Yuan Fu--fast, fresh, and friendly...

Hadn't been this way down Rockville Pike in a while (as it's a little ways straight from the Rockville station), but was in the area the other day, and hungry, so I stopped in Yuan Fu Restaurant for the first time in a while. The outside is nothing to brag about, but at least the signage is prominent. (Have been here a few times before.)
Now, I was there for lunch, a rather late one, in fact. But no worries--the lunch special is served until 4:30 pm, and I was there at around 3. So far so good. The prices are still reasonable, as the special offers a choice of four appetizers (I chose the tasty curry dumplings, which are turnovers), and an entree, which range in price from $6.95 to $9.95; most of them are $6.95 or $7.50. You have to specifically ask for the lunch specials menu, as you're first offered the regular menu; however, the server is quick to provide it once requested.

There were a couple of other tables also being served, but service was quick, and friendly. Of course, being that the day was a scorcher, I had a glass of watermelon juice to start (and go along with my meal). Then, I saw the another table get hot tea, so I got hot green tea, too (just so I'd have something else to drink, and wouldn't slurp up the juice in five seconds flat, as I'm liable to do).
In a matter of minutes, after I finished the stuffed curry dumplings, my order of crispy eggplants arrived, with a side of brown rice (it offers a choice of white or brown rice).
Yum, crispy batter-fried slices of eggplant with a slightly sweet, slightly hot (OK, I didn't crunch into the chile peppers) sauce. And broccoli, too. I've tried the faux meats in the past, and enjoyed most of them (e.g., Chinese-style sausage, tuna steak), but there were a couple of misses, probably because I didn't like the recipe (the yu-shiang recipes have seaweed, which isn't to my liking unless it's in sushi; the soft shell crab was made of potato). Even for dishes I wasn't fond of, it was the combination of foods that turned me off, not the quality of the food.

In fact, I got confirmation of why so many people rave about the quality of its food, as I witnessed this scene while eating the eggplant; in between serving, the servers sat down at a table in the dining room to
pick through fresh snowpeas (presumably for the dinner service meals). Now, I'd been there a number of times and had not seen this happen before.

Anyway, I was feeling adventurous, and decided to order dessert. As the few desserts are (mostly) authentically Chinese, maybe they're not for Western tastes, as pretty as they may be. I chose the small Eight Treasure steamed taro roots paste pudding, to find out what the deal is with taro. Perhaps it should have remained a mystery.

The pudding paste is hot (a hot mess?) with a gelatinous-seeming glaze. What appear to be nuts near the front are gingko nuts, which I can live without. Also didn't realize that taro paste would appear pinkish, which was offputting. (Maybe this will teach me to stick with eating taro in the form of chips.) The pudding also contains various fruits, like dates and berries, which had odd flavors (wolfberries, maybe). Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Most of the lunch was a win, however, so I wouldn't hold this odd dessert against the place.

Fact is, except for dessert, lunch at Yuan Fu was tasty, nutritious, and reasonable in price, as usual. (Which means it's cheaper than The Vegetable Garden, down the pike, which has its own merits, like better desserts [e.g., vegan key lime pie].) Yuan Fu's obviously doing something right, as it's holding its own during these tough times, which is more than I can say for many of the former businesses along the same stretch of Rockville Pike.

Rocking' the new year with good eats!

Great stuff, vegan edition!

Lightlife Gimme Lean sausage flavor--moist, meaty, without all the fat. Season and pat out a few patties, nuke them, then panfry in a bit of oil, and you have a weekend breakfast taste treat without worries! Widely available in grocery stores.

Earth Balance spread--buttery in taste and texture, with fewer calories (but it's NOT a lowfat food, by any means), and great for baking! The local Giant Food even had them, at a dollar less than a nearby health food store; of course, it's priced lowest at Whole Foods. (Whole Foods even had giant tubs of the stuff recently, for $8, in time for holiday baking.)

The Wizard's vegan worchestershire sauce--a dead ringer in taste for Lea & Perrins, without the anchovies, and available in health food stores. (It's much better than the Annie's brand of this type of sauce, which is surprising, as Annie's usually makes great dressings and sauces.)

Vegenaise vegan mayonnaise--this could give Hellman's a run for its money. Seriously. Creamy, smooth, and rich tasting as all get out, with much less fat. Even my gotta-have-meat relatives happily use this to make tuna sandwiches. Oh, and the lowfat mayonnaise you find in the supermarket, please. Leave that stuff alone--it'll kill 'ya.

Another Lightlife product, this time the veggie pepperoni. It's good, spicy fun, with much less fat (aka grease) than regular pepperoni, and available at Whole Foods.

The old supermarket reliable, Silk soymilk. Widely available in supermarkets, and even Target (where it's much cheaper than even Shopper's Food Warehouse), where it was on sale this past week. The flavors to try are the plain, chocolate, and (during the holiday season), nog, as well as the creamer, if you like that sort of thing. Stay far away from the vanilla and unsweetened varieties, however, as they don't taste right; the vanilla is too sweet, and the unsweetened, not sweet enough. (Dairy milk, although thought of as being a protein product, also contains natural sugar, lactose, which contributes to its taste, so any soymilk totally lacking in sweetener will also be lacking in flavor.)

Another Silk brand product, yogurt. It's smooth, creamy, and the flavored varieties, such as blueberry and strawberry, are fantastic. There are also large tubs of the unflavored variety, which are great for cooking, etc. Widely available in health food stores.

Two Gardenburger products merit special mention--the BBQ riblets, and the herb crusted cutlets. The riblets have a great meaty texture and flavor, and come a sauce that's sweet enough for most folks' liking. (Add a few shakes of hot sauce if the sweetness is over the top for your taste.) The cutlets are a nice change of pace, and are best prepared in two steps: first, nuke them for 60 or so seconds, then finish up in a (preheated) toaster oven at 400 degrees, for 5-7 minutes. Moist, crispy, and tasty all at once.

What, no toaster oven? This is a great, inexpensive, environmentally friendly kitchen appliance to acquire, as it saves mucho energy when cooking for a small household. Why heat up a giant oven when you can heat a smaller one (and in less time)?

A good vegan cheese, you ask--what's that? They exist, but are expensive and tricky to find. My favorite is Sheese, made on a remote Scottish island. I like the smoked cheddar flavor, as well as its texture. Good thing that it's easy to slice into thin slices, and melts. However, I've only been able to procure it locally from Pangea in Rockville, but other online stores sell it as well, so it's an extremely occasional treat.

The vegan cheese from Follow Your Heart (the makers of Vegenaise) is merely OK; it will at least melt for pizza, but easily becomes moldy, as it remains inexplicably moist on the outside. (Perhaps the pack should be frozen after opening, but it's not good enough to bother doing so.) I was even more disappointed with the new, trendy Dr. Cow tree nut cheese. Not only is it pricey, but comes in a tiny container, and tastes like (and has the texture of) a hard miso, if there is such a thing.

I've created my own easy, tasty vegan cheese in a pinch, great for sprinkling over spaghetti, eggplant "parmesan," etc. I simply take a couple handfuls of pine nuts, toast them in a cast iron skillet for a minute, and grind them in a nut grinder. The ground nuts must be stored in the refrigerator, of course, but are tasty enough so that they doesn't last long enough to spoil.

Whole Foods keeps popping up because, although wags often refer to it as Whole Paycheck, its prices on vegetarian foodstuffs is often much cheaper than independent health food stores, and often comparable to prices at food coops, such as Glut. Shocking but true.

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Anyone needing motivation and reason to consider vegetarianism must check out the latest from Audubon magazine, such as the article from local environmental activist Mike Tidwell, The Low-Carbon Diet, and another article in that issue, on the history of vegetarianism.

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More food for thought, in the form of a classic, yet timely song from the Isley Brothers, Harvest for the World.