In between errands and vintage shopping, Michele and I found our way to Sage Vegan Bistro on West Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park.
Michele had expressed her desire for a nice vegan lunch and after a quick search on the very helpful Yelp website, we found one that had good reviews and was conveniently located in between locations.
I have to admit that, like hippies, vegans kind of scare me. All the reasons I would give would label me hypocritical, the food equivalent of racist, intolerant and other such negative phrases, so I won’t go into details, suffice to say that I would not choose to go into a vegan restaurant if it was purely up to me. Vegetarian yes, vegan no.
Sage came as a big surprise to me. It was a lovely old converted building with enough of the old exposed bricks to add character without being cliched. The corner location and double height ceiling meant that light streamed in and made the place seem airy (not airy fairy I might add). Brown wood tables were organised in neat lines and there wasn’t anything kitschy, divey or cliched about the place. In fact, it was my kind of cafe.
Just beating the lunch rush, we had the pick of the tables and I was pleased to see others in the cafe who broke the mold of what I see as a vegan. Our waitress with the matching blue nails and dress was lovely and very helpful. The menu was diverse and had great choices that weren’t off the planet but were fresh and modern. Neither Michele nor I could go past the felafel bowl, and it was exactly what I needed as an antidote to all the Mexican food I’ve been eating lately.
So I’ve chalked up my first LA vegan experience and am glad Michele wanted to go vegan for lunch because otherwise, my pompous, ignorant self would have missed out on discovering the kind of cafe I could become a regular at.
a little cameo 