Vegan diets are growing in popularity here in La Jolla and I decided to check some all vegan restaurants instead of going to a randomly chosen one. Eating vegan is definitely different from accustomed American diets but can be appealingly found riding or walking around the gem of Southern California! The first restaurant that got my attention is Green Door Cafe. They are open all day from 11am to 7pm every day except Mondays and have outdoor, spaced-out seating for groups of 2, 4, and up to 6 per table. The outdoor seating took place all through the front of the restaurant under nice patio shades and plants pretty much everywhere along the way to the front desk. I went with one friend for dinner at 6pm and their menu looked so creative and intriguing we decided to try three entree meals with side salads and three different desserts.
I ordered a black cherry probiotic kombucha drink and my friend had a lemon ginger kombucha as well. The first plate was the Coconut Dahl Curry, an Indian dish with garam masak, mango chutney, fresh tomatoes, lemongrass, ginger, red chillies, red lentils, mustard seeds, and turmeric served with flatbread naan over herbed white rice. The second dish was the Penne Alfredo, in substitute for traditional alfredo sauce is creamy cashew sauce with a hint of lemon and nutmeg over brown rice penne served with a side of a seasonal salad. And the third plate was our favorite, mac ‘n’ cheese! The sauce for this mac was also cashew based cheese sauce served over brown rice penne with a side of a seasonal salad. All three dishes were satisfying and filling that we almost couldn’t order dessert but attempted to at least taste one, but we ordered three; a ‘Raw’ Cinnamon Maple Cheesecake, a ‘Raw’ Avocado Chocolate Mousse pie, and a Boysenberry’ fruit cobbler. The cheesecake was perfectly sweet and cinnamony, served with berries and strawberry puree and cashew cream on the side. When I bit into the chocolate mousse I had a surprising taste in my mouth of chocolate and guacamole however, I had more of it closer to the crust and it tasted a lot better to me perhaps because it was a little more frozen. The warm cobbler with dairy free vanilla icecream was also tasty. If I had to rank them it would be the cheesecake at number one, the cobbler at two, and the mousse last.
