Balewa's Vegan Gourmet

Today, I reconnected with one of my high school friends, Bailey, and it was awesome! We went to Balewa's Vegan Gourmet which I had been wanting to try.





This was the guy that works there... I am assuming that he is Balewa. He was making the food, and he was really nice. The food was tasty and not too pricey either!

I ordered the new live burger, the live fruit pie, and the watermelon juice. Wow, I was impressed. I think most non-vegan people have low expectations for vegan food, but now my bar has been set pretty high.

The watermelon juice tasted, well, like watermelon. It was quite yummy, and I think I could reproduce it at home. It was a tiny bit thicker than I was expecting, which was a positive surprise.  

The live burger came with a salad that had a tangy dressing--obviously house-made...would eat again. They also served the burger with kale chips. At home I make kale chips with smoked paprika and garlic powder. At Balewa's they definitely kicked it up with some cayenne pepper. I'll be doing that in the future because it gave it a zing. Nice. 

The live burger had tomato, lettuce, onion, mustard, and walnut spread (which was green?) on an Ezekiel bun. Why is it live, you ask?  It has live uncooked plant enzymes in it. That's all I got. 

Honestly, you have to go into it not expecting it to be a hamburger. If you just think of it as another sandwich I think it exceeds expectations. The flavors and textures are special. The meat is more.. hmm... pasty? How can I say it so that the word pasty has a positive connotation? It was good pasty.

The live fruit pie was something else. The crust I assume was made with nuts. The filling which did look green tasted like mango. The second and third bite were better than the first--unusual. Very creamy, but different from anything I have ever had. I would eat again.

Like I said, my friend Bailey was with me. One of the coolest ladies of my lifetime. I really enjoy talking to her. You would, too.

I think Bailey ordered the Sprouted Vegi Roll. It had a carrot salad (not shredded, more of a mixture) soirulina burger mix, sprouts and tomato. Looked good. Bailey ate it. :)




Two things that were interesting: The serving trays were frizbees! We didn't notice till we were finished. And the restroom was right out of Alice in Wonderland. What do I mean? The tiles on the walls were intentionally slanted so that you feel as though you are in a fun house...made me a little dizzy, but really cool. :)