The Plant Cafe Organic
Neighborhood: Marina/Cow Hollow
3352 Steiner St (between Chestnut St & Lombard St)
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 931-2777
www.theplantcafe.com
Anyone who has been paying attention to my Yelp reviews, my Facebook posts, or my Tweets (on Twitter) knows that ever since I started running in September, I've been delving deeper into the world of vegetarian and green foods. I feel very fortunate to be living in the Bay Area, where our options seem endless when one wants to eat healthy, sustainable foods. The Plant Cafe Organic (formerly known as Lettus Cafe Organic) has fast become one of my favorite go-to restaurants when I want to eat healthy but I don't have time to go to the grocery store or farmer's market to get all the ingredients myself.
In the mornings, they have breakfast selections, and on weekends, they have a separate brunch menu, which I have yet to try. I personally like their smoothies for the morning, though pricey ($6.50), they are delicious. I highly recommend the mango, which has mango, banana, and ginger. They also have a full juice bar, with one of the best selections of juices I've seen in the city.
Midday, the cafe is full of Marina-ites and employees from the Presidio (i.e. LucasFilm folks) who are getting salads and sandwiches. They have an extensive salad menu ($8-9), as well as the option to "create your own" ($5.95 for small), where you get five "toppings" and a dressing, and the option to add protein (chicken, tofu, specialty cheese) for an extra couple of bucks. I haven't had any of the sandwiches here, but I have had the California Burger ($10.95) - it's The Plant Cafe's own version of a Gardenburger, but it's tastier and fresher than those patties pulled from the frozen food section of Trader Joe's.
After 5:30pm, the dinner crowd heads in - mostly young professionals who don't want to cook, or folks who just finished a workout and want to end their day with a healthy meal. They have a variety of items...quinoa bowls, udon, a fish special, soups, curries. The cold soba noodles ($7.50) are great - a big bowl of noodles, pea sprouts, cabbage, and ginger-lime dressing. My favorite thing to order for dinner is the seasonal tempeh special ($10.95) - it changes every few months, but I have yet to find a version that I don't like. And to finish off a really delicious, healthy meal? The raw cashew raspberry cheesecake - all of the flavor of a sinfully rich dessert, but none of the guilt. Really.
The Plant Cafe may seem pretty yuppie, but it has a hippie soul and is striving to bring local, sustainable goodness to the masses. Bring on the quinoa! (Pretty awesome, since the word "quinoa" wasn't even in my vocabulary until last year.)
