14 responses to “heads up: long beach vegan eatery NOW OPEN!” RSS icon

  • we will let you know in a day or two how it is.

    Schlong Beach – Strong Beach

    xo,
    schramm

  • it was okay. lots of kinks to work out, but will be visiting again in a month or so when things are fully functional!

  • Agreed…it was only okay. Don’t get your hopes too high! I will go back to support a local vegan business but it’s nothing to drive from L.A. for.

  • Darn. Two days too late. Had hoped they’d be open when I went to LB on Saturday. I did get to eat at Zephyr though! http://dinewellco.blogspot.com/2011/10/zephyr-cafe-long-beach-ca.html

  • Support Jeff T. Support LBVE. Can’t wait to hit it up the next time I’m in Long Beach.

  • Blah. I was super disappointed. My food seemed like a frozen premade dinner from Trader Joe’s…but without sauce. 🙁 I actually threw most of it away. Their desserts were crazy!!! Then I found out they were frozen…and unfortunately, mine were still frozen when I got to the center of them. : (. http://www.vegantiramisu.com. Super delish desserts from that company though, wow!!!

    Their stuff all seems like frozen and/or premade components that they throw together. Might try them again in a month.

  • hey melissa,
    i had a similar experience. i ordered the bbq drumsticks, my boyfriend ordered the chicken sandwich, and we shared fries and a whoopie pie. while the drumsticks tasted great, they were still cold in the middle. my boyfriend couldn’t stop talking about how disappointed he was in his burger during the drive home. it was a plain ‘ol bun, a gardein chicken breast, veganaise, and a couple of slices of flat lettuce. i could’ve made that at home for half the price! we liked the tots, though my boyfriend swears they aren’t homemade. i also wish i knew mine came with tots or i wouldn’t have ordered an extra basketful. our whoopie pie was good, but not remarkable, and i swear the frosting was just pillsbury. i bake a lot, and well, and i’d rather just make my own. i hope they’ll kick their burger and other goodies up a notch for our next visit, which will be well after they’ve got their stuff together!

  • hi emmmly,

    yeah, there was really no oomph to anything we ate. i even found the mission statement kind of weird.. they want to take away the assumption that vegan food is gross. i think that’s already been done and we all know about gardein and seitan. it felt more like i was eating my own quickly prepared dinner options than $9/plate restaurant food. that being said, it WAS their FIRST DAY, so they’ve probably already got new ideas now that they have a better feel for what a regular business day is like.

  • I bake a lot too. I love making vegan desserts…I make a killer chocolate buttercream using coconut oil instead of EB. I didn’t try the whoopie pie, I had the chocolate chip cheesecake and tiramisu (which again, were super awesome) I had such high hopes for this place. : (

    I even asked if they made any of their own cheese/cheese sauce, and he said that it was all Daiya. I have nothing against Daiya, but I can do that at home, and probably for a lot cheaper.

    I was so stoked to have a vegan place in LBC!! I will stick with the Wok n Roll near by (who also has the same vegan tiramisu!!).

  • Yes, definitely. I still have hope that they can get it together, but right now it is like spending $9 for a quick weeknight dinner that I can make at home for less money. I can cook a lotttt better food without all the fake meat. The first thing I said when walking out was, “I should make my own vegan restaurant.”

    I would compare it to an (average) omnivore restaurant that finally discovered fake meat and just substituted gardein into every recipe without really knowing how to prepare it. It would be a little bit exciting for an omnivore restaurant embracing vegans, but for a VEGAN restaurant? It’s nothing special at all.

    I will still give them support, but I just hope they step it up in the next few weeks. If not, maybe I’ll anonymously drop off a copy of Veganomicon to inspire them…

  • yeah i love daiya, but i don’t go out to eat to spend double or even triple the price on something i could have made at home in 15 minutes. you should check out my convo above with emmmly, i think we’re all on the same page. 🙂

  • you are too funny! i feel the same exact way! the menu and all the little passages on it made the restaurant seem like it was geared toward omnivores. i mean, us vegans have already discovered gardein and we know it only costs like $6/bag of chicken breasts. gardein and seitan are not revelations, you have to give me something i can’t easily make myself if you want me to keep coming back. i was really disappointed because none of it was really special. it was all easy-to-make stuff. i mean, veggie grill uses gardein but they pump it up! they cook it well, add tons of fixin’s and give you a hearty, fluffy whole wheat bun. i was really excited to have another vegan place in lb, but they need to get creative!

  • oh and i love wok n roll! and your buttercream sounds delectable.

  • Yes, this is exactly it. Veggie Grill works with the Gardein to make it special. Not saying Veggie Grill is the best vegan restaurant out there, but at least they make food I can’t easily make at home. I hoped that LBVE would include more homemade/made from scratch food. Instead it’s just like a mediocre Vegan fast food restaurant. Which I guess could be okay if it weren’t 9 bucks a plate…

    I’m sad because I really want to like it. I hope they get it together!


1 Trackbacks / Pingbacks

Leave a reply

Let’s stay in touch

This blog is no longer updated, but for the latest vegan news and updates, follow me on Twitter:

Blog categories

Designed by AZ Money

Powered by WordPress