Finally! We have a new vegan restaurant here in Pasadena. Green Earth Vegan Cuisine opened a few days ago, so we headed over to Old Town Pasadena to try them out. I was a little worried that it would be a repeat of the other veggie Asian restaurants around (not that they are bad, just getting a little tired of the same old thing), but I was pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere at Green Earth was really inviting and the staff was very friendly. It’s in the perfect location if you want to go spend the day in Pasadena shopping at Alternative Outfitters and Old Town Pasadena or seeing a movie at the new Gold Class Cinema. There is a parking garage right across the street and you get 90 minutes parking for free.
Anyway, back to the food. It was all really fresh and colorful and you can get anything from Asian, Indian, Italian, or Mexican. They even have a variety of burgers and sandwiches too! We decided we would stick with Asian during this visit and try something else next time.
We started with the Summer Rolls. They were fresh and yummy. The perfect combo of veggies and protein (vegan ham and tofu) and the peanut sauce was just right. Nice and thick, not runny.
Then we had the Tom Yom Soup. It was delicious and had just the right amount of spicy kick. However, if you like it really spicy, then you may want to ask them to increase the heat or get some chili sauce on the side, but I loved it. We ordered a small which is the perfect size for two, but they also offer it in a larger bowl.
Next was the Avocado Salad. We were surprised to find that it was a nice blend of cucumber chunks, avocado chunks, a little red onion and BBQ “chicken” chunks. The “chicken” almost tasted like Gardein, but I don’t think that is what it was. It was really good though and the combination of flavors, textures, and the dressing was perfect; all really fresh too.
Our main dish was the Three Flavors and this was by far the prettiest dish. It had a really nice variety of veggies (pumpkin, eggplant, tofu, onions, sweet basil, bell peppers, and mushrooms) and the colors were really pretty. The sauce was to die for too and it all went together really well. This was probably one of their healthier dishes and it also comes with brown rice.
We were lucky that a couple of friends stopped in (who already had dinner, but had to come check out our new Pasadena Vegan Restaurant) and they decided to try out the Quesadilla. The Quesadilla was filled with peppers and eggplant. It may have even had some onion in there and they use Daiya Cheddar. It wasn’t huge, but perfect to start with and it comes with guacamole and pico de gallo on the side. It was good, but not as interesting to me as the other dishes we had; still great if you are craving a little quesadilla though.
We all really enjoyed the food and are looking forward to going back again and again. I love that they are in such a busy spot. Hopefully, Green Earth will get a lot of walk in traffic and show all the non-veggies how good vegan food really is.
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