This year, we didn't go out of town, and the weather is (as usual for the 4th of July in 'frisco) crap, and my daughter decided that rather than trying to do a barbecue somewhere in the area where it's actually warm and sunny, she just wanted to have just a small group of relatives and friends together at a local restaurant...
I thought this was a splendid idea, ( a lot less work than dragging everything for a barbecue 20 miles down the peninsula ) until I found out what restaurant she had picked...
Alfred's Steakhouse it ain't...
It's a vegan (or as they refer to it "plant based") Mexican place, that serves their dishes with a big side order of hippy-dippy/New Age philosophy....
Gracias Madre
https://www.gracias-madre.com/
This is from their "About" page:
My immediate reaction after reading that, (well, second reaction after I stopped laughing) was to ask, "Is this a restaurant, or some kind of New Age Pagan Church? Are we going to have to take our shoes off and sit on the floor?"Gracias Madre is truly an expression of who we are – it represents our deep love of and reverence for food, our commitment to health and sustainability, our unconditional love for our multicultural family and community, our devotion to the Earth and the divine feminine, and our commitment to raising consciousness on the planet.
I was then reminded that it wasn't my birthday...(I replied that I didn't need to be reminded of that; I could tell by virtue of the fact that the restaurant didn't have the word "Steakhouse" at the end of its name...)
(BTW, in my book, beef is perfectly "sustainable"... big cows replace themselves with little cows; 'nuff said)
More hilarity ensued when I got to the menu...
Did you know that some loonie has actually concluded that they could make something out of coconut and call it "bacon"? (Yeah, they'll make something that tastes like real bacon out of coconut the same time they make something out of lentils that tastes like chocolate cake...)
I was thinking, well it's a Mexican place, so at least I ought to be able to get a couple of chile rellenos...
Until I was reminded that "vegan" also means no cheese...
They do have something they call "cashew cheese"...
I love cashews, but as "cheese"? (I guess if you've convinced yourself that you can make bacon out of coconut, you're capable of believing pretty much anything...)
Oh well, it's only one meal...
The good news is they've got a full bar...
As a special birthday gift, I've promised my daughter that I won't strike up a conversation with the owner or any of the employees...