When I travel, I always make an effort to visit new-to-me healthy restaurants. One of my high school best friends who lives in LA is lactose intolerant so she is always up for vegan restaurant requests. Last time we visited Cafe Gratitude, and on Saturday we checked out Sage Vegan Bistro in Culver City.

We sat outside in the “beer garden” which felt like a garden despite being off of a main street with few trees or grass nearby. They serve creative, mouth watering cocktails, artisanal craft beers and local brews in addition to a farm to table full vegan menu.

I started with a house kombucha that was delicious. We ordered the house special quesadilla app but I did not remember to take a picture. It was good but too big to start with an an appetizer. My only complaint about our experience was that 5 minutes after delivering our appetizer our main meals arrived. The couple next to us had even less. I hate when restaurants do this.

Kristen got the butternut squash ravioli served with pesto sauce and kale off the dinner menu. I was jealous at first…

Until I saw my giant Goatless Greek Quinoa and Kale Salad described on the menu as a chopped, tossed salad with massaged kale, quinoa, carrots, cucumbers, spicy cabbage, tomatoes, onion, avocado, apple, kalamata olives and raw dill cheese and cashew alfredo. I was expecting to like it but the flavors were better than I expected. It was interesting and each bite was different depending on what my fork picked up.

Despite being pretty stuffed, Kristen told me that their vegan based soft serve (made with coconut, cashews and almonds) was amazing. Appropriately called KindKreme, we each ordered a small cup. I got coconut flavored with raw salted caramel, while she grabbed the coconut and chocolate swirl with raw chocolate syrup. It looks like it’s melting because it was. We had to eat it fast but it still tasted delicious. They had vegan gelato too, but I liked the soft serve best after tasting a few flavors.

With the check, our waiter brought over two little packets of seeds to plant at home. Such a cute little gesture to leave with.

The food was reasonably priced, less than Cafe Gratitude and Real Food Daily. I highly recommend checking out Sage Vegan Bistro and saving room for the KindCreme.

I did not make it to Veggie Grill and a few other vegetarian spots I had my eyes on in LA this visit but I’ll back before I know it. I am not a vegetarian, I don’t label my diet but I love veggie restaurants. I’m thinking maybe I should just open up my own in Boston!

Sage Vegan Bistro: Healthy Travel Restaurant Review