Restaurants

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Tips

Just because you're vegan doesn't mean you have to give up on eating in restaurants.
Here are some tips on how to enjoy your vegan dining experience:

Plan Ahead: Look at a menu or call the restaurant to scout out vegan options. Find vegan-friendly restaurants worldwide with an online restaurant guide.
Ask For Help: Enlist the help of your server to find out about hidden animal ingredients. Ask if menu items can be prepared "vegan" or if the chef will create a vegan dish for you off the menu. And please always tip well for great service!
Try ethnic cuisines: Many Asian, Ethiopian, Indian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern cuisines offer vegan items. Ask about hidden ingredients like fish, butter, lard, or yogurt, to make sure your food is really vegan.

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Recommendations: vegan-friendly restaurants and natural food stores in Santa Cruz

If you're in the Santa Cruz area or San Francisco Bay Area, you'll find that most restaurants and groceries offer at least a few, and often quite plentiful, vegan options. Most restaurants are also open to adapting to your dietary needs. The restaurants and stores recommended here, however, are the superstar standouts in Santa Cruz.

Restaurants
restaurant		description
Alfresco kiosk at the corner of Pacific & Soquel 831-429-1765		Healthy fast food to go. The emphasis here is on fresh vegetables and protein-rich bean spreads or tofu. Daily soups are always vegan. Most tortilla and rice paper wraps, salads, hot stews and rice bowls are also vegan. Biodegradable disposable serveware is made from corn, potato, and sugarcane.
The Attic 931 Pacific Ave. 831-460-1800		Lunch and dinner everyday, plus Sunday brunch. This is an amazing restaurant, teahouse, art gallery, and performance venue all in one beautiful light-filled space. The Sunday brunch features a big vegan tofu scramble. Lunch and dinner menus offer salads and a variety of sandwiches: Moroccan hummus, vegan garden panini, VBLT, and taro burger. Finish your meal with any of several vegan desserts: German chocolate cake, carrot cake, brownies, or shortbread cookies. Choose a local, organic beer or a tea from the impressively extensive tea menu. Wireless Internet access available.
The Bagelry 320 Cedar St. 831-429-8049		All bagels are vegan except for the jalapeno cheese and pesto. Daily vegetarian soups are marked dairy or non-dairy. Soy chai and coffee drinks and vegan cookies tempt you with the promise of extra satisfaction. Several non-dairy vegan bagel sandwiches are listed in their own section on the menu: red pepper cashew, hummus, guacamole, Tofutti cream cheese, peanut butter, Tofu del Fuego, New Delhi, and Tofu Tom. If you can't decide among all those choices, then order half-and-half. Wireless Internet access available. No credit cards, but there is an ATM.
Black China Bakery and Cafe 1121 Soquel Ave. 831-460-1600		Tucked away behind the Ironwood store, this small bakery & cafe serves breakfast and lunch and sells baked goods to go. Vegan baked goods include brownies, scones, muffins, pies, and cakes. Lunch sandwich plates include hummus or chickpea-olive muffaletta. Soy chai and other vegan drinks are available.
Cafe Campesino 1130-K1 Pacific Ave. 831-425-5979		Farmhouse style Mexican food with a seasonally changing menu and year-round favorites. Most plates can be made vegan. The vegan standouts on the menu are the calabacitas (squash) plate with beans, rice, and homemade tortilla, and the hearty tortilla bean soup. You can also choose from many vegetable fillings and different sauces to create your own dish.
Cafe La Vie 429 Front St. 831-429-6746		A fantastically creative, all-organic, and healthy menu with mostly vegan items, many of them raw. Dairy items and raw items are labelled with icons on the menu. Splurge on unusual raw entrees like "fettucine alfredo" made with zucchini and cashews, or choose more economical burgers, warm filling bowls, and fresh salads. Save room for astonishing desserts including non-dairy cheesecakes, cream pies, and banana splits. The large drink menu offers healthy juices and smoothies or more decadent wines, beers, and cocktails.
Charlie Hong Kong 1141 Soquel Ave. 831-426-5664		Organic Asian street food with big portions and small prices. All noodle and rice bowls are vegan-based, then toppings can be added. Toppings include sweet garlic tofu, zucchini, and Szechuan mushroom medley. Hot vegan soups like Thai coconut-mushroom and curried butternut squash will warm you up on chilly nights. Assorted vegan cookies are sometimes available. Look for the "V" indicating vegan on the menu. Open late.
Dharma's 4250 Capitola Rd. 831-462-1717		Vegetarian natural foods restaurant with a huge and wide-ranging menu from burgers, dogs, and sandwiches to pasta, Mexican-style dishes, and international vegetable-tofu sautes. Check out the daily special entrees and soups, too. Desserts include vegan puddings, cakes, and milkshakes. All menu items are either vegan or can be prepared vegan, except when indicated by the "Not Vegan" icon. Portions are huge, prices are reasonable, and the atmosphere is pleasant and family-friendly. Organic ingredients are used when available.
Engfer Pizza Works 537 Seabright Ave. 831-429-1856		Incredibly delicious wood-fired pizza in a fun neighborhood atmosphere. Watch the pizza makers create your pizza and bake it in the beautiful wood-fired oven, play a game of ping-pong, or solve a puzzle while you wait. The vegan pizza comes with a tasty tomato-tofu spread. Build your own pizza from a long list of vegetable toppings or make any existing combo vegan. Engfer uses lots of organic produce from local growers. Daily soups are labelled vegan when appropriate. A variety of vegan beers are available; a list of vegan beers is posted on the cooler door for your reference. Have a Tofutti Cutie ice cream sandwich to top it all off.
Mobo Sushi 105 S. River St. 831-425-1700		Mobo offers a large selection of vegetarian sushi rolls, appetizers, and salads, with vegan icons to point out the vegan options on the menu. Miso soup can be made vegan if you ask. You can also choose individual ingredients to roll your own sushi. A glossary on the menu helps you to identify unfamiliar foods and vocabulary.
Planet Fresh 1003 Cedar St. 831-423-9799		Fast, cheap, filling Mexican-style burritos and international wraps using fresh ingredients and no lard. Vegetarian wraps have their own menu section, and green dots mark vegan items. Choose from garden vegetable, Thai, teriyaki, or Cajun wraps, then choose a tortilla flavor, type of beans, and kind of rice. You can even add smoked tofu if you like. If you go on a Sunday morning, try the vegan breakfast burrito.
Saturn Cafe 145 Laurel St. 831-429-8505		A fabulous Santa Cruz institution and true original, this 100% vegetarian diner is open late and always happening. The menu labels all the vegan choices, including beer, and indicates when items may be made vegan upon request. You won't miss the animal products in your old favorites when you can choose from burgers, sandwiches, fries, soups, chilis, salads, nachos, stirfries, pastas, milkshakes, ice cream, chocolate cream pie, soy chai and soy lattes. Weekend brunch includes a hearty vegan scramble with home fries and toast. Vegan mayonnaise is available, too. The Saturn uses organic, fair trade, and locally produced products when available, and cooks with trans-fat-free oil that is later recycled into biodiesel fuel.
SRI 736 Water St. 831-457-2350		This Sri Lankan restaurant serves numerous generously sized vegan platters and curries with vegetables, peas, beans, lentils, tempeh, and tofu. Their roasted curry powder spices the cuisine deliciously and aromatically. Appetizers include tempeh-avocado salad rolls and lentil dal soups. Fragrant basmati ginger rice makes an excellent vegan fried rice. Try the vegan soy mango lassi, soy Thai iced tea, and soy chai to drink. Vegan choices are labelled vegan on the menu.
Natural Food Stores
store		description
The Food Bin 1130 Mission St. 831-423-5526		A small store with a big heart, open every day (even holidays) until midnight, the Food Bin is always there for you when you need fresh produce, ready-to-go vegan meals, and vegan junk food. Also check out the changing messages on the street sign. Whether funny or political, they are always food for thought.
New Leaf locations: Boulder Creek, Capitola, downtown, Felton, westside		You'll find you're almost always near a New Leaf with its several locations in Santa Cruz county. Produce, bulk bins, and products of all kinds are joined by prepared take-out foods, dishes in the deli color-coded with signs to indicate which are vegan, soups, salads, and sandwiches. Look for locally produced vegan baked goods, too. The Capitola location offers the largest selection.
Staff of Life 1305 Water St. 831-423-8632		Huge grocery, deli, and bakery with hundreds of vegan products, produce, and bulk bin staples. Staff produces many prepared foods, breads, and baked goods. Check out all the items labelled vegan in the deli and bakery cases. An impressive array of vegan vitamins and other supplements, personal care, and household products are also sold here. The vegan Thanksgiving foods from the Staff of Life are famously good and enjoyed by vegans, vegetarians, and omnivores.