Bay Area Adventures

Who: VegNews Editorial Assistant Anna Peraino

What: A food-and-booze-filled joyride around the Bay Area

Where: Sonoma, Petaluma, San Rafael, Oakland, Berkeley, and Moraga, Calif.

When: May 13 to 15, 2011

Why: The Perainos are foodies. Fact. 

The Scoop: My parents, happy as clams now that their two children live within 30 miles of each other, recently left the still-snowy foothills outside Denver (read more about my visit with them here) to visit my brother and me in the Bay Area. As is the case with my family, there was quite a bit of drinking, hiking, and most importantly, eating. What is it they say? The family that eats together, stays together? Something like that.

We began the weekend in Sonoma County, visiting wineries. After we'd had our fill of zins and merlots, we headed down to Petaluma's Lagunitas Brewing Company, where we spent a few hours sipping delicious, heady brews and snacking on peanuts, freshly made salsa, and avocado. Oh, and the live music was pretty stellar, too.

My brother, excited upon arrival

After happy hour, we headed to San Rafael to the beautiful home of my father's college roommate. We spent hours catching up, hearing hilarious stories about my dad's crazier days, and eating a delicious shabbat dinner. The hostess of the evening even made me vegan-friendly fare to nosh on, for which I was supremely grateful. After spending the night at my brother's in Moraga, the family started the morning at the Berkeley Bowl grocery store. Associate Editor Jennifer Chen always gushes about its awesomeness, and I must say, it lived up to my expectations. Next, we headed to Crixa Cakes, my brother's favorite bakery, to sample its delights. My vegan carrot cake was sweet, soft, and delicious, and the rest of the fam said it was their favorite, too! After one more stop at Flacos for some vegan tacos, we headed back to my brother's place to bake. (Did I mention we like to eat? I just wanted to make sure you got that.) My brother and his girlfriend baked us a delicious loaf of pain ordinaire with rye flour that they served with homemade tomatillo salsa and hummus. Post-food coma we took a hike around my brother's neighborhood, which hosted spectacular views of rolling hills, lunch greenery, a few happy cows, and Mt. Diablo in the distance. 

Photo courtesy of Estella Sanchez

Dinner Saturday night was at Oakland's Souley Vegan, where I noshed on barbecue tofu and mac 'n' cheese. I had my eye on some pie for dessert, but to be honest, none of us could hack it. After dinner, the family headed back to Moraga and promptly went to bed. Sunday was a day of little food and mostly NBA-playoff watching, and then the parents headed home. I, for one, headed straight toward a green juice.

Piraro-n-Pizza

Who: VN Editorial Director Aurelia d'Andrea + VN Editor at Large Jennifer Pickens

What: An evening of humor, enlivened by pizza and drinks

When: Thursday, September 11

Why: To support one of our favorite VN columnists

Where: The legendary Purple Onion nightclub in San Francisco's North Beach

The Scoop: It's no secret Jen and I have a thing for Dan Piraro, and see him every chance we get. And by "see," I mean semi-stalk, what with "random" rendezvous everywhere from Brooklyn to LA and back again in San Francisco. And by "semi-stalk," I mean in a totally harmless way. Really. Seriously, though, what's not to like about the guy? He's funny as all heck, smart as any ol' Mensa member, and just happens to be an animal-loving vegan, so we really had no choice but to head to the Purple Onion for a little dose of Dan's Bizarro Baloney Show.

Since our tickets were for the 10:00 show, we had to wait in line outside the club for the earlier show to end. While we braced ourselves against the usual wind and fog, we chatted with Kevin Connelly, the associate director of Earth Island Institute, who just happened to be in line next to us and whom we hadn't seen since this year's Genesis Awards. Before we knew it, it was time to head down into the warm, non-windy subterranean fun-hole for some much-needed ha-has.

Unbelievably, the show was not sold out. In fact, we practically had the place to ourselves, which was a bummer, since it was a benefit for Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, but it did make for a rather intimate comedy experience. The show opened with the very funny Brian Malow dishing up humor of the scientific variety. No, I don't remember any of his jokes, but I remember we all laughed a lot, and there's nothing like laughter for working up an appetite. Lucky for us, the kitchen was still open and the pizza oven was still on, so we ordered ourselves a very vegan Margherita pie and devoured it in no time flat, which was exactly how long it took for before Dan took the stage. Talk about comedic timing!

As usual, Dan made us laugh with his unique brand of humor that veers from themes as divergent as contemporary politics and teenage transvestitism (the latter subject a direct reference to Dan himself—go see his next show if you want to know what I'm talking about). And, as usual, we cajoled Dan into having his photo taken with us. Thanks, Dan!

Jen, Ashley, Dan, Jeff, and Aurelia

On our way out, we stopped by the very European-looking Cafe Zoetrope across the street from the Purple Onion and discovered they, too, have a vegan pizza pie on the menu. More on that in another post.

Oakland Raiders

Who: VN Editorial Assistant Lisa Mickleborough + SF Vegan founders Barna Mink and Kathleen Bennett
What: A vegan-venue food crawl
Where: Souley Vegan + Layonna Vegetarian Health Food Market in Oakland, Calif.
When: June 21, 2008
Why: East Bay soul searchin'

The Scoop: San Francisco, a city abounding in vegan restaurants and vegetarian markets, has yet to produce a venue with real soul. Having tried them all—everything from raw to retro-inspired—I've been yearning for a spot that really knows how to barbecue tofu and season collard greens. You can imagine, then, my reaction when I learned that a vegan soul food joint was opening just around the corner from Layonna Vegetarian—a regional veg institution—across the bay in Oakland. Grabbing the first available Saturday I could, I rounded up my dearest friends, hopped the train to our sister city, and made a day out of these two dream-come-true destinations.

Rounding the corner on 13th, a vibrant read awning emblazoned with the words "Souley Vegan: Vegan Soul Food" beckoned, and we ducked into the bare but cozy vegan-owned café blaring scratchy blues, took a look around the place at other patrons' dishes and, no exaggeration, cursed out loud with joy. Grabbing bottles of very strong strawberry-ginger juice to wash it all down, we picked amazingly textured crispy tofu, smoky-savory collards, and creamy and rich mac 'n' cheese from their mouth-watering menu. With all the anticipation, I was amazed these home-cooked dishes managed to exceed my expectations.

Next up, after saying our good-byes and profuse thank-yous to the chef and owner Tamearra Dyson, we waddled over to Layonna's to gawk at the aisles of mock meat—with everything from codfish steak, giant prawns, yeast "jerks," and beef tendon to their widely consumed chicken chunks and drumsticks. As a first-time visitor I was overwhelmed, but I managed to pick a few interesting meatless meats to try. Stuffed and stunned, we explored the city for awhile before heading back to our homes to recover.