new vegan zone restaurant in san diego; review

June 25, 2007

my wife and

i had lunch at vegan zone yesterday (pacific beach, san diego, ca), a

sunday. we arrived at 10:30, foolishly thinking that a place that

features pancakes would be open for breakfast. no go. we shopped at

buffalo exchange till they opened at 11:30. by noon half the 25 or so

seats were full. that's a good sign!

overall, vegan zone gets a 7/10. it's clean, nicely decorated, service

was great, and the menu is extensive. i think it used to be a thai

place, and the receipt said " ivory thai " (yuck!). much of

the menu is thai with plenty of burritos, sandwiches, etc. i will go

back. but, as you'll see, i've got a few issues.

foodwise, we had the following:

tofu larb appetizer - this wasn't really larb. larb (whatever the main

ingredient, be it duck or tofu) requires lots of mint, cilantro, and

galanga (but ginger will do in a pinch) as well as copious amounts of

crunchy rice powder. this dish was basically soft tofu with some chili

and soy sauce. it's the type of thing that a meat eater would despise

because it was so typically tofu-esque, with no attempt to make it

interesting. yes, we ate the whole thing, but it wasn't good. a tiny

amount of conscious prep would make this a much better dish.

" ham n cheese " sandwich - jenny got this and i had a couple

bites. it was good. she ate the whole thing (rare, but again we were

hunnngrrry) as well as her side of potato salad which i didn't try.

the bread was particularly tasty and the fake ham was different than

any i've had; it was not the " slice of loaf " stuff that you

see. a good choice.

spicy noodle with mock chicken - a classic thai dish usually made with

lots of fish sauce, eggs, thai basil, tomato paste, and wide chow fun

noodles. they did a decent job with this, but it was a bit mushy. the

trick to thai noodles (pad or otherwise) is keeping them well lubed

and somewhat slippery, while maintaining their length and elasticity.

this dish basically fell apart into sticky globs of noodle and large

careless chunks of tomato, yet partially saved by the moist

" chicken " slices. i think it was called " pad khee "

on the menu. it was *okay*, nothing special...but i ate it all.

jenny had a great pineapple/strawberry smoothy, and i had regular iced

tea. prices were reasonable. i 100% support anyone taking a chance by

opening vegan eateries and encourage everyone to patronize this brave

establishment, even if they are still getting it together. there was

no mention of whether anything is organic, msg or no, etc.

blake

June 25, 2007

good to see that San Diego HAS vegan places nowadays tho!

cheers

fraggle

(who spent 8 months trapped in north SD county in 1998...and cried every dang day of it...)

Blake Wilson Jun 25, 2007 4:02 PM new vegan zone restaurant in san diego; review

my wife and i had lunch at vegan zone yesterday (pacific beach, san diego, ca), a sunday. we arrived at 10:30, foolishly thinking that a place that features pancakes would be open for breakfast. no go. we shopped at buffalo exchange till they opened at 11:30. by noon half the 25 or so seats were full. that's a good sign!

overall, vegan zone gets a 7/10. it's clean, nicely decorated, service was great, and the menu is extensive. i think it used to be a thai place, and the receipt said "ivory thai" (yuck!). much of the menu is thai with plenty of burritos, sandwiches, etc. i will go back. but, as you'll see, i've got a few issues.foodwise, we had the following:tofu larb appetizer - this wasn't really larb. larb (whatever the main ingredient, be it duck or tofu) requires lots of mint, cilantro, and galanga (but ginger will do in a pinch) as well as copious amounts of crunchy rice powder. this dish was basically soft tofu with some chili and soy sauce. it's the type of thing that a meat eater would despise because it was so typically tofu-esque, with no attempt to make it interesting. yes, we ate the whole thing, but it wasn't good. a tiny amount of conscious prep would make this a much better dish."ham n cheese" sandwich - jenny got this and i had a couple bites. it was good. she ate the whole thing (rare, but again we were hunnngrrry) as well as her side of potato salad which i didn't try. the bread was particularly tasty and the fake ham was different than any i've had; it was not the "slice of loaf" stuff that you see. a good choice.spicy noodle with mock chicken - a classic thai dish usually made with lots of fish sauce, eggs, thai basil, tomato paste, and wide chow fun noodles. they did a decent job with this, but it was a bit mushy. the trick to thai noodles (pad or otherwise) is keeping them well lubed and somewhat slippery, while maintaining their length and elasticity. this dish basically fell apart into sticky globs of noodle and large careless chunks of tomato, yet partially saved by the moist "chicken" slices. i think it was called "pad khee" on the menu. it was *okay*, nothing special...but i ate it all.jenny had a great pineapple/strawberry smoothy, and i had regular iced tea. prices were reasonable. i 100% support anyone taking a chance by opening vegan eateries and encourage everyone to patronize this brave establishment, even if they are still getting it together. there was no mention of whether anything is organic, msg or no, etc.blake

When I see the price that you pay

I don't wanna grow up

I don't ever want to be that way

I don't wanna grow up

Seems that folks turn into things

that they never want