Sipz

Respecting the world...respecting the earth...respecting one another...This is the Sipz's motto, and I just may adopt it as my own personal mantra. I have eaten at Sipz a few times, and every time I go I find something unique and special that I didn't notice the time before.

So just a little overview about Sipz. It is 100% vegetarian and a good amount of the dishes are vegan. Opened in 2002 by Win and Sylvia Le, it has since doubled in size and in addition to Thai/Vietnamese/Japanese/Chinese/Italian fusion they have a vegan sushi bar. It always takes me about fifteen minutes to pick, because there is so much to choose from (a departure from most menus at veggi restaurants). The prices are very reasonable, with dishes ranging about 8 or 9 dollars, its really affordable. The interior is eclectic, the highlight being a huge mural along the wall with the sushi bar.
But lets get down to the important stuff...the food.


My Tom Yum, my favorite Thai dish, the broth has a coconut/lemongrass/citrus flavor with all sorts of veggies mixed in. Simply Delectable

Our Dumpling appetizer, with ponzu dipping sauce

Ellen's chikn stir fry with broccoli and Bok Coy

I love Sipz because it takes cultures whose cuisine generally centers around a meat and makes them about the other fantastic, fresh ingredients, sometimes with a meat substitute and sometimes without. The vegan sushi bar and desert options just tip Sipz over the edge, I give it an 8.5, cant wait for my next fusion meal.

Spread

I just got home from Spread and holy quinoa...it was fantastic. I have been waiting for this dinner all week and have been stalking their website in class all day. We finally got to the restaurant at about eight, a bit past our reservation, but it didn't seems to be a problem because there were only a few other parties there. The exterior is very unassuming tucked between a neon lit chinese restaurant and a beer bar. If you didn't know where you were going you might miss it. 

The interior is simple with moss covered branches flanking the main dining space and white fabric swept across the ceiling. Its almost as if you are underneath the root system of a tree.

Every morning they buy the ingredients for the food they prepare at the farmers market and the entire menu is a mix of vegetarian and vegan dishes. They bring the menu; a chalkboard with the nights spread (it was just too easy), right to your table. There were seven of us so we decided to get everything on the menu, guess I can cross that off my bucket list. 

I ordered a apricot, guava, and pomegranate cocktail and we began our tasting menu. We started with a red and chioggia beet salad with hearts of palm, cucumber, shallots, and arugula with a thyme shallot vinaigrette. The sweetness of the beets was complemented with the tangy vinaigrette and fresh basil.

Then came a panzanella salad with cherry tomatoes, maple croutons, avocado, and romaine with a dill yogurt dressing, the crowd favorite. The maple croutons were divine little bursts of rich sweetness that paired with the creaminess of the avocado and yogurt dressing  didn't overpower the salad

Next was an assorted cheese plate drizzled with olive oil and served with vegan bread. The creamy brie was my favorite and was perfect on the oiled toast.

After that, rosemary and black sesame roasted heirloom tomatoes, morroccan spiced quinoa with fava beans and the sauteed broccoli. The quinoa was toasted so it had a nice crunch with a earthy spice flavor but was paired really nicely with the sweet roasted vegetables. The broccoli was simple but so flavorful. I asked the sous chef what the sauté sauce was later and he wouldn't give up his secret but I tasted curry and lemon.

Then came the last two savory dishes of the night, a mushroom, thyme, potato, and almond cream ragu and a fettuccini with spinach, white wine, capers, and tomatoes. The ragu has so many layers of flavors the earthiness of the mushrooms with the sauteed tomatoes and cream was so rich and hearty. The fettuccini, which i had to fight to get a bite of, had the most fantastic little pops of capers with a creamy and full flavored sauce. 

Every new course that came I thought couldn't be topped, and then the next thing came. Every dish could stand on its own as a great meal, but one after another was almost too good, if its possible. The two stand out dishes of the night were the ragu and the panzanella salad with maple croutons, simply divine.

Then desert came...

Strawberries, apples, mandarin oranges, and guava covered in grated chocolate with dark and white chocolate pretzel and butterscotch toffee spread. There are no words....

I left the restaurant pleasantly full, with such an appreciation for the level at which they prepare vegetarian meals. Each ingredient is fresh, organic, and highlighted in all the dishes and while the tastes are very complex the ingredients are so simple. We were happy to hear that Spread is branching out and opening a peanut butter bar in Times Square and a restaurant on Melrose. Spread you get a 10, and will be damn hard to beat.

rancheros

I sat in my photography class quietly humming a song I had just composed with my ballpoint pen about fajitas. My teacher was mumbling about "shutter speeds" and I all that was on my mind was salsa."Adjust the exposure," he said. It reminded me of enchiladas. I started salivating. The drive home on the 8 was unusually crowded. I stared out my open window and fantasized about a cold corona in my hand. 

Finally home, threw my keys down and went straight for my happy cow list. I scanned it for the mexican restaurant in OB i have been eyeing for weeks. It was time. 
Megan came and picked me up in her little 4runner, and we grabbed Ellen and Alexis, and sped down Ingram as fast as we could. A right on Sunset Cliffs blvd...straight for two minutes. Here we are, Rancheros.

We pull into the parking lot behind the renegade strip mall, I catch a brief glimpse of a palm frawn covered patio with hanging green and red chili pepper lights. Perfect. 
We more run than walk through the parking lot, down the alley and through the doors of what looks like a take out counter. I realize quickly how much bigger the restaurant is than I originally  estimated. Off the entry there is a large dining area to the right and a patio outside. We are walked to our table, passing sponge painted walls of Frida Kahlo reproductions and pounded tin mirrors. Complied in an oddball, thrown together sort of a way, there are large barren tree branches hung from the ceiling, and dropped ceiling tiles covered in large burlap sacks.

I scan the menu and immediately am drawn to a "chicken" dish covered in a mushroom tequila sauce. Tequilla sauce... I'm sold. 
The chips and salsa with large chunks of peppers is sat down in front of me and it is chips to face for the next five minutes. 

A cold Dos Equis with lime in hand I enjoy the conversation, mostly consisting of Ellen's sexual escapades, always an interesting topic, and a camping trip to San Clemente Megan and I have just gotten back from.

megan and alexis got pretty excited

decisions...decisions

My food comes and looks much like most mexican restaurant plates, piled from side to side with a mess of chicken smothered in sauce, rice beans, guac and lettuce. I dig in.
The seared "chicken" has a great consistency, it cuts nicely, but without to much effort. The sauce is nicely layered. The spicy sting of the tequila is paired perfectly with the earth mushroom flavor. The rice and beans are good, better when I spoon some of the tequila sauce over both. I am halfway down with my plate, full, and adamantly trying to take just one more bite.

Overall, with a slight beer haze surrounding the restaurant, I am impressed. Rancheros has managed to keep with traditional mexican flavors with all sorts of meat substitutes, portabello patties, non animal broths. It is a vegetarian mexican food lovers dream, tequila and tofu,  paired harmoniously together

lots of leftovers

veg n out

Ellen jumped in my car as it poured down all around us . Pulling the list out for its maiden voyage, we sat there trying to decide what the best rainy day meal would be. We decided veggie burgers. Obviously. 

I took the wrong freeway, got off in La Jolla. Ended up on the only road in San Diego that streches for miles without a turnaround. Finally make it back on the 5 and use the last 15 minutes of my blackberrys battery to gps northpark. Once dead, we had no way to navigate and ended up driving in circles, squinting out my windshield being pounded with water trying to see the street signs. Finally we found 30th and basically double parked in someones driveway to get the hell into the restaurant.

we finally found it

At this point I would have eaten a damp gym sock. We walked in and I immediately shoved about four red n white mints in my mouth as figured out which burger was the largest and quickest to make. I decided to go with the "North Parker". Grilled onions, Swiss cheese. Sold.

I ordered from a girl that looked about 12 at the most (work permit?) who recommended the green salad with a creamy tarragon dressing. Ellen got the Island girl which had pineapple, grilled onions, terriyaki sauce and a side of soup. 

We sat down with a couple ginger beers, yum, and took in the surroundings. The place is very casual, with all sorts of nick-knacks tacked up on the walls. I walked back to get some cucumber water from the jug in the back and found the ground and myself covered in laser beams swirling around from a machine on the shelf above me. Quirky.

The food was there when I got back, love when that happens, and I inhaled it. The onions were perfectly grilled, the cheese melted and the gardenburger crispy. Ellen loved the grilled pineapple on hers, but was not a huge fan of the soup of the day. My side salad was pretty generic, but the tarragon dressing had a nice flavor.

ellen and the island girl

salad with tarragon dressing

inhaling

I was thoroughly satisfied with my burger and salad, it was big and hearty, exactly what 

I had needed. Overall veg n out is a casual, hodge-podge little local spot that, thank god for us, you can come as you are. Its a nice little north park eatery with honest food and quirky casual atmosphere

Veg n out I give you a 7

veggis are foodies too

When I kicked meat, about a year ago, my search for great vegetarian food commenced. I have always loved great food, but when meat was out of the picture my selection became seriously impaired. Sitting down at a restaurant scanning the menu with meat dish after meat dish, and finally realizing the only thing I could order was the house salad, first made me sad, and then violently angry (obviously very hungry at this point). I slowly began the downward spiral that any newly proclaimed veggi takes...I started settling.

At most restaurants I didn't order what sound best, because I couldn't.  At the grocery store, if the label says veggi, I had probably tried it in every flavor, and dosed it in every kind of sauce there is. Some of it is delicious, some is basically edible, and a lot should not be called "food" altogether. Before getting to cynical, I decided to try a few vegetarian restaurants. This changed my world. Great food prepared so much better than I had been making it, and I could pick anything on the menu!

If not for these amazing restaurants I would never have lasted those first couple weeks, much less a year. Today I know some good veggi brands and have some great recipes up my sleeve, but eating out had become a fond memory. What I can fit in between my full-time class schedule, internship, and 20 hour a week serving gig, usually involves cheap beer, and moist peanuts are pretty much the only things on the menu. 

A few weeks ago my friend Ellen decided the time had come, we were eating out goddamit!

A few days before our friend Alexis had been given a list by the cute bagger at Henry's. Probably some kind of granola pick-up tactic, which was lost on Alexis, but couldn't have been better for us. This list contained the name, style, and location of every veggi/vegan restaurant in San Diego. 
Jackpot. 

We plan to journey to every veggi restaurant, market, store, etc., and report back with the good the bad and the ugly, giving it a 1-10. Come with us fellow San Diegan Veggis, we're all foodies at heart!