Last Saturday marked my first time attending a pro golf event. My hubby is a golf fan, so I got us a few tickets to see the Charles Schwab Cup at Harding Park in San Francisco. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad time at a pro sporting event, even if I have little idea who the athletes are and how the sport works, like in golf!
We walked around a lot following a few of the top players as they moved from hole to hole. I’m not sure if it’s usually like this since this was my first golfing event, but I didn’t realize that the golfers move so quickly from one hole to the next. They were booking it!
After spending the afternoon at the event and working up an appetite walking a bunch of miles, Adam and I were starving for an early dinner. Protein bars can only hold you over for so long!
Usually I wind up just winging it when I dine in San Francisco, but this time I wanted to pick out a cool local spot, so I did a bit of research beforehand. For this, I turned to Tara over at Food and Other Things. She lives in the city and is always reviewing the best food spots all over town, so I knew she’d be a good source. When I checked out her restaurant page and saw the description of Gracias Madre as a vegan Mexican joint (BTW, the descriptions were super helpful in me picking out a food spot easily, thanks Tara!), I thought it sounded like my kind of place — authentic, local, organic, meat-free food.
In visiting their website, I was sold after just reading their opening Who are we? paragraph:
“Gracias Madre is truly an expression of who we are – it represents our deep love of and reverence for food, our commitment to health and sustainability, our unconditional love for our multicultural family and community, our devotion to the Earth and the divine feminine, and our commitment to raising consciousness on the planet. It is our intention that the emphasis we place on the sourcing of our food will bring consciousness in the community to the importance of sustainability and of buying and selling locally grown organic food.”
Dinner here? Yes please!
We arrived at Gracias Madre a bit before 5 and it was already getting crowded. They have communal tables and bar seating, and we opted to sit at the bar.
I just stuck with water, though they had a variety of interesting sounding cocktails. My hubby got one with beer and tomato juice. Not for me since I don’t like beer or tomato juice, but he said it was decent.
The menu’s seasonal ingredients come from their organic farm in Pleasants Valley, California, the BE LOVE Farm. All of their cheeses, milks and ice creams are made using nuts, and their tortillas and tamales are handmade from non-GMO Organic heirloom corn. I had a bit of a hard time picking out what I wanted because everything on the menu sounded delicious!
To start, we split an order of gorditas – potato-masa cakes topped with lettuce, salsa verde, avocado and cashew cream. They were lightly fried and nice and crispy. The order came with 2 cakes, and each of us having 1 was the perfect amount for a small appetizer.
For my entree, I ordered tacos: one of which had roasted butternut squash, one with sauteed seasonal greens with chilies, and one with sauteed mushrooms. All of the veggies had a mild, just-right garlic and olive oil taste. The tacos were served with cashew cheese on top and black beans on the side.
Yum, I especially loved the butternut squash! Mexican food lovers, don’t hate me for saying this, but I generally don’t love authentic corn tortillas. I think me not being crazy about them has something to do with how they tend to be kind of thick and dense, but it worked out well because I topped the tacos with the black beans and ate all the veggie fillings out with a fork.
Adam ordered the spicy mole enchiladas, which was topped with mushrooms and cashew cheese, and served with a pile of sautéed greens and black beans on the side. He ate every bite on his plate!
I resisted the temptation to try dessert there, but a few dessert dishes passed us and they looked fabulous. The pumpkin spice cake with maple cream sauce and toasted coconut ice cream sounded appealing to me, and I’d be interested to see what dairy-free ice cream made with nuts tastes like. I also thought that their persimmon salad with almonds and queso blanco sounded good. Perhaps I’ll make my way back there sometime soon to try those!
We both had very happy bellies afterwards, and I would definitely recommend Gracias Madre to anyone looking for a healthy Mexican joint. Forget the vegan part, because you won’t even miss the meat and dairy! 😉
I always wondered if they moved quickly from hole to hole. I mean I figured they did, but just never knew the extent of it. Fun that you were able to attend an event. I just recently started getting into golf this year. Before that, I always thought it was completely boring to watch. Perhaps things change as you age? Ha Ha 🙂
It’s funny because the largest crowd obviously follows the top 2 contenders, so after those guys finish a hole, not only do the golfers book it, but all of the people also speed walk to the next spot. I kept saying it was like herds of cattle being moved to another area! haha
That food looks so goooood! I want it all. I’ve never been to a PGA event but my Dad would literally die if I got him tickets. He’s a golf fanatic!
Ooooh you so should get him tix sometime – you’d be the best daughter ever! 😉
Ohhh this sounds so yummy! I love Tara’s blog too, the only sad part is I never get to try any of these restaurants!
That is unfortunate! You should make note of the restaurants that she writes about that you’re drooling over, then pick one or two to dine at when you make your way back to Cali – though I know you were just here!
Those tacos look sooo good!
They were, I think I may try to recreate them sometime!
Yayay I am so glad you enjoyed!!! It’s always cool to be mentioned on other people’s blogs and I am happy I made you proud! Gracias Madre is amazing, their cashew cheese tasted just as good as the dairy kind right? You’re lucky your SO will go with you to vegan joints, some of my friends are not so adventurous.
You sure did! Yeah I loved the cashew cheese, and the funny part is I just made cashew cheese at home for the first time a few weeks ago. Welllll, my hubby doesn’t have much of a choice haha no he’s a pretty good sport, though there have been one or two times when he’s like, “Ok, this may be too out there for me!”