Restaurant: Seed + Salt’s ‘wow’ factor
Two large men walked into Seed + Salt recently for a burger. A beet burger. When the magenta patty arrived dripping with “ranch,” the two inspected it with skeptical eyes before biting into the gluten-free bun. Success. One even came back the next day for another burger. “We get a lot of people in here who are not vegans, and we have one shot at changing their minds,” says Mo Clancy, owner of the sun-drenched and immaculate plant-based restaurant. “It’s why we really wanted to create some heartier things — oftentimes when you eat ‘clean’ food you walk away feeling hungry.” Clancy came up with the idea for the vegan and gluten-free Seed + Salt because she’d gradually been changing her diet to more plant-based cuisine and was tired of her daily trips to the Whole Foods salad bar.
“I just thought, ‘There’s got to be
a better way,’ ” she says. Clancy brought in chef Ariel Nadelberg — who had been working in Brooklyn — to develop the menu, with the instructions that her recipes needed to pass the “OMG test.” If a dish didn’t elicit that type of reaction, it didn’t fly. The result? Collard-wrapped falafel. Smashed chickpea salad that’s reminiscent of tuna. An eggplant BLT. Not to mention a case full of vegetable and grain salads that would convert even the most hard-core carnivores. Regulars go crazy over the almond chocolate-chip cookie. Even with eyes wide open, you won’t miss the butter and eggs.
Seed + Salt: 2240 Chestnut St., San Francisco; (415) 872-9173. www.seedandsalt.com. 8 a.m-8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. Sunday.