As American cities go, San Francisco is certainly one of the easiest to be vegetarian or vegan in. Proof of this is the wealth of restaurants and cafes serving, not just veggie options, but a whole variety of incredible imitation meats that make it extraordinarily easy to quit eating your furry friends. Here are our eight favorite fake meat sandwiches in the city. 

8. Boogaloo's
3296 22nd St. (at Valencia)

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We all know Boogaloo's does some of the greatest breakfasts in the city, but have you tried their lunch options lately? Their huge "Fake Stake" sandwich is super satisfying, but what we really love is the fact that someone here had the good sense to give the option of adding fake stake to their grilled cheese-n-tomato. Throw some avocado on that bad boy and you have pretty much the perfect sandwich.

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In our experimental tastings in the "raw" arena, chocolate has usually proven an elusive product: often adequate but seldom sublime. But the raw treats from Oakland-based Fearless consistently come pretty close to the latter, delivering the best raw chocolate we've had to date.

While they make a variety of flavors ranging from Super Seeds (containing hemp, chia and flax) to Sweet & Hot ( hibiscus and ginger), our favorite is the straightforward Dark as Midnight, with its promise of being 75% cacao. Having tasted raw cacao on its own, we can attest that Fearless has done an amazing job developing serious flavor from just two ingredients: raw cacao and rapadura (unrefined whole cane sugar).

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What: Delicious Hanukkah Foods Class!

Where: Loft in West Oakland (exclusive!)

When: Tues., December 20, 7 p.m.

Cost: $50

The rundown: As any good Jew or shiksa knows, Hanukkah is all about the fried food. Hence, we are all about Hanukkah. Let's take that burning oil and fry up some delicious shiz. Gotta love the holidays! Tonight's class from vegetarian chef Philip Gelb promises to be good 'n' greasy -- students will make potato chips with rosemary salt, latkes and applesauce, donuts, lotus root and sweet potato tempura, and pumpkin pakora. No joke, our mouths literally started watering in anticipation. Having tasted Chef Gelb's amazing food before, we're guessing the man makes a mean fried food.

The class is very hands-on, so wear something you don't mind burning after because that smell is a bitch to get out. Let the festivities begin!

If you're interested in attending, just email Philip or call him at 510-393-6096.

There's a new, extremely healthy, veg restaurant in the East Bay with roots going back over 15 years to the old Organic Cafe in Oakland. A macrobiotic institution in Oakland, the Organic Cafe changed names to Manzanita and then to Shangri-La Vegan, but the food mostly stayed the same, thanks in large part to Tenzin, the faithful chef through it all.

If you've ever tasted Tenzin's cuisine, you'll know what a true artist in the kitchen can do. This man is like the vegetable and grain whisperer, teaching children to love kale with one wave of his magic spatula. Seriously, he's a master of healthy and delicious, and he's finally got his chance to shine in a brand-new restaurant of his very own, Polata Organic.

A Polata Organic going on!

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Thai IDEA Vegetarian is a brand-new restaurant on Polk. It's adorably tiny, and feels really new and clean. Which it is. Which is nice, considering you'll most likely have to step over a paramedic resuscitating someone's grandma or Nick Nolte's twin eating a pigeon to get inside. We kid -- Tenderloin jokes are the worst!

Anyway, Thai IDEA is cute and shiny, basically what a living room in a Thai Ikea might look like. The bathroom is especially worth a trip, if you're a connoisseur. But we're here to talk about the food, so let's do this!

Laura Beck

Firecracker Balls = best name, best food.

​Everything on Thai IDEA's dinner menu looked amazing to me and my lovely dining companion, so it was hard to narrow it down. The first dish we decided on was the Firecracker Balls ($8.95), which are veggie ahi tuna roll pieces, panko-crusted, and then deep-fried.

The combination of the name and the words "deep fried" sold us. Crunching through the perfect fry, a burst of tangy creaminess delighted us. The spicy chile sauce that adorned the balls kicked the dish to the next level. With that, we will now stop typing the word "balls" and just say that it was a true flavor explosion!More >>

A simple fact of life is, sometimes we all just need to get along. That's never more true than when a picky omnivore and a picky vegetarian are choosing a restaurant. If you find yourself stuck between two such charming individuals (or find that you are one), split the difference and head to one of these restaurants. Plus, meat-mouths take note: if you take a vegetarian or vegan to a restaurant with veg selections beyond the dreaded, uninspired grilled vegetable plate, you'll invariably get lucky. Rowr.

5. Minako, 2154 Mission, 864-1888.

Run by a sassy mother and daughter team in the Mission, Minako is an extremely veg-friendly Japanese restaurant. It's small, so it's not great for groups, but if you want to find a place where a die-hard fish eater and veg-head sushi lover can coexist in blissful peace, definitely check it out. Menu favorites include the fried veggie eel and avocado roll and the grilled eggplant with miso glaze appetizer. Just get there early, and prepare yourself to be reprimanded about something you order. Example: You will probably be told you're ordering too many fried things, but stay strong, that's only a suggestion.

Yelp/Becca K.

Minako's Fried Lotus Root

4. Assab Eritrean Restaurant, 2845 Geary, 441-7083.

I believe Assab serves the best Ethiopian food in the San Francisco Bay Area, but I'm also prone to favoritism for reasons like, "they have pretty bowls," and, "I ate there with a cute boy once!" Regardless, Assab's vegetarian combo rivals the best meals I've ever eaten. If omni's want, they can order a meat dish on the side. That way, you can still dine communally, and everyone is happy. Plus, it's a good place for groups and you get to eat with your hands. What brings together people more than eating with their hands? Most things! But still!

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Tamara Palmer

OCD Sweet's Caramel 'Not' Corn for your face.

​What: 12th Annual World Vegetarian Festival

Where: San Francisco County Fair Building

When: Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 1 & 2, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Cost: $8 suggested donation

The rundown: Gather round, ye hippies and bleeding hearts, it's time for the World Vegetarian Fest! Actually, it's also for people who like to gorge themselves on deliciousness, because there will be samples galore, including OCD's Caramel 'Not' Corn, the official treat selection of the Academy Awards. Yes, you too can dine on the same thing that George Clooney will be stuffing into his gorgeous maw. And you can do it months and months before that asshole. You're the real winner!

Don your hemp Birkenstocks and socks and head down to the World Vegetarian Fest to see that living in S.F. sans animal products is easy, tasty, and fun! Plus, everyone will be very attractive and available for dating.*

*Unfounded claim.

Jesse Hirsch

Yotam Ottolenghi

Superstar Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi has been working for years to bridge the gap between vegetarians and the rest of us. He makes no secret about his own meat eating, but he made his culinary reputation in Britain by infusing veggie recipes with intense, Mediterranean-influenced flavors, served at his chain of British upscale delis.

Ottolenghi is visiting the Bay Area for a couple of days, promoting his near-universally praised cookbook Plenty, and SFoodie caught up with him for lunch yesterday. Over egg salad sandwiches at Il Cane Rosso and macarons from Miette (which the industrious Ottolenghi already blogged about!), we learned more about his love of the Bay Area, his veggie diplomacy, and his thoughts on Mission Chinese Food.

SFoodie: Have you spent much time in the Bay Area?
Yotam Ottolenghi: It has probably been nine years since I visited, but a lot of people don't know I used to live in Mill Valley in '77 and '78. I was only nine, but some of my strongest memories of food come from that time. Coming from Israel, where we didn't have much of that, I absolutely loved oysters, shrimp, fish ... I distinctly remember the taste of fried oysters at Fisherman's Wharf. Also, I had a teacher who would reward us for remembering our multiplication tables by driving us for big fluffy American ice cream. Never in my dreams did I imagine this could happen back home!

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Megan Rascal

Meatless Monday Unicorn!

Meatless Monday with Bison Brewing and Mission Gastroclub

Where: Beer Revolution

When: Monday, June 6, 5 p.m. until they run out of food.

Cost: $3-$5 per pairing

The rundown: Mission Gastroclub and Bison Brewing are teaming up to bring you Meatless Monday at Beer Revolution in Oakland. This ongoing event is extra delicious because it's cheap, the food is outstanding, and there's beer. Lots and lots of beer! If you want anything else out of an event, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself. Or you know, stay on the bandwagon -- do what is right for you!

Bison Brewing beers will be paired with such delights as fried arancini, mixed greens, and tomato sauce (vegan), grilled spring onion, Blue Lakes beans, and romesco (vegan), braised kale, sofrito, and basted egg (vegetarian), and soft polenta with mushroom gravy (vegetarian). Oh, and lemon bars. LEMON BARS. God willing they'll bring those back for another Meatless Monday event and they'll make 'em vegan and this writer will eat the entire tray and then roll around in the crumbs. Sexy sexy.

Beer Revolution 464 Third St. (at Broadway), Oakland, (510) 452-2337; open Mon.-Thurs. noon-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. noon-10 p.m.; Sun. noon-9 p.m.

herbstanfang/flickr

Bucket o' Beer.

Millennium's Southern Comfort Dinner

Where: Millennium Restaurant, 580 Geary (at Jones)

When: Wed., May 25, Reservations available 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

Cost: $39.99; 5-course Prix Fixe Menu

The rundown: Bust out your best plaid shirts and coveralls -- actually, you're probably already in them, as this is San Francisco -- and prepare to be transported to the American south! Or you know, a parody of the American south, as this is San Francisco. Our premiere vegan restaurant, Millennium, is serving up an epic feast of enormous proportions, the likes of which you most likely won't find in the actual South. Only San Francisco would have the hippie balls to offer a fully vegan southern food bonanza. Lucky for all us fancified city folk, this big fat Southern meal is always unsane -- and worth checking out even if you enjoy pork cracklin's in your peach pie.

Reservations: Call 345-3900