Huntington Beach Beer Company - Huntington Beach, CA : Veggie Burger

If you ever go to Huntington Beach, there's a lot of shops along Main Street. When we had visitors from England and Australia, we took them to Huntington Beach, walked along Main Street and decided to eat here...the Huntington Beach Beer Company. Sounds local enough, right?

Veggie Burger

It's pretty much like any American food place...similar to a BJs. Beer, fries, burgers...you get the idea. (Okay, they have lots of other items too...like BJs.) I just had a regular veggie burger and the patty looks like a Gardenburger to me. So nothing special for us veggie eaters here. They do have wheat buns though...I just forgot to ask for it. So this place...like many American type food places, are more for the meat eaters. I don't think the visitors thought it was awesome food...just American food. That's what they're here for, right?! =)

Huntington Beach Beer Company
http://www.hbbeerco.com/
201 Main Street, Ste E
Huntington Beach,  CA 92648
(714) 960-3535

Britta's Cafe - Irvine, CA

Britta's Cafe is located in University Town Center. Their food is always changing as they adapt to what's available during the year. So you get the freshest possible ingredients.

Interior of Britta's Cafe

It's a quaint little cafe that was very quiet. Maybe because it's kind of pricey so there are no screaming children inside. Me likes! =)

Complimentary Bread

Cheese, Fruit, & Nut plate

This was our favorite plate. The pairing of the nuts, fruits, and cheeses were sooo goood. We had to ask what type of cheeses they were and apparently the ones we liked were some type of goat cheese. The one that we didn't like happened to be from cow's milk. Interesting! Goat cheese good! Thumbs up!

I forgot what this was called, but it wasn't that special to me. I don't love bread, so this didn't wow me. There were not many vegetarian choices, just one. I remember it was a type of ratatouille that I didn't want to have. They had this bread that wasn't listed on the menu so I gave it a try. Eh...it's okay.

If you get the right dishes, it's awesome. I don't think I chose well, and maybe it's not that vegetarian friendly. But I DID love the cheese, fruit, and nuts. I would go back just to have that again. I do enjoy a good cheese. No wine for me though. =)

Britta's Cafe
http://www.brittascafe.com
4237 Campus Drive
Irvine, CA 92612
949-509-1211

The Trails - Griffith Park/Los Feliz, Los Angeles, CA

If you ever go to Griffith Park, check out the Trails Cafe. It's right along the drive up to Griffith Observatory, so parking is along the street.

Trails Cafe from the side

There is only outdoor seating, so dress warmly in colder weather. There are plenty of picnic tables and benches for you to sit and relax. It's a really nice atmosphere, if you like the outdoors, as you are surrounded by trees.

Veggie Chili and Blue Corn Bread

Their chili and corn bread were pretty good. I particularly enjoyed the edges/crust of the corn bread as that has the most flavor (to me).

Ranger Pie

The Ranger Pie was also pretty good. The edges were nice and crunchy, not doughy.

Inside the Ranger Pie

Here is a close-up of the inside of the Ranger Pie. There's potatoes, corn, carrots, peas, etc. The only thing I didn't like was the hint of black pepper...as I do not like anything spicy...but I was able to handle it.

All in all, pretty good food. As some Yelp users mentioned, it can be a bit pricey for such a simple little stand, but everything was pretty darn good. Remember, cash only. The Meat-eater enjoyed it...and he also had a cup of coffee and liked that as well. And he usually doesn't care for the over-sugared Starbucks coffee. Whenever we come back to Griffith Observatory/Griffith Park we will be stopping by here to eat!

The Trails Cafe
http://www.thetrailslosfeliz.com/
2333 Fern Dell Drive,
Los Angeles, CA 90068
323-871-2102
Tues to Sun - 8:00am to 5:00pm
Closed Mondays (except some holidays)

Rutabegorz - Tustin, CA : Soup and Salad

Did some Yelp research for veggie food and found that this place received four stars after 200+ reviews. So I wanted to try it out. This place offers all kinds of foods and is vegetarian friendly. The decor is very homey and cozy. We sat in a booth, but let me tell you...it's not very comfortable because it's hard, straight, and small. Felt like the bench was pointed downward and gravity kept pulling me. (At least gravity works.)

Soup and Salad

After perusing the menu of many veggie items, I decided to just go with the soup and salad. I know, you can eat this anywhere...but it's just what I felt like that day. They have a veggie soup of the day...which I already forgot what it was...some type of minestrone. The salad is lettuce, cucumber, tomato, carrots, celery, and sunflower seeds. It was all very light and healthy. Not overly salty or oily. Plain and simple...and I like plain and simple.

This place, however, is self seating. Which meant that the waitress didn't get to us right away, while they got to others who sat after us first. So if you're unlucky, like we were, you will get skipped over. Not liking that system so much. I guess if you want good service, you should go when it's not busy. But that's kind of a pain, isn't it? So just because of the uncertain service, I don't think I'll be going back there anytime soon again. (And I normally don't mention service...but when it's not so good...I do.)

Rutabegorz
http://www.rutabegorz.com/site/index.php
158 West Main St.
Tustin, CA 92780

BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse : Veggie Burger

So I don't usually go to BJ's but they do have a variety of food and beer. For vegetarians you can get pizza (they're known for their deep dish and they now have whole wheat), pasta, giant potatoes, veggie burgers, salads...you get the picture.

BJ's Handcrafted Root Beer

For a beverage I usually get their Handcrafted Root Beer. It is so good. They use beet sugar instead of plain white sugar, and it just tastes better. It is sweet...but it's not the sweet that bothers me for some reason. And of course...free refills! Yay! *gulp* *gulp* *gulp*

Side Salad

I ordered the veggie burger and substituted the fries with a spring salad. They brought this out before the burger. So it's mixed greens, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and croutons. I'm glad they have mixed greens. So many restaurants offer you their house salad with just plain lettuce as their green. =P So this part is pretty healthy.

Veggie Burger

My veggie burger came on a wheat bun (I asked for that or else it's plain white) with lettuce tomatoes and pickles. The menu says it comes with red onions, but mine didn't, which is fine because I would have removed them anyway. I consider this semi-healthy because the patty is processed and the lettuce is just iceberg lettuce...but it's on a wheat bun and the spring salad before makes this a semi-healthy meal. I added ketchup onto the burger for flavor. I would say it's a simple burger. Nothing fancy, not terrible tasting, but not great either. It's good for sustenance and it doesn't taste bad....which is why I don't usually like to come here. I mean yes there is food for vegetarians, but it's not really good. The pasta isn't great either (to me) and I don't like deep dish pizza...so it pretty much doesn't suit my taste. On the occasion that a vegetarian does come here with their meat eater friends...there are options...I'm just saying it's ok food (in my opinion). The Meat-eater doesn't think their food is that great either. Some people say Naples is expensive, but if you come here it's similar pricing and I think Naples is better quality food...in my opinion anyway.

BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse
http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/
Location this was consumed:
13130 Jamboree Road
Irvine, CA 92602
(714) 665-8595

JT Schmid's Restaurant & Brewery - Tustin, CA : Veggie Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

Although there are not too many vegetarian choices here, there is the veggie burger (that is showing up on most menus I see). The other choice is some type of salad without the meat. American style restaurants are not my favorite type of food because of the lack of options for vegetarians. At least I have something to eat though. On this day I flipped a coin and got the veggie burger. Ok no I didn't, but I really only had two choices.

Free Bread

The last time I visited this place was several month ago and we got free bread. Last week however, no free bread. =(  Ok, I don't like bread that much, but I do like that flat thin crispy bread on the left....yummy! Hopefully the waitress just messed up...or is there really no more free bread? Economy?

Veggie Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

The veggie burger comes with arugula, feta cheese, cucumber, tomato, hummus, and the veggie burger on a wheat bun. That doesn't sound too bad right? It's very filling....I can never finish the whole thing. I usually pre-cut the burger and only eat half of it. The taste is pretty good I think. I don't think you can really mess up a veggie burger too much...but the arugula, feta cheese, and hummus make it a bit "fancier" than just a plain old lettuce, tomato, and cheese veggie burger. I also like sweet potato fries as opposed to regular fries. I know there's word that it's a bit healthier than regular fries...but let's face it...fried food is ALL bad for you...so you still have to eat in moderation. So for a "fancier" veggie burger...JT Schmid's has one!

JT Schmid's Restaurant & Brewery
http://jtschmidsrestaurants.com/
Location food was consumed:
The District at Tustin Legacy
2415 Park Ave.
Tustin, CA 92782
(714) 258-0333
Mon-Thur: 11AM - 10PM (Food ends 10PM) or later
Fri & Sat: 11AM - 12AM (Food ends 11:30PM) or later
Sun: 11AM - 9PM (Food ends 9PM) or later

Yard House - Newport Beach, CA : Gardein Veggie Wings and Veggie Orange Peel "Chicken"

Even though the Yard House is named after their yard glass drinks (served during Colonial times), there is plenty of good food to eat here. I remember it being pretty tasty...so imagine my surprise when I sit down (it's been a while) and find a sub vegetarian section on their menu.  Yay...more options for vegetarians!

Gardein Section of Menu

All their items are substituted with gardein. Gardein is a complete protein (quoted from their website) made from soy, wheat and pea proteins, vegetables and ancient grains (quinoa, amaranth, millet and kamut).

Veggie Boneless Wings with Jerk Sauce

For starters we got the Veggie Boneless Wings with Jerk Sauce (this was the mildest sauce). The Meat-eater liked this dish! I like the chewy texture. It went well with the sauce...but I found that by itself it was flavorful too. I did not like that it was fried...but that's probably what made it taste good and why The Meat-eater liked it.

Veggie Orange Peel Chicken

My entree was the Veggie Orange Peel Chicken. I've had good orange peel tofu before so I was eager to taste this. The meal itself was good...but I didn't really taste the orange flavor. Again, I didn't like that the gardein balls were fried, but I was able to choose brown rice (as many places still don't have it)...and the bok choy isn't bad either. I think the orange stuff on top is fried shredded carrots. Again...don't like all that fried stuff. It's just so bad for you...but I guess that's why people love fried food...it tastes good. Once in a while it's ok and this was good...just don't expect an orange-like flavor in your orange peel "chicken." Next time I would try another dish from the sub veggie section of their menu.

Yard House
http://www.yardhouse.com
Fashion Island
849 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949)640-9273