San Diego Part 2: Cafe Evolution/Farmer’s Market/Microgreens

Finally getting around to posting the second part of my trip to San Diego last month. And yup, there is a third (but not a fourth I promise!).

While my sister was working, she dropped me off to work on my squirrel book. I was perfectly content to sit and sip tea all day while writing. However, I need some healthy food so I headed down the street to Evolution Fast Food, a healthy vegan restaurant. I was thrilled with my raw burger wrapped in a kale leaf. Made me think that I should start trading the bun for some leaf more often! The raw chocolate avocado pie was amazing! I really liked Evolution. The set up was a little unusual (sorry, no picture). There is a small entrance for ordering take out that you can either take home/to work/etc. with you OR you can sit outdoors in their covered backyard. I really felt that I was in Southern California..a restaurant can surely get away with no having an outdoor dining room here with such mild, sunny weather. In Boston, well, it just wouldn’t work! I ended up chatting with several people in line who were frequent customers of the restaurant and they told me what was good and what to avoid (supposedly the chicken nuggets are disgusting according to one guy while another claimed to have tried every single one of their desserts and told me where to start). I love friendly vegans!

Mr. Toaster @ Evolution Fast Foods' entrace

Raw kale burger @ Evolution Fast Food..sooooo good! Raw cashew cheeze..um yum..

Raw avocado pie @ Evolution Fast Food..made my day

After my sister was done with work, we headed to a new farmer’s market that had just opened that day. My sister was excited because the new market is actually much bigger than the regular one that she goes to. So many goodies to check out! My greens-starved eyes (at the time my local farmer’s market was still weeks from opening for the season back home) just drank it all in. It is certainly true that things are bigger in California..not just the size of the market but the produce too. Excuse the quality of the photos..I forgot my camera so my sister lent me her iPhone.

Local vegan chocolate from Eclipse Chocolate..blackberry sage, orange peel anise, basil mint, Moroccan spice..such great flavor combos.

Farmer's Market bounty--no idea what these are even WITH the sign.

Artichokes..I never see these in our local farmer's markets here in Cambridge for obvious reasons! They don't grow (or at least not well) here in the north.

Asparagus

Delicious and way cheap avocados

Fresh lentils..I've never seen fresh lentils before..they made an amazing soup

The microgreens booth--we don't have these (or at least I've never seen them in New England). Mini sprouts of various herbs. We bought a bunch of garlic, onioin, fennel, cilantro and more. They were great in a salad giving off little bursts of flavor.

More greens and squash blossoms..I had my eye on the blossoms

Squash blossoms and onion sprouts..the sprouts were so tasty on corn tacos with refried beans. I lived on those during my trip!

The market bounty

Stuffed squash blossoms w/cashew "ricotta" and vegan tamales

Whenever I visit my sister, she knows that I want to get vegan tamales from the farmer’s market. We loaded up and unfortunately they went so fast at home I didn’t get a good shot but you can see the edge of one in the photos above. We did buy those squash blossoms and I stuffed them with cashew “ricotta” cheeze and topped with with green salsa. Delicious. I will definitely try this at home when the squash blossoms are in season here!

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