Bow Hon

A little foray into San Francisco...

Today involved a walk through Chinatown lightheaded from hunger and with some slightly tricky dining requirements: in addition to two hungry omnivores there was me, the vegetarian, and another gal who is very sensitive to MSG. As we ambled down the busy street, the first check was for interesting meatless entrees, and the second check involved a peek inside to ask the staff about their MSG usage. Bow Hon was the first restaurant we came across to provide satisfactory results in both departments.

The food tasted good for sure, maybe too good, and made me wonder whether there was a bit of deception in the MSG-free claims. The table ordered a variety of dishes, and the two vegetarian items that we chose were: Mixed vegetables with shredded hot pepper, and Bean curd with spiced salt and hot pepper.

The veggies were your typical plate of steamed broccoli, carrots, baby corn, etc coated in a savory and spicy glossy sauce, and the Salt and Pepper tofu included 8 rectangles of creamy custard-y silken tofu quickly deep fried in a light batter, then rolled in salt and garnished with a little pile of sauteed hot peppers and green onions.

I don't exactly get the feeling that this place is the best food in the city, or near it, but it served the purpose and wasn't what I'd call bad. It also earned bonus points when the waitress, who barely spoke English, had the foresight to ask me if I minded fish cake embedded in the tofu. (I did indeed mind, and they were able to prepare it without.)

Bow Hon
(415) 362-0601
Chinatown
850 Grant Ave
San Francisco, CA 94108

Mandarin Chef

I'd read that Mandarin Chef in the U-District had some of the best Chinese Noodles in the city. This was quite a statement, considering the output of Szechuanese Cuisine, Seven Stars Pepper, Szechuan Noodle Bowl, Shanghai Garden, and the Snappy Dragon and I was more than happy to do a little follow up research myself.

We started with some jiao zi, reported by the sassy older waitress to be a specialty. I am happy to report that they do have a vegetarian dumpling option, which our table ordered along side a order of meat. The savory, sharp, spicy dipping sauces and oils, one of my favorite parts of dumplings, were tasty but not especially spicy.

For a main course I ordered Mo Po Tofu (fantastically available in a vegetarian version, or with pork) and a side of stir fried hand shaved noodles. The ma po was great... rich, red and super savory (may have been a bit of MSG involved... I just kicked back and enjoyed it). The noodles though, with all of the emotional culinary buildup, were a bit of a disappointment to me. I've really come to love thick, twisty, chewy noodles, and these seemed to be more on the thin and delicate side. It's hard to come into a restaurant with really high expectations of anything.

I would go back for the MaPo, but might leave the more severe noodle cravings to some of my other noodle faves.

Shanghai Garden

524 6th Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 625-1689

Went to the Shanghai Garden in the International District for some noodle sasification.

The atmosphere was spacious and included a large fish tank and windows in angular frames that made looking out onto the street feel like a peep from a submarine.

The menu was large, and included many varieties of home made noodles including mung bean and barleygreen. There was a reasonably large section of the menu (maybe a dozen items) devoted to tofu, and plenty of vegetarian vegetable dishes.

We ordered the Barleygreen hand shaved noodles with vegis, and the Crispy Bean Curd in Szechuan sauce.

The barleygreen noodles, described on the menu as "High Nutrition, increases potassium, amino acids, chlorophyll, and lowers blood pressure," came to the table glistening with the thick, rough cut, slightly twisted promise of chewy goodness. They were lightly coated in what tasted like a soy based sauce, and sauteed with carrot, water chestnuts, snap peas, onion and a couple different types of mushroom. Plus, they were a festive light green, perfectly in step with the pastels of spring.
I very much enjoyed the noodles... it's hard not to love home-made Chinese noodles... and these certainly fit the bill. At times I thought I was perhaps tasting a little hit of flavor from the barleygrass, but I'm not sure if I was imagining things. I would love to do a blind taste test and check it out sometime.
The Szechuan tofu (I still seem to be on a quest to get this satisfied, to the exclusion of other Chinese options) was good too, though still sweeter than I like. It came with broccoli and bell pepper and snap peas all mixed up with the tofu chunks (more in a minute) in a garlicky, slightly spicy sauce. The sweetness, the bane of the Szechuan sauce in my humble opinion, was present, but somehow less offensive given the complexity of the other flavours involved. I enjoyed the sauce as it was up until the very end, at which point the sweetness became overwhelming.
The star of this dish was the tofu, which really was a treat. It appeared to be quickly fried, such that only the outside formed a crispy browned layer, too thin to be called a skin, even. And the inside was so silken it was creamy, almost like a custard.

I'm glad to have discovered this place as a tasty and vegetarian friendly source of Chinese noodles. Will indeed go back for more.

Bamboo Garden

The Bamboo Garden is a vegan Szechuan restaurant near the Seattle Center, and I recently visited with a friend who had just returned from the Szechuan region of China jonesing for some dry cooked green beans.

The Bamboo Garden rendition was spicy, tender crisp and tasty, but unfortunately lacking the scrumptious blistered skin of the beans my friend had eaten in China.

We also ordered the Hot and Spicy Fried Bean Curd Braised with Bell Peppers, Broccoli and Cauliflower (special ordered with fresh tofu).

And the Pan-Fried Rice Noodles with Mixed Vegetables in Hot Spicy Szechwan Sauce.

Both dishes were spicy, savory, and fantastically vegan, but weren't quite the flavors my buddy remembered from his trip. That said, I still tend to be thrilled with any delicious Szechaun meal, (authentic or Americanized) that is clearly vegan friendly, and for this reason the Bamboo Garden holds a place dear to my heart!

Vegan Garden, v2

I went back to Vegan Garden to give it another try after a first visit where I had very specific expectations and they weren't quite met (duh), and thus didn't feel a representative assessment.

The second visit was excellent and my tongue is already watering thinking about going back.

I was in the mood for some spicy soup but wasn't quite in the mood for the oral MSG bath of Than Brothers (satisfying as it is), and ordered #53, Spicy Tofu Noodle Soup Bowl. This soup usually come with "various [vegetarian] hams," but it was no problem to special order it with soft tofu instead.
It was just about everything I could have wanted... fat rice noodles and cubes of silky tofu in a spicy and fragrant (but not sweet) broth, garnished with chopped green onion, and served with a plate of shredded cabbage, sprouts, lettuce, mint leaves, basil leaves, limes and jalapenos to add on top. I gave mine one more scoop of chili sauce and a good sprinkle of black pepper and it was incredibly satisfying.
My dining companion ordered a Lemongrass Beef Vermicelli bowl, and it was really good as well. I don't tend to like fake meats all that much, but the texture of the "Beef" was actually quite pleasing... not too tough, but still with a meaty resistance.
This is the kind of place that makes me a little bit nervous, like it is too good to be true and is going to disappear. I'm really eager to go back!

Vegan Garden

1228 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98144
(206) 726-8669
http://vegangardenrestaurant.com/

P.F. Changs

http://www.pfchangs.com/

On a recent cross-state drive, I found myself needing dinner whilst in the middle of one of the countless and contagious stretches of country containing an explosion of chain restaurants and box stores and little else. In this hungry and road-weary state, it was a relief and a pleasure to spot the majestic cement horse statue that marks a P.F. Changs.

No matter where you are, the P.F. Changs menu seems to stay the same. To my fortune and delight, it includes a sizable vegetarian selection that promises the same dependable vegetarian choices even in areas of the country where tofu might not be popular.

The shtick is dependable too... your waiter will arrive at the table with an attractive tray with glass bottles of soy sauce, vinegar and hot oil, and small cups of chili sauce, pot sticker sauce, and horseradish-y Chinese mustard. He asks how hot you like it and like a magician combines the ingredients before your eyes.
I've found an item on the menu that I really enjoy, and I enjoy the predictability of its availability no matter how far into cattle country I've wandered. I order the Ma Po Tofu. It comes standard with the silken tofu fried (but they easily accommodate my request for steamed instead) on a big pile of steamed broccoli in a not-too-salty, not-too-sweet Ma Po sauce that is rich with garlic.
You can choose white or brown rice.

One interesting thing I noticed while looking through the PF Changs website later on, is that many of the vegetarian dishes include vegetarian oyster sauce, which includes no animal products. The existence of such a product was an exciting discovery for me (though I do wonder if it is just a fronting name for liquid MSG?), and I am pleased to see that PF Changs is going the oft-considered-subtle-extra-mile and acknowledging the presence of oyster extracts as not truly vegetarian.

Homestyle Hong Kong Cafe

My dining companion and I were recently in the International District looking for something interesting for dinner. We walked past many noodles shops without good vegetarian options (one unfortunate aspect of having a vegetarian in the midst... the casual restaurant search can go on for longer than feels fun. Thank you to everybody who has ever undergone this process with me!), and stopped in front of the Homestyle Hong Kong Cafe to read the menu. Turned out Rice Stone Pots are the specialty at HCKC. I had read about this unusual dish and was intrigued. It felt like amazing luck that amid the list of over 50 meat options (minced pork, salted fish, sausage, squid, frog, chicken, scallop, duck, etc) there was #121: Vegetarian Rice Stone Pot. YES!!!

Building excitement with the condiment tray: chili sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper and sugar.

A stone rice pot goes like this: Inside a very hot foil covered stone bowl nestles another very hot stone bowl. Inside this inner bowl is a layer of rice covered in whatever topping you choose. The idea is that the hot bowls cook the outer rice into a delicious, toasty, browned crust that you get to slowly scoop out and eat with the toppings.

A little bowl of sauce comes with the meal, and it is best to wait a few minutes before dumping it over the top in order to really let the rice brown. Those with patience are well rewarded in the world of stone pot rice!

A prize bite: look at that delicious brown rice crust.

The vegetarian bowl came with tofu, peas, carrots, spring onions and sliced asparagus.

In addition to the stone pot rice bowls, there were a few other vegetarian options including a vegetarian stone pot congee, and the most intriguing: House Special Noodle A La Carte. The Noodles A La Carte involve choosing a noodle type (egg noodles, rice noodles, chow fun or rice vermicelli), and then adding on toppings, $1.50 each, to your taste. The vegetarian/vegan topping options are: radish, tofu, vegetables, mushrooms. I'd love to try this some day.

The prices are reasonable. The vegetarian stone pot was $6.80, and my dining companion's minced pork with pickled cabbage stone pot was $7.20.

The restaurant is small but clean and friendly. Nice find!

Seven Stars Pepper

I have written about Seven Stars Pepper before, but the gist is this: it is a Szechuan restaurant in the International District, you take an elevator to get up to it, and it is rumored that they are one of the few Seattle restaurants to use real Szechaun peppercorns. A recent meal here reminded me of how tasty the food is, and sampling a few new dishes inspired me to put up a second post.

A meal at Seven Stars Pepper begins with a complimentary dish of their kimchee like salad: fermented pickled cabbage, carrots and celery in a slightly spicy sauce.

We ordered dry cooked (AKA deep fried, I'm guessing) green beans (that's the kimchee on the side). They were garlicky, spicy, oily and perfectly tender crisp.

We also ordered the Dan Dan noodles with tofu. These are humongous hand shaved noodles in a spicy peanut sauce.


And last but not least, soft tofu in Szechaun Sauce. The soft tofu was bathed in a beautiful bowl of oily garlicky spicy red sauce, green onions, roasted peanuts and peppers.

I should mention that this is rather intense food... it is spicy, salty, and oily. Definitely a treat to eat in moderation, but feels a bit like it needs to be interspersed with some salads!

Vege Restaurant

This little gem is in an unlikely location- right on the main throughfare in Poulsbo, about 10 minutes off of the Seattle-Poulsbo ferry.

They call themselves a vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant, but their menu extends beyond Vietnam and into China. They have a delicious Ma Po tofu that consists of tiny diced carrots and peas and little cubes of tofu in a spicy brown gravy. Their vegetables and fake-chicken in yellow curry is also really delicious.

If you're in the mood for a lighter fare, they have a range of cold rice noodle salads and spring rolls that are really good and refreshing.

The water that they serve comes with a twist of fresh lime juice, and they offer brown rice.

This place is fantastic, and each time i go in there I get the feeling like I want to tell everybdoy I know to go and fill the often sparcely populated restaurant with some soon to be sasified vegetarian hunger!!!

Loving Hut

After a long remodel, my beloved international district mainstay, the Vegan Garden, has been transformed into one of the sensuously named "Loving Hut" chain of vegan (Supreme Master based) restaurants.

Off the bat, I found the menu to be a little bit less appealing than the Vegan Garden's. The Loving Hut menu is composed largely of fake meats shaped like real meat parts, and has lots of deep fried morsels that look delicious but not particularly healthful. I was pleased to see that the lemongrass tofu vermicelli bowl still exists, as does a spicy soup. My dining companion ordered the soup, and was disappointed to find it came with a variety of fake meats instead of tofu. Good to know that a tofu specification needs to be made next time!


I ordered the "Guru's Curry," specially made with with soft tofu instead of vegan meat nuggets (they are willing to do this all over the menu) and found it to be fantastic. The ample plate consisted of cubes of silky custardy tofu, broccoli and cabbage drenched in a most delicious, slightly spicy, very savory yellow curry. I don't know how they make that stuff taste so good but it was addictive. I can imagine going to the Loving Hut with specific cravings for this dish.

There is definitely a "Supreme Master" bend to the place; propaganda videos play on a big TV, there are pamphlets and books to take and buy, and the fortune cookies spread Supreme Master wisdom. None of this bothers me though. I'm not sure if Supreme Master is leader of a cult, a religion, or just a state of mind, but as far as her message is understood to me, it is that being vegan is kind to the planet and fellow life, which is an idea that I generally agree with. If there is a darker or more manipulative side to the videos and messages, I'm not picking up on it (nor am I on the look out for it).

The sweet waitress brought us multiple samples of vegan baked goods through out the meal.

Supreme Master or not, chain restaurant or not, it feels really good to go to a restaurant where the entire ideology is based on veganism, and if the change-over is what needed to occur to keep this location in business, I'm happy that it happened.

Green Ginger

9851 SW Bank Rd
Vashon, WA 98070

(206) 463-7788

A recent trip to Vashon Island coupled with an extreme craving for Chinese food led me to Green Ginger, the one Chinese restaurant on the island.

The restaurant was really clean and spacious, and true to the Vashon vibe had plenty of vegetarian options. I chose the Szechuan tofu, but there were other tofu dishes too, including the tempting Salt and Pepper tofu.

I ordered my food to go, and was a little bit disappointed to find (once home) that the dish didn't include any rice. It did consist of a copious amount of sauce, to the soupy degree, with lots of silky tofu (the good kind... I requested soft tofu instead of the standard deep fried) chunks and a few pieces of steamed broccoli.

The sauce, which was supposed to be spicy, wasn't spicy at all to my palate, and was in general sweet and oily. It was saucy enough to remind me in appearance of MaPo tofu, but without the spicy richness of MaPo.

I was hungry enough (and sufficiently mentally fixated) to eat every last bite, but hope for the sake of the friendly vegetarian Vashon residents that the other vegetarian menu items are better.

Seven Stars Pepper

I tend to be drawn to a place that has the words "pepper" or "spicy" or "Szechuan" in the name, and Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant is made all the more appealing by the tease of seven stars. It was a little bit tricky to find on first visit because it is located on the second story of the building it is in.

The restaurant is located on the second floor where the white curtains decorate the windows

Upon being seated, we were given a little surprise plate of pickled salad that was really delicious. It was spicy and oily and vinegary, and involved small pieces of diced cabbage, carrot and celery. I'm still not completely sure whether we were supposed to eat it as a garnish with the rest of our food, or do as we did and eat it while we waited for the meal to arrive.
Next we got the Green Onion pancakes, which were flaky, layered, savory, slightly chewy and deep fried. They came with a slightly spicy soy dipping sauce. Yum.
For our main course we ordered the Dan Dan noodles and Vegetarian Mo Po Tofu. The noodles were the biggest Chinese noodles I've ever seen, so big that when they first arrived at the table I mistook them for strips of meat. These had the serious dimensional inconsistencies that make hand shaved noodles really hold their sauce. They came in a savory, slightly spicy peanut sauce with a bit of cooked cabbage.
The MaPo Tofu had a flavour in it that is distinct, but I'm not sure quite what it is. It might be a classic Szechuan spice because I've encountered it before... It is a little bit earthy and a little bit floral, and unfortunately tends to remind me a little bit of dish soap.
I was a bit timid in ordering a spice level at a restaurant that is named off the spice scale, but at 3 stars found the dishes to be not very hot. I guess it is always possible that they adjust the customer's demand to their assessment, so be sure to let them know you like like it spicy.

I enjoyed the dinner, even though the MaPo had that spice that doesn't fit my personal taste, but think the meal could have been enhanced by the presence of a few more dining companions and thus a few more dishes to go around family style. As it was, there were just two of us with two dishes, and the dinner could have used some vegetables to balance it all out.

Seven Stars Pepper Szechuan Restaurant
(206) 568-6446
1207 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98144

Sichuanese Cuisine

When I'm in the mood for the spicy, oily, strong flavors of Sichuanese food (which I nearly almost always am), a satisfying option is Sichuanese Cuisine Restaurant on Jackson (I read that the Chinese name for it actually reads, "Old Szechuan Restaurant," referring to their alleged tendency to cook in an old and authentic way).

The menu is definitely meat biased, including a fair share of the "weird" meats, but has enough vegetable and tofu options to keep me happy.

I recently ordered the MaPo Tofu, vegetarian style, and it arrived as I had hoped: silken tofu simmering in a mildly spicy oily red gravy with green onions on top.

Also ordered the dry cooked green beans, which were scorched (in a good way) with browned garlic and roasted chili peppers, and coated in some spicy oil.

My dining companion ordered the beef chow mein, which was a fantastic plate of fat, chewy square shaped noodles covered in the most delicious spicy oily sauce (there was some beef involved too, obviously). One of the better (non-vegetarian) deals at this place is the plate of 20 perfect little potstickers for under $5, which comes with the same sauce that was on the chow mein. I believe this pot sticker/chow mein sauce is one of my favorite flavors at the restaurant.

A few succulent noodles teased apart from the beef

Something that I appreciate about this place is that they don't make you pay extra for rice, nor do they dole it out in tiny scoops. Instead they give you a big rice basket with plenty, and let you take what you need.

The rice is not an issue

It seems that one of the specialties here is a spicy hotpot, and there have been times when just about every table but mine has its own camping stove and is covered with plates of raw meat, dry noodles, fresh cut veggies, and cubed tofu just waiting to be dropped into either the red or the clear broth boiling in the special divided cauldron. It looks like so much delicious fun, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the broth options are meat based. Need to find out for sure.

Sichuanese Cuisine
(206) 720-1690

International District
1048 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98104
www.sichuanesecuisine.com

Golden Era

Today I found my way to the Golden Era vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco. I had read on-line reviews that spoke wearily of the neighborhood, and as I walked there today by myself I initially thought that everybody was overreacting until eventually the ratio of me to people laying on the ground, mumbling, stumbling, talking/hollering to/at me became fantastically disfavorable. I probably wouldn't have wanted to do the same walk at night. It is always hard in an unfamiliar place to know how bad a place really is because everything has that "Is this even real?" feel to it. Anyhow, I made it and was strangely relieved to enter the dark below ground restaurant and be greeted by none other than the Supreme Master herself on a large TV. (The Supreme Master also has a presence at the Vegan Garden in Seattle).

The menu reminded quite a bit of the Vegan Garden, which is full of good looking dishes. I ordered the Jalapeno Tofu, which was described as "Best tofu with jalapenos, onions and bell peppers, served with steamed broccoli." Sounded perfect.

The meal arrived and was as described... soft tofu triangles with finely diced onions and bell pepper, and then succulent, lightly steamed slices of fresh jalapeno on top. Yum.


I thought that the Supreme Master connection was interesting... makes me wonder if there are followers all of the country (world?) who are starting up similar Chinese vegan restaurants in her vision? I'm not complaining.

Supreme master is a blond now

Golden Era
(415) 673-3136
Civic Center
572 O'Farrell St
San Francisco, CA 94102

Snappy Dragon

The Snappy Dragon is a restaurant that sets the standard for what I tend to look for in Szechuan Tofu and twisty, doughy, homemade Chinese noodles. Can't speak to the authenticity (I don't think I actually taste any Szechuan peppercorns), but it is spicy, garlicky, oily and delicious and a busy, well-loved North Seattle mainstay.

On this particular visit, we ordered appetizers, which I hadn't done before. He got a pork Hom Bao, and I got a vegetarian egg roll. The eggroll was as expected: greasy, crispy, full of cabbage and served with spicy horseradish mustard and some ridiculous but standard sweet red dipping gel.


I rarely stray from my usual when I order here because for me, a trip to the Snappy Dragon is synonymous with Spicy Garlic Szechuan Tofu. To receive this exact delight, one must order the Garlic Szechuan Chicken and substitute in soft tofu (there is a Szechuan tofu dish, but it comes with a different vegetable arrangement.) The Garlic Szechaun Chicken, substituted with tofu, comes with big chunks of bell pepper and onions, soft tofu, and loads of chopped garlic in a spicy red black bean Szechuan sauce that is NOT sweet.

We also ordered the handcut noodles, which are fantastic. You can order them either stirfried in some delicious oil, or brought to the table simply boiled.

As delicious as this food is, the mounds of garlic and abundant oil have the potential to leave me feeling a bit on the heavy side, so there are a few things I tend to do to make it feel a little bit lighter:

1. Order the tofu soft instead of deep fried
2. Order the noodles boiled instead of stirfried (the sauces are oily enough to plentifully lubricate the noodles).
3. Order without MSG. There is a note at the bottom of the menu that states that some dishes do include MSG, but that all can be made without it if you make the request upon ordering.

The Snappy Dragon has been consistently delicious for years and years, and I leave satisfied every time I visit.

Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon

(206) 528-5575

Maple Leaf
8917 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98115
www.snappydragon.com