After my night of Bloc Partying and burgers, I decided it was due time for some detoxing. As my healthful mother is a major fan of Greens at Fort Mason, we headed over there for a wholesome brunch. Good thing I made reservations, or else I would have been waiting for a good while. Though, they do have Greens to Go, featuring grab-n-go sandwiches, pastries, and smoothies. Here, you will find the East Coast stereotype of San Franciscans come to life: REI/Birkenstock-types on their zero-emission bikes and sporting their uber organic attitude. But, we are talking about a vegetarian restaurant in the Marina.
Curried cauliflower soup
Greens has a limited but ever changing menu. That sunday, they had a curried cauliflower soup, which consists of 2 of some of my favorite things. The soup had a wonderfully smooth consistency, similar to a cream soup, but without the cream. Topped with fresh coconut shavings and peppers, this soup was delightfully light way to start the lunch. It was also not the least bit salty.
Provencal tartlet with Japanese eggplant, roasted tomatoes, peppers, fennel, onions, fontina and pesto. Served with garden lettuces, endigia, picholine olives, sun dried tomatoes, marcona almonds, and lemon mustard vinaigrette 15
Next up was the tartlet with vegetables and pesto. The tartlet was deliciously flaky and buttery, but could have been on the heavy side if it were not balanced with the lightly sauteed eggplants and tomatoes. So far, I was quite impressed by how fresh all the vegetables were. The salad was impeccably crunchy and refreshing, tossed lightly with the lemon vinaigrette.
Mesquite Grilled Brochettes of mushrooms, peppers, yellow finn potatoes, red onions, yams, fennel, cherry tomatoes, and marinated tofu with charmoula. Served with pistachio-cherry pearl couscous, or garden lettuces. 13
These brochettes were great, marinated and grilled such that each vegetable component still retained their flavor. I was especially impressed with the cherry tomatoes, which were some of the juiciest, sweet tomatoes I've had in a long time. The couscous, however, was a bit too soft for my taste, though it redeemed itself with the pistachios and dried berries.
Grilled portobello sandwich on acme focaccia with roasted peppers and onion, asiago, arugula and chive mayonnaise. Served with roasted German butterball and all blue potatoes with green beans, capers, pickled red onions, Italian parsley, frisee and sherry vinaigrette 12.50
The grilled portobello was good, and it pretty much hit the ceiling of how great a portobello sandwich can be. The part of this dish that really appealed to me was the cold potatoes with green beans tossed in vinagirette. The potatoes were small and delicate, and the green beans tasted like they were just picked from the garden. This was the palate cleanser I needed that morning.
Bowl of pink lady apples, pineapple, bananas and mangoes 5.50
Instead of going for a dessert, we opted for a healthful bowl of fruits to end our meal. This is probably the only part of the meal I can replicate with good results.
Although I tend to frown upon vegetarian restaurants because of selection issues, I loved Greens. Everything was flavored just right, and the preparation of fresh ingredients was simple, prestine, and well-executed.
Greens Restaurant
Building A, Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, CA 94123
Curried cauliflower soup
Greens has a limited but ever changing menu. That sunday, they had a curried cauliflower soup, which consists of 2 of some of my favorite things. The soup had a wonderfully smooth consistency, similar to a cream soup, but without the cream. Topped with fresh coconut shavings and peppers, this soup was delightfully light way to start the lunch. It was also not the least bit salty.
Provencal tartlet with Japanese eggplant, roasted tomatoes, peppers, fennel, onions, fontina and pesto. Served with garden lettuces, endigia, picholine olives, sun dried tomatoes, marcona almonds, and lemon mustard vinaigrette 15
Next up was the tartlet with vegetables and pesto. The tartlet was deliciously flaky and buttery, but could have been on the heavy side if it were not balanced with the lightly sauteed eggplants and tomatoes. So far, I was quite impressed by how fresh all the vegetables were. The salad was impeccably crunchy and refreshing, tossed lightly with the lemon vinaigrette.
Mesquite Grilled Brochettes of mushrooms, peppers, yellow finn potatoes, red onions, yams, fennel, cherry tomatoes, and marinated tofu with charmoula. Served with pistachio-cherry pearl couscous, or garden lettuces. 13
These brochettes were great, marinated and grilled such that each vegetable component still retained their flavor. I was especially impressed with the cherry tomatoes, which were some of the juiciest, sweet tomatoes I've had in a long time. The couscous, however, was a bit too soft for my taste, though it redeemed itself with the pistachios and dried berries.
Grilled portobello sandwich on acme focaccia with roasted peppers and onion, asiago, arugula and chive mayonnaise. Served with roasted German butterball and all blue potatoes with green beans, capers, pickled red onions, Italian parsley, frisee and sherry vinaigrette 12.50
The grilled portobello was good, and it pretty much hit the ceiling of how great a portobello sandwich can be. The part of this dish that really appealed to me was the cold potatoes with green beans tossed in vinagirette. The potatoes were small and delicate, and the green beans tasted like they were just picked from the garden. This was the palate cleanser I needed that morning.
Bowl of pink lady apples, pineapple, bananas and mangoes 5.50
Instead of going for a dessert, we opted for a healthful bowl of fruits to end our meal. This is probably the only part of the meal I can replicate with good results.
Although I tend to frown upon vegetarian restaurants because of selection issues, I loved Greens. Everything was flavored just right, and the preparation of fresh ingredients was simple, prestine, and well-executed.
Greens Restaurant
Building A, Fort Mason Center
San Francisco, CA 94123
Labels: San Francisco
posted by Hungry Hedonist at 1:49 AM
4 Comments:
Too bad you eat entire containers of Pringles in your spare time these days instead of fruit cups.
-CC
Everything looks amazing - with the exception of the sandwich perhaps - something about the foccacia seems out of place. What does acme signify?c
It seems like the courses worked very well together. If that was how my meals were prepared on a daily basis, I would have no trouble turning vegetarian.
cc-thanks for pointing out my refinement in snack food selection
Doug - acme is the brand of the bread; it is quite prominent in the SF Bay Area. I wouldn't mind turning vegetarian too, if I could eat there everyday.
I've enjoyed those brochettes many times! The tartlets look very yummy. What did you think of portion sizes? I know a few folks who say they still feel hungry after eating dinner there (not me).
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