photo from The Plot Express

The Vegetarian Resource Group maintains an online Guide to Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurants in the USA and Canada. Here are some recent vegan restaurant additions. The entire guide can be found here: http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

To support the updating of this online restaurant guide, please donate at: www.vrg.org/donate

Here are some new additions to VRG’s guide:

Beleaf Café, 6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd., FC12, Canoga Park, CA 91303 and Haven City Food Mall, 8443 Haven Ave., Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91703

Beleaf Café offers several healthy junk food options. Burgers are served on classic vegan buns with Impossible meat or Beleaf patties including the black bean burger, kale burger, and avocado burger. Baja-style food such as tacos and burritos are served with a house-made crunchy taco mix. Several sides are available on the menu including buffalo cauliflower wings, loaded fries, and nacho grande.

Earthy Picks, 420 E. Church St., Orlando, FL 32801

Expanding beyond their Farmers Market offerings, Earthy Picks, located at Camden Thorton Park, is a vegan café with a Latin twist. With many gluten-free and soy-free options, their menu includes bowls, tacos, burritos, and empanadas, as well as smoothies and cold-pressed juices made locally. The New Age Burrito epitomizes the Latin twist, made with quinoa and black beans, crispy onions, maduros (sweet plantains), avocado, cilantro aioli, and a spicy mayo—and served with plantain chips. The Colombian-Style Empanadas are made from crunchy corn and filled with lentils, potato, and Colombian sofrito. If you need a pick-me-up, the Get Up Smoothie should do the trick, as it is a blend of Colombian coffee, banana, peanut butter, dates, oat milk, and cacao nibs. Earthy Picks’ mission is to create a community through their café, welcoming everyone and noting “You don’t have to be vegan to eat vegan food.”

J. Bar, 537 MA-28 #1E, Harwich Port, MA 02646

About an eighth of a mile from the beach, J. Bar starts with fresh ingredients and they focus on preparation that preserves nutrients. You might be bowled over by their many Powerbowls. To name a couple, there are Bank Street Bowl with Dragon fruit, raspberries, banana, cacao nibs, pumpkin seeds, dates, and granola, or the Ava-Girl combo of blue spirulina, pineapple, banana, mango, goji berries, shredded coconut, and granola. They offer a few Salads. Most are combinations of cabbage, greens, beets, carrots, avocado and celery—varying by fruit, lemon or lime, seasonal tomato, hemp, or pumpkin seeds. The Peacemaker builds on those ingredients, varying with cucumber, basil, vegan tahini dressing, sprouts, and hummus. If Avocado Toast floats your boat, there are four options, one of which is Sol Sista featuring mango, cacao nibs, chili flakes, and pink salt. Choose from several Almost Raw Sandwiches all made on organic vegan bread. Mom’s Fave serves up Vegan cheeze, vegan mayonnaise, cucumbers, carrots, greens, tomato, and J. Bar sprinkle (their secret blend of dried herbs & spices). Thirsty? As the name would imply, J. Bar offers all sorts of fresh juices and juice shots—fruity, veggie and herbal. There are also mocktails and a serious selection of Smoothies including a couple of dessert types like Mint Chill with bananas, cacao nibs and more, or Hawaiian Pudding with coconut, pineapple, bananas, figs, and cinnamon. There are some daily menu variations too including vegan treats with various ensembles of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, nut-butters, coconut, and more appearing in Bars, Balls, Yogurt, Party Mix, etc. Don’t forget Pup Cup, a plant based treat for your dog.

Kaffa Ethiopian Cuisine, 2987 Sacramento St., Berkeley, CA 94702Kaffa is an Ethiopian restaurant that serves vegan and gluten-free food. There are five main dishes to choose from, each varying in their use of split peas, mixed vegetables, spices, and kale. All dishes come with gluten-free injera. For smaller meals, they offer lentil or potato sambusas, along with teas, coffees, and yerba Mate. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible and has an accessible restroom. Reservations accepted.

Mesa Verde, 1919 Cliff Dr., Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Among Plates to Share one inventive offering is Fried Winter Brussels Sprouts with roasted beets, pickled onion, mustard, sherry vinegar, pepitas, and fresh dill. A few of many Main Ideas include Street Tacos with cacao black beans, jackfruit “chorizo,” charred cashew cheese, blueberry chipotle salsa, caramelized onion, pickled beet, pickled mustard seed and cilantro, Crispy Fried Oyster Mushroom Sandwich, with chicory slaw, dill, capers, and avocado mole, or a Falafel Mediterranean Bowl of grilled flatbread, quinoa tabbouleh, hummus, cashew yogurt, cucumber, pickled beets, sun-dried olives, harissa, pistachio, greens, and herbs. There are a couple of Salads. Winter Tuscan Soup showcases root vegetables, red potato, celery root, carrot, fennel, and onion, stewed in vegetable broth. How will you choose between these Desserts? There’s Chocolate Cake with candied macadamia nut, ganache, tempered chocolate, blueberries, and maca, Strawberry Cheesecake with fresh strawberries and coulis, or lemon-kissed Bird Nest Baklava of filo dough, pistachios and simple syrup.

One WorldBeat Café, 2100 Park Blvd., San Diego, CA 92101

One WorldBeat Café serves flavors from all over the diaspora. From Louisiana Creole Gumbo to Costa Chica chili and African-inspired dishes, the menu offers an endless array of dishes. In addition to the more elaborate meals, the café also features simpler yet equally intricate sandwiches and burritos.

The Plot Express, 2956 Roosevelt St. #3, Carlsbad, CA 92008

Dine on a Gyro Wrap, Cubano, chopped salad, Caesar salad, taco salad bowl, Harissa Chicken Shawarma, potato salad, truffle fries, and more.

Sprout Organic Café, 1200 Henriette Delille St., New Orleans, LA 70116

Sprout Organic Café offers Cold-Pressed Juices, Organic Coffee, Organic Tea, Vegan/Raw Meal Options, Healthy Smoothies, and Ginger Shots.