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	CAFE VEG NEWS
Café VegNews Celery Soup and Spinach Salad The Chefs: Hilary, Whole Foods Market, and Gracias Madre The Menu: Cream of celery soup, with a side of spinach salad studded with red onions, walnuts and crispy shiitake mushrooms.  The Goods: As we trudged through the final trenches of the editing process for our mind-blowingly, brain-meltingly, hair-fryingly, skull-pulverizingly cool March+April Issue, wacky California's indecisive late-morning sun emerged, then hid, then winked from beneath a sky-wide pallor of wispy clouds. Unsatisfied with my initial feast of spinach salad, I had no choice but to seek warming soup from cashew-cheese quesadilla palace extraordinaire Gracias Madre. While filling, my lunch was still light enough to not interfere with this evening's inaugural SF Vegan Drinks event at its brand-new location, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, a boozy top-shelf pub a mere half-block from our headquarters. Beer-battered fried pickles, sweet potato tater tots, my heart is aflutter in anticipation of our union after dusk falls.  Kale-Edamame Salad with Vegan Lemon-Herb Dressing The Chefs: Rashida and Trader Joe's The Menu: Kale-edamame salad with lemon-herb dressing, almonds, tomatoes, and dried cranberries, topped with some Garlicky Green Parma. The Goods: Kale salad seems to be a lunchtime fixture here at VNHQ, so it was only a matter of time before I hopped on the kale-salad train. This one from Trader Joe's was a healthful midday meal that tasted especially delicious covered in a heaping spoonful of Parma. Admittedly, my tummy was rumbling soon after the meal was over, but that may have more to do with my failure to eat breakfast this morning than the salad's level of satisfaction. If you're looking for a satisfying read this afternoon, check out 10 Reasons We Need Dennis Kucinich in Congress! Vegan Sushi Lunch The Chefs: Anna and We Be Sushi The Menu: A classic seaweed salad and a veggie tempura-mango roll. The Goods: After a morning spent looking over the touching, exciting, and fun applications for this year's wedding feature and chowing down on some sauerkraut-spinach dip I brought to the office, I needed a walk and some lighter fare for lunch. I convinced Associate Editor Jennifer Chen to accompany me on a short walk to our nearby sushi place, and she gladly obliged (I mean, come on. It's sushi). The tempura veggie and mango roll was admittedly not light, but the scrumptious and healthy seaweed salad created the perfect pairing. In other news, I would like to wish you a very happy National Peanut Butter Day! As I nurse my overly full stomach (and dream of vegan fluffernutter sandwiches), head on over to our Facebook page to let us know how you love to eat the tasty spread. Coconut Noodle Soup The Chefs: Elizabeth and Herbivore The Menu: A delicious bowl of coconut noodle soup, with spinach, grated carrots, tofu, pineapple, and broccoli, all topped with Organicville's Sriracha Sauce. The Goods: It's cold. Though I managed to escape to Los Angeles this weekend and dodge most of the torrential downpour that took place in the Bay Area, today's chill meant that there was only one option for lunch: soup. I pretty much love anything that involves rice noodles and Sriracha, so this bowl from Heribvore was perfect. Continuing the theme of perfection this week, we'll be editing the final proofs of our March+April issue on Thursday (so help me, they had better be flawless!), and directly after that we'll be heading out the door and down the street to Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem for the first SF Vegan Drinks of the year! I'm really stoked about the new location, and here's why: the owner, Mark, is super nice and awesome; the drinks specials (vegan White Russians!) rock; and these four life-changing little words: sweet potato tater tots. Yeah. Veggie Sausage Sandwich The Chef: Colleen The Menu: Veggie sausage sandwich with hummus and avocado on a focaccia roll The Goods: You've probably seen this sandwich before, as it's one of our favorites from Valencia Whole Foods (not the chain) right around the corner. They make this baby in-house, and it's nothing short of divine. And what you see above is only half of it; I ate the other half for lunch yesterday! So it's a great deal at just $6.50. If you find yourself in San Francisco and want a guide to some of the best vegan eateries around, don't miss either our gorgeous veggie food map in the January+February issue featuring all the must-try meat-free fare within a two-block radius of the VNHQ, or our own Hilary Pollack's brilliant story on VegNews.com, "The 20 Best Vegan Dishes in the Mission District." We have you covered, friends. In other news, we're going to press today with our March+April "Man" issue. Get ready, because it's AMAZING! We're all pretty excited around here (and exhausted), but we can't wait for this very-special edition to start hitting mailboxes and newsstands. Have a great weekend!