Veggie food and Flemish red in the SF South Bay?

March 6, 2012 4:41 AM

Vegetarian restaurant with (sour) Flemish red in the San Francisco South Bay area?

I want to take someone out who's vegetarian and likes beers that are sour or "taste like pine trees." Between San Francisco and Oakland, there are at least two veggie restaurants and four restaurants with Flemish reds. Dining at one place & having a beer afterwards at another is fine. Finding pubs with Belgian beer beyond Fat Tire is kind of tricky. The Rose & Crown in Palo Alto does have some, so good veggie eats between Redwood City and Sunnyvale would work.

Non-veggie restaurants are fine if they offer more than one veggie entree. Now the I'm paying attention, I'm pretty disappointed in the places I've found so far.
yes, I've tried Yelp

posted by morganw to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Have you considered looking for vegetarian restaurants with bottle service, so you can bring your own beers and have them with your meal?
posted by parmanparman at 5:13 AM on March 6, 2012

Russian river makes several well respected sour ales. I am not sure how accurate it is but they have a list of where to find their beers in the south bay area.
posted by phil at 5:46 AM on March 6, 2012

Rosamunde in SF (the 24th St one) is a great option. Depending on their temperament, you could also do the Lower Haight version with a beer at Toronado and eats at Rosamunde or any veggie restaurant nearby. They've got Rodenbach on tap.

You just missed Sour Sunday at Triple Rock/Jupiter in Berkeley, but I think they've still got some of the selections available, and have great veg options for pub food: seitan cheesesteak, etc.
posted by kcm at 6:31 AM on March 6, 2012

Fat Tire isn't a Belgian beer and isn't even a Belgian style. It's an amber ale brewed by New Belgium Brewery out of Colorado. Anyway, look for restaurants that carry Rodenbach or Duchesse De Bourgogne. I don't know how strictly vegetarian your friend is, but Russian River uses gelatin to fine their draft beers and they claim none of it remains in the beer once the process is over. However, they do not use gelatin to fine their bottled beers.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 6:51 AM on March 6, 2012

Monk's Kettle has more kinds of beer than you can consume in a single lifetime, and great vegetarian options (more than seem to be listed on the menu online).
posted by judith at 9:24 AM on March 6, 2012

> Fat Tire isn't a Belgian beer
but it pollutes search results for such. I should have said "Belgian".

> Rodenbach or Duchesse De Bourgogne
This helped me find The Refuge in Redwood City which has nice beers, but a menu for carnivores. (which is fine because finding both in one place is unlikely. I'd rather drive from drinks to dinner than drive to SF)

Thanks folks! Anything else in the South Bay?
posted by morganw at 11:06 AM on March 6, 2012

I looked over the beer list at Monk's Kettle that judith suggested and they do have sour beers, and some damn fine ones at that. It also looks like they have good veg options too.
posted by MaryDellamorte at 3:44 PM on March 6, 2012

A place opened up just about two weeks after I posted this & I visited last weekend: Byr of Belgium [warning: redirect to facebook] in Campbell

They have Kwak and 3 or 4 others on tap & a bunch in bottles. No list on line, though.
posted by morganw at 4:46 PM on May 7, 2012