Lunch At Little Shanghai's

I love saying that. Lunch at Little Shanghai's. This is my all-time most favorite restaurant in Santa Cruz for lunch! I can always count on their delicious brown rice cooked fresh daily. My husband and I try to get there right at 11:30 a.m. when they open because that's when the food is the very best.

We stand in line in front of the cafeteria counter, watching as they place the steaming hot food into labeled warming pans before us. Sometimes I go first. 

"Brown rice, please. For here. One item." I watch as they serve several generous scoops of brown rice onto the plate and then I point to the "Tofu Broccoli" item. Several more generous scoops of soft tofu and broccoli cooked in ginger garlic black bean sauce goes on top of the rice. 

The plate goes onto a serving tray and is moved down the line to receive pickled cabbage if I want it, my choice of soup, and a fortune cookie. Then it's Michael's turn. He usually gets two items, and occasionally maybe three. He has his favorites too, like me. 

The thing is, all of their food is good. (I wish I knew their recipes!) They have menus that you can download from their web site, such as this pdf of "Tofu and Vegetables (All Vegan)." And their prices are more than reasonable, I think, especially for what you get.

Little Shanghai's also serves dinner, restaurant-style. The overhead lights are dimmed, candles are lit, and food is brought to you that you've ordered from a menu with a greater selection of entrees. 

The menu choices are diverse, different, and interesting. The food is simple, life-giving, and unpretentious. I highly recommend it.

Cheers!

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What Is A Veggie Burger?

I discovered some new brands of veggie burger products this weekend while reading the June 2012 newsletter from our grocery store, the New Leaf Community Market. Inside, I found articles featuring grilling tips, recipes, toppers, and "best veggie burgers."

In their list of nine types of Veggie Patties, I was already familiar with (1) Gardenburger, (2) Boca Burgers, and (3) Wildwood Tofu Burgers, and I found some more that I'd like to try, including (4) Sunshine Burgers and (5) Amy's Veggie Burgers. 

Some sounded a little weird, like (6) Quorn Burgers (what is "mycoprotein"?) and (7) Sol Cuisine frozen burgers (too much soy? at least they're GMO FREE!). (8) Dr. Praeger's California Veggie Burger proudly lists the ingredients for their truly all-vegetable burger (no fillers or egg products). And finally, (9) Hilary's Eat Well veggie burgers use two whole grains, millet and quinoa, that are free from common allergens.

The newsletter also included a recipe for "New Leaf's Own Beet Burgers," which includes red beets, quinoa, toasted seeds, onion, flour, bread crumbs, and garnet yams. 

This all got me to thinking about what exactly is a veggie burger? 

According to Wikipedia, a veggie burger is a hamburger-style or chicken-style patty that doesn't contain meat.

As I look at recipes for vegetarian and vegan burgers and lists of product ingredients for store-bought or restaurant patties, I'm seeing a common theme. Either there's an emphasis on having a burger patty substitute that tries to mimic the flavors and textures of meat or it tries to replace the protein you would otherwise get from meat. 

I'm very happy to see that there are a lot more veggie burger options out in the world today, and now I'm excited to see that — finally — many of the patties are including whole grains. Because from a macrobiotic point of view, whole grains are the yang replacement for meat. This is all good information for my dream diner, Burger Number Seven.

It is also good to know that my chances of finding more vegetarian burger options in restaurants are steadily improving! I have found a lot of places, especially cafes and pubs, that serve Gardenburgers or something similar. (See The Cheyenne Cafe.) The great ones serve their own handmade veggie burgers on whole grain bread. (See Boulder Creek Brewery And Cafe.)

Listed in the Wikipedia's Veggie burger article, other places that serve veggie burgers include:

• Burger King (they serve MorningStar Farms Garden Veggie Burgers) and Hungry Jack's in Australia, certain Subways, and Harvey's (served on a whole wheat bun), as well as many chain restaurants, such as 
• Red Robin (they serve Gardenburgers), 
• Chili's  (according to their vegetarian menu pdf, their veggies burgers are made with black beans, egg, dairy, and/or honey),
• Denny's ("Fit Fare" menu includes Amy's Veggie Burgers),
• Johnny Rockets (the "Streamliner" = 100% soy Boca Burger), and 
• Hard Rock Cafe (the San Francisco menu includes a "Veggie Leggie" patty grilled and topped with a portabella mushroom).

Here's a toast to more yang veggie burgers in the world — cheers!

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