delicious chai tea, served hot, with a lovely aroma and even better flavor. As appetizers, we had "I am bountiful," a collection of delicious spreads on seeded crackers, which we could happily have eaten all evening; "I am happy," a tasty hummus; and "I am generous," a smooth and flavorful guacamole. My entree was the enchilada of the day, which includes the daily special as a filling: it's called "I am elated," and of course I was. (Especially because of the fabulous rice that came with it, which inspired another adventure at home.) We also shared desserts, all of which were divine.
Aside from the obvious freshness that came out in all of the dishes, there was nothing about them that was so far removed from ordinary experience that the cooked-food-eating omnivores at the table couldn't handle. They knew what enchiladas are, and hummus, and guacamole; the sure as heck recognized cheesecake in its special incarnation here! Though there was some wide-eyed alarm upon our arrival, that faded once we settled in and started eating.
Actually, one of the entertaining aspects of this was seeing the omnivores in the group struggle conceptually with the very idea of uncooked foods. For example, lemonade was on the menu, but the whole 'raw' idea was so alien that one friend asked if it was going to be like NORMAL lemonade. To which I asked, "So, you COOK your lemonade??" I also had the privilege of explaining that guacamole, which was familiar to everyone at the table, is traditionally not cooked, and thus should be no surprise to anyone present. (I think being afraid of new things is like that: you try to view them through a filter of new-ness that obscures how familiar they are to you.)
Wait... hot tea? Enchiladas with rice? This isn't like that other raw food place you went to with us, is it? No, it isn't. According to my friend, there are a variety of approaches to the use of heat, and she subscribes to a theory that involves heating foods up to a point (103??) which provides warmth without destroying certain nutritious enzymes. This was that kind of place, so everything I expected to be warm was warm.
It's a great place, and I'll be taking friends there. You do pay for quality, and this is a quality place, but the cost is reasonable for the skill with which the dishes are prepared.
(Mmmmm: enchiladas!)Labels: raw food, restaurant
posted by Arlene (Beth)8:55 PM
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