The First Plant Based Vegan Sistah Field Trip

Wow, I am still reeling from the first Plant Based Vegan Sistah Field Trip!  Let’s just say, it was definitely a junk/comfort food day!  The whole idea started by planning to attend a vegan pop-up event I saw on Facebook at Cybelle’s Front Room Pizza in San Francisco.  I was amazed and encouraged with the response and interest to go on the field trip that it become and event. Okay, so here goes the day – hold on and try not to eat the screen with all the yumminess you are about to see!!

We decided to meet at Cybelle’s Front Room Pizza in San Francisco.  Now, because parking can be a bit challenging in the City, I decided to catch BART and MUNI metro, one person took Uber from Oakland and another was brave and drove up from San Jose(and we are glad she did – thank Robyn).

I have to admit it was not what we expected when we arrived.  The pop-up was upstairs in a small area where about 6 vendors were neatly nestled in the space.  We stood in line waiting for our turn(as only a handful of people could be in the space at a time) to see what goodness awaited us.

Here are the vendors that we checked out in the order of the room:

P + A Vegan Chefs makes homemade vegan cannoli. The display was cute and the taste was okay.  I tried their coffee cannoli which I thought could have been a little sweeter, but that might be because I kinda have a pretty strong sweet, sweet tooth.

Chef Lisa Books Williams had homemade truffles on display and WOW, the flavors sounded amazing such as Amaretto Truffles and Red Velvet Truffles.  I behaved myself and only purchased one which was nice and creamy like a truffle should taste – delish!

Pig Out Vegan Foods had donuts and pastries available.  Now I was waiting the try the vegan bear claw, but I was struck with disappointment because they sold out of just about all of their product – darn:(, so I missed out on the bear claw – boo:(.

The Uncreamery was the vegan cheese vendor – OMG their cheeses were pretty darn good.  I purchased the bacon gouda let’s just say it was delish and I ended up eating it all before I could make a grilled cheese sandwich as the melt on this cheese was awesome(see below) from testing out on some pita chips in the microwave.  Gotta get more in the very near future.

Flower of Love show cased some of their bath, body, and candle products which smelled wonderful.

Little Sunshine Vegan Bakery make handcrafted sugar cookies and other exclusive confections.  By the time, we made it around to Little Sunshine we were hungry and ready to eat and didn’t get a chance to try their cookies. So, we headed downstairs to get our grub on.

We decided to stay and grab a bite to eat as we were in for a big surprise with the vegan options at Cybelle’s.  I had the nachos, Saundra had the loaded fries, and Robyn had the caesar salad.

The Loaded Fries were cooked in a separate deep fryer designated for vegan items only using soybean oil, topped with their house made cashew smoked Gouda, vegan bbq sauce(was delish and made the dish for me as I continued to lick my fingers after each bite), Impossible Burger crumbles, housemade vegan ranch, green onion, red onion, and jalapeño. This was my first experience tasting Impossible Burger and the verdict is it is pretty tasty with nice texture for the meat eater.

The Vegan Buffalo Chicken Ranch Nachos were housemade chips topped with spicy buffalo soy chicken, housemade vegan ranch and cashew cheese, jalapenos, green onions, and tomatoes. I enjoyed the spice on the buffalo chicken and would have loved a bit more of the cashew cheese.  Overall, it was good.

I have to say, that the loaded fries were my fave and I would order again. In the end, we all felt it would be worth going back to try other items on the menu.

As we were eating we decided to try another place that hit all of us at the same time to try The Butcher’s Son in Berkeley. All I can say is WOW!  The menu is extensive and will have to go back a bunch of times to try everything.

When we pulled up to the place there was a line out the door and the food passing us by was massive and looked really good!  We were getting hungary all over again.  Below, is a picture of the menu – whew did you catch it all? Oh yeah, did I mention it is double sided?

I had a hard time selecting something, but when I saw the cheesecake in the deli case, I knew I had to have it.  Now mind you, we just ate at Cybelle’s so we are still a little full, but we have to get something for the good of all junk/comfort food vegan eaters out there.  I decided to keep it simple and order a side of the macaroni salad with bacon, a piece of the fried chicken, and the pineapple upside down cheesecake.  The chicken had a nice crunch and adding some hot sauce gave it the just the right amount of flavor.  The macaroni salad was good with the bacon adding a little smoky flavor.  Now the the cheesecake was O to the M G delicious!!!  It was nice and creamy with the perfect amount of richness.  It was so good that we now have a new convert who did not like cheesecake or anything cheesy to someone who now likes this cheesecake.

Robyn and Saundra shared the Killer B.L.A.T. a fried chicken, bacon, avocado, pickled jalapeno, leaf lettuce, tomato & mayo sandwich served on toasted sliced sourdough. Robyn also ordered a side of Something Fishy, battered and fried Jackfruit with a dill tarter sauce.  I think this video says it all on what we thought(the video is raw footage, I still have to learn to edit it down a bit).

To find out more deliciousness on the menu visit The Butcher’s Son.

All in all, we had a great time laughing, eating some great food, and sharing tips and tricks with each other.  This field trip has definitely inspired me to keep planning outings like this so, plans are underway for the next field trip to the Oakland VegFest, Saturday, May, 19, 2018. Don’t miss out on trying what there is to offer here in the Bay Area, because there is lots!!!

Be good to you!

Tamiko