HappyCow Summer Road Trip Blog Tour Review of Veggie Grill, Westlake Village CA for The HappyCow Cookbook

August 25, 2014 ♦

HappyCow Cookbook Summer Road Trip Blog Tour

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HappyCow Summer Road Trip blog tour for The HappyCow Cookbook by Eric Brent and Glen Merzer.

Hashtag #HappyCowRoadTrip

Featuring Veggie Grill at their Westlake Village, California, USA location.

By Michele the Trainer, HappyCow Westlake Village, California Ambassador.

When I became vegan we didn’t have cell phones and we certainly didn’t have vegan restaurants. Featuring multiple convenient locations, now vegans can get comfort food at a good price by visiting Veggie Grill, the premiere rapidly growing vegan Americana-food chain. Veggie Grill’s food is designed to be appealing to vegans and omnivores, and even carnivores can find a dish that they can appreciate. It has a diverse enough menu (with color photos) for most people to find something to enjoy, and that is brilliant in today’s world of mixed dietary preferences.

Veggie Grill, offers gluten-free, and also nut- and soy-free options too.

Inspired by the recipes featured in the HAPPYCOW COOKBOOK, I visited their bustling Veggie Grill Westlake Village location. Food is ordered at the counter and delivered to the table so it’s the ideal place to have a quick lunch.

What would Moses do? Well, I walked in and ran right into Moses! One of the employees named Moses was noshing on a big vegan burger and fries on his break (I would have never known they were vegan if I was not inside Veggie Grill). Claudia, who answered my zillion questions and helped me review all their nutritionals at the front counter, told me, “EVERYTHING with the Buffalo sauce is AMAZING!” Moses agreed that was his favorite too, hands down. Now we know.

Need a speedy no cholesterol lunch? There is nothing worse than a 50 minute lunch break. Worse is inviting someone to lunch and making them late to return to work. My lunch guest works in corporate, and those time sensitive lunches are stressful if delayed. Veggie Grill DELIVERED. They were so FAST to serve us a table full of colorful food with all of the special requests accommodated. We ordered:

Chargrilled Street Corn (I requested no mayo or parmesan)
Seasonal Harvest Salad
All Hail Kale Salad (I requested no nuts)
Santa Fe Crispy Chickn’ (with grilled chickn’ instead of fried, and I requested KALE STYLE)
Tomato Basil Soup

My clients, friends and family that knew I would visit Veggie Grill soon and they recommended many dishes. That list included the soups (they feature soup of the day), the Steamin’ Kale, Latin Succotash, and Grilled Portobello Skewers.

The Seasonal Harvest Salad was such a beautiful presentation with chargrilled peaches.

All Hail Kale was big and really good. It arrived all picturesque and perfectly wilted (pre marinated) and so I didn’t even need the dressing. (There is nothing worse than a salad of hard raw kale that hasn’t been prepared!) The cabbage topping was tasty, and the quinoa was almost invisible as it blended wonderfully into the salad greens. Win!

KALE STYLE for the chickn’ sandwich was exactly what I wanted, just the grilled patty and vegetables a bed of kale (KALE STYLE). I could have had fries or I could have had kale. That’s accommodating and cool. You can have Yukon Gold fries, or chili or coleslaw, and I will have kale 😛 .

Veggie Grill has something for everyone. It’s so refreshing to order a soup of the day and know that it’s vegan without having to investigate each ingredient. I must try all the different daily soups.

Veggie Grill knows that not everyone wants to lose weight or eat kale salad and more kale for lunch. Check out this eyecandy vegan dessert, Cherry Royal, from the HappyCow cookbook.

The HappyCow Cookbook Recipe from Veggie Grill in Hollywood, CA

Cherry Royal

Serves 4–6

2 teaspoons powdered sugar

1 8-ounce container Tofutti cream cheese, at room temperature

¼ cup minced vegan maraschino cherries*

⅛ cup cherry juice (from maraschino cherries jar)

6 Newman-O’s Original cream-filled chocolate cookies*

2 bananas, sliced in half

1 scoop soy chocolate cherry ice cream (or your favorite vegan ice cream)**

1 teaspoon vegan chocolate syrup (like Santa Cruz)

1 teaspoon ground flaxseed

4 vegan maraschino cherries (garnish)

* Available at Whole Foods.

** Available at Trader Joe’s.

In a large bowl combine powdered sugar and cream cheese. Mix thoroughly. Combine the minced cherries and cherry juice with the cream cheese mixture.

To assemble, crumble 1 cookie in the bottom of an individual serving bowl, add a banana slice, 1 scoop of cherry ice cream, a drizzle of chocolate syrup, and a dollop of the sweetened cream cheese. Sprinkle with ground flaxseed. Place 1 cherry on top. Repeat with the other servings.

DELISH!

Veggie Grill is a game changer not only for vegans, but for anyone who wants to eat healthier and low cholesterol. With 25 locations in California, Washington and Oregon, and growing, they have created a space to ease the transition towards healthy choices and cruelty free cuisine. Pleasant, pleasing, easy and convenient. Also they are creating jobs for nice people in a great karma environment.

Bravo Veggie Grill. I’m so HAPPY that I’ve lived long enough to be a part of a crowded popular VEGAN food restaurant company with choices for everyone. Let me know what YOU like to eat at Veggie Grill!