Hats Off To You, California

While visiting Josh's family in San Francisco, it would have been criminal of me not to explore a few of the vegan/vegan-friendly restaurants out there! Here's a taste of some of the places we dined at...

Cafe Gratitude was probably my favorite restaurant that we visited. This restaurant has 6 locations around California (we were lucky enough to have stumbled upon it in Santa Cruz..it happened to be their grand opening day! So we ate there twice :)). The owners of Cafe Gratitude have their own farm and use 70% of their ingredients straight from it- the other 30% are obtained from farms within a 50 mile radius. They don't have can openers (yes, you heard me- no can openers!), they make everything from scratch!

During our first visit, I had to indulge in 'I am Bliss'- it's a chocolate moose w/ whipped cream on a chocolate chip & pecan crust :) (Oh, and notice the 'What are you grateful for?' on the plate? They have that on all of their dishes, including their cups. How freaking cute!)

I know this doesn't look like anything you'd want to eat....mostly because I already ate it before I remembered to take a picture (oops), but this was 'I am Peace', which is a raw bagel made from sesame and onions, with cashew cream cheese, nori, capers, & tomatoes

This tea was SOOO yummy! This is called 'I am Bright' and is a kombucha tea. It almost tasted like apple juice :)

In Santa Cruz, I decided to try the 'I am Vibrant' which was seasonal veggies w/ a garlic sauce. I have to say, the garlic was somewhat overpowering, so I didn't enjoy this dish as much as I was hoping to. But, the kale was really delicious & the pumpkin seeds & side of quinoa helped :) I also got the 'I am Cool' which was vitamineral green tea made into a yummy mint smoothie...it was sooo delicious!! 

Back in San Francisco, I found this 'Love N' Haight' deli (on Haight street, of course!) which offered a handful of vegan options

I decided on this simple chicken sandwich, only it was seriously the best 'chicken' I've ever had in my life! They used 2 thick slices & warmed them up for me. The texture of the chicken was quite similar to 'actual' chicken, and the taste was spot on. Josh liked my sandwich better than his own....hmmm..wonder if that says something? :) 

This 100% vegetarian restaurant was a place we went to with his parents & a family friend. They also had many vegan options as well!

I haven't had much ravioli since going vegan, so I decided on this lovely dish :) It was made with squash & bits of veggies with vegan garlic bread--it was delicious! It was quite the hearty & filling :)

The Saturn Cafe was the perfect place that we found while in Santa Cruz! This is also a vegetarian restaurant but they have lots of vegan friendly options, like vegan cheese, cream cheese, chocolate, & more! 

Josh and I split some nachos....seriously yummy. We devoured them in under 5 minutes. 

I got this portobello sandwich w/ a side of seasonal vegetable soup. I was kind of sad about the soup...since it's seasonal, it was mostly corn & potatoes..but it did have some zucchini and a few carrot pieces in it :)

BEST. CUPCAKE. EVER. Chocolate raspberry. It is my new goal to find this recipe....seriously seriously seriously PERFECT. 

As I've said before, California is my favorite state ever...I envy people that are blessed enough to live there. One of the many many reasons that it's my favorite is because of how abundant the vegan lifestyle is over there. It felt so nice to be able to pick from a variety of restaurants & actually get a chance to read the menu and choose what I want. It was so liberating and wonderful :) I hope to return to California again one day in search of even more vegan restaurants!! Kudos to you, San Francisco! :) Thank you for such a yummy & fulfilling vacation :)

xoxo

<33holly