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Though this restaurant bills itself as “the earthly grill,” it’s more like veg heaven. A hip, minimalist atmosphere provides the perfect setting for a menu chock-full of casual yet elegant international dishes. From shawarma stuffed with house-made seitan, eggplant and potatoes to vegan ceviche made with lime-marinated oyster mushrooms to penne with lemon-herb cream sauce and capers, the menu features dishes for every whim. No matter what type of food you’re in the mood for—Greek, Mexican, Italian, Indonesian—you’re likely to find it on Herbivore’s expansive menu. And with very reasonable prices—especially for San Francisco—eating at Herbivore could easily be an everyday affair.
herbivore-restaurant.com
Native Foods calls its selection a fusion of ethnic cuisine and healthy cooking, but we just say it’s yummy. The all-vegan restaurant (there are four locations in Southern California) may be best known for its Hot Bowls, which conveniently feature a total meal—a protein, a grain and veggies—in one dish. Los Angeles-based filmmaker and vegan blogger Eric Prescott says he often orders the Gandhi, a delicious mix of blackened tempeh, jasmine and brown rice, dried cranberries and wild curry sauce. Prescott loves the bowls because they combine decadence with health food. “You feel like you’re pigging out on barbecued seitan, so you get your junk food craving out of the way,” Prescott says. “But you’re still eating a well balanced meal. I’ve never seen anything like it at any other place.”
nativefoods.com
A group of omnivores is standing on a street corner. One says, “Let’s eat vegetarian tonight.” No, it’s not the punch line of a joke—it’s what chef Kevin Dunn, a culinary instructor at the renowned hospitality education department of the Grand Rapids Community College in Michigan, envisions when veg food finally becomes just another type of cuisine, like Thai or Chinese, with wide appeal. “We have to make the food good on its own basis,” Dunn says. Well, the Nu Age Café is doing just that. Last year, a restaurant critic for the Austin American Statesman wrote, “The Nu Age Café is demonstrating that vegan fare can be just as delicious as any other form of cuisine.” It’s true—Nu Age’s mouthwatering dishes have exotic flair. Please your palate with Sierra’s Orange Spice Avocado Dip, Papaya Passion Salad with dried figs, macadamia nuts, marinated green papaya and passion fruit dressing or Lily Mushrooms, grilled oyster mushrooms with asparagus and lily bulbs topped with jackfruit sauce. Wash it all down with the house specialty, iced lemongrass-lime tea.
nuagecafe.com
Soul Vegetarian’s menu sounds like something out of “Be Healthy”—Dead Prez’s homage to vegan soul food. “It’s all love,” the rapper croons as he waxes poetic about barbecued tofu, fresh vegetables and whole wheat. Soul Vegetarian’s fans rave about not only the food, but the warm service they receive while enjoying jazzy food with an Ethiopian flare, including tofu nuggets, riblets made from “kalebone” (a seitan-style faux meat made in-house), organic greens and split pea soup. For dessert, try the homemade soy ice cream or the carrot cake. It’s so good you’ll forget you’re eating healthy.
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Many of us have dreamed of the day when we’d be able to motor up to a drive-through window and order a tasty meal with no worries about hidden beef fat or forking over money to a giant corporation that razes rainforests. Well, it’s no longer a fantasy. At Kung Food Express Café, you can order an all-vegan meal from behind the wheel—and have the vittles in your hands in minutes. Nosh on a bacon cheeseburger, chili cheese fries, chicken tenders or a veggie burrito, and end your meal with a soft serve soy cone. Now, if only Kung Food’s smiling beet logo were as ubiquitous as the golden arches. Hey, maybe one day.
kung-food.com
The Blossoming Lotus serves “vegan world fusion cuisine.” And, chef Dunn says, “Fusion is here to stay. People are looking for something stimulating and different, something that sparkles the imagination.” That’s what you get at the funky, colorful restaurant that serves up raw and cooked vegan cuisine to the beat of world music. The Blossoming Lotus’ mouthwatering starters include Sea Vegetable Salad with arame, avocado and cucumber tossed in piquant Japanese dressing, and Patrizio’s Live Soft Tacos—jicama, cucumber, avocado and mango-papaya salsa wrapped in rainbow chard. For the main course, try Padma’s Living Pad Thai with coconut meat noodles and almond-tamarind sauce or St. Patrick’s Green Curry—a coconut-lime Thai curry with steamed veggies and greens served with brown rice or quinoa.
blossominglotus.com
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Café Gratitude calls its offerings “a celebration of aliveness”—and they are. The menu reads like a list of affirmations to nourish your spirit along with your body. It’s hardly possible to sample the “I am Divine” fiery carrot avocado soup without feeling a little heavenly, and after trying the “I am Vivacious” stuffed avocado with chipotle sunflower seed pate and spicy molé sauce, how can you help but sparkle just a bit? Try “I am Accepting,” a “stir-unfry” of steamed Bhutanese red rice with marinated raw vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, pine nuts, teriyaki almonds and scallions. Finish off your meal with “I am Magnificent” raw chocolate mousse. If the nourishing, organic food doesn’t put you in a Zen-like state of mind, the side order of positive thoughts certainly will.
withthecurrent.com
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If your idea of everyday food is nutritious, interesting and affordable, Java Green is the place for you. A restaurant that wasn’t even fully vegetarian is now mostly vegan, thanks to persuasion from the group Compassion Over Killing. Their simple menu featuring nourishing sandwiches, filling soups and noodle dishes affordably priced between $6 and $8 has vegetarians and non-vegetarians flocking to the place. “There are days when the line is almost out the door,” says Danielle Kichler, who’s a fan of the Seoul Chicken Salad with veggie chicken, mixed greens, carrots, cherry peppers and spicy dressing. They also sell popular bento boxes—Japanese-style boxed lunches—and sweets from Sticky Fingers vegan bakery.
javagreen.net
A passing glance at Living Light Cuisine To-Go’s menu is all it takes to kick-start the hunger pangs: Lasagna Florentine, Zucchini Bisque, Chocolate Mousse Torte, Cherries Jubilee… The lip-smacking, plant-based fare has been drawing fans since the café opened in May of 2005, but the eatery’s best-known secret is that all its offerings are raw, organic and affordably priced. Housed in a historic shopping arcade in scenic Fort Bragg, Calif., the café is part of a larger complex that includes the renowned Living Light Culinary Arts Institute and the Living Light Marketplace, where foodies can stock up on kitchen staples like dehydrators and sustainably harvested wood cutting boards. Stop in for a made-to-order smoothie, grab a sweet treat from the tempting dessert tower, or select a pre-fab salad eco-packaged in a “corn”tainer and enjoy living food at its most delicious.
rawfoodchef.com
The sandwich is the ultimate convenience food: it’s portable, delicious and easy to eat. But finding a vegan sandwich? It’s easy at Hillside Quickie, which serves nothing but. Served on artisan or whole grain bread and topped with heirloom tomato slices, potato salad, onions and vegan mayo, sandwich choices include the Flaming BBQ Burger with barbecue tofu, the Crazy Jamaican Burger with jerk tofu, the Mama Africa Burger with millet and quinoa, the Tofu Strami Sub with thinly sliced faux pastrami and the Evil One Wrap with seitan steak, red and green cabbage and grilled onions. “The taste is mighty,” says Valerie Jordan, a frequent sandwich shop patron. But, she warns, “It’s not someplace to go in a rush. They are quite slow.” Calling in an order and giving them 10 minutes extra guarantees perfect timing. Jordan says, “I always get my grub to go.”
hillsidequickie.com
Casual, warm and elegant, Watercourse Foods serves up all vegetarian food (most dishes can be made vegan) based on nutritious, wholesome foods. “I love opening their menu and knowing I won’t have to modify anything or ask a ton of questions about the origin of their ingredients,” says frequent customer Jamie Johnston, who adores every dish she’s tried. Sandwiches and wraps such as the Po Boy made from a polenta-encrusted Portobello cap with chipotle aioli or the Dona Lee with herb-encrusted seitan, tomato and avocado are accompanied by a choice of two sides for just $8.50. Pick from couscous, mashed potatoes and gravy, steamed chard, a cup of soup, French fries and coleslaw. Specials such as Tempeh Scallopini or Blackened Tofu are not much more expensive.
watercoursefoods.com
Sage’s Café has the warm feel of a homey vegetarian kitchen. Focused on fresh seasonal foods, the only canned items Sage Café uses are tomatoes and coconut milk, and their sea salt is locally harvested. Start with their carrot butter crostini, taquitos with black beans and lime-tossed greens or mushroom escargot. Try the fresh herb pesto pasta, mushroom stroganoff, or the raw three-layer lasagna made with zucchini noodles, cashew cream, portobellos, tomatoes, baby spinach, black olives and basil pesto. On weekends, they serve blueberry flapjacks and other delicious breakfast foods. Sage Café can even accommodate diners in a hurry—your server can recommend items that can be prepared quickly.
sagescafe.com
Anyone who complains that vegetarian food is too expensive probably hasn’t visited Narula’s, a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the center of Toronto’s Little India neighborhood. Here, a feast can be had for less than $5. Chow down on fragrant veggie curries, succulent samosas and delicious aloo tikki—a potato cutlet stuffed with lentils, served with chickpeas and onions. And once a week, on Narula’s “Toonie Tuesdays,” the thali—a combination platter of curries and rice and flatbread— costs just $2.52. The décor might be drab, but the food is colorful.
Phone: 416-466-0434
Health food, shmealth food. If that’s your attitude, then vegan fast-food joint Food Swings might be your perfect everyday restaurant. “People tend to think of vegetarians as natural foods-type people, but there are a lot of them who want their junk food,” says John Cunningham, consumer research manager for the Vegetarian Resource Group. (VRG’s most popular pamphlet is its vegetarian guide to fast food.) If that’s you, then you’ll adore “The King”—the fried peanut butter and banana sandwich that might have helped do in Elvis. Or try Sea Styx—mock fish sticks with gooey tartar sauce—and Mac N Cheeze. If that’s not enough, Food Swings proudly serves a burger called the Vegan Heart Attack.
foodswings.net
As Hippocrates said, food is medicine. At Sunflower Restaurant, the food—which leans toward Japanese, Chinese and macrobiotic—is supposed to promote good health. Not only are the ingredients fresh, with lots of the standard veggies, many meals also include ingredients reputed to be tonics for what ails you. There’s burdock (cleansing), jinenjo (rejuvenating) and Chinese wolfberry (healing). Chef Bergeron says more and more people are looking to food for its medicinal properties. “I see people with a strong interest in Chinese medicinal cooking, macrobiotic and Ayurveda,” he says. Try the Golden Nugget—marinated yuba (tofu skin) wrapped around shiitake mushrooms, soy protein and bamboo shoots in house brown sauce or the Sunflower Forest—bean thread noodles, shiitakes, celery, veggie ham, soy protein and baby corn wrapped in lettuce.
crystalsunflower.com
