Sorry, Vegan Cheese Doesn't Taste Like Cheese - Veggie Grill in Saratoga, CA

Vegan Cheese is bad

Winnie!!!

Once upon a time, this young man was a vegetarian. That's right. From fifth through 8th grade, I thought that vegetarianism was really cool! But starting in freshman year, I decided that I wanted some more protein in the form of meat so I reverted to the good old omnivore lifestyle. I've never considered going vegan though - in fact, being vegetarian was a pretty big hassle in and of itself! But the point is, I've eaten quite a bit of vegetarian foods in the past. And a lot of substitutes, including the all famous Tofurkey which can taste a bit like actual turkey! In my past experiences with substitutes, if it's good and I forget that I'm eating a substitute, then I won't notice a difference. Well Veggie Grill has earned my respect for creating a few Vegan dishes that I ate without noticing the fact that they were Vegan. So a gold star to the salad with bacon substitute and the Koreatown tacos, but a frowny face (like the one your physics teacher puts by a question when you make a mistake) to the nachos.

So I walked into Veggie Grill with Winnie (@winnie.fried) and was quite satisfied with their layout. The furniture was decked with the trendy looking wood texture, with warm texture, and once again large swathes of natural light floated in from the tall ceiling to floor glass windows. As I eased into my high chair next to the large wall of glass, the light illuminated my meal and cast a cool and calm color onto the table. What happened then, as I put the first Koreatown taco into my mouth? After eating the first, I reached for the second when I felt the fiery rage of Hell flare in my taste buds. While definitely not as bad as the Hellfire Instant Ramen, it definitely shocked me out of my pensive mood. And it was then that I looked over to the next Koreatown taco in my hand and almost shed a tear. I have to eat two more of these? Flashbacks of lying on Kristi's kitchen floor appeared before me, and I remembered the pain I suffered back then and the pain I suffered now and persevered. There is one thing that I now remember about the tacos that I thought was curious - how mushy the chicken was. The chicken was breaded, and I distinctly remember mushing the "chicken" in my mouth wondering why it was so mushy because through the little bonfire in my mouth I felt the breaded texture collapse in my mouth like an angry man stepping on a cardboard box. It was then that I thought that there may be something that I didn't know about the food was eating. Then I kept eating and finished the tacos.

The tacos are a solid choice

So Winnie and I were going to eat somewhere else because we didn't feel full, but we came running back to Veggie Grill to munch on their nachos. And this was when I discovered the Veggie Grill was not, in fact, a normal restaurant. Nor was it a place where they grilled veggies on skewers, like what the title suggested to my mind. As I took the first chip out of the "cheese" soaked pile of "meat", guacamole and jalapeno that I discovered that I might be in a vegan restaurant. And so I turned to Winnie and asked her, "Are we in a vegan restaurant?". I'm pretty sure the cashier heard me. The girl bussing tables heard me. The people in line heard me. And I sat there in my shame and embarassment wondering how I could not have noticed. To be fair, in my mind the name of "Veggie Grill" was interpreted as a place where veggies were grilled on a skewer, but I guess I forgot when I had ordered.

Vegan food never tasted so good @veggiegrill

A post shared by Ryan Chen (@stumpyeatsfood) on Mar 6, 2017 at 4:39pm PST

Title confusion aside, I really liked the tacos. I didn't get to taste a lot of Winnie's salad, but the Koreatown tacos put forth a strong showing. I definitely recommend passing on the nachos - I think vegan cheese has a while to go before being ready to stand up to good old dairy cheese. Strange cheese aside, I am sure I will be making a return trip to check out the rest of their menu!

"Chicken" Salad. I know your tricks now Veggie Grill!

You can find me on Instagram as @stumpyeatsfood and on yelp at theplumpcat.yelp.com. You can also check out more of my photos on Flickr! If you've got a restaurant recommendation or even a recipe that you think I should try, send it to me at ryanjchen2@gmail.com! Thank you for reading!