• a fine vegan breakfast at ocean beach people’s co-op

    10
    June 1st, 2011quarrygirlmore restaurants (not LA), san diego

    san diego is a beautiful place to visit, and when in town its worth organizing your trip around a weekend breakfast in ocean beach at people’s organic foods market. the all vegetarian co-operative store has been around since the 70s, and houses a small vegan cafe upstairs with a morning spread that can’t be beat. we’ve reviewed brunch at people’s co-op before, and i’m happy to report that when we visited again a few weeks ago, it was just as good as we remembered.

    vegan biscuits and gravy, rice and beans. $3.99 per pound

    the way it works is, you enter the market and take the stairs to the right up to cafe level. up there you’ll find a fill-it-yourself salad bar, along with an employee-manned counter with several hot offerings that vary according to time of day. i’ve never been for lunch, but in the AM it’s all good savory stuff like tofu scramble, potato chunks, tempeh sausages, breakfast sandwiches, and biscuits and gravy. there’s two tiers of pricing: deluxe items like scramble, sausage, and sandwiches are $6.99 per pound, while simple things like beans, rice, vegetables, and biscuits & gravy (i don’t know how they snuck into this bracket!) are just $3.99 per pound. just tell the person working at the counter what you want, and they’ll pile your plate up as high as you like.

    tofu scramble, breakfast potatoes, tempeh sausage sandwich. $6.99 per pound

    after you’ve got your food, you pay upstairs at the cash register and take a seat at one of the booths overlooking the market. you can see our recent breakfast pictured above, mine is the less expensive plate with rice, beans, and biscuits (i’m a cheap date!), and my husband’s is the one with potatoes, scramble, and a breakfast sandwich.

    i left stuffed and content, as the biscuits and gravy were unbelievable tasty. i’m a huge gravy fan, so i just kept asking the lady at the counter to ladle it on, and she was happy to do so. the gravy at people’s co-op is damn good, too. it’s the white kind, all thick and creamy with the perfect amount of herbs for seasoning. my husband also enjoyed his meal, although he thought his sausage sandwich was too cold and a bit dry. i tried a taste and i agreed, it needed some sort of sauce.

    after breakfast we made our way downstairs for a quick shopping trip around the market. they stock lots of canned goods by eden foods that i was happy to get my hands on, as well as some vegan gummy bears and licorice.

    head to ocean beach people’s co-op next time you’re in san diego—it’s sure to become one of your regular stops!

    ocean beach people’s co-op
    4765 Voltaire Street
    San Diego, CA 92107
    (619) 224-1387
    open 8am – 9pm

    PS: i think they serve breakfast daily (not just on weekends), but call to confirm.
    PPS: the lunch is supposedly very good as well!

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9 responses to “a fine vegan breakfast at ocean beach people’s co-op” RSS icon

  • The tempeh sausage muffin is amazing!! Plus employees there is amazingly great people. I adapted a recipe for it if anyone wants to try it. Click on my name and go to our blog.

  • I wish we had a Co-Op like Peoples in LA! Santa Monica Co-op constantly leaves me disappointed.

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा

    Looks good! And as many people have pointed out, we totally need more good vegan breakfast options in LA.

  • I just had 2 breakfasts there this past weekend (one of which was on a Monday so pretty sure they do breakfasts on the weekdays).

    Absolutely loved the biscuits, tempeh sausage and gravy and one morning they had a blue cornbread in the bakery case that was out of this world!

    I wish we had options like this in LA.

  • I live in SD and just went there last week, I didn’t know what I was missing!! They had the biscuits and gravy for lunch also, so yummy! All of the food was delicious. Now I want to go back everyday… I highly recommend.

  • LOVE these types of places. Earthy, Cruncy, Tofu Scrambly.
    YUM!

  • I love their breakfast! Way less hippy thank you think a vegetarian co-op meal would be. It’s an awesome spot all around and I couldn’t agree more about wishing for a similar one in LA.

    @quarrygirl Did you try Liticker’s Mexican food down Voltaire Street toward the beach? It’s a taqueria in a liquor stoke (no joke!) with tons of vegan options. Seitain, tempeh, tofu AND it’s great Mexican food. Love that street as it is also home to Stephanie’s vegan bakery.

  • Way less hippy ‘than’ you think a vegetarian co-op meal would be.

  • i didn’t try liticker’s!!!! thanks for the tip! next time. 🙂


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