Celebratory Ike's Sandwiches

The Chef: Ike's Place

The Menu: Seriously satisfying, fully-stacked vegan sandwiches from Ike's Place, including one Green Goblin, one Meatless Mike, and a whopping three Brutus' (pictured above).

The Goods: WE LOVE IKE'S! These sandwiches are, hands down, the best in the city—nay, the world. You may be wondering why we differed from our daily, office-made lunch today, and the answer is simple: we're celebrating! This morning, VN Publishers Joseph Connelly and Colleen Holland made a monumental step for VN's future by signing a lease for a new space in San Francisco's Mission District! We're totally pumped to relocate the VNHQ to a happening new neighborhood nudging every great vegan and vegan-friendly restaurant in the city. We won't relocate right away—you know we're going to thoroughly beautify the space first. Once we're all moved in we'll definitely share pictures—yes, it will not be unlike how your friends gush about their new babies, or how your aunt gushes about her cats. We're just that excited.

Ike's Sandwiches

The Chef: The team at Ike's Place

The Menu: Um, Ike's. These are the best sandwiches in the world. You can disagree if you want to, but do so knowing that you're wrong and making a mockery of yourself. Fresh, soft Dutch crunch bread, tons of veggies, Dirty Sauce, and any number of fillings make these sammies the be-all-end-all sandwiches. We ordered the Backstabber, a couple Womanizers, Nacho Boy, Chester the Cheetah on gluten-free bread, Eli Manning, and the Meatless Mike—all vegan, of course. When you eat an Ike's sandwich, there's no room for salad.

The Goods: Today has been semi-calamitous here at the VNHQ. Yes, the internet likes to go out when we're working on e-newsletters; yes, the printer decided take a little unexpected break in the middle of printing; and yes, we've all been thinking Office Space kinds of thoughts all day. But! Today is also a special occasion, as it's the one-year anniversary of our relaunch of VegNews.com. To properly punctuate this momentous milestone, we had lunch generously catered by Ike's Place. Let's just say that after these sandwiches, all seems right with the world.

Curry and Rice

The Chef: Liz

The Menu: A super-flavorful Indian curry with tons of veggies! If there's anything a team of vegans likes better than a plate full of vegetables, we don't even want to know about it. Brown rice made the base for our satisfying meal, and we topped it with a yummy curry of potatoes, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, and chickpeas. Then we sprinkled Daiya over everything, mostly because we could.

The Goods: Today's meal was totally fantastic in its own right, but, sadly, it really didn't stand a chance in comparison with what we're having tomorrow. In celebration of a spectacular, surprise event, we're having lunch catered by none other than our beloved Ike, of Ike's Place. OK, there might be one thing vegans love more than a plate full of vegetables: a smorgasbord of sandwiches!

Brunch Week: Tofu Omelets with Mushrooms and Spinach

The Chef: Charlotte

The Menu: The most brunch-like meal we've had all week! Charlotte combined the savory, spinach- and mushroom-stuffed omelets with sweet chunks of fresh pineapple for a lovely two-taste meal.

The Goods: First, congratulations to our brand-new chef, Charlotte! Ok, by this point in the week you probably know the drill. A huge congratulations to Allychristine, who scored herself a signed copy of Vegan Brunch! Allychristine, go ahead and send us an email with your full name and mailing address. Today is Thursday, and that means two things. One: a bunch of us are going to karaoke, and of course are heading to Ike's first! Two: we only have one more copy of Vegan Brunch left! We'll all be sorry to see Brunch Week come to an end. Le sigh. To (possibly) win one of them, answer this in the comments: What's your favorite restaurant to go to for brunch?

Raw Week: Angelic Pesto

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: A fitting finale to raw week! Colleen, who cleverly brought in her spiralizer, made incredible angel-hair pasta from white sweet potatoes, which she covered with a delicious, slightly spicy, pesto and chopped tomatoes. A huge salad and a couple Olive Flats—which are a very salty jerky treat made from olives—finished off the meal.

The Goods: Now that we've thoroughly detoxed from the craziness of Expo West with this whole week of great, raw lunches, we're feeling ready to tackle the weekend. What do our weekend plans include? Oh, maybe a trip to Ike's, maybe a scoop or two at MaggieMudd, or maybe a trip across the bay for a huge, hearty brunch at Fellini. Whatever we each end up doing, we guarantee there won't be a salad in sight!