Are you sure there's no cheese in that?!!?!

I hope you’re sitting down for what I am about to write. For the last six weeks I’ve been a vegan. A pretty damn good one, if I might add. I haven’t cheated or broken down (that I am aware of – I am sure butter or eggs have snuck in somewhere at some point but I’m not going to be neurotic about it); in fact, I’ve used the last six weeks to experiment with new recipes, buy fresh vegetables at the farmer’s market, and give my Crock Pot some love. I initially wanted to try it for two weeks but have found it much more pleasurable than I ever imagined. My thoughts about the whole concept are many and diverse – the stuff marathon training runs are made of. Crap, I really am turning into an SF liberal!

Now that you have some context, I can explain the reasoning behind my visit to Green Chile Kitchen. I had actually been there before and remember thinking it was high-quality, low priced Mexican food. Add to that bar seating, unpretentious wait-staff, and mellow atmosphere – and we have ourselves a winner! Veganism drastically limits dining-out options, but GCK’s menu caters to hearty carnivores and picky plant-eaters alike. For the first time in six weeks, I had multiple enticing options to choose from but ultimately settled on the vegetarian burrito (I could have gone for tacos, chilie, etc). Truly one of the better burritos I’ve had. My greatest fear about dairy-less burritos is the dryness factor as there is no cheese or sour cream to glue the main characters together. I cannot tolerate a dry, crumbly burrito. This burrito was large and moist; stuffed with (organic) refried beans, brown rice, fresh vegetables, and guacamole. No cheese and no guac but I really wouldn’t have noticed the difference – in fact I exclaimed to my friend “are you sure there isn’t cheese in there!??!” multiple times.

I walked out feeling like I had eaten a healthy meal, ie no bloating, no stomach aches, or none of the pitfalls of a greasy Mission burrito. To top it off, the burrito was cheap ($6) and I had a few bites leftover for a midnight snack.