San Francisco day 2

After a latish start sleeping off some jet lag, we headed just one block down the road from the hotel to Herbivore for brunch. We had been told it was good for breakfast by the vegan hotel office manager. It is an all vegan place with a huge number of choices, so, naturally, I suffered the usual vegan menu paralysis.

I ordered a corn fritters breakfast with all the Mexican trimmings  of guacamole, salsa, black beans and sour cream plus some home fries, and S ordered the southwestern scrambled tofu with blueberry cornbread.  The food was great, particularly the cornbread and the home fries, the coffee adequate as a caffeine hit, but not a pleasure for this coffee snob. Oh Melbourne coffee I miss you!

We headed to the Castro to the GLBT history museum. They have a great exhibition from their archives that reminded me of just how courageous the early gay campaigners were. That afternoon we walked up one of San Francisco’s many hills to Alamo Square to admire the view before we headed home to get ready to eat out.

That evening we dined at Millennium.

I had high expectations of Millennium. Lots of people have said it was great, but I also wondered whether a vegan restaurant that has been running for 17 years might be stuck in the past. I need not have worried. We ate wonderfully. We chose a 3 course menu for $42 with a wine pairing of 3 half glasses for $13, just a perfect amount of wine for me.

Here’s what we ate.

august salad – greens  with shaved green beans, creamy sesame ginger dressing, apples, croutons, toasted sea lettuce and red shiso
raw pad thai – finely shaved vegetables with a creamy cashew dressing, a spicy shallot nut seed crumble
tamale – stuffed with poblano chilli and Lima beans with grilled corn, roasted tomato and roasted pepper salad with greens, habanero sauce, guacamole and toasted pumpkin seeds
arborio crusted eggplant – with okra, zucchini, mustard green and coconut sauce with tofu lemon cheese and a French lentil and apple salad with a  mint vinaigrette
chocolate almond midnight – seriously rich white and dark chocolate dessert with roasted almonds dessert that I couldn’t finish
sweet potato pie – thin crusted with cinnamon spicing

Delicious!

Herbivore
351 Divisadero
San Francisco
www.herbivorerestaurant.com

Millennium
580 Geary St
San Francisco
www.millenniumrestaurant.com