A Fan Letter to the Owners of the Wishbone North Lincoln, Chicago

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3300 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60657

Dear Guy, Joel, Greg, and Lia Nickson,

I got your names from an article by Kay Stepson, who writes a regular column on veggie cooking in the Chicago Tribune!

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-22/features/ct-dining-0322-wishbone-20120322_1_wishbone-chicken-omnivores 

This is a fan letter from a vegan.  I live in San Francisco, which I think of as being progressive, but I've never seen a non-vegan restaurant that was so accommodating to vegans here.  

When I was visiting my sister outside Chicago, her boyfriend, who's a meat-eater, chose the Wishbone because it was vegan friendly.

I was astonished to see that you had a hole menu for vegans and vegetarians.  

In the Bay Area, we vegans often find nothing at all vegan on the menu, which puts  servers at a disadvantage because they have to spend their valuable time trying to suggest something to both the diner and the cook.

I wish restaurant owners here and elsewhere would follow your example.  I'd be grateful if there were even one main vegan dish listed on every menu.

After returning to San Francisco, I wrote to the San Francisco Chronicle about you.  In spite of their having a number of articles on the importance of eating less meat, their restaurant critic ignores the issue.

So I have a question:  What prompted you to create a whole menu?  

I'd really like to know because I'd like other restaurants in other cities to do what you've done!

You can reach me through e-mail if that's convenient for you.

tina_martin@sbcglobal.net   

Many thanks!

Tina Martin

Gene Baur Advances the Cause that Michael Bauer Sabotages---a Plant-Based Diet

Gene Baur Advances the Cause that Michael Bauer Sabotages---a Plant-Based Diet--and they're both in the San Francisco Chronicle.

 I wrote a letter to the editor yesterday after seeing the Open Forum piece by Gene Baur, who is president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal protection organization.

Thank you for printing Gene Baur's "A diet for a more sustainable Bay Area--eat more veggies" (May 23).

That Open Forum piece follows "Food technology brings new traditions including meatless ones" and an editorial lamenting Secretary of Agriculture Perdu's sabotage of a healthy school lunch (May 4) as well as a whole 14-page section suggesting that we eat less meat on a daily basis and explaining how we can do that and why we should. (May 7)

Yet, when Michael Bauer named the 100 Best Restaurants in the Bay Area, there wasn't even a category for Vegetarian, much less vegan.

A restaurant critic is in a position to encourage every restaurant to have on its menu a hot vegan entree --not just a vegetable side dish or a salad-- regardless of its specialty.  In Chicago this month, I ate at Wishbone, specializing in Southern cuisine and chicken but providing a whole menu for vegans and vegetarian. 

Gene Baur leads us towards a more sustainable world.  Michael Bauer does not.  I know he's the Executive Food and Wine editor.  Does he read the rest of the  SF Chronicle?

It's funny that Michael Bauer basically sabotages what the progressive reports and specials in the San Francisco Chronicle advance!  He could lead the advance.

Va de Vi means It's about Wine, but It's Not For Vegans at this Walnut Creek Eatery

 Unlike the Wishbone Restaurant in Chicago, which serves chicken but has a whole menu for vegans, Va de Vi in Walnut Creek can't come up with a vegan entree when asked although they did make a lovely salad.

When the server told me she could hold the soy egg (not really made of soy!), I asked whether nuts could be added, and they were!

I just wish that every restaurant had one warm entree--and clearly printed on its menu.

The Kensington's Token Vegan in Walnut Creek

Fran, Tom, and The Kensington's Token Vegan

Our friend Fran, now living at the Kensington in Walnut Creek (more about that in my San Francisco Vistas blog), gave us a tour of the place, and that took us into the kitchen.  

Of course, I asked about vegan options, and the cook-in-charge called over the only vegan on their staff, who hugged me.  The two cooks agreed that there really wasn't any vegan option.  Even the veggie-burger had cheese in it.  

I told them that the residents themselves have demanded more vegan options--and signs indicating which dishes are vegan--at the Sequoias in San Francisco.  The Kensington's token vegan took down the name of the place.  

Encuentro of Oakland Has Closed!

What bad news!  Our family's favorite restaurant--a vegan-vegetarian one--has closed!

Kathy suggested it for her birthday dinner and then found out it was no longer there.

Here are some photos from my sister Suzy's birthday last December, the last time we were there.

Here's how the owners said goodbye:

Partners Linda Braz and Lacey Sher released the following statement on Encuentro’s website:

It is with a heavy heart that we are saying goodbye. The rising costs of doing business in an economy that is fraught with uncertainty has become overwhelmingly difficult.

We love you and will miss you terribly but we have to think with our heads and not with our hearts.

Please sign up for our mailing list if you are not on it already - you never know what may 'pop-up' at our space.

Thank you all for your 7+ years of love and support. It has meant more to us then you realize and has kept us going in spite of adversity.

With respect and love to all our customers, employees, friends and family.

xo

Lacey and Linda

Can Sections of the San Francisco Chronicle Connect Vegan with Michael Bauer?

Here's my open letter to Lisa Remmert:

Dear Lisa,

 I have a question about the disconnect between one part of the SF Chronicle and another.  I came back from a trip and didn't see the vacation packet of newspapers I'd been promised, but after calling a few times, I finally got them and was glad I took the trouble to persist!

"Meatless food traditions emerging/'Clean meat' trend seeks to reduce impact on Earth," an opinion piece by Brian Kateman  in the Open Forum  appeared on May 4, and on May 7, the whole section of Food + Garden was devoted to "An exploration of the Bay Area's brave new world of fake meats."  (Never mind that "fake meat" isn't my favorite; I'm happy with vegetables that are really vegetables.)

Then when the SF Chronicle listed their 100 Best Restaurants, there was not one vegan or vegetarian one listed.    Michael Bauer wrote about the cost of restaurant meals.  Isn't it time that he connect with the concerns for animal welfare and the environment and write about the burgeoning vegan and vegetarian restaurants?  If he really doesn't think any vegan or vegetarian restaurant compares favorably with the  ones serving dead animals, couldn't he at least include the BEST among those he doesn't think measure up?

So that's one of my questions.  What can we do to get him to care?

My second question is about a discovery I made in Chicago, where a meat-eating friend found the Wishbone Restaurant, which specializes in Southern cooking but has a whole vegan-vegetarian menu!

At a time when I'd be grateful if every restaurant had just one vegan entree listed (and not "special ordered" on the spot), I am so impressed that this restaurant provides a whole menu.

I'd like to know more about the owners and how they arrived at the decision to do that.  Here's an article from the Chicago Tribune:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-22/features/ct-dining-0322-wishbone-20120322_1_wishbone-chicken-omnivores

Apparently this is a family-owned and operated business.  I wish others would follow suit.  How can we get restaurants to do that?

Also, do you know anyone who could interview this family in Chicago?

Thanks for all you do,

Tina

Chicago's Wishbone Has a Vegan Menu!

While I was trying to think of a "fake-meat" place for my sister's boyfriend Paul, Paul found a vegan-friendly chicken place--Southern cooking for those who care about their health.

I was amazed that they had a vegan-vegetarian MENU!!!

I thought my wish to have a vegan entree on every menu might come true in my lifetime, but I never expected there to be a whole menu!  

Kudos to Guy Nickson and family!

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-03-22/features/ct-dining-0322-wishbone-20120322_1_wishbone-chicken-omnivores

Foodies' Reviews of Things I Would Choose to Eat

The SF Chronicle's list of Best 100 Restaurants in the Bay Area came out while I was on my trip, but I got it in the vacation packet, which finally came.


I'm disappointed that not one vegan or vegetarian restaurant was named.

But as I was reading, I made note of dishes I could eat  in a write-up by paolo Lucchesi.

At the Bar Agricole there's a dish with watermelon radishes, creamy avocado, and kumquats in light citrus vinaigrette.

(I'm sorry to say that Al's Place, so plant-centered, managed to use the grease from foie gras for something called foieaffee/foi whip!)

dIn Situ--151 Third Street, there's a carmelized carrot soup with coconut (not foie gras) foam.

How about a vegtable pot pie at Corridor?

What's Gal Guppa Flight?  It's at August 1 Fiver.

While I'm here, I'll expand to mention a column/article Michael Bauer wrote about Cassava, on Balboa near  36th Avenue, where the got donations to stay in business!

Vegan Arizona

What thoughtful hosts!  Katherine and Barry had this in my guestroom at their home.  It's an article from the Wall Street Journal, for which they get a free subscription.

When they took Javier and me to Bisbee to see our friends Jeanne and Ken, Jeanne served us an all-vegan dinner.  I know of no more sensational cook than Jeanne!