Hankook Taqueria

Kevin didn’t get in from working out-of-town until Saturday evening. We wanted quick, inexpensive, unfussy food. Korean tacos? Yes, please. So we headed out to Hankook Taqueria for tofu tacos and sesame fries. Fried tofu, hot sauce, salad on top, squeeze of lime. The fries are tossed with red chili flakes, sesame oil, a hint of sugar? They remind me of the spicy fries from Java on Clement St. in San Francisco. The googles tell me Java has now closed. I hate that! Anyway, their fries were tossed in a vinegar, sugar, chili mixture. So good. Well, crap. Now I’m all bummed about Java being closed.

Sesame fries!

Oh, if Hankook isn’t convenient, look for the Yumbii food trucks. You can get these from the trucks as well.

This weekend we head to Seattle to see Portishead. So there will definitely be out-of-town food porn coming soon!

 

Butternut Squash Gratin with Onions and Sage

A couple of weeks ago I impulse bought a butternut squash. I do that, especially with sturdier vegetables. It’ll just hang out while you figure out what to do with it. This is what happened to that butternut squash. It became a gratin! This is a great example of why you shouldn’t ignore non-vegan cookbooks. Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone was one of my earlier cookbooks and I still use it often. Veganizing this recipe is no hardship. Substitute vegan milk for regular, vegan cheese for regular. Done!

This would make an awesome Thanksgiving side. It also allows me to use the sage growing outside my kitchen. It and the rosemary bush are the only edible plants that I have that thrive without any care whatsoever. I’ve got a pot of mint planted and hope it’ll join them in that.

 

 

More Indian food

Yeah, I was at Chat Patti again. Can you blame me? All this was less than $9. Including the samosa. And it’s delicious. I never order by dish. I just get either a veggie plate like this or the thali and say “no dairy.” Then I eat whatever they bring me. It’s worked out really well for me so far.

I should not have looked at this while hungry. Maybe I’ll divert myself to some Ethiopian food today instead.

 

 

Harmony Vegetarian

Harmony Vegetarian has been around for a long time. I think I’ve been going here since I moved to Atlanta in 1998. They have an extensive menu with all sorts of fake meats. I’m a big fan of the Kung Pao Chicken, sometimes I’ll get one of the veggie fish dishes, but this night, hanging out with the awesome Saluzzis of Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe fame, I was craving soup. Right, so, I make soup at home and apparently haven’t had enough so I’ve got to eat it out too. Wait, I’m skipping ahead. First I started off with a Chinese Pizza (scallion pancake.) Harmony’s is full of extra-fried goodness. If someone told me they deep-fried these, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Now, back to that soup. Not just any soup, but Ham Noodle Soup. Smoky ham, broccoli, carrots and noodles in broth. In a huge bowl. I always have leftovers. Yay! Okay, so there’s a weird quirk about ordering this. You might think you’d find it under “soups” on the menu. You would be wrong. It’s in the back of the menu under “noodles.” There are other noodle soups there too if you aren’t into the ham.

 

Saturday Brunch

We needed a lazy Saturday this week. Enjoying brunch at an outdoor table while leisurely chatting with friends seemed like a good idea. Saba is not even vegetarian but they do have some vegan options for brunch, lunch and dinner. So we headed to their Emory Village location. I’m a fan of their tofu scramble. Crispy fried tofu covered in nutritional yeast with lots of vegetables. All that broccoli means it’s healthy, right?  They also have a vegan french toast option that’s a rarity around here.

Afterwards, we wandered around the corner to Steady Hand Pour House for coffee. And more patio settin’. That there was a perfect soy cappuccino. Kevin had a mocha made with artisan chocolate made for them by Sugar-coated Radical. This batch had ginger and peppercorns. The mocha was good, but I prefer a little more coffee in my coffee so I usually go with a cappuccino.

Dang it, I feel so bad I haven’t been able to get around and visit more VeganMofo blogs. Today I’m definitely going to try to do a little poking around to see what’s up.