I am a meat lover. I am wary of vegetarians and I am especially wary of vegans. I agree that meat production in America is not ideal and sometimes unethical but I do my best to avoid fast food places and to purchase organic meat products when I am grocery shopping. When I was in middle school, my parents made me watch a documentary on meat production in America. I was totally horrified when I saw footage of cows stuck in crowded stalls and cows being slaughtered. After I saw the movie, I decided to become a vegetarian. The next day, I made a salad for lunch and my mom made me a vegetarian meal for dinner. My mom went grocery shopping to purchase soy milk and other vegetarian friendly foods. The next afternoon, I felt weak. After school, I went home and I had my first taste of not Asian soy milk and I threw up. It was gross and I hadn't had enough protein over the past two days. I was a vegetarian for less than 48 hours.
My eighteenth and nineteenth sandwiches were both vegan sandwiches. The first sandwich was Plum Vegan's Jamaican Tempeh Wrap. The fresh spinach leaves and onions were very tasty and the tangerines were delightful. But tempeh, which is a soy based meat substitute, is not my jam. The texture is unappealing and the taste was hard to figure out at first and then just gross. I think Plum Vegan did its best using only vegan products but it only served to affirm my assumptions about vegan food (inferior)... and it was kinda greasy.
The second vegan sandwich was Sage Cafe's Purple Haze sandwich. The sandwich had seitan, which is a wheat based meat substitute. I prefer seitan to tempeh because it straight up just tastes less foul. The sandwich also had tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. I do not really like eggplant that much so that was not very great. The peppers were quite tasty and the tomato didn't seem quite ripe. I think that I am pretty picky about tomatoes and I prefer cherry tomatoes to the standard heirloom tomato. Overall, I guess the sandwich was not unpleasant and the quinoa was quite tasty.
I'd like to clarify that I don't hate on vegetables or the occasional vegan meal. I love fresh summer salads and quinoa. But I don't enjoy vegetarian/vegan food that has substitute meat/protein. You can't fool the carnivore inside of me.
- Rose
Plum Vegan Bistro
1429 12th Ave E
Seattle, WA
Sage Cafe
324 15th Ave E
Seattle, WA
A week before last Thursday, I visited Tat's Deli, which is located in Pioneer Square, and had my first cheese steak sandwich. Later in the evening, I told a student about my sandwich of the day. She was surprised at the fact that I had never had a cheese steak sandwich before. The reason I am new to cheese steak sandwiches is that the only cheese steak sandwich deli that I am familiar with is notorious not for its sandwiches but for the multiple homicides that have been committed at the location. Because of the association, I used to think that cheese steak sandwiches were sketch but now I know that they are actually pretty awesome.
On Monday, I started this week by treating myself to one of the top 5 sandwiches the Cornmeal Crusted Catfish sandwich at Matt's in the Market. When I arrived around lunchtime, I faced a 45 minute wait. Finally, Raleigh and I were seated at a window table and we appreciated the lovely view while we were eating. It was also neat to see Matt making drinks at the bar and casually strolling around his restaurant. The sandwich was very hot when it came out. Luckily, we were able to snack on the tasty seafood chowder while we waited for the sandwich to cool down. They definitely did not skimp on the fish for the seafood chowder. Yum! Finally, when the sandwich had cooled to an edible temperature, I took my first bite. The fish was cooked to a perfect level and the cornmeal crust was flavorful and added an enjoyable texture. The aioli had a subtle spiciness - almost like an afterthought sort of taste. It was not a hot spice but the spice was still present. The potato bread was nice but it might have preferred it if it had been toasted. The sandwich was definitely lacking in the crunch factor. Otherwise, it was a lovely sandwich and a beautiful restaurant. I am looking forward to visiting it again.
Today, I visited Kiss Cafe in Ballard to try the Monte Cristo sandwich. A Monte Cristo is made with french toast, ham, turkey, cheese and... strawberry jam. I appreciate the concept of the sandwich the savory and the sweet - very yin and yang. I thought about the sandwich throughout the day and I wondered... can you have it all? After my friend Whitney and I went on a (wet) afternoon walk in Discovery Park, we went to Kiss Cafe. I ordered the Monte Cristo and she ordered a wrap. It was fun to observe the people at the cafe. One of the cafe patrons brought in his 15 month old, 175 lb Mastiff puppy. When I got my sandwich, I was very... confused. I like French toast. I like ham and cheese sandwiches. But the combination was very bizarre. It didn't taste bad but I just didn't enjoy it. I guess I'm conventional like that. 
