Fragrance Land restaurant review, Cupertino, CA

[Guest guest]

Hey everyone:Here's my review of Fragrance Land, a great new veggie restaurant in Cupertino. Please feel free to forward or republish this review as you wish.Erik Marcus, Lake Tahoe, CA----Fragrance Land21670 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino(408) 446-1469Cupertino may lack affordable housing, a downtown, clean air, and things to do. But life in that heinous little South Bay city has just gotten a whole lot better, thanks to the opening of the oddly named but supremely delicious restaurant, Fragrance Land. If you're in the South Bay, this is a restaurant you won't want to miss.It's easy to sum up Fragrance Land. It's your quintessential vegetarian Chinese restaurant, and offers all the usual things you would expect in such a place: jasmine tea, dumplings, and plenty of noodle and stir-fry dishes with a barnyard's worth of mock meats. I've eaten at dozens of restaurants around the country with almost identical menus, but Fragrance Land is nevertheless something special.What sets it apart? Impeccable cleanliness, low prices, and consistently good food. You'll rarely find a restaurant so utterly spotless, and the most expensive dish on the menu is still under ten dollars. Their lunch specials are an incredible deal: $6.50 gets you a choice of eight entrees, served with an egg roll, rice, and soup.Unfortunately, that egg roll will contain eggs, and the soup most likely will as well. Fragrance Land is not a vegan restaurant, but only about 20 percent of its menu items contain animal products. And these items are all clearly marked. It's just a shame that, where vegans are concerned, the restaurant's sensational lunch special loses much of its luster. In any case, I've been assured that all mock-meats on the menu contain no animal products.This is a place that succeeds brilliantly in large part because it tries so hard. The hostess/waitress/probable owner seems to never miss a shift, and despite her grueling schedule she couldn't be sweeter. On my first visit, in March, I ordered the seasonal veggies expecting to be disappointed since it was, after all, March. Then out to my table came a delicious stir-fried platter of impossibly brightly colored greens, perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious. I had no idea what I was eating, but I loved it. Turned out that they were pea sprouts that the owner had purchased from the local farmer's market. Brilliant!Another time I was lucky enough to choose the sizzling vegetables—and never has a dish been so aptly named. The server brings to your table a heated metal platter, then pours onto it a dish of stir-fried veggies, producing a violently appetizing sizzle. I could go on and on about numerous other favorable experiences I've had at Fragrance Land, but I've yet to find anything worth criticizing.All in all, Fragrance Land has done the impossible: it has made Cupertino a city worth visiting.-Erik Marcus is the author of Meat Market and records a regular podcast for Vegan.com. He can't believe his parents have voluntarily spent twenty-five years of their lives in Cupertino.