Nightmare at local vegan restaurant

October 4, 2007

thats sad and disturbing

seems to be an upswing in that sort of thing lately..i guess as vegetarianism and veganism moves out of the "weird" category and becimes more mainstream, or at least more accepted in certain locales, and more restuarants try to cash in

there use to be a tasty dessert place in no. san diego...they had delicious cakes and pies..but i'm pretty sure they are gone...

cheers

fraggle

sebsi23 Oct 4, 2007 4:16 PM Nightmare at local "vegan" restaurant

I've always been leery of Sipz, one of a couple San Diego, CA, "vegan"food joints (http://www.sipz.com). I was pretty sure they were usingfake meat with whey protein in it. I talked it over with the olderlady that works there (I assume she's an owner) and was assured thatthere were no whey protein based fake meats (of which there are a loton the market, and particularly in the asian food fake meat marketaisles). But I've never really felt too comfortable there. I don'tthink they are vegan proprietors; I think they are in it for the money(yes, I know, how could a vegan place be profitable? But Sipz isalways crowded. I think they saw the market and are doing their thingand making plenty of money). Not that there's anything wrong withthat, however.... My last experience there (and it will be the last; yours' too, Iassume) nearly floored me. My wife and I finished eating and I went touse the restroom. On the way to the restroom I passed the sushi area.There is a metal wire rack on the back wall to your right as you passthrough the curtain to the back room; the rack is filled with trays,bulk food items, food prep item....and a carton of GELATIN. Wait a minute. Did I see that correctly? I walked behind the counterand picked it up. It was the type with the little envelopes ofpowdered gelatin in it, and half the envelopes were gone. I read thelabel, assuming it would be vegan gelatin, right? Vegan gelatins labeltheir ingredients (mostly carageenan or something like that), but thesole ingredient on this box was: gelatin. That's only one thing, andyou know what it is, and there it was, along with other food items atthe "vegan sushi bar". I was pissed, hoping and praying that maybe the cooks use it to maketheir own food? Or maybe they clean with it (can you clean withgelatin? God, that's bad too!)? So I took it up to the owner lady, andasked her if this was used in the food. "Yes, the sushi". Do you knowwhat it is? "No". Good lord. I tell her. "Oh!". I felt like I wasdealing with my mother back in tenth grade when I told her the samething, but this person supposedly runs a vegan restaurant and I justate there! I should have taken a cell phone pic of the box up on theshelf, and I was too damn polite to her. I should have announced it tothe lunch time crowd. My suspicions confirmed, those folks don't know what the hell they aredoing. Make up your own mind about this incident, and remember thatthis crap was right out there for everyone to see. Imagine what youdon't see. Blake

wargasm wargasm one two three

pit bull, pit bull, one two three

wave those flags high in the air

as long as it takes place over there

October 6, 2007

Thank you for the info on this restaurant; if I make it to that area I will be sure NOT to eat at this so-called "vegan" restaurant!

fraggle <EBbrewpunx

Thu, 4 Oct 2007 4:21 pm

Re: Nightmare at local "vegan" restaurant

thats sad and disturbing

seems to be an upswing in that sort of thing lately..i guess as vegetarianism and veganism moves out of the "weird" category and becimes more mainstream, or at least more accepted in certain locales, and more restuarants try to cash in

there use to be a tasty dessert place in no. san diego...they had delicious cakes and pies..but i'm pretty sure they are gone...

cheers

fraggle

sebsi23

Oct 4, 2007 4:16 PM

Nightmare at local "vegan" restaurant

I've always been leery of Sipz, one of a couple San Diego, CA, "vegan"

food joints (http://www.sipz.com). I was pretty sure they were using

fake meat with whey protein in it. I talked it over with the older

lady that works there (I assume she's an owner) and was assured that

there were no whey protein based fake meats (of which there are a lot

on the market, and particularly in the asian food fake meat market

aisles). But I've never really felt too comfortable there. I don't

think they are vegan proprietors; I think they are in it for the money

(yes, I know, how could a vegan place be profitable? But Sipz is

always crowded. I think they saw the market and are doing their thing

and making plenty of money). Not that there's anything wrong with

that, however....

My last experience there (and it will be the last; yours' too, I

assume) nearly floored me. My wife and I finished eating and I went to

use the restroom. On the way to the restroom I passed the sushi area.

There is a metal wire rack on the back wall to your right as you pass

through the curtain to the back room; the rack is filled with trays,

bulk food items, food prep item....and a carton of GELATIN.

Wait a minute. Did I see that correctly? I walked behind the counter

and picked it up. It was the type with the little envelopes of

powdered gelatin in it, and half the envelopes were gone. I read the

label, assuming it would be vegan gelatin, right? Vegan gelatins label

their ingredients (mostly carageenan or something like that), but the

sole ingredient on this box was: gelatin. That's only one thing, and

you know what it is, and there it was, along with other food items at

the "vegan sushi bar".

I was pissed, hoping and praying that maybe the cooks use it to make

their own food? Or maybe they clean with it (can you clean with

gelatin? God, that's bad too!)? So I took it up to the owner lady, and

aske

d her if this was used in the food. "Yes, the sushi". Do you know

what it is? "No". Good lord. I tell her. "Oh!". I felt like I was

dealing with my mother back in tenth grade when I told her the same

thing, but this person supposedly runs a vegan restaurant and I just

ate there! I should have taken a cell phone pic of the box up on the

shelf, and I was too damn polite to her. I should have announced it to

the lunch time crowd.

My suspicions confirmed, those folks don't know what the hell they are

doing. Make up your own mind about this incident, and remember that

this crap was right out there for everyone to see. Imagine what you

don't see.

Blake

wargasm wargasm one two three

pit bull, pit bull, one two three

wave those flags high in the air

as long as it takes place over there

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October 6, 2007

I took the liberty of contacting this particular restaurant via phone and whoever spoke to the manager; she was very nice nice and also very upset, claiming not to know anything about it. She was very open to discussing the matter and is going to research this herself. She thanked me for the phone call and will do her own investigation. Hopefully this will resolve the matter, whether the gelatin was indeed being used or not. If it was being used, I am sure, after speaking to her, that it will be stopped or, it was being done without her prior knowledge. Even though I live in NJ and will probably not make it out to the restaurant, I felt it was my duty to inform them in a nice way about this matter so it be resolved. Thanks for the info; just in case I ever wind up there! Gigi