Squeezing the last few hours out of San Francisco – Souley Vegan… and Cinnaholic!

Hello throwback Tuesday ( I know, I know, it’s not a real thing), where I hopefully recap all of the awesome food related stuff we did in December/ early January.

To Recap (and to keep myself organized), up until this point in San Francisco, we had visited:
– Millennium – Happy birthday to me!
– St. Francis Fountain – Brunch of Champions
– Souley Vegan – Amazing vegan Soul Food in Oakland
– Herbivore – Brunch of okay.
– Gracias Madre – Delicious food with a side of sexism.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:

There is one thing I really enjoy about being on the west coast now that I’m so accustomed to the east coast time zone, and that’s waking up earlier than most people. Especially on those days when you just want to cram every moment with something.

Well, 5am on Saturday morning is not really that exciting, but there is time to read emails, and catch up on all the online stuff we missed while gallivanting around the city. I sat, sipping complimentary tea in a lounge, watching some of the early risers slowly make their way down for coffee service. We made a point to pack up most of our things the night before (really – because who wants to run around trying to locate that missing shoe immediately before you have to leave?)

As planned, we were going to have one last meal at Souley Vegan, a quick BART ride over to Oakland ,and we were there. The familiar sign in the distance, calling out and promising a hearty meal to satisfy our hearts and bellies.

The staff were friendly and lovely, and this time we both knew exactly what we wanted to order.

We started with a few of the side dishes. My all time favourite – the fried okra, crispy, salty delicious, with lemon wedges and a seasoned mayo. The first time I had it, it taught me an important lesson about okra; it doesn’t have to be gross. No mushy gooey weirdness. No. Just delicious, crispy green okra.

JC really liked the mac n cheeze:

And we were both super fans of the potato salad. Black olives! Who knew they would be so amazing in potato salad. Well – it wasn’t me.

As if that wasn’t enough, we also had two mains coming. Our eyes were a bit bigger than our stomachs, which is probably why we had leftovers.

I ordered my – still – favourite sandwich – The Crispy Sandwich. I think believe it speaks for itself here:

While eating our delicious Souley Vegan food, JC started looking at BART schedules, and suggested we try and make it out to Berkeley and go to Cinnaholic and still make our flight. We had a few hours to spare, and it was an easy choice.

I’m amazed at how easy it is to get around the Bay area with public transit. We kind of have that kind of system in Ontario with the Go Trains/Transit, but there is still a lack of integration. It took us 20 minutes to get from Souley Vegan in Oakland to Cinnaholic in Berkeley. Time was on our side.

The last time I went to Cinnaholic I started with the traditional style roll, and this time, I stuck with it. Cinnaholic has a diverse amount of options and toppings. JC is less traditional with his sweets, and picked up the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cinnamon Roll. Unfortunately, we couldn’t eat them onsite. We had to rush get back to San Francisco, back to our hotel to pick up bags, and on to the Airport.

If you’re wondering, the cinnamon buns did make it through SFO security, and we happily ate our fill of cinnamon buns while waiting to board our plane. So these pictures are post BART travel, in a cab, and after going through SFO security – they are normally a little prettier when they get in the box.

This above was mine – The Classic Roll.

This is the roll JC got – the chocolate chip cookie dough cinnamon roll. Pretty amazing looking right? But dare I say it – too sweet for me!

In a few hours we would arrive in Las Vegas, NV, for the second half of our adventure.

Souley Vegan
301 Broadway, Oakland, CA
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Cinnaholic
2132 Oxford Street, Berkeley, CA
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