Sacramento Vegan is on vacation

Between holiday celebrations and traveling, I'm going to have to take a break from blogging. Check back again after January 12th. There may be occasional updates on Sacramento Vegan's Facebook and Instagram pages as well.

https://www.facebook.com/Sacramento-Vegan-156965251048946/

https://www.instagram.com/sacramentovegan/

Happy holidays to you all!

El Rey on K

My husband Phil and I went downtown this past week to check out the new Mexican restaurant near the Golden 1 Center. El Rey on K opened in August, boasting former Sacramento Kings player Kenny Thomas as one of its owners.


There were a couple of menu items that appeared to be vegan if ordered without the cotija cheese, so I tried them both. First up was the black bean hummus appetizer, a generous portion consisting of black beans, tahini, garlic, onion, cilantro, and jalapeño, served with chips. It was a little garlicky for my taste, but good nonetheless.

I also ordered the meatless marvel taco, also without the cotija cheese.  The filling was a creative mixture of black beans, guacamole, sweet potato, roasted peppers, pickled onion, and fried peppers. It was definitely tasty!

El Rey on K is located at  723 K Street, and their phone number is 916-400-4170. Their website address is http://www.elreyonk.com/, and their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/elreyonk/. The restaurant is open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.

This week's blog post will be delayed

Identity Coffees

Identity Coffees opened earlier this year, and they're becoming a favorite with local vegans. In addition to offering almond milk for their coffee drinks, they've begun partnering with Conscious Creamery to provide vegan baked goods.


When I stopped by the other day, they had two different types of vegan muffins and a few vegan cookies. I ordered a chai spice muffin and a cranberry-orange muffin, and loved them both!

In addition, one Saturday every month, Identity Coffees hosts the Midtown Bizarre, where Andrea and Kevin from Conscious Creamery serve up their fabulous vegan gelato. If you want to give it a try, you're in luck -- the next Midtown Bizarre is this coming Saturday, December 10th, from noon to 6:00 p.m.

If you want something a little more protein-dense, Identity Coffees also carries an assortment of Protein Pucks, described on the Protein Puck website as a "gluten free, vegan, non GMO, protein packed, fiber rich, energy bar from nature."

Identity Coffees is located at 1430 28th Street, and their phone number is 916-225-0738. Their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/identitycoffees/. They are open Sunday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Sacramento Vegan is on Vacation

Blogging will resume after November 28th. Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

PizzaRev

There's a new pizza place in East Sacramento, and they have vegan options! PizzaRev is a national chain that opened its Sacramento location on Folsom Boulevard last month. Not only do they offer vegan cheese, they have vegan sausage as well.


I stopped in for lunch recently and ordered a "craft your own" pizza. They have three different crust options, all of which are vegan -- signature thin, double dough, and gluten-free. I requested the signature thin, and then moved on to the sauce selection. Four of their five sauces are vegan -- organic tomato, spicy organic tomato, sweet & bold BBQ, and olive oil. I decided to play it safe and go with the organic tomato.


Next, I had them add Daiya vegan cheese, for an extra charge, and vegan sausage. Finally, I chose my vegetable toppings -- mushrooms, black olives, and pepperoncinis. There were lots of other vegan topping choices including red onions, cherry tomatoes, spinach, pineapple, and green bell pepper, to name a few.

It was a good pizza, and I thought the vegan sausage had a really good flavor. The next time I go, I want to try their double dough crust.

PizzaRev is located at 5801 Folsom Boulevard, Suite 110, and their phone number is 916-455-1198. Their website address is http://pizzarev.com/, and their Facebook page can be found at https://www.facebook.com/pizzarevco. The restaurant is open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Road Trip! True Food Kitchen in Walnut Creek

This past week, I had lunch with my parents at the new True Food Kitchen in Walnut Creek. This restaurant chain prides itself on its "anti-inflammatory diet" and it offers numerous vegan options, clearly marked on the menu.


I started out with this gorgeous glass of pomegranate chia limeade, which tasted as good as it looked.

For my entrée, I went back and forth, trying to decide between the ancient grains bowl with tofu and vegetables, and the TLT sandwich. I finally opted for the sandwich, consisting of smoked tempeh, lettuce, tomato, avocado, and vegan mayonnaise on whole grain bread. It was great! The sweet potato hash that came with it was very good too.

My mom ordered the butternut squash pizza. In addition to the squash, it was topped with smoked onion, kale, vegan almond ricotta, and dried cranberries. She really enjoyed it.

True Food Kitchen had several vegan desserts too. I loved my apple goji crisp, served with vegan vanilla ice cream, and Mom was happy with her squash pie topped with coconut whipped cream. I had a bite of it and it was delicious!

True Food Kitchen is a national restaurant chain, but unfortunately, the closest location to Sacramento is the restaurant in Walnut Creek. For more information about their locations, hours, and menus, visit the True Food Kitchen website at http://www.truefoodkitchen.com/ or their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TrueFoodKitchen/.

Another Fabulous Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge Wraps Up

We're at the very end of this year's Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge, and what a great month this has been! I managed to make it to sixteen of the participating restaurants and enjoyed delicious, creatively-prepared vegan dishes at each one. After so much good food, I hate to see October coming to an end.


I visited two participating restaurants this past week. The first one was Pizza Rock on K Street. Pizza Rock is known for its award-winning Pizza Margherita, and for this year's challenge, they made a vegan version with their house-made vegan mozzarella. It was fabulous! Too bad they don't have this dish available on a more regular basis!

I had lunch with a friend at El Papagayo in Carmichael on Wednesday. They offer vegan options all the time, but they had some special items for the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge too.

We both ordered the Corona battered mushroom tacos, which came with rice and beans. It was a wonderful dish! I really wanted to try the choco flan for dessert, but they didn't have it at lunchtime.

You still have one more day -- today -- to try to visit another restaurant or two before the challenge ends. For those looking for a way to celebrate Halloween, there's even a vegan Halloween bash planned tonight at Capitol Garage.


Kudos to Bethany Davis for organizing another wonderful Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge, and many thanks to all the participating restaurants and chefs. Events like this are proof that Sacramento is becoming more vegan-friendly every day!

Week Three of the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge 2016 -- So Much Good Food!

There's just one more week left in this year's Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge, and there are still so many menus left to try! Here are the four restaurants I visited this past week.


Monday, I had lunch with my friend Greta at Orchid Thai Restaurant & Bar. They regularly offer a wonderful variety of vegan options, but they've created two new dishes for the challenge.  I had the flavorful marinated tofu and grilled asparagus, with mushrooms, red onions, carrots, and cilantro in a soybean paste reduction sauce.  Their other Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge dish is caramelized tofu skewers.

I visited Metro Kitchen + Drinkery for lunch on Thursday and ordered from their Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge three-course, fixed-price menu.

I chose the spicy, but tasty, three bean local heirloom chili; the fabulous rainbow in the round, a salad consisting of pears, persimmons, pecans, walnuts, pomegranate seeds, pepitas, radicchio, and greens, served with a balsamic vinaigrette; and a very good pumpkin spiced apple pumpkin tart.

Friday, I stopped in for lunch at the Rind, which offered one of my very favorite items during last year's Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge, their Milano sandwich. This year's sandwich, the Impostor, is excellent as well. It's a grilled sandwich consisting of two house-made vegan cheeses -- a red bell pepper cashew cheese and a cilantro-jalapeño sunflower seed cheese -- crimini mushrooms, cucumbers, and mixed greens on sourdough. The chef is planning to offer this delicious dish next month too, so be sure to give it a try while it's available.

Finally, I had dinner Saturday night with my husband Phil at Saddle Rock Restaurant. Their three-course Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge wasn't written down -- the server just explained what was included when I ordered it. Since I can't remember everything she said, I'll just say that the pictures that follow are of a wonderful meal consisting of cauliflower chowder, acorn squash stuffed with wild rice and root vegetables, and fantastic chocolate cake.

I hope you're all enjoying the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge as much as I am! I'm looking forward to eating my way through yet another week.

Another Great Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge Week

Trying to visit as many restaurants as possible during the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge is a tough job, but someone's got to do it! This past week, I checked out the fabulous vegan offerings at four more restaurants.


After my Spanish class on Monday at Casa de Español, I headed over to Nido at 14th and R. This is Nido's first year participating in the challenge, and they pulled out all the stops, offering dragon mushroom & heirloom bean soup, a seitan bao, and a chocolate cupcake with coconut cream whip. 

It was clear that I was going to have to try one of everything on this creative menu, so that's what I did.

Tuesday, I had lunch at VEG, upstairs from Thai Basil at 25th and J. I love the ambiance there, sitting at a sunny table overlooking J Street while soothing music plays in the background. I also really love the food!

Cauliflower is one of my favorite vegetables, so I was delighted to try the hearty spiced cauliflower steak, served over pearl barley. The curry fries with house-made ketchup were tasty too. My favorite part of the meal, though, was the delicious nectarine cobbler with whipped coconut cream.

Wednesday night, my husband Phil and I had dinner at Tower Bridge Bistro at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Old Sacramento. Chef Clay Purcell always offers several different options on the three-course fixed-price Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge menu, which makes deciding what to eat very difficult!

I finally chose the rich, creamy butternut squash bisque, the tasty spaghetti with cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and yellow wax beans, and the outstanding chocolate panna cotta with amarena cherries.  What a fabulous meal!

Over the weekend, Phil and I stopped in for a late lunch at Highwater on Q Street. They had a few interesting options on their Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge menu.

The street tacos, with "chicken" lettuce, avocado crema, and salsa were very good and were just the right amount of food, since I wanted to make sure to save room for the fabulous Christina's Butter Cup Sampler, which had come highly recommended!

I can't wait to see what amazing vegan creations are in store for me this coming week!

Week One of the 2016 Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge -- Delicious!

I've been happily eating my way through this first week of the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge.  After the meals at The Porch and Thai Basil that I wrote about last weekend, I hit four more great restaurants during the week.


I stopped in for lunch at Evan's Kitchen on Tuesday. As most local vegans know, vegan options are on the menu there all the time. But when the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge rolls around, Chef Evan pulls out all the stops.

The menu item that caught my eye was the eggplant lasagna, a thick slice of eggplant in marinara sauce, topped with vegan mozzarella.  It was served with mixed vegetables and garlic bread, and it was really good. I had hoped to try one of the fabulous desserts on the dinner menu, but the only vegan dessert they had was sorbet. I don't know whether the special desserts are available only at dinnertime, or whether they just weren't available the day I was there.

Thursday, I went to Old Ironsides at lunchtime.

I was eager to try their baked ziti, and I was so glad I did! It was a hearty blend of pasta and tomato sauce with vegan sausage, and I ate every bite.

I topped off my lunch with this amazing rich and chewy carob peanut butter cup. That's my favorite challenge dessert so far!

Friday, I had lunch with Mary Rodgers from the Sacramento Vegetarian Society at Capitol Garage, another restaurant that always offers vegan options. The challenge menu was proudly displayed in bright colors outside the restaurant door.

I ordered the fireman wings, breaded fried tofu dipped in hot sauce and served with an avocado cucumber sauce. Mary got the country dreamer hash, a mixture of sweet potatoes and other vegetables, scrambled tofu, and mushroom gravy, topped with avocado slices. Both dishes were good, but I'd have to give the edge to Mary's hash, which was excellent.

For dessert, I ordered the delicious, moist honey hush cake, an orange cake topped with a sweet syrup and served with pear slices and blueberries. Yum!

Finally, my husband Phil and I went to Localis for dinner Saturday night. For the Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge, they are serving a three-course, fixed-price dinner. The menu wasn't printed so you'll need to ask your server to explain the courses, but here's the short version of what I had.

For starters, there was this fresh and colorful beet salad, my favorite part of the meal.

The main course was a spicy and filling risotto served with roasted fall vegetables. 

Dessert was a cascara sorbet, served with dark chocolate bark and coconut. Maybe you know what cascara is, but I had to look it up.  According to Freshcup.com, it's the dried skin of coffee cherries, which doesn't sound nearly as good as the sorbet turned out to be. It was a nice way to end the meal.

I'm looking forward to more vegan delights in the week ahead! Six restaurants down, nineteen to go!