Greens Restaurant (San Francisco)
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Building A |
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Now celebrating their 30th year, Greens is a veritable vegetarian institution. Their focus on fantastic ingredients makes every dish special, and every time I go there, I can’t remember why I’ve waited so long to return. Spacious and light-filled, with a view of the sailboats slipping across San Francisco’s waterfront, Greens is a destination restaurant for vegetarians, epicureans, and vegetarian epicureans alike.
Greens is one of those rare places where a vegetarian can stare at the menu for a long while and be absolutely stymied about what to choose—so many things appeal. Although everything in the restaurant is vegetarian, many or most dishes have dairy, whether butter, cheese, or cream. Still, it’s not difficult to find a few great vegan choices, and the wait staff are uniformly excellent.
I started with the Fresh Spring Roll with carrots, green papaya, jicama, Thai basil, rice noodles, mint and hoisin. It came with some incredible grilled oyster and abalone mushrooms. It was really nice to see Hodo Soy tofu mentioned by name (!) on the menu, since the owner, Minh, is a longtime friend from the Berkeley and San Francisco Farmers’ Markets. It was easily, the most delicious hoisin sauce I’ve ever tasted.
Kathryn got the black bean chili, and ordered up a pot of chamomile tea.
As a main course, I chose Green’s signature dish, the Mesquite Grilled Brochettes, which are two, flavorful skewers of veggies, mushroom, and tofu, served on a bed of brown and white quinoa. The quinoa was toped by perfectly roasted almonds, and infused with currants, for a little bit of sweet/sour joy. The best item on the skewer was a wedge of butternut squash. I wish there had been more.
For some reason, I only order dessert in great restaurants. Kathryn and I split a warm, flourless chocolate torte with two small scoops of peppermint ice cream. A winning mint-chocolate combo. My father got the Huckleberry, Pear and Apple Sorbets with meyer lemon sugar cookies. Wow.
Lunch with Ken’s Parents
