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native foods: a new menu and higher prices
13October 7th, 2008LA restaurants, native foodsnative foods in westwood has been one of my regular haunts since becoming a vegan. i mean why not? they’ve got great food and have used to have a huge menu with reasonable prices. that’s right, it’s all changed. imagine how bummed i was to walk up to the native foods counter over the weekend only to find the enormous novel of a menu replaced with a one page paper hand-out. it was tiny! and there wasn’t even enough food to carry on to the back side of the menu, so it was just covered with creeds and missions about saving the earth. really? a disposable paper menu, that you are handing to each customer who is dining in, just because you haven’t had time to get the real menus printed. that’s not saving the environment, now is it, tanya?
so let’s get to the food. upon opening the menu, my heart sank because most of my favorite items had gone. latino lover pizza, malibu veggie burger, farrah’s fatoush…all history. drats. so i went with something that sounded exciting, the portobello & sausage burger.
portobello & sausage burger: big grilled beauties with seitan sausage, pommodoro, caramelized onions, vegan mayo, pesto and sweet roasted garlic. $10.35
while the portobello & sausage burger is by no means a new item, it did used to cost only $9.50, and now it’s $10.35. don’t think i didn’t notice, native foods! while this burger was pretty tasty, it had waaaaaay too much oil. a more appropriate name would the grease & grease burger. seriously, the drippy pesto, globby cheese, and runny olive oil totally overpowered any protein. in fact, the burger got so covered in grease that the bun fell apart and i had to eat it with a fork. ick. a little too slippery for me.
grease and oil on top of fat
also, i just wanna add that the sausage patty tasted EXACTLY like a celebration roast. it even had the same little ridges on the side.
not a bad thing, just makes me wonder if native foods has started buying in bulk.
while navigating the new menu was a little bit intimidating for me, it was especially daunting for my husband, because he’d never ordered anything at native foods EXCEPT the malibu veggie burger. he decided to go with the new burger option that looked kind of similar. unfortunately, it wasn’t.
veggie-mighty-vita burger: 100% angus friendly veggie patty, lettuce, carrots, sprouts, beets, onions, pickles, and 1000 island. $8.75
the veggie-mighty-vita burger isn’t much to write home about, especially since it comes in at a buck more than the malibu veggie burger. the patty is smaller and thinner, and doesn’t have the same combination of grains and quinoa that made the malibu so luscious. the vita is kind of limp and bland. don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t BAD, and it did come stacked with a ton of lovely vegetables, as you can see…it just wasn’t great, either. ooh ooh ooh!–and another thing to note: all burgers used to come with a side of coleslaw, rice or black beans. now the default side is 8 pieces of slightly brown edamame that taste fresh out the microwave. hmmmm.
one cool thing though, as the kind lady at the counter pointed out, is if the new menu is missing one of your old favorites, they can probably still make it for you with the ingredients that are still around…for now. oh really? let’s just see about that. i decided to return to native foods and give this offer a shot with the poltz burrito, a wildly popular item from the previous menu.
poltz burrito: black beans, brown rice, original seitan, flamed banana salsa in a whole wheat tortilla, topped with salsa fresca, chips and guacamole. $8.95
i guess this emasculated version of a poltz burrito counts as making something off the old menu. but seriously, who would want this? i mean, does that look “topped with salsa fresca, chips and guacamole” to you? no! and the inside of it was even more depressing.
pitiful
this burrito used to be massive, overflowing with guacamole, beans and colorful salsas. why did they have to go and ruin a good thing?
oh well, i’m sure i will keep going back to native foods anyways. after all, they do still have the awesome greek gyro on the menu, although it costs more now as well. it’s always a bit sad when menus shrink or prices rise…and it’s especially sad when these two things happen at once.
R.I.P. all my old favorite dishes from native foods.
here is the new menu for you to check out.
and here is the old menu, if you wanna reminisce.
Tags: burrito, celebration roast, edamame, portobello, sausage, veganmofo, veggie burger
11 responses to “native foods: a new menu and higher prices” 
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I am so bummed to hear this! Believe it or not, I’ve never been to Native–I just never seem to find myself in that part of town. But I have to go to the W hotel in westwood this week and I was planning on having an awesome lunch at Native Foods, but it sounds like the place has jumped the shark! Curses!!!
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Last time we went there we said it would be our last. I’ve been meaning to email Tanya and tell her that I just don’t feel healthy after eating the oil spill covered fat bombs she turns plants into. Quality Down Prices Up… Not very good business sense.
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I’ve only been to the Native Foods in Costa Mesa. The Soul Bowl was a favorite. Too bad prices steeply increased.
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Wow, bummer indeed 🙁 I was jealous to hear you were going to Native Foods the other day… now not so much. Why on earth would they decimate their menu like that, and then add insult to injury by raising prices? Wait, let me guess… the kitchen is too small? Yawn.
So sad, I used to love that portobello & sausage burger, and last I had it, it was not a grease sponge, nor was it a celebration roast. For a place that’s got it’s own cookbook even, serving a pre-made celebration roast type bulk product is just beyond tacky. Thank goodness the gyro is still there, but at this point I’m not sure it’s going to be worth the price or the drive, when there’s better & cheaper stuff closer to me. Thanks for the heads up!
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I never did like the food there. Now it’s solidified that I’m never going back.
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You’re absolutely right; I noticed the same issues when I was there at the end of August. They got rid of the French dip sandwich. 🙁 Maybe now is the time for you to start increasing your cookbook collection with the Native Foods cookbook! I’m so excited that I provided you some inspiration. 🙂
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Awww, I’m sorry you had such a tepid experience. I’ve never heard of that place (I live in Canada) but have had similar experiences at other restaurants. Argh, why do they mess with the best menu items!!
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I spoke with Tanya around July or so and she mentioned trying to work with someone to help her make Native Food’s seitan as an automated process. Up to that point she needed to make her seitan and tempeh by hand and deliver to all of her restaurants. I believe Turtle Island is whom she was speaking of, but their machines couldn’t get the same texture as she could by hand. Maybe this explains the Field-roastyness of their new item(s).
Bali Surf Burger is gone too, weird. Well, I’m not giving up on Native Foods just yet but perhaps springing for a cookbook is not a bad idea.
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That is just sad but something that seems to be happening all of the land – prices going up at restaurants and quality going down.
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Hubby and I went to the Native Foods in Palm Desert. I’ll NEVER get him back there again, unfortunately! Yes, I, too noticed that their prices went up, so now I can only afford to go there once a week. I still LOVE their carrot cake! I bought her cookbook and will TRY to make some of her stuff at home. Thanks for sharing!
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I still miss their Moby Dick (faux fish) sandwhich from a few years back.
2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks
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greek salad, tabouli and hummus from the native foods restaurant cookbook | vegan food and living in Los Angeles November 13th, 2008 at 08:04
[…] in westwood changed their menu, and in doing so eliminated most of my favorite dishes. so after my most recent and somewhat disappointing lunch there, i decided to go home and dust off the old native foods cookbook that i’ve been meaning to […]
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excellent vegan lunch at native foods in palm desert | vegan food and living in Los Angeles April 22nd, 2009 at 06:55
[…] in the past, i have been guilty of giving the vegan restaurant native foods mixed reviews. the westwood outlet can be hit-or-miss, with it’s long wait times and inconsistent food. […]
Liz at ¡Yo Soy! October 7th, 2008 at 08:55