Where to eat in San Francisco if you're vegan + gluten-free
Ya'll know I've been gluten-free for years, but recently I added vegan to my dietary choices. I don't know if you've noticed, but it's actually not that easy to find restaurants that are both gf AND vegan - seems like most places offer one or the other. So here's a little guide of my favorite restaurants to grab gf/vegan healthy fresh meals in San Francisco.
P.S. Almost every one of these places is on Valencia Street. SO WHAT. I LOVE THE MISSION. SO SUE ME ;)
Project Juice
Juice, the Mission
They have gf avocado toast AND gf waffles!!! I usually order a smoothie and an avo toast. They also have some great grab-and-go options, like veggie spring rolls and protein soba noodles. The Valencia Street is slow, but less obnoxious imo than the Marina location.
ORDER:
- Berry Blaze smoothie (sub out coconut water for almond mylk, remove goji berries, add almond butter, hemp seeds, and bee pollen)
- gf avocado toast
Tacolicious
Mexican, the Mission
Order the Marina Girl salad (no cheese) and the vegan taco (they always have one that's gf and vegan). Perfection! Definitely go to the Valencia Street location - it's the cutest and most pleasant spot.
ORDER:
- Marina Girl salad (no cheese)
- the vegan and gf taco
Kitava
Paleo, the Mission
A restaurant created for the Paleo diet, it also caters to us gf/vegan-ers (can someone come up a name for this already?!). I recommend the vegan version of the Cuban bowl, with cauliflower rice if you're feeling extra healthy that day. Also their yuca root chips and crispy brussels sprouts are INSANELY good, so grab those too.
ORDER:
- Cuban bowl with cauliflower rice and extra plantains (no meat)
- yuca root chips with butternut squash hummus
- crispy brussels sprouts
Lotus SF
Indian, the Mission
This place is amazing. It's like heaven because all of their menu (except the samosas, damn you samosas!) can be made gf!!!! Everything I've had there is delicious (especially the gf garlic naan oommmgg). I recommend the mixed veggie pakoras, gf garlic naan, Aloo Gobi Mattar, Channa Masala, and a side order of brown rice. Make sure to ask for the curries to be made vegan (they replace ghee with plant based oil).
ORDER:
- veggie pakoras
- gf garlic naan
- Aloo Gobi Mattar (request vegan)
- Channa Masala (request vegan)
- side of brown rice
Souvla
Greek, the Mission
Greek food doesn't usually scream gf/vegan, but they do a mean salad for us folks. Go to the Valencia Street location - beautiful decor + super fun people watching and seats outside. Order the veggie salad, which comes with sweet potatoes instead of meat. The Hayes Valley location gets too crazy and is too hot and packed.
ORDER:
- veggie salad, vegan (no cheese or dairy dressing), oil dressing mixed in
- ask for "Greek style" if you want french fries on top
Cha-Ya
Japanese, the Mission
Vegetarian sushi, yaaaay! Also on Valencia Street (shhhh), their menu is just as big as any normal sushi restaurant, except that everything is vegetarian. They also have ramen and SOME OF IT IS EVEN GF. Which is a rarity apparently.
ORDER:
- Yasai soup (vegetable medley), ask for the gf noodles
- Vegan roll
- Subaru roll
- pretty much any of the sushi
sweetgreen
Salads, Downtown
I LOVE ME some sweetgreen. It's so easy and so yummy. I actually love making a custom salad because all the ingredients are there and they look delicious and you just get to watch them get thrown into your bowl knowing you'll be eating them in a couple of minutes mmmm.... Some of my fave salads are the Hummus Tahina (no cheese, no bread, and change to a non-dairy dressing), Guacamole Greens (replace chicken with tofu), and Shroomami.
ORDER:
- custom salad (some of the ingredients are seasonal): kale, lettuce, cabbage, apples, sweet potato, carrot, cucumber, avocado, roasted corn + peppers, falafel, sunflower seeds, lime cilantro jalapeño vinaigrette (go light on the dressing)
Greens
American, Marina
If you're celebrating something special, GO HERE. It's beautiful and right on the water, it's fancy, and everything is delicious. Not everything is gf, but if you tell them you are, they'll be super helpful and careful to make everything gf for you.
ORDER:
- anything and everything.
Comment below with your fave gf/vegan spots in the Bay Area!
