Sunday, April 29, 2007

Searching for an un-Torfurky vegetarian sausage place

I'm always looking for some good vegetarian sausage places...they are the undeniably best complement to some cold brew. My favorite place was "World of Sausages" on Market in the Castro, but alas, one day we drove over and found it closed indefinitely. It was so upsetting - they had a great variety of beer, sausage, and instead of the usual Tofurky flavors (Italian sausage, Kielbasa, and Beer brat), they also had chicken (which I think was also Tofurky, but I've never seen those at the supermarket).

On my search for my next favorite sausage place, one to replace that empty spot in my stomach, I've gone to a couple decent places:

Rosamunde
545 Haight St (Fillmore) Lower Haight

It's popular and they have an amazing selection...for meat-eaters that is! Yes, if you are out-and-about with a meat-eater and need to go somewhere for some crazy sausages (like duck with figs, lamb, wild boar, and I've also seen pheasant with Goji berries once...whoa that's pushing it (sorry, Goji berries are nasty!)) and regular type of sausages of pork,etc. Rosamunde is the place to go...they have all sorts of crazy types of sausages and their right next door to Toronado, so they let you bring your sausages there for some beer food. They unfortunately only have one type of vegan sausage, a Tofurky sausage. It's a good place to go with meat-eaters. Plus they have some gnarly wasabi mustard that makes me cry.

Gestalt
3159 16th St (Valencia) Mission

This is one of my newest favorite bars lately. They have like 20 beers on tap, a bunch of meat sausages, and a couple Tofurky sausages with the option for vegan rolls. But the BEST thing about this place is that they sell steins (liters) of their beer for $8. Pints are $4 so you might as well go all the way...right??!?! Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout. Sam Adam's Summer Ale. On tap. And the place is very kickback and low key - staff is very nice, they'll tell you about the beer and let you taste it. Okay, okay, I'm digressing from the sausages too much...but this place really hits the spot when you are thirsty and can settle for a Tofurky sausage with your beer. My friend actually liked the Tofurky one BETTER than the real chicken one she got. I forgot which one it was, but that says something. Crowd is catered to bikers in the city (they have a big section to park your bicycle. This does fill my thirst, and conveniently can fill my stomach too.

Underdog
1634 Irving St (17 Ave) Inner Sunset

We went to this place on a whim. There was an advertisement in the Natural pages book that I got trying to search for the nearby Cafe Gratitude...It also had a coupon. We called before and asked what type of sausages they had and the lady made it seem like they had different types of vegetarian sausages -not Tofurky...but low and behold, once we arrive, we find out they are Tofurky. Oh well. They have tator tots and interesting posters on the wall - "Ultimate Rock-Paper-Scissors" and a timeline of "Asian American history." Overally, this place was aight and clean and everything, but I'm not sure I would purposely go back.


Bottom line, I'm glad there are places that cater to vegetarians/vegans, but I will have to continue to search for some good vegetarian sausages that you can't find at the store. Rest in peace World of Sausages.

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