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EAT IT: Green serves up heaping healthy vegetarian Print E-mail
Wednesday, 11 July 2007
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Owner and chef Mike Behrend takes orders at Green. The restaurant is housed in a former bakery built in 1896. A recent daily special featured a hearty helping of vegetarian lasagna with asparagus. The carrot cake was moist and delicious.

Pity the poor San Antonio vegetarian. He is lonely, misunderstood and hungry, living in a city devoted to lard-laced Mexican food, barbecue and hamburgers as big as a dinner plate. In the past, plucky entrepreneurs have tried to keep vegetarian restaurants afloat, but all have failed.

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Green Vegetarian Cuisine & Coffee just might break that trend. Chef Mike Behrend, who owned Lulu's Bakery and Café on Main Avenue, opened the airy, funky eatery in January in an 1896 building that once housed a bakery. The tasty food served up by a friendly staff has the place bustling with vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.

WHAT: Green Vegetarian Cuisine & Coffee

WHERE: 1017 N. Flores St., (210) 320-5865

HOURS: 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday; 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday. Closed Saturday.

WEB: greensanantonio.com

TASTE SENSATION: The inventive menu offers not only the usual veggie burger, salads and sautéed vegetables but also chicken-fried wheat-meat, “not dogs” and Frito pie made with vegetarian chili. Freaked out by fake meat? Try the excellent grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, portabello sandwich and the sweet potato fries. Breakfast, including pancakes, omelets and migas, is served until 11 a.m. Monday-Friday and until 2 p.m. on Sunday. There's even a kids' menu. Attention, vegans: While not all the dishes are vegan, the breads, dressings and desserts are, and the fried food is breaded using soy milk. The coffee is fair trade and organic, and the eggs come from free-range chickens.

TUMS-WORTHY: Parking is hard to come by. Ordering at the counter means occasionally encountering long lines.

THE 210 TAKE: Green may not convert carnivores to vegetarianism, but meat-lovers might be surprised by how tasty meatless enchiladas and fajitas can be. The best part? Nothing on the menu is more than $7.99.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA Contributor
 
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