Spectacular Salad

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: A big, beautiful (if I dare say!) salad. This poppy meal featured romaine lettuce, chopped fennel and avocado, and huge pieces of a giant, gorgeous late-summer heirloom tomato, all topped with a balsamic vinaigrette.

The Goods: Salad days are here again! So maybe it's foggy at the VNHQ today, and Anna's lentil soup from Monday would have been a more appropriate midday meal, but when there's a tomato this alluring sitting on your countertop, you're having salad for lunch and that's that. Also, you and I are evidently interchangeable here, so I hope you (I?) are comfortable with that. Sometimes identity, voice, and authorship can be tricky topics, but a stellar salad never fails to satisfy.

Philip Gelb Caters!

The Chefs: Philip Gelb and Cori Spence

The Menu: (Please make sure you are sitting down/not drinking hot liquids before you read this to reduce the risk of falling/spitting coffee all over your computer.) Ok, first we enjoyed an incredible black-lentil soup that was perfectly spiced. It warmed us from the inside out on this blustery, winter day. Next up, we enjoyed the trio of treats you see here, namely ravioli, salad, and collard rolls. The rolls had homemade tempeh, rice, kabocha squash, and an incredibly good marinade. The salad was blood oranges, fennel, and greens with blood-orange vinaigrette. Oh, and that ravioli? That would be filled with pumpkin and homemade vegan cheese, and covered in a perfect pesto. No, it does not end there. We also devoured the amazing poached-pear tart that you see below with homemade vegan banana-chocolate ice cream.

The Goods: You know what? Just go ahead and see above if you want to hear about goods. This meal was freaking incredible. This is the second time Philip has graced us with a delicious lunch, and we hope to see lots more of him in the future.

Penne and Kale Salad

The Chef: Abby

The Menu: Whole Wheat Penne with San Marzano Tomatoes, courtesy of The Conscious Cook. This flavorful sauce starred sautéed onions and fennel, Swiss chard, Manzanilla olives, tomatoes, and the perfect blend of herbs and spices. The fragrant vegetable-filled sauce topped off a healthy serving of penne, garnished with fresh parsley. Our favorite, the always-delicious kale salad, made a guest appearance with ripe cherry tomatoes and a squeeze of lemon.

The Goods: There’s nothing quite like a hearty serving of pasta to warm up an overcast Monday. Lunch proved to be the perfect midday pick-me-up, and the perfect way to kick-start cookbook week here at Café VegNews! All week long we’ll be giving away copies of The Conscious Cook, the brand-new book from renowned vegan chef Tal Ronnen. For a chance to win today’s copy, tell us in the comments: What’s your favorite comfort food on a brisk, fall day?

Oh My, Thai!

The Chef: Stacy

The Menu: A terrific, two-course Thai treat! This may well be the most colorful lunch ever to be featured on this blog, and it was as delicious as it was vibrant. Ms. Stacy busted out a totally wonderful Thai-food-inspired coconut soup with sweet potato, fennel, spinach, green onions, and carrots. Alongside was an equally attractive rice-noodle salad with a few of the same ingredients, plus basil and thin slices of bright-red pickled ginger, which was tossed in a light, lovely vinaigrette.

The Goods: There's nothing to brighten up a slightly dreary day like a super-colorful lunch and some special-guest-type company. Today we had the pleasure of dining with Justin Lucke, one of our favorite local veg chefs and Organic Athletes. Oh, any maybe there's a hidden message in today's headline. We're just saying, it pretty clearly says "my thai," and what event is happening tonight? Oh, that would be a little something we like to call SF Vegan Drinks. Yes, subtlety has always been our strongpoint. Now come see us at Martuni's!

Tummy-Taming Thai

The Chef: Colleen

The Menu: An utterly yummy yellow Thai curry. Served over perfectly herbed rice, this filling meal featured potatoes, bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant, shiitake mushrooms, and some of Frankie's famous faux chicken all stewed in a luscious, coconut-milk-based curry. An equally appetizing salad of romaine lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, sliced fennel, and avocado balanced out the curry's hint of spiciness.

The Goods: In case it wasn't already abundantly clear, we like eating here at the VNHQ. Right around 11:30 am, each of our stomachs starts to rumble, and by noon we're ready to eat the morning's coffee grounds. The ever-present thought of lunch makes sitting down to a meal as delicious as this one even more satisfying—and keeps our dignity intact.

Romesco Revamp

The Chef: Elizabeth

The Menu: Contrary to how it looks, this is, for once, not mac 'n' cheese. Yes, that's right, we've branched out to other varieties of pasta covered with some sort of orange-colored sauce. Today, Elizabeth created a revamped romesco sauce of roasted bell peppers, cashews, and steamed potatoes. Much lighter on the fat content than a traditional romesco (in which the potatoes are replaced with olive oil), this version is still super flavorful. A hearty salad of arugula, heirloom tomatoes, avocado, spinach, and fennel, and a couple slices of rustic bread finished off this comfort-food-filled lunch.

The Goods: We swear, when a food addiction hits there's nothing we can do about it. This pasta sauce has been a staple in Elizabeth's kitchen for the last few weeks, especially since she tends to make a little more than is really necessary for one batch. So, let's hear it, what are you craving these days? Which dish can you just not stop eating? We're hoping that, at some point, our answer to this question turns from saucy pastas to saucy vegetables, but we're not in any rush.

Primo Pasta

The Chefs: Jenny and Colleen

The Menu: A lovely rotini with herbed butternut squash, carrots, and fennel, made by Ms. Jenny was our delicious main course today. Colleen came up with one of the most colorful salads we've seen in a while, with mixed greens, bell peppers, kalamata olives, chopped cherry tomatoes, avocado, sliced mushrooms, and red onion crescents. Did we mention the home-made vinaigrette? Yeah, that was also awesome. Oven-warmed flatbread filled up the rest of our plates—and bellies.

The Goods: You may have already noticed something a little bit different about today's photo. We were lucky enough to have Patti Breitman—VN contributor and literary agent extraordinaire—join us for lunch today. She showed up with the vibrant flowers you see above. You know how much we usually enjoy having guests, right? Well, let's just say that we love it even more when they come bearing bouquets. Consider us officially wooed.