I’ve to remind myself: these are make-believe cheeses.
The Widow, with black garlic, crimson peppers, date puree – surprisingly tasty.
Wow. Crimson peppers within the sundown! They shine scarlet within the late afternoon mild. Calabrian chile. The peppers are about the one “actual” factor on this vegan meal I’m consuming. However the remainder of the components do a fairly good job of imitating meats, eggs, cheeses. The pastry dough that isn’t dough is mainly high-gluten flour with yeast. The “ricotta cheese” doesn’t come from the standard cashew nut mush, however slightly, rice and potato starch, emulsified with spices. “It’s nice for people who find themselves allergic to tree nuts,” says my principal squeeze Diane.
We’re at Donna Jean’s, subsequent to “The World’s First Drive-In Vegan Restaurant.” It’s at a well known vegan place referred to as Evolution. The 2 eateries work collectively as an island of plant-based meals in the course of meat-loving Bankers Hill. In fact, I by no means meant to cease. I used to be taking Diane as much as see Mr. Bassam Shamma, my Palestinian good friend who has the excellence of opening the primary actual espresso bar in downtown San Diego, again in 1991. Besides Diane’s pondering vegan. “One factor about me is I’m mainly natural, keto, pescatarian…”
“Insectarian?” I say.
Mexican Pepper Leaf grows like Jack’s beanstalk.
“Haha, darling, however sure. I eat crickets. No biggie! You might be so-oo Nineteen Nineties. And vegan is so-oo in!”
“Properly, crickets are…” I begin to say, besides I do know I’m on a shedding line of dialog right here. Hmm. Vegan…oh yeah. That is once I keep in mind the place a block again down Fifth, at Quince: the 2 vegan locations, “Evolution” and “Donna Jean.”
So ten minutes later we’re standing exterior this leafy backyard. I spot a crimson signal saying, “Lindfors Farms, Blossom Valley. Join produce packing containers.” Then I discover folks driving up and onto this broad nook parking zone. “Welcome to the World’s First Vegan Drive-Via,” it says. Huh. Similar to at a McDonald’s, automobiles are lining as much as order lunches by way of a small hatch.
Ultimately, Diane and I am going to the place subsequent door, as a result of they’ve a backyard with tables scattered among the many bushes, and precise edible salad vegetation rising reside out of backyard packing containers. Donna Jean’s. We lastly get seats (it takes some time) proper beside an enormous plant that appears like Jack’s Beanstalk, about 10 ft excessive, with large heart-shaped leaves.
“Go forward and rip off a little bit of leaf. You’ll be able to eat it. That’s what it’s right here for.” That is Joseph, the server. “It’s an Hoja Santa, or Yerba Santa,” he says. “‘Holy Leaf.’ Mexican Pepper Leaf. Good for respiratory issues like bronchitis.”
Solid Iron Mac & Cheese, $17, however prizewinning.
The menu appears to be extra about pizzas and pasta than the rest. There’s a lasagna with fennel “sausage” spiced tempeh for $27, twelve inch pizza pies made out of “natural fermented entire wheat dough.” They largely value $20, and vary from “Fungazi” with mushrooms (okay, $22), to “The Black Widow,” which sounds attention-grabbing, with heavy obligation black garlic (now we all know the place the pizza’s identify got here from), coupled with a puree of dates. Or “4 Horsemen,” with 4 totally different “cheeses” (together with exhausting and mushy mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan). I’ve to remind myself: these are make-believe cheeses. Cashew nuts in disguise.
“You could speak to Chef Tony,” Joseph says, once I ask how the alchemy occurs. “He was a chef right here, however he has now began his personal enterprise, making vegan alternate options to cheese.”
The menu additionally affords non-pizza, non-pasta dishes: largely consolation meals. Uh, not probably the most thrilling. Like “Home bread, with butter, or California balsamic and olive oil, $8.” “Cucumber and tomato,” with strawberry puree and Fresno jack “cheese,” $12. Or “Actually Good Salad,” with probably attention-grabbing objects like pickled raisins and probably much less attention-grabbing objects like shaved carrots. Value: $15. Or, the Solid Iron Mac’n Cheese, with smoked cheddar, Gouda, inexperienced onions and bread crumbs for $17.
That is meals for the wealthy and the timid, I’m pondering. However Diane is in vegan heaven. “Oh look! Tofu scramble, solely $18.” Man. A lifetime of tofu scramble? Is that this marriage going to work? We decide on sharing the Widow ($20), however solely after Joseph guarantees that the candy date-taste is stronger than the style of the black garlic.
Joseph explains benefits of veganism.
I’ve to ask him. “Why are you vegan?”
“I’m the son of a Sicilian fisherman,” Joseph says. “I simply didn’t like killing issues once I didn’t should. Apart from, I used to be influenced by Chef Tony.”
Seems Chef Tony Howe is a pioneer of vegan cheese-making. Has been a chef for 15 years, six of these vegan. “Vegan doesn’t should be this massive scary factor,” he says on his web site. “If I could make these cheeses and so they obtain all the flavour factors and the feel factors… like whenever you shred Parmesan on a pasta, it’s not the Parmesan. You’re including acids, you’re including tang, you’re including ‘salt.’ If I can create that very same factor in a vegan Parmesan, and put it in your pasta, it’s simply nearly as good. So that you don’t have to provide something as much as be a vegan.”
The pizza?
“I just like the smoked date puree and black garlic as a base. The candy/tart factor,” Diane says. “Additionally the Calabrian chile’s warmth, and the way the kale cools it. And the way the ‘ricotta’ cools it in one other approach.”
So many meals objects in quotes. However no matter, I suppose I’m warming to the thought. Specifically, I’ve to confess, after I spot a spinach and potato (or is it “spinach” and “potato”?) frittata that passes by. Prices $20, however seems scrumptious.
And backside line, good to have the ability to say: “No animals had been killed within the writing of this column.”
- The Place: Donna Jean Vegan Restaurant 2949 Fifth Avenue, Bankers Hill, 619-299-5500. Hours: 12pm-3pm, 5-9pm, Saturday, Sunday; 5-9pm, Wednesday – Friday; closed Monday, Tuesday
- Costs: 12-inch pizzas embody 4 Horsemen, (with 4 totally different “cheeses”), $20; Fungazi, with mushrooms, $22; The Widow, with black garlic, date puree, $20; Home bread, with butter, or California balsamic and olive oil, $8; Cucumber and tomato, with strawberry puree and fresno jack “cheese”, $12; Actually Good Salad, with pickled raisins, shaved carrots, $15; Solid Iron Mac’n Cheese, with smoked cheddar, Gouda, inexperienced onions, $17; tofu scramble, $18
- Buses: 3, 120
- Nearest Bus Stops: fifth and Nutmeg (#3); fifth and Laurel (#120)
