San Francisco - SFoodie - Green Eats: Vegan Food for the Soul

Green Eats: Vegan Food for the Soul

Thu Jul 10, 2008 at 07:48:21 AM

By Catherine McCulloch

Souley Vegan is simply brilliant! Its appearance may be deceiving, but this downtown Oakland hole-in-the-wall restaurant will blow your mind. Overall, one of the most enjoyable eating experiences I’ve had in a long while.

On a steamy summer evening two friends and I decided to check out this vegan soul food restaurant we’d heard so much about. At first sight, the restaurant didn’t seem to be anything extraordinary. Inside and out, its décor is modest, to say the least. But, when I stepped into the restaurant and the sweet smell of baking yams filled my nostrils, I changed my mind.

The heat of the evening and the mellow hum of soul music playing over the sound system transported me from the Bay Area to the Deep South.

Tamearra Dyson, the owner of the restaurant, is Bay Area native who grew up watching her relatives make and consume traditional Soul food. But her mother raised her to eat healthy, and her childhood was filled with yogurt and granola. At 16, Tamearra became a vegan and at age 19 she had a son (who now works at the restaurant along with her sister). She said that having a child at 19 demanded that she cooked all of the time. Later on in life she converted her sister and mother into vegans.

Okay, let's talk about the food.

Initially, I was skeptical about eating "vegan" soul food. I always thought it was incredibly unhealthy and fattening and images of greasy vegetables and deep fried meat filled my head. Souley Vegan wiped those images from my mind. The food is fresh, savory and delicious. Tamearra is the only cook in the restaurant and most of the produce is bought at local farmers’ markets- home cooking with home grown ingredients. The menu isn’t huge and consists mainly of sides that you mix and match to create a meal. But, the portions are generous and picking the sides is fun and a good way to get to sample several dishes.

I must admit that I got carried away with the sampling and ate too much. I tried the collard greens, BBQ tofu, potato salad, candied yams, mac n’ cheese, crispy tofu, fried okra and black-eyed beans. Everything I ordered was a pleasure to eat and because the cuisine was foreign to me each dish was new and exciting. The favorites of the night included the potato salad, fried okra, mac n’ cheese and black eyed beans. The mac n’ cheese was shockingly creamy, whereas the herbs and spices in the black-eyed beans and the potato salad made these dishes irresistible.

The restaurant has been open for less than four months but it has already started to make a name for itself. When I ate there Tuesday night customers were seated at almost every table. Tamearra has big plans for fixing up the place, including opening the upstairs seating area, hanging more family photos and having a mural of famous Blues musicians painted along the wall. With such an energetic owner and delicious menu, Souley Vegan is the type of restaurant I hope will prosper for everyone’s sake.