![\"IMAG1483-1-1](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMAG1483.jpg\")
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I write this because I care.
I brought my Nani (Grandma) with me to share her first vegan experience at Long Beach Vegan Eatery (LBVE). LBVE is located at 2246 N Lakewood Boulevard near Stearns street at what used to be OK Burger. Although the burgers no longer have meat, the food is still just OK.
We arrived around 12:30p.m. on a Wednesday. It was slow for a typical lunch rush-hour, but then again, not everyone is vegan. We ordered up a crispy chicken-less wrap ($8.95), roasted pepper hummus with pita bread ($4.50), and a kid\u2019s grilled cheese sandwich ($4.75). I was disappointed when my $9 wrap arrived at my table with no fries, fruit, or veggies on the side. SOMETHING!! I rechecked the menu to see how much it would cost to make those fries appear: $1.00 extra for fries and sweet potato fries add $2.00. Even a side of vegan ranch cost an extra 50 cents. To say the least, I was discomforted by the extra charges at a \u201ccomfort food\u201d joint. I would understand an extra charge to substitute the fries for fruit, but to not put spuds on my plate in the first place is abominable. Their website does state that they do not waste food by adding fancy garnishments out of respect for the 50,000+ homeless in LA County, which I would totally support if they were donating my missing fries to the homeless.<\/p>\n
![\"IMAG1484-2-1\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMAG1484-2-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The LBVE has only been open for 6 months and the place does show promise. The service was friendly and Jeff, the owner, greeted us with hellos and some information on his business and other vegan-eateries in Long Beach. I was surprised to hear that LBVE is only one of two in Long Beach. Sadly, my red-meat eating, whiskey-drinking, Texan Nani was not inspired to try the other after this experience.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMAG1485-1-1.jpg\")
The idea of bringing more vegan eateries to Long Beach is a great concept, but I believe the menu at LBVE needs to be expanded to accommodate a more organic vegan lifestyle. Vegans will find the food a bit heavy and animal-abusers will find the meat-less options lacking oomph. Bottom line: you can still be comforted by freshness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\"IMAG1483\"](\"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/IMAG1483.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I write this because I care.
I brought my Nani (Grandma) with me to share her first vegan experience at Long Beach Vegan Eatery (LBVE). LBVE is located at 2246 N Lakewood Boulevard near Stearns street at what used to be OK Burger. Although the burgers no longer have meat, the food is still just OK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":69659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4544"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=4544"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}