Daphne's California Greek - Veggie Pita Burger

Gardenburger Pita Burger

Instead of having my usual classic salad, I tried the Gardenburger Pita Burger. Eh, it was ok. More pita, less greens than a salad, similar thing. I think I'll stick with the salad since I like getting my greens. I did notice they have pizzas now. I'll have to try one of those next time.

Daphne's California Greek
http://www.daphnesgreekcafe.com/home.html

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

The Counter - Veggie Burger

The Counter is a burger joint where you can custom build your own burger or choose one from their menu. The pluses are that many of their ingredients are locally sourced and their beef are humanely raised and handled without hormones or antibiotics.

Veggie Burger sans bun

You get a clipboard with their menu and check off which items you want. I chose a custom built veggie burger in a bowl on organic mixed greens with herb goat cheese spread, tomatoes, sprouts, carrot strings, and hard boiled eggs with sun dried tomato vinaigrette as the sauce. You couldn't see the egg until I mixed up the salad. It was underneath everything.

Veggie Burger on greens

I ran into a bit of bad luck (or bad waiter input of my request into the computer) because my burger came out with sauteed onions and bacon on top. ??!?!?! Yes, bacon on my veggie burger. I was like ?!??!?.... this isn't True Blood. They came back out a second time without my bacon but everything else was still wrong. I asked the lady to please check my paper with my order. Apparently something happened with the entering of my order into the computer because after she checked my slip....my order came out correctly. Voila! However, it was strange that NOBODY apologized. Nobody came to offer a discount or take something off our check. Nothing. Maybe I'm used to extra good customer service, because other places I go to will do such things. I mean, I'm sitting there with no food while everyone else in my party was eating. In-N-Out has better service than this...In-N-Out has excellent service! I would expect poor customer services if my meal was not that expensive, but even places like Corner Bakery will apologize and be nice about fixing your order...and it's less expensive to eat at Corner Bakery. The burgers here are $8.95 for a 1/3lb...no matter if it's a meat or veggie patty. And since I got it in a bowl on greens, that's an additional $1 making my burger approximately $10. Does that sound right to you? A veggie burger is $9 and an angus beef burger is also $9. I've seen this at restaurants (where you can substitute any of their burgers for a veggie patty and it's the same price) but usually the burgers are less than $9, or it comes with sides or some other items. The veggie burger wasn't bad tasting, but it wasn't great either. It's different from the ones I've had, but not stellar or anything. I don't believe it's worth $9 in my opinion. You can eat healthier and get better service for less money somewhere else. My bad experience and so-so food means I give this place a thumbs down! =P

The Counter
http://www.thecounterburger.com/

Location this was eaten at:

Woodbury Town Center

6416 Irvine Boulevard

Irvine, CA 92620

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

Homemade Veggie Burger Sandwich with Sourdough Bread from Boudin

In my previous entry about Boudin I said that you get a 1lb loaf of sourdough bread. Well, here is what I made with some of that bread.

Homemade Veggie Burger Sandwich

There's two sandwiches here, but the size of the bread isn't large. In each sandwich is half of a veggie burger. So these two little sandwiches equal one large sandwich.

Close-up of layers in the sandwich

The bottom most layer is the veggie patty. I used MorningStar Farms Garden Veggie Patties. I bought the whole bulk bag from Costco. Then there's tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, clover sprouts, some spring mix salad, and the purple stuff on top is radicchio. I consider this semi-healthy because the white bread and processed veggie burger is not the best, but all the raw greens are good. =)

Native Foods Cafe - Tustin, CA : Chicken Run Ranch

Highly recommended vegan place. Non-vegetarians also enjoy the food here.

Chicken Run Ranch Burger with side salad:

Native Chicken, ranch dressing, romaine, carrots, and onions.

On an organic whole grain bun that is made fresh daily.

I have been here several times and this is a good sandwich but it is not my favorite. The battered "chicken" tasted a bit doughy to me. Altogether everything was good though...and their vegetables are always fresh. The food here is one of the healthiest I've had...so if you want a healthy meal, this is the place.

Native Foods Cafe
http://www.nativefoods.com
So far they have locations in Aliso Viejo, Costa Mesa, Tustin, Los Angeles, Palm Desert, and Palm Springs.
Open daily 11:00AM to 10:00PM