Sage Organic Vegan Bistro, Los Angeles

As I start making my way through my list of vegan joints in Los Angeles, I always feel overwhelmed at how many options there are. I find myself agonizing over the 40+ vegan options when I can only eat two meals in LA as I don't want to pick the wrong ones.  On this particular visit, I had just gotten off of a plane when I headed towards Los Angeles to eat at Sage Organic Vegan Bistro.

Inside a brick building I found a small cafe with a dessert counter for the raw KindKreme ice cream and a dining area for Sage.  The server invited me to take a seat anywhere.  The dining room had a very open feel to it with large floor-to-ceiling windows on two of the walls allowing the sun to shine through. It is a casual cafe with a laid back feel.

As I scanned the dining room, I noticed that today's special juice contained honey so I immediately asked my server in which dishes honey was used at the cafe. He was surprised to see that special as he noted that normally the only honey in the cafe is in some flavors of the KindKreme. Otherwise, it is a fully vegan cafe. I decided to leave it be. I started with the Alkalizer juice that was made of apple, cucumber, grapefruit, ginger and kale. I watched as they made it fresh at the counter. It was very well balanced with a healthy ginger kick, which I liked very much.

For my first dish, I ordered a raw appetizer -- the dill cashew cheese caprese with heirloom tomatoes. Damn, this was good. The heirloom tomatoes were thickly sliced and marinated in balsamic vinaigrette and topped with dill cashew cream and fresh basil. The cashew cream made this dish.

For my entree, I ordered the Jamaican Jerk Burger with a salad. "Wow" pretty much sums this up.  Placed inside a fresh bun, the housemade black bean and walnut burger was paired with jerked cremini mushrooms and leeks, caramelized onions, and thinly sliced mango. The burger was so fresh it actually fell apart and that is a good thing. The mango was sliced so that it looked like cheese and it was incredibly soft. I have no idea how they got it so thin - with a mandoline I suspect. It was served with a spicy cocktail sauce that was a nice complement and a mixed greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette. This was a fantastic meal.

I decided to take a dessert to go because I was stuffed after that meal. After going up to the dessert counter, I chose a slice of a raw chocolate cake with caramel. Unfortunately, when I got back to the hotel, I didn't like it that much. It looked amazing, but tasted like nothing. It was disappointing, but not so much so that it overshadowed my dinner.

Despite my dessert, I think that Sage Organic Vegan Bistro serves great vegan food including cooked and raw options at great prices with good service. This one is on my list to come back to soon.

Sage Organic Vegan Bistro
1700 West Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 989-1718