Golden Lotus: A Gastronomic Love Story

Who: Editorial Assistant Abigail Wick
What: Golden Lotus
Where: Downtown Oakland, Calif.
When: Saturday, February 13, 2010
Why: The perfect mixture of Valentine's Eve, starving artist boyfriend, Supreme Master TV, and vegan avocado smoothies.

The Scoop: Let’s face it—San Franciscans look for every excuse to avoid schlepping to the East Bay. We spend our days in blissful seven-by-seven insularity, indifferent to the charms of Oakland, which could just as well be as far away as Shangri-la. But sometimes the mood to travel strikes—especially when the cupboards are bare, love is in the air, and your boyfriend starts hankering for Golden Lotus.

The completely veg restaurant is an unassuming operation—think vinyl booths and beige-tile floors. It serves primarily Vietnamese cuisine, with a healthy side of pan-Southeast Asian fare. Prominently featured Supreme Master slogans and iconography define the décor, and a flat-screen TV streams Supreme Master TV into the dining room. (Vietnamese-born Supreme Master Ching Hai is a media-savvy Buddhist activist, who promotes veganism and environmental stewardship.)

As at any Vietnamese eatery, I gravitate toward the country’s culinary hallmark, the fresh spring roll. The Golden Lotus doesn’t let me down: rice noodle, red lettuce, julienned carrot and daikon-radish, mint, shredded fried tofu, and succulent mock-chicken bits all come wrapped in a delicate rice-paper roll. A savory-sweet peanut dipping sauce rounds out the flavor.

Spring rolls so good you spring from your seat and shout, "More, please!"

The entrée selection is vast, including lemon chicken, broccoli beef, and ginger fish—all vegan, of course. Jason and I split the house special—spicy gourmet chicken—a delectable combination of fresh relish, zesty chilies, and flavorful mock-meat. Sweet-pickled zucchini, daikon radish, carrot, and hot pepper proved perfect bedfellows, and a bed of small-grain brown rice left my palate with a nutty finish.

Crispy, spicy, saucy...so naughty

At Golden Lotus it’s necessary to share the main course, lest your belly become too full to relish the array of after-dinner treats. Vegan carrot cupcakes, mocha chocolate cake, and caramel flan are just some of the options. We shared the avocado smoothie—two straws, please! With great glee we slurped-up and gulped-down the smoothie, which was delicate and not too-sweet. Sigh…

Jason's all dreamy over his creamy avocado smoothie.

The best pre-Valentine’s Day date ever? You bet!

Put a Little Love in Your Hut

The Won Ton Noodle Soup at San Francisco's Loving Hut

Who: VN Publisher/Editor in Chief Joseph Connelly + VN Editorial Director Aurelia d'Andrea
What: A vegan restaurant opening
When: Saturday, October 11, 2008
Where: San Francisco's Chinatown
Why: Vegan food, silly!

The Scoop: If there's one thing San Francisco needs more of, it's vegan restaurants. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: bring on the dosas, burritos, tajines, tamales, gnocchi, fried noodles, bibimbap, dim sum, pho, sushi, injera, and your won ton noodle soup, and make mine animal-free! Well, ask, and ye shall receive, apparently, because the Supreme Master Ching Hai folks—the ones who've given us Golden Era, Golden Lotus, Vegetarian House, and other Chinese-Vietnamese veg places around the world, have now given us Loving Hut.  

Joseph and I agreed to meet in Chinatown at 11:00 am on this sunny autumn Saturday to celebrate the newest addition to the global chain of Loving Hut cafés. Finding the restaurant wasn't a problem; we merely gravitated toward the crowd that converged at the corner of Stockton and Vallejo streets, and we were met with a festive hoohah that included dancing dragons spitting out chunks of cabbage, fireworks, drums, and lots of oohs and aahs from the crowd.

After the commotion settled, the hungry throngs poured inside the immaculate, slightly sterile interior for a taste of whatever was on offer, which happened  to be an eclectic melange of Asian and good-ol' American. From noodle soups and mild curries to veggie burgers and French fries, there was a little something for everyone. I opted for a bowl of Bun Hue—a spicy noodle soup loaded with fake meat, while Joseph went for the Won Ton Noodle Soup. And the Gurus Curry. And the Spring Rolls. And the Raspberry-Chocolate Cake. Okay: We actually shared. However, the soup was so filling there was barely room for anything else. Somehow I made it happen, though.

While we slurped our noodles and chopsticked our way through the curry, we felt the eerie sensation of eyeballs boring into us. Looking out the glass window onto Vallejo Street, we recognized a familiar face staring back at us: HSUS' Erin Williams! Turns out Erin—who, among other things, is co-author of Why Animals Matter: The Case For Animal Protection—was out in the 'hood distributing Prop. 2 flyers, and since it was lunchtime, she and a couple of cohorts thought they'd stop in for a nibble. 

We later discovered—by their own admission—that for Erin, Karin, and Walker, this was to be their third Loving Hut meal in two days. Looks like Loving Hut is already a hit.

Walker, Karin, Erin, Joseph, and Aurelia at Loving Hut