Laura Beck's bi-weekly installment of vegan dishes worth creaming your culinary pants over.
The Buddha Boy at Sushirito (59 New Montgomery), SF
What's up party vegans! And veg curious! This week's write-up might be even more insane than usual but it's only because I am doing this cleanse and I might be dying from lack of fried food. Okay, let's go! Have you been to Sushirito yet? The whole town is crapping its pants for these "sushi burritos," which are really nothing more than giant, mediocre nori rolls. That said, you should try one! The only veg option is the ”Buddha Boy," which is a tofu cutlet, miso eggplant, shiitake mushroom, Japanese gourd, avocado, shaved cabbage, daikon radish, green onion, and crumbled rice crisps. All that is wrapped up in a large sheet of nori and you just stuff it in your big fat American gullet. How will crafty food entrepreneurs exploit our collective obsession with novelty food next!? I don't know about you but I'm excited/terrified to find out.
Vegan Mac 'n' Cheese at Homeroom 400 40th Street, Oakland
I thought this day might never come! Well, I knew it would come, I was just being dramatic, BUT: VEGAN MAC 'N' CHEESE, y'all! Helllll yessss. Finally, a delicious vegan mac 'n' cheese that can be acquired outside of your kitchen. Oakland's barely-opened mac 'n' cheese restaurant, Homeroom, knows what's up when it comes to vegan cheesy pasta goodness. Their vegan mac is made with a nutritional yeast-based creamy sauce, aided by tofu and some kind of non-dairy milk. All those ingredients might not sound appetizing but when you mix that shit together and top it with crushed walnuts, the result is off the chain! In fact, my date preferred it to her non-vegan mac and she is one choosy and complain-y mother. It's so good, you might want to order two just so you can slap yourself upside the head with one when you're all, "Am I really eating vegan mac 'n' cheese!?" BAM! You are, bitch!