Comida Fresca at Whole Foods Metuchen

I had an appointment in the area a few weeks ago so I did a quick google search for vegan food and Comida Fresca, a fast casual establishment with a bar in the relatively new Whole Foods Metuchen, came up with a decidedly vegan-friendly menu.

We ordered two agua frescas that took an inordinately long time to come out and were cloyingly sweet with little discernible taste other than that the hibiscus lemon was less disgusting than the honeydew lime. BUT we were already eyeing the establishment's pinball machines for a post-lunch game.

I didn't want us to fill up on guac and then not be able to try other things, so we went with the chips & salsa to start. The chips arrived a little oily on wax paper in a baking sheet, so I assumed they'd fried them in-house. The salsa was nice- not too much cilantro and there were a lot of sweet bell peppers in it, which I thought had a great taste and probably filled in the gaps during the tomato off-season.

In our ongoing effort to eat more greens, we ordered the vegan salad option: heart of Jalisco: kale, heart of palm, jicama, bruleed orange (nope; ours were fresh), avocado (it was guac), pepitas, lime agave vinaigrette. This was such an enormous salad that we shared it, used it with our entrees, and even took some home.

My only complaint was how plain it was; the whole was really just the sum of it's parts: kale, hearts of palm, jicama, (not bruleed) orange, guacamole (not avocado), pepitas, and a dressing that literally tasted like lime juice and agave.

We each ordered the vegan taco option (2 per order): faux-rizo: cauliflower rice, tomatillos, jicama, cilantro, vegan lime crema. The presentation was really disappointing, as was the taste. Have you ever tried cauliflower rice plain? Judging by the color, I assumed this must have had some seasoning, but my tastebuds would declare otherwise. There was more jicama, which added a negligible crunch. I guess they were out of the tomatillos (we know Whole Foods has a history of not utilizing their own stock)? The crema was wet, that's about all I can say it added. How a place like Whole Foods could offer such a deplorable and anemic looking vegan option is completely beyond me. 

 

I filled up my tacos with some of the behemoth salad and accoutrements for improved flavor and presentation. VM was not a fan in the least. It honestly wasn't worth the effort it took to chew it.

Pinball fans from way back, we were excited to check out the machines at the end of our meal.

To our surprise, NEITHER of them were in working order.

The restaurant's website has only two photos and one of them is of these pinball machines. For them not to be working was a travesty.

You won't be too surprised to learn that the place was empty when we were there.

Not much else left to say*. Overall, not noteworthy; just skip it. Do better, Whole Foods.

*except I do want to note that Whole Foods is positively BLOWING the free TTLA advertising from Tabitha Brown; I've been to three Whole Foods since who haven't had it.

Earth Balance Holiday Popps- Quick Review

In light of the recent VeganSaurus post on the subject, I wanted to check in regarding the Earth Balance Holiday Popps, which I found at Whole Foods.

 

I had the highest of hopes for these popps, as did the vegan cashier who rang up my sale.  Unfortunately, I'm here to tell you that they were dashed.  DASHED!  These popps are VERY cinnamony.  Not to put too fine a point on it, know that they're entirely TOO cinnamony; and this is coming from someone who really likes cinnamon. To add insult to injury, what they make up in cinnamon, they severely lack in chocolate.  In other words, they are NOT very chocolatey.  I love chocolate and there's not nearly enough!  And, finally: almonds instead of peanuts?  I call foul.

Because I'm a huge fan of Earth Balance's palm-free, aged white cheddar puffs, I had no idea to expect that the Popps would contain palm oil- but they do.  The production of palm oil is destroying rainforests and brutally maiming and killing the orangutans and other animals that inhabit them, not to mention displacing indigenous people and having a wholly negative impact on the environment.  The term "sustainable palm oil" is as-yet unverifiable, so I do my best to avoid it.

Bottom line: the Holiday Popps were a disappointment in every respect.

VEGAN LONDON: Saf Restaurant, Whole Foods Market Kensington

Even though we'd been out until 3:00am hanging out with our new Italian friends and checking out a fancy casino, we still managed to wake up at our regular time of 8:00am and see the sights!  I admit this was the day my feet hurt the most; we packed in Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey (St. Paul's Cathedral had been the day before), The London Eye, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, and Harrod's before settling down to dinner at Saf Restaurant: a vegan establishment located in Whole Foods Kensington.

 

Yep, it's a regular Whole Foods with a full, vegan restaurant upstairs.  Did I mention it's vegan?

Indeed.

We were ridiculously excited, and then we stumbled upon this sign in the stairwell.  WTF, WF; seriously?  This "animal welfare rating" system that's been instituted is just another layer of the humane myth that allows them to keep profiting off making people feel better about using animals for food- totally incongruent to the vegan restaurant to which we were headed.  Major buzzkill. 

You don't get credit for wanting to improve someone's quality of life when you still intend to kill them.

So, the second floor of the Whole Foods is the "food court" area and Saf takes up about half of that space. 

While the layout is open, it's still defined as a wholly separate space from the communal seating.

It wasn't terribly busy later in the evening when we were there, so I'm not sure if it would be unpleasantly noisy from the people dining outside the restaurant confines at a more usual dining time.

My friend ordered this healthy juice concoction: beetroot carotene: beetroot, carrot, and orange juice.

I, on the other hand, ordered the vanilla and grape raspberry mojito: a refreshing mix of vanilla-infused, organic papagayo rum mixed with muddled grapes raspberries, fresh mint, agave syrup, and fresh lime juice.  I'm not entirely sure how a restaurant located in a supermarket "runs out" of grapes, but the raspberry substitution was fine; I was just happy to be sitting.

For an appetizer I ordered the raw cauliflower wings: cauliflower "wings" marinated with Spanish sweet paprika and chipotle chili, served with celery sticks and aioli dipping sauce.  Let me put it in simpler terms: they took some raw cauliflower, dusted it with paprika and chili powder, and called them wings.  They weren't even trying!  I admit raw food isn't my favorite, but I have been known to enjoy it.  However, the term "wings" in this instance was more than a bit of a stretch and we weren't exactly competing for the last one.  The aioli was delish, though: filled with fresh dill.

My friend ordered the red lentil soup: served with organic, gluten-free bread.

I have to be honest, there weren't a ton of entree options that were floating my boat.  If you can believe it, we both wound up ordering the same dinner of massaman curry: a Southern Thai coconut curry with baby potatoes, mange tout [snow peas!], pumpkin, bamboo shoots, baby corn, and cherry tomatoes served with mixed wild rice.  Yep; more curry/more cilantro.  He kept his cilantro:

I gracelessly picked mine off.

I've pretty much never met a curry I didn't like, but- for the record, I could determine nothing wild about the rice.

Did I mention I was happy to be sitting?  Our view.

I have no complaints about the dinner (the appetizer was another story), but- overall, I wasn't overly  impressed by the experience; it was definitely missing a wow factor.  The menu at Saf seems to change regularly, so perhaps on a different day there would have been more appealing options.  In the end, it's wonderful that this Whole Foods chooses to have a vegan restaurant on premise- regardless of the fact that it doesn't necessarily mesh well with the extraordinary nonsense of their "animal welfare rating system."

For those interested, know that Saf also carries take-out items on the main level of the store: Saf Express.

London tip: They really seem to love cilantro in London; it's used as a generous garnish a lot and is never mentioned on the menu.  If you're a hater like me, remember to ask them to leave it off!

Counter, Lula's, etc.

Since I can't effectively chronicle past NYC munching, I choose instead to do so going forward, with some nods to past experiences. Please indulge me as I share my indulgences!





It was a busy weekend for me in the LES. First off was a brunch favorite: Counter. The good: Per usual, we all enjoyed the baked to order Housemade Goodies (muffins and loaf slices served with berry butter and vegan nutella) and the fresh-squeezed orange juice (divine). Much is lamented about Counter's non-vegan offerings, but the carnie enjoyed his "real" eggs and "real" cheese, although at first he thought he was being duped and insisted upon confirming the authenticity of the ingredients with the waitress. The vegetarian enjoyed a delicious addition to the menu: vegan potato latkes. They were crispy and yummy, served with a pear/apple compote/sauce that reminds you why places like Counter exist: to spoil you with homemade extras (ketchup, etc.). But, they were served lacklusterly on a teeny plate that made them look like a side dish and made them difficult to maneuver. The bad: THEY TOOK AWAY MY FRITATTA FLORENTINE! On every previous visit I have enjoyed this scrumptious dish: two open-faced english muffin halves topped with a thick, veggie frittata and covered with a delectable mushroom sauce and creamy hollandaise, served with mesculin salad (homemade lemon vinaigrette) and a heap of potatoes. Worse still, the "replacement" is the Benedict Arnold: the same english muffin topped with a non-descript, generically meaty slab of seitan, onion, avocado, and a somehow watery hollandaise. Also, NO POTATOES. And, they raised the price. ?? So, all in all I was not amused. I finished the meal with the cookie tasting. The peanut butter was very good, the chocolate chip nothing special, and the shortbread had rye seeds in it: YUCK. Dear Counter, Please bring back my fritatta and all will be forgiven. Thank you, ASB.


Next up was a visit to Whole Foods Bowery. On a Twitter tip from the fine folks at Veggie Conquest, I was able to pick up a belated vegan challah made by Lilly's. Apparently this is available only at the holidays, so show some love and buy it up so that it will continue to be offered; I've never seen/heard of vegan challah anywhere else. FYI, they also had some vegan rugelah near the impressive vegan cookie display, although they still don't carry my favorite flavor of Liz Lovely cookies: Chocolate Moosedragons. Boo. They did, however, have some vegan chocolate chip scones that eased the disappointment. Note: still no Daiya pizzas in the right coast WFs.


Moving on to Economy Candy to replenish my vegan M&M supply. While you have to know your vegan stuff in order to find the veganity at EC, I've been buying these vegan M&Ms (sold in bulk) on a tip from the PPK blog. Always double check at the counter: they should be kosher & vegan. They are much better than Whizzers.

I applaud MooShoes, but they were tres expensive and nothing wowed me. While it was great to shop somewhere and not have to read the "ingredients" of every item, I wondered why the selection seemed from one extreme to another: either plain brown or black (most of the store) or kinda outlandish (OlsenHaus). I'll have to try again.

Pommes Frites was as delicious as ever AND they redid their seating area! I unfortunately tried the Mexican Ketchup without knowing it contained cilantro (yuck) and will be returning to my curry ketchup in the future. Also, heard someone order mango chutney on the way out even though it's not listed on the menu; sounds good and worth an investigation on a future visit. Meanwhile, I am anxious to see how Potato Champion in Portland is going to fair against NY's PF.


Stogo; why do I continue to bother? Oh, I know why: because VegNews lured me in with a video ad of some sort extolling the virtues of their oh-so-popular Salted Caramel Pecan. Guess what? it was a mouth full of salty ice cream. And the Bananas Foster was not even close to bananas foster, which I love. Instead, it just tasted like crappy banana ice cream. I'd hoped to try their peanut butter/chocolate concoction, but they didn't have it. The soft serve machine wasn't working either. I was going to get a couple of chocolate truffles until I was told they were $4 each. Stogo, I am done with you. I love Lula's anyway (concept, ethics, product, people), so I don't know why I even step foot in your too-trendy "establishment" where nary the word vegan is uttered.


Ah, Lula's Sweet Apothecary, my favorite new old time ice cream shoppe: the rest of the day is simply a pre-cursor to my sweet visit. Where to begin? For those of you who don't know, Lula's is a quaint little shop that looks like an old time candy store. They serve everything in appropriately sized/shaped glass dishes with real silverware (even the tasting spoons). The straws are metal too! Shakes come with a "bendy" straw, but my favorite, the ice cream float, comes with a straw with a spoon attached on the end. It's kind of like the old-fashioned, environmentally conscious version of a slurpee straw. They even use recycled paper products (napkins) and provide glasses of water to accompany your tasty concoctions. It's obvious they are not cashing in on the trends of environmentalism and veganism. It's legitimately vegan owned and operated; they know the deal and the regulars know they know it. Case in point: they make their own soy & nut milks and then make their own ice creams with it. A lot of the toppings are homemade too (omg, the dark chocolate peanut butter cups are ridiculously good), so you can go there every day and never have the same sundae!

Onto the food: they offer a list of rotating hard and soft ice cream flavors (nut and soy based) and delectable toppings, as well as assorted wrapped candies and baked goods. The owners and staff are impeccable in every detail, from their appearance to their behavior; to say it is clean doesn't do it justice, immaculately and lovingly kept is more appropriate. To say they are friendly and welcoming is an understatement of the highest order; you will feel like you've known them for ages after just one visit.

The sundae I chose to have for dinner on this visit consisted of chocolate malt (self-explanatory), chocolate mint chip (chips in CHOCOLATE mint - genius yum), and maple waffle (delicious pieces of waffle cone in maple flavored vanilla) ice creams topped with hot fudge, peanut butter sandwich cookies, sprinkles, whipped cream, a cherry, and a warm brownie on the side. Then for dessert I had a cup of the soft serve twist: chocolate and cake batter. On the way home I was wishing I'd had a chocolate float too! Ah well, it's already on the docket for the next visit.

Sincerely, I can't say enough nice things about this place. It's adorable, the food is incredible, and the owners genuinely make you feel like they're glad you came. So, what are you waiting for? Go there already!