With so many frostings and toppings, it could take some time to choose your roll.

But when opening up a bakery that serves just one thing, you better know what you’re doing or you won’t be in business for long. Fortunately, one bite of a cinnamon roll from Cinnaholic is all you need to know that Shannon Michellle Radke knows exactly what she’s doing. She has elevated the cinnamon roll to a new level.

This ain’t your mama’s cinnamon roll, and unless you’re a purist, you’ll appreciate that. Besides, your mama’s cinnamon roll probably wasn’t vegan. And if you do happen to be a purist, Cinnaholic does offer the “Old Skool” Roll. For everyone else, get ready for a cinnamon roll experience like none before.

When I walked into Cinnaholic for the first time, the server behind the counter explained how it works: You start with the naked cinnamon roll, choose one or more frostings for 25¢ per flavor and then add one or more toppings, 25¢ per topping. With nearly 30 flavors of frosting and 30 different toppings, the possibilities are mind boggling. Piña colada cookie dough marshmallow apple candy cane roll anyone? Cinnaholic also has a selection specialty rolls for $5.00 each, with flavors like Fudge Brownie Chunk, Oreo Explosion and Peanut Butter n’ Jelly. If that isn’t enough for you, there are also specialty pie rolls in fruit flavors. And then there’s also the daily special roll for $4.00.

You've never tasted anything like the Caramel Brownie Chunk roll

As you may have guessed, I couldn’t stop at one, so I ordered the Raspberry Pie Roll. (Mind you, these are not dainty little pastries. A roll is big enough to be a meal for some people. Such are the trials and tribulations to which I subject myself.) If you’re a raspberry fan, you can’t go wrong with this one. Topped with raspberry frosting, crumble topping and fresh raspberries, even after my full stomach said enough, my mouth still said more!

Not your mama's cinnamon roll

But Cinnaholic isn’t a place to get cookies or brownies. That would be like going to Millennium in San Francisco and asking for steamed broccoli. Cinnaholic has redefined cinnamon rolls and I can’t think of anything that could improve them, at least the rolls that I ate. That, along with the friendly service and endless variety of frosting and topping combinations earns Cinnaholic the highest praise I can bestow: Entry into the Vegan Junk Food Hall of Fame.

Cinnaholic
cinnaholic-berkeley.com

Taste:
★★★★★ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★½ 

Rather than write the standard reviews that are the usual fare on this website, I decided I would present some of the highlights of my trip in pictures. If pictures are really worth a thousand words, then I’m about to save myself a lot of typing. Enjoy!

Portobello serves up vegan Italian food like nobodys business. If you can only have one meal in Portland, this is the place to have it.

Portobello Chef Aaron Adams knows that you don't need to mess with great ingredients. This little gem salad was perfectly dressed with a lemon dressing and topped with crispy focaccia croutons.

Homemade porcini mushroom papparadelle at portobello

The Seitan Saltimbanco at Portobello was out of this world. On top is Gardein with a slice of Field Roast glued on with melted Daiya cheese. Garlicky broccolini and a to die for cashew cream mushroom tart make this a dish I would order over and over again.

Two Words: Vegan Tiramisu. The perfect ending to what was probably the best meal I had in Portland. Chef Aaron really cracked the code on this one.

Enter the Blossoming Lotus

Sunday brunch at the Blossoming Lotus featured Seitan Rancheros. This is how brunch is done!

French Toast at the Blossoming Lotus uses spelt bread. Healthier for sure, but more dense than the usual wheat french toast.

Back to Eden Bakery

Key lime cheesecake and chai at Back to Eden. Smooth creamy texture and the perfect amount of tang from the lime with a nutty and wholesome crust. THIS is what cheesecake should be!

Yes, they have scones at Back to Eden.

With a display case chock full of amazing vegan baked goods, I didn't get to sample this amazing looking berry tart.

Breakfast at Dovetail Bakery

One of several varieties of Muffins at Dovetail Bakery

Dovetail also had lots of scones.

A cinnamon roll from Dovetail Bakery is as good as it gets. Seriously!

THE place for tea lovers

With plenty of vegan options, Tao of Tea serves great food and has a tea selection that goes on for days.

I couldn't help notice the variety of teapots in the Tao of Tea kitchen

The adorably effervescent Julie Hasson is a ray of sunshine even on the dreariest of Portland winter days and the food she serves up at Native Bowl is infused with that sunshine. With a variety of rice bowls to choose from and the heavenly chocolate cup for dessert, this is one of the best food carts in town.

The awesome Alberta Bowl from Native Bowl is a winning combination of jasmine rice, tofu and veggies with spicy fire breathing dragon sauce topped with furikake and scallions. My only regret: I didn't get the large bowl.

Conveniently located just outside People's Coop, Sip is an all vegan cart offering smoothies, juices, teas and shakes. The chocolate peanut butter shake rocks!

Fried and Pies: Sounds like a good combination to me. I didn't get to sample any of the sweet pies, but the tofu pie was tasty, and they even have a separate fryer just for vegan pies.

The vegetarian sandwich cart with a huge selection of vegan sandwiches and a rockin' vegan chicken salad.

I didn't get to try Sonny Bowl this time, but had to snap a picture anyway.

Heading to Portland? Check out these websites:
Portobello
Blossoming Lotus
Tao of Tea
Back to Eden Bakery
Dovetail Bakery
Native Bowl
DC Vegetarian
Voodoo Doughnut
Food Fight Grocery
Stumptown Vegans
VegPortland
Food Carts Portland
Happy Cow

With summer now in full swing, this is the time to fire up the grill (or frying pan) for vegan burgers. There’s no reason for meat eaters to have all of the fun when the possibilities for animal-free burgers are endless.

Building a great vegan burger is easy; all it takes is the right ingredients and a good appetite. Today, I’m sharing tips and techniques to help build a better burger so you have no more excuses for mediocre burgers.

There are 4 components to a great burger:

1. The patty
2. The bun
3. The condiments
4. The fixin’s (That’s right, there’s no G in fixin’s)

Some people say that 3 and 4 above count as one component. I say they’re important enough to be considered separately.

The Patty

If it isn’t already clear as it is with everything, homemade beats store bought anytime, anyplace and anyhow. Sometimes there just isn’t time to make your own, and thankfully for those times there are several decent burgers that can be bought in pretty much any major supermarket.

When you have the time, there are so many vegan burger recipes that you could cook one daily for several years and not cook the same burger twice. One of my favorites is the black bean burger from the Rebar Cookbook, and for a low fat healthier alternative, there’s the Chicago Diner burger. A grilled portabello mushroom also makes a fine burger, and opens the door to a great variety of options for condiments and fixin’s. You’ll also find dozens of burger recipes on VegWeb.

The Bun

Seeded buns rock, but the single most important thing when it comes to buns is softness. Maybe you want your spouse or partner to have rock hard buns of steel, but for a burger, hard means trouble. Serve your burger in a hard or crispy bun and 9 times out of 10, the burger will squirt out the back and sides on the first bite. Not only is it messy, but it’s also really difficult to reconstruct. You might as well get a knife and fork and give up on holding it in your hand.

A good bun will be soft enough so when you bite into it, the burger and fixin’s stay in their proper place: between the bread. A little drip of sauce or ketchup is not a problem, a big chunk of burger flying out is. While bagels may seem to be tailor made for burgers, despite the appropriate size and shape, most of them are too hard and dense. Plus, if you’re not careful, the hole can cause all kinds of trouble.

The Condiments

Ketchup is the old standby, and while there’s nothing wrong with it, there are many other possibilities. In the burger pictured above, I opted to use ketchup mixed with two parts of Vegenaise and a spoonful of relish for a creamy and slightly tangy thousand island dressing. The secret to the tang is using dill pickle relish instead of sweet relish.

But there’s no reason to stop there. Blend half of a roasted red pepper with Vegenaise and you’ve got aioli. Add some hot sauce to give it a little kick. Want a little Mexican flavor? Use salsa. Using a portabello mushroom as your patty? Spread some pesto on your bun, and then go really Italian and put your burger on focaccia. We’re just scratching the surface here. Romesco sauce, chutney, barbecue sauce, stoneground mustard…even a mole can take your burger out of the ordinary.

The Fixin’s

I stuck to the basics in the photo above, but there’s no need for you to do that. In fact, this is where you can really go nuts. Sure there are the old standbys like lettuce, tomatoes, onions (unless you’re Scott Conant), and pickles, but why limit yourself? Sauerkraut, roasted peppers and avocado will add new flavor and textures to your burger. Caramelized onions? Yes! Tempeh bacon, slaw or sautéed spinach? Yes, yes YES! Marshmallows? NO! We’re making burgers here, not s’mores!

And yes again: Cheese! Daiya melts so easily that it’s not even necessary to do anything other than flip your burger, add the cheese on top, and close the grill or put a lid on the pan to keep the heat in to melt the cheese. With other vegan cheeses, it’s usually necessary to put a little water in the pan to create enough steam to achieve melt.

Be sure to match the cheese to your sauce and burger. If you’re preparing a portabello and pesto burger, mozzarella is going to be a much better match than cheddar. Doing a Mexican burger? Cheddar and salsa are the ticket. You can even use a tortilla instead of a bun.

It’s hard to over stress the need to use quality ingredients. Ripe tomatoes will add an amazing sweet juiciness to your burger that you’ll never get from one of those hard, pink objects that pass for tomatoes in some stores. Don’t settle for iceberg lettuce when there are so many other varieties that actually have flavor.

When putting everything together, it’s important to put all of the components in the proper place. Thicker, fattier condiments can go right on the bun, preferably on top and bottom. Condiments that are thinner and more watery such as salsa are better when placed on top of the patty and below the fixin’s so they don’t make the bun soggy.

While this is far from exhaustive, it should be enough to get you started making great burgers. They can be healthy or decadent and everything in between. Have a favorite burger? Leave a comment and tell me what it is.

Looks like the beginning of a beautiful meal

Don’t confuse Jimtown’s Olive Spread with a tapenade. While there are similarities, the texture is chunkier than the usual tapenade and has a more robust olive flavor. I’ve slathered it it on bread, crackers, tortillas…pretty much any place I’d use margarine, mayo, mustard, hummus or any other spread. In fact, it goes great with hummus. The combination the rich olive flavor with the lemony chickpea hummus flavor is a winner.

Making a sandwich or wrap? Mash some avocado, add the olive spread, pile on the other ingredients for a change from the same old same old.

The good news is that you don’t have to be in Sonoma to try it for yourself. Whole Foods and other markets carry Jimtown Store’s Olive Spread, and if you’re fortunate enough to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can find the big 24 ounce container at Costco for less than the price of two 7 ounce containers at Whole Foods. While it may not replace the jars of Vegenaise and mustard in your refrigerator, you may find yourself reaching for them less frequently.

Jimtown Store
jimtown.com

Chopped Olive Spread

Taste:
★★★★½ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★☆ 

Why bother with the oven? Just add a spoon and enjoy!

So can a pre-made store bought cookie dough compete with cookies made from scratch? In this case, not quite. I opened a container of Eat Pastry’s Chocolate Chunk cookie dough and of course had to taste a spoonful before scooping the dough onto a cookie sheet. The raw dough tasted great and I was confident that it would make an excellent cookie. But what came out of the oven was a disappointment.

The first thing I noticed was that despite being named Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough, this dough has chocolate chips, not chunks. It may seem like a minor quibble, but there is a difference. Those who are expecting chunks, which given the name would probably be everybody, will be disappointed.

The flavor of the cookies was pretty good, but where the Eat Pastry cookies fell short was the texture. I’m partial to soft chewy cookies, but these were soft and dense. Not dense like a good fudgy brownie, but dense in a way that made chewing seem like a chore. Eating cookies should never, EVER be a chore (as if I even needed to say that). I saved one cookie for the next day and it had an even more unpleasantly dense texture.

The dough that remained in the container after that first batch of cookies never found its way into the oven. It gradually disappeared over the next few days, spoonful by spoonful. I really enjoyed the taste of the raw dough. If I was making a batch of cookie dough ice cream, I wouldn’t hesitate to use Eat Pastry dough. But the next time I’m craving fresh baked cookies, I’ll be making them from scratch. Otherwise, I’ll just get a bag of Uncle Eddie’s and keep the oven turned off.

Eat Pastry Cookie Dough is available in the San Francisco bay area at Mollie Stone’s and Rainbow Grocery. It can also be found all over California at Whole Foods Market.

Eat Pastry Cookie Dough
eatpastry.com

Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough

Taste:
★★★☆☆ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★½ 

Mexican hot chocolate and s'mores cupcakes

Faced with the droolworthy spread of temptations on display at the SF Vegan Bakesale, what else could I do? I suppose moderation and discipline might be fleeting thoughts for someone with just a hint of willpower, but in these circumstances they weren’t anywhere near my radar. I even sneaked a few nibbles of the peanut butter oatmeal cookie before paying for my haul. But before laying down the cash, there were decisions to be made. A man can only buy so many items before one of two things happen: Diabetic coma from simply being around so much sugar, or applying for GMAC financing to pay for all of the goods. Yes, decisions must be made.

The bakesale organizers inspect the goods

A container for your Mexican hot chocolate cupcake?

So I skipped the Oreo and Mexican hot chocolate cupcakes in favor of s’mores cupcakes and a couple of minis from Sugar Beat Sweets. Yes to brownies, no to coconut chocolate peanut butter cups. Apple fritter from Pepples? Hmmmm…I wasn’t wild about their donuts, but this looked good. So did the pumpkin whoopee pies. Oh, and those white chocolate chip and macadamia cookies? Maybe I can buy the entire plate? OK, how about just two of them. Whoa!!! Did somebody just arrive with chili cheese corn doggies??? Woof!

Perhaps some chocolate coconut peanut butter cups?

After bouncing off the walls from the sugar rush, then came the coma. “A fine time to try the chili cheese corn doggies, it is…wow, that’s good, and it doesn’t even have any sugar.” But after washing that down with a cupcake, the cupcake was washed down with the whoopee pie…things were really getting hazy. I haven’t been the same since then, but I feel my blood sugar returning to normal and will probably have to eat nothing but kale for the next week so I can detox.

Or maybe you prefer oreo cupcakes

Of course there were a few baked goods that stood above the others: The white chocolate chip macadamia cookies were soft, chewy and had just the right mix of white chocolate and nuts. Chili cheese corn doggies were delicious, and not just because they were something savory in the midst of all of the sweets. The flavor was spot on and they were perfectly baked with a little bit of tofu dog and chili in every bite.

How about a pumpkin whoopie pie?

And maybe next time I’ll attempt to practice some form of restraint. But seriously, who am I kidding? If there’s any place not to practice restraint, that place would be a vegan bakesale.

For info on the next SF Vegan Bakesale check them out on Twitter. They’re looking for bakers and others who don’t mind eating themselves into a sugar coma of their own.

Don't let the outside fool you, it's what's inside that counts

If you just happened to drive by Ronald’s Donuts, you’d never know that what awaits you inside are some of the most decadent and delicious vegan pastries west of the Rockies. There’s nothing visible outside or even inside to distinguish Ronald’s from your typical neighborhood donut shop. But ask the folks behind the counter which items are vegan and you’ll be directed to all but about ten percent of the pastries in the case.

Ronald’s has almost all of the typical donut shop staples, and yes, they’re vegan. Glazed donuts, cream filled donuts, raspberry turnovers, apple turnovers, apple burritos, apple fritters, bear claws, maple sticks, donut holes, and much more. You won’t find an Old Dirty Bastard here, and not to worry, you won’t miss it. Ronald’s is not about edgy or unconventional. The only thing unconventional about Ronald’s is that most of the items are vegan.

A box full of Ronald's Donuts, but not for long

But there’s no need to pick a favorite. Just have the friendly owners put one, or five, of each variety into a pink box and watch how quickly they disappear. Vegan food doesn’t get much more sinful than this, but compared to the other sins that can be committed in Vegas, eating Ronald’s Donuts might almost make you a saint.

Ronald’s Donuts
4600 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89102

Taste:
★★★★½ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★★ 

Until recently there hasn’t been much to choose from in this department. Fortunately, Heather Mills wants to change that. After purchasing the UK based Redwood Wholefood Company last year, Ms. Mills rebranded their Cheezly line of vegan cheese under the VBites label and added several new melting and non-melting varieties to their lineup. I recently sampled three of the new cheeses and my only disappointment is that I couldn’t try all of them.

VBites Cheezly assortment: (Clockwise from bottom left) Pepper Jack, Soy Free, Smoked Cheddar

Of the varieties I was able to get my hands on, Pepper Jack, Smoked Cheddar and Soy Free, the hands down favorite was the Pepper Jack. Interestingly enough, although the Pepper Jack is one of the melting varieties, I found it to be far superior when eaten straight out of the package. While the taste was excellent, the consistency was disappointing when melted. Eaten un-melted however, the consistency was creamy while the flavor was sharp with a good kick courtesy of the green chilies. A vegan cheese like no other, this is the kind of cheese that could be served to dairy cheese eaters and they would have no clue that there was not a trace of dairy to be found.

Those same dairy eaters would probably be happy with the Smoked Cheddar as well. The flavor was distinctly cheddar with just the right amount of smokiness. The other non-melting variety, Soy Free Cheezly, also impressed. Softer and milder than the Smoked Cheddar, it still packed a cheesy flavor that is sure to satisfy those who are allergic to soy.

Hopefully, by the time you read this, VBites Cheezly will be available in the US. If you’ve been postponing your wine and cheese party because you couldn’t find vegan cheese that makes the cut, your wait is over thanks to VBites.

VBites Cheezly
vbitesusa.com

VBites Cheezly Pepper Jack

Taste:
★★★★½ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★☆ 

VBites Cheezly Smoked Cheddar

Taste:
★★★★☆ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★☆ 

VBites Cheezly Soy Free

Taste:
★★★½☆ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★☆ 

Some of the romantics shelling out said money were vegans, or non-vegans buying chocolate for vegans. There’s no shortage of vegan chocolate in well stocked natural food stores and online vegan retailers, but the quality can vary from sinfully rich to downright nasty. I recently had the opportunity to sample some raw, vegan chocolates that mostly fell closer the latter category.

If you like your truffles chewy, Ulimana will satisfy

At least they didn’t taste like tempeh. Yes, there’s a mild cocoa flavor, but barely enough. Usually when I eat a good truffle, I want another (and maybe even a few more after that). UliMana makes it easy to stop at one.

Chocolatl Raw Chocolate Maca Sauce: The best of the (raw) bunch

Because this is a raw product, using sugar is not an option, but maybe a more neutral flavored sweetener would be a better fit for this sauce. Despite the overwhelming agave flavor and consistency that was more like a paste, I did enjoy the Chocolatl Sauce.

You may need GMAC financing if you ♥ Sacred Chocolate

I figured maybe I should go with something a little more conventional, so I unwrapped the 69% Whole Bean heart. I did detect some chocolate flavor, but it was barely noticeable. The Jungle Peanut tasted neither like peanuts or chocolate and the “Mylk” chocolate was similarly tasteless. However, nothing prepared me for the Amazonian: a mix of nuts and herbs and chocolate that tasted like a bar of wheatgrass. This was so foul I couldn’t bring myself to sample anymore of the Sacred Chocolate hearts. A man has to draw the line somewhere.

If the Sacred Chocolate bars are literally difficult to swallow, the price of these bars, and of all of these raw products may be even more difficult to swallow. At ten dollars for a 2 ounce bar, or heart, we’re talking eighty dollars per pound! I don’t know if I’d pay that much for the best chocolate, so paying that for this chocolate…let’s just say I’d have to be smoking something that costs even more.

True, organic and Fair Trade chocolate does cost more than conventionally grown “sweatshop” chocolate, but other brands of organic fair trade chocolate are available for less than half the price of these. The reason for the extra markup on these raw products remains a mystery to me. Maybe there’s something in the process that’s more labor intensive than cooked chocolate, or maybe the other ingredients are more expensive, but it’s difficult to justify dropping that kind of money on something that tastes so vile.

Maybe it’s not possible to get deep chocolate flavor from raw chocolate? I had the opportunity to dine at the famed Roxanne’s restaurant years ago and had a fantastic chocolate dessert. I also found out that the chocolate in the dessert wasn’t raw. Apparently, even the premier (or at least the most famous) raw chef in the United States felt that she needed heat to make great chocolate.

My other issue with these chocolates is the attempt to market them as health foods. Yes, chocolate has antioxidants and other beneficial properties, but one look at the calorie and fat content of these chocolates confirms that although they might be raw, they’re still junk food. Definitely not as junky as a corn syrup sweetened Jokerz bar, but if I’m eating junk food, I want it to taste like junk food.

Based on the cost, taste and dubious marketing claims of these products, I feel like I’m getting a raw deal.

Ulimana Dark Cacao Truffles
ulimana.com

Taste:
★★☆☆☆ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★☆ 

Chocolatl Raw Chocolate Maca Sauce
chocolatl.org

Taste:
★★★☆☆ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★☆ 

Sacred Chocolate (various flavors)
sacredchocolate.com

Taste:
★☆☆☆☆ 

Junk Quotient:
★★★★☆ 

As fate would have it, I had already completed round 2 using Daiya and Cheezly to make a big batch of nachos. After finding out that the Cheezly cheddar is not a melting variety, it seems unfair to put it in a competition where melt is a big factor. So instead of the nachos promised for round 2, I put Daiya Italian Shreds and Cheezly Mozzarella Style to the test last weekend in a head to head (or pie to pie) pizza battle.

The test was simple: Same dough, same sauce and two different cheeses. Right now, my pizza dough of choice and the dough I used for this battle is the now famous no-knead pizza dough from Jim Lahey. The sauce is this easy, foolproof yet tasty recipe from Food Network. You know about the cheeses by now, so let’s get down to business.

Striking oil on the Cheezly pizza

Did a giant melted marshmallow just land on the Daiya pizza?

The first thing I noticed after cutting the Daiya topped pie was the strings of melted cheese that hung from edges of the slice. Similar strings came off the slice when biting into it, and it was at that first bite I had the sensation of being in a pizzeria somewhere on the East coast, eating a slice fresh from the oven. I thought the Cheezly Mozzarella was pretty convincing, but the Daiya Italian Shreds raised the bar. The flavor of the Daiya was much stronger than the Cheezly, and to my palate, closer to dairy Mozzarella. As for the texture, not only was it stretchy and gooey, it mostly maintained said stretchiness and gooiness 10 minutes after leaving the oven. Maybe not as soft as the first slice, but still pleasingly pliable.

So which cheese makes the cut? Surprisingly enough, both do. If I were the only judge in this test, Daiya would be the clear winner. I found the bold taste and creamy texture more to my liking than the Cheezly. If I were making pizza tonight and both Daiya Italian Shreds and Cheezly Mozzarella were in my refrigerator, I’d reach for the Daiya. However, I was not the only judge, and my co-judge preferred the milder taste of the Cheezly. She seemed not to mind that the cheese had hardened considerably as she finished off her second slice of the Cheezly pizza.

If I were grocery shopping and the only vegan mozzarella in stock was Cheezly, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick it up. That’s more than I can say for some other brands of vegan Mozzarella. But when there’s a choice, I’m going with the Daiya.