Life as a vegan has gotten easier over the years. From Gardein (garden protein meat substitutes) to Daiya (non-dairy, non-soy, meltable, delicious cheese alternative) to the vegan food pyramid, veganism is not only more accessible, but also more accepted. Another way you can measure how much easier and more mainstream veganism has become is through the amount of vegan restaurants. There could always be a greater variety, of course, but there seem to be more and more options for cruetly-free dining out.
The San Gabriel Valley has quite a few vegetarian restaurants and a few vegan ones as well. That’s the good news. The bad news is that they lean toward the Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants that can be heavy in oil and salt. Some are good. Some not as much. What’s incredible is the absolute dearth of vegan options in Pasadena’s trendy Old Town area. I mean, really? Its hip to be vegan or to eat vegan food, so it would make sense that there’d be plenty of choices in such a popular area. The closest is My Vegan far south of the Old Town area. Whenever I see the managers or owners of Veggie Grill or Native Foods, I tell them to comet the San Gabriel Valley because they would fill a gap in vegan cuisine. Think of how many Buddhist families are in San Gabriel, Rosemead, Temple City, and the surrounding area. Think about all the kids in these vegan families who want to eat more Western style food like vegan burgers, pizza, or salads… That’s a big market!
So imagine our surprise and delight when we launched the VegOut application on our iPhones, and saw that there was a new place in Old Town Pasadena! And it’s about time! Sure, My Vegan has been around in Pasadena, and it’s decent to good, but it’s not great… Believe me, I like having a vegan place close to home, but I prefer Truly on Hollywood Boulevard when I have a hankering for vegan Thai.
Green Earth is great! It’s billed as a vegan Vietnamese, Italian, American food restaurant, but it also serves up some Chinese and Thai as well… Really, it’s what I would call a California Asian Fusion cuisine place. They do a lot of things well, but it’s their sauces that my family and I fell in love with. Although we first stopped in during memorial day weekend, we’ve since been back three more times, and we haven’t had a sauce there that we didn’t like.
On our first trip, we shared the Quinoa Sushi appetizer. We’ve had sushi with brown rice, white rice, and even devoid of any rice, so quinoa in the seaweed wrap was new for us. It was really good. Quinoa gives the sushi a nice nutty crunch and flavor, and the other ingredients give it depth of flavor. Carrots and cucumbers give a fresh crunch, alfalfa sprouts provide a sharper clean taste, avocado adds richness, and the portabella mushroom contributes the ever elusive umami (Japanese for an earthy flavor). It was a great start to our meal.
Dumpling ordered the Joy Luck Special, a wholesome plate with green beans, brown rice, and veggie chicken. The green beans were cooked to perfection. We appreciated that they weren’t greasy or over-salted or overcooked. They were crisp and were well-seasoned. In other words, they were salted just enough to bring out the flavor of the green beans. The veggie chicken was good. If you don’t like veggie meats, then you won’t like the veggie chicken. Me? I’m fine with it. I think of it as an interesting way to do soy protein. At the same time, I prefer less processing. That said, the veggie chicken was mighty tasty. It wasn’t too salty, and the sauce was really great. It was a light creamy sauce with a balance of salty, sweet, and sour. Dumpling loved it!
Baby Corn went with the very hearty Wonder Sub… A gooey, cheesy (daiya), saucy, hearty sandwich served with sweet potato fries. The meatballs are made out of TVP and are definitely solid and meaty. The bread was well-toasted and there was a good amount of daiya, but not too much. It’s really easy to have too much daiya on a dish, and then it’s overpowering, but there was just enough to add a lot of flavor, but not make it overly gooey. It’s about flavor and texture. The sauce again was what made the dish. The fresh tomato sauce wasn’t too chunky or runny. It was again very well-balanced with sour, salty, and sweet flavors, and that’s an art. You’d never think that a predominantly Asian restaurant would do Italian so well, but it does. The sweet potato fries were good. Not as great as the ones at Veggie Grill, but pretty light and flavorful.
Sweet Potato tried the Gourmet Burrito (oh yeah, they serve some Mexican style food as well). It wasn’t huge, but it was chock full of textured vegetable protein, brown rice, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. It tasted incredibly fresh and full of nice, balanced flavors. Like most of the items on the menu, it was just a great balance of flavors and textures. Just imagine it… Crunchy lettuce, chewy TVP, soft tomatoes, and creamy guacamole and sour cream. It’s so well thought out with the details on textures. The salad was good. No cheap iceberg. Nice flavorful baby greens with a light vinaigrette. A great compliment to the burrito.
I had the Fettucini Alfredo. So, let me begin by saying that I’ve never really liked cream sauces even when I was still eating dairy. Now I’ve come to the conclusion that I was just eating the wrong kind of cream sauces. Soymilk based is the way to go. This dish again was so perfectly balanced with textures and flavors. The soy chicken was a salty, chewy component, and the red bell peppers were crisp and tangy with a hint of sweetness. The zucchini was crispy and the fettucini noodles added body. The sauce was incredible. A little creamy with hints of sweetness, sour, and salt, all rolled into one. It was steaming hot and full of flavor.
To end our meal, we shared an order of the fried bananas with non-dairy ice cream. Crunchy, hot, cold, creamy, sweet, and a touch of salty… In other words, it was amazing. This place opened recently, and they’re working out some of the kinks of service. In other words, when it’s busy, you may need to wait for your food, but it shows so much promise because the flavors, especially sauces, are so darn good. They have the food part down pat, and it can only get better!
You can find Green Earth Vegan Cuisine at 37 S. Fair Oaks Ave. just south of Colorado Blvd. They’re open everyday from 11:00 am, and they close at 9:00 pm… Except on Friday and Saturday night where they close at 10:00 pm. Call to double check. 626.584.0268