You would think that being so close to Los Angeles, the vegan capital of the world, would entail an endless supply of vegan delicacies. Although there are plenty of ways to “veganize” food from restaurants in the Thousand Oaks area, there are only a few hotspots that explicitly cater to vegans besides the typical smoothie shops. One of my favorite restaurants is Malibu Farm Cafe. It’s the perfect combination of scenery and delicious food. For breakfast at Malibu Farm, I highly recommend the tofu spinach tomato scramble or the acai bowl. I love the tofu scramble because it’s both warm, hearty and filling without being heavy or weighing me down for the rest of the day. Nor is it heavily seasoned! The acai bowl is slightly runny but another light and filling breakfast made with delicious gluten free granola. For lunch or dinner, the grilled vegetable sandwich is the best thing on the menu. In case you’ve never been to Malibu Farm Restaurant, it’s important to note that they change their menus throughout the day- they have breakfast, lunch, dinner and cocktail menus.
*image courtesy of Lisa Hernandez
Veggie Grill, also known as the vegan motherland, is so fortunately placed in our town. Everything at Veggie Grill is vegan and delicious. Apart from being vegan, the also cater to those with soy and gluten allergies. I never get tired of their Santa Fe chicken burger, VG Beyond Burger, Mac and Cheese, or anything with buffalo in the title. As I mentioned above, it’s easy to veganize menu items but I can never veganize dessert items so I always leave restaurants feeling unfinished. Veggie Grill serves the best carrot cake with cream cheese frosting in the entire city. They also carry large and rich chocolate chip cookies that are perfect to take home and enjoy.
*Image courtesy of Photopin.com
I was actually very surprised to discover that BJ’s had a vegan option. Although it’s a basic cheese-less vegetarian pizza, it’s nice to know that I won’t be starving the next time I go out for dinner with my friends.
If you know me, you know I basically live at Sprinkles Cupcakes. Apart from the fruit sorbets, they have the most delicious vegan red velvet cupcake. However, if you don’t plan on getting there early in the day, I recommend calling ahead and asking if they have any in stock. I’ve experienced one too many lonely, depressing and cupcake-less drives home.
Another viable option is Lemonade in the Westlake Village Promenade. They serve basmati rice, the occasional vegan chili, vegetables and variations of salad. However, I typically find myself purchasing their watermelon rosemary lemonade followed by a vegan red velvet from Sprinkles, the shops are too close together to not stop by both.
In the same Westlake Promenade area, Fresh Brothers blows every other pizza place out of the water. You can make any of their pizzas vegan! I typically get a vegan pepperoni and sausage pizza topped with spinach and pineapple. Fresh Brothers is hands down the best vegan pizza place in Thousand Oaks. On a similar note, Mod Pizza in Newbury Park, Pizza Rev in The Oaks Mall and Pieology on Moorpark Rd. are all great options for a quick meal. However, PizzaRev is my favorite because they carry vegan meat in addition to Daiya cheese. It’s also far less expensive than Fresh Brothers.
Lastly, Love Pho Cafe in Newbury Park is the perfect little restaurant for a warm soup on a cold day (or every day). They also carry my favorite Vietnamese dish: tofu vermicelli. In addition to tofu dishes, they also make the best vegan boba smoothies! I recommend trying the mango smoothie with boba the next time you’re in Newbury.