Where to find plant-based meat products at fast-casual restaurants in Los Angeles and Orange County.
A decade ago, when you wanted a veggie burger for dinner, you could probably find a restaurant serving a patty made from mashed beans, rice and mushrooms. There were no menu items listing plant-based chicken or deli meat.
Now, a growing number of companies are offering alternative proteins made with peas, soy and other ingredients, designed toand restaurants are taking notice, with more plant-based versions of traditionally meat-centric dishes. Vegan pepperoni, deli meat or tuna? It’s out there. Here’s a list of fast-casual restaurants in Los Angeles and Orange counties serving alternative proteins. In late 2020, the Santa Monica-based vegan restaurant chain started offering a plant-based “tuna” melt made with Good Catch tuna. Good Catch received more than $30 million from General Mills and a host of other companies in 2020, and celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Lance Bass and Shailene Woodley invested as well.
Select locations of the doughnut chain offer a breakfast sandwich made with Beyond Sausage, from Beyond Meat. Like its Beyond Beef cousin, the sausage is made with pea protein. And the plant-based version of a pressed and formed sausage tastes pretty much like a pressed and formed sausage. To keep your sandwich entirely plant-based, be sure to ask for vegan bread , and steer clear of the American cheese and egg.
It may seem impossible to replicate the experience of a sky-high deli sandwich stacked with thinly sliced meat, but the plant-based Reuben at Mendocino Farms comes pretty close. The key is the corned beef, made by the L.A.-based company Mrs. Goldfarb’s Unreal Deli. It’s a blend of “high wheat protein,” beets, tomatoes and chickpeas flavored with soy sauce, maple syrup and apple cider vinegar. According to the company, high wheat protein is the “high protein part of the wheat grain.