• vegan field report: shine cafe

    13
    March 21st, 2010quarrygirlUncategorized

    hey readers! today we have yet another vegan field report, and this time it’s from shine cafe in morrow bay. this one is written by brittany, who runs sick of lettuce. if you haven’t checked out her blog, you should! i will let her take it away:

    shine cafe is located in morro bay, about 3 1/2 hours north up the coast. it is located in the back of sunshine grocery, which is probably the only health/natural foods store in the area (cause there ain’t much else!). the cafe is in the back of the store, i tried to get a picture of the kitchen area but the two guys working in the kitchen (who i think, judging by some family photos on the wall, were sons of the owner?) were on alert and i felt weird. anyway, the cafe area is super tiny with 3 tables, a huge chalk board menu on the wall, and an open kitchen which seemed to only consist of a hot plate, a sink, a few counters, and a few bakers’ racks full of small appliances and kitchen tools.

    we stopped in to shine on our way up the coast to big sur, and we’d eaten a fairly decent lunch so we got our meals to go. i ordered the tempeh taco and my traveling partner ordered the black bean taco. i realize they look like their the same thing in the photos, and i’m judging solely on the type of tortilla on which one was the tempeh taco and which one was the black bean taco. they could be mixed up, but since i can’t tell and i ate one, i figure no one else can!

    famous tempeh taco: seasoned tempeh, quinoa, and fresh veggies in a sprouted grain tortilla topped with cilantro dressing and avocado. Served with our housemade salsa.

    by the time we got to big sur about two hours later, our tacos were still on the warm side somehow (?), but unfortunately the steam made the shells kind of soggy. there was no sort of silverware readily available so we just decided to dig in, eating with our hands as if we were cave people. after a little picking, i somehow managed to pick my soggy tortilla up and was able to eat it almost like a normal taco. let me tell you, this shit was amazing. definitely the best tempeh taco i’ve ever had. the tempeh/quinoa was seasoned perfectly and was there was a TON of it under all of the dressings – which consisted of tons of fresh lettuce, carrots, avocado and cilantro dressing. i somehow gobbled the entire thing (it was MASSIVE!) even though i planned on saving some for breakfast, i couldn’t contain myself!

    black bean taco: warm corn tortilla filled with seasoned black beans, brown rice, fresh veggies, avocado and cilantro dressing. Served with our housemade salsa.

    the black bean taco consisted of a lot of the same deliciousness, only instead of tempeh it was filled with seasoned black beans. the website says the taco has brown rice but i’m pretty sure my traveling buddy’s taco had quinoa in it instead. not that we’re complaining!

    so if you’re traveling up the coast, taking a trip to morro bay or even san luis obispo, shine cafe is DEFINITELY worth checking out.

    shine cafe
    (inside sunshine health foods)
    415 morro bay blvd.
    morro bay, ca 93442
    805.771.8344

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12 responses to “vegan field report: shine cafe” RSS icon

  • These tacos were seriously the shit.

  • We discovered Shine a few years ago when we spent a week in Morro Bay – it was awesome. They had a Sunday brunch at the time which was scrumptious, and we tried several of their sandwiches during that stay. Everything was delicious. Anyone who’s passing the area should give it a try. The market too was a lifesaver as we stocked up on stuff to take back to our room.

  • Just looking a that photo, I have no idea how you managed
    to eat it without silverware! Let’s hope you had some napkins LOL

  • Thanks for the review, those look delicious!!

  • On Sundays they have a raw menu that never disappoints!

  • Sick of lettuce? There’s plenty on that food!

  • no napkins, either 🙁 we had a sink, though.

  • I’m so excited you posted about this GEM! It could possibly be the best vegan food I have come across, and I live in NYC.
    I was visiting from out of town and showed up for brunch a little too late on a Saturday.. they were all out of the tofu scramble, I thought nothing of it and ordered something else. The super nice woman came over to our table with a small bowl of extra scramble and said she could tell I really wanted to try it. I LOVE THIS PLACE.

  • “On Sundays they have a raw menu that never disappoints!”

    I beg to differ, in my opinion raw can ONLY disappoint.

  • I don’t know much about the cafe part…. but on the store side the staff members are very cool. We’ve been featured in the store side for around 8 mos. now…

  • I always hit up Shine Cafe for those tempeh tacos, but they are seriously a SALAD on top of a taco.

  • Yummy tacos and luscious spring rolls!! We will be heading to Pismo Beach this week and I can’t wait to eat there again. The cafe is indeed “tiny” and definitely not highly commercial, but the food is so delicious!!! The two young women were very gracious and now I need to patronize the place for their tempeh taco filling recipe. I too QG, live in Los Angeles and can’t drive there regularly to eat there.


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