Living Earth

Who said whole foods can't taste great? Certainly no one at the Garden Cafe.

by Margaret LeRoux

Living Earth Garden Cafe
232-234 Chandler Street, Worcester
753-1896
Mon.-Fri. 9 a.m.- 9 p.m.
Sat. 9 a .m. - 6 p.m.
Sun. 11 a.m.- 5 p.m.
Major credit cards
Non alcoholic beverages only
Handicap accessible

Eat -- it's good for you." As a child, hearing those words from my mother, I knew I was in for something a) healthy, and something that b) I probably wouldn't like. There I'd be long after dinner, still at the table facing a mound of "good for you" Brussels sprouts or lima beans on my otherwise clean plate.

In college, when my friends were joining food co-ops and stir frying tofu, I ate Big Macs, though I did learn to love avocado and sprouts on whole-wheat bread. Years later, my culinary tastes have expanded, though I admit to retaining a childish suspicion of foods promoted as "healthy."

So it was with a little reluctance that I joined a friend for lunch at the Living Earth's Garden Cafe recently.

The tiny cafe addition to the health-food store reminds me a lot of my mother's sunny kitchen, with lots of windows and bric-a-brac on the walls. The menu even has pages of household hints, just the kind my mom passes along: "To remove baked-on food from pots and pans, use a bit of baking soda." "Freshen your garbage disposal with a wedge of lemon."

My friend and I took our time reading through the extensive menu, which I was surprised to note isn't all vegetarian. There are several meat, chicken, turkey, and tuna options; and the cafe touts its bison and ostrich burgers.

Our waitress told us, "They taste a lot like beef."

Though we weren't enticed enough to try them, I'm curious. Are there any ostrich or buffalo fans out there? What does the meat really taste like?

We decided instead to sample the Garden Cafe's many vegetarian options, starting with oven stuffers -- described as three jumbo, organic mushrooms stuffed with fresh spinach, whole-grain bread crumbs, herbs, and melted cheddar cheese ($4.95). But we were disappointed to learn the kitchen was out of organic mushrooms. I passed on the anti-antipasto, an assortment of greens, peppers, olives, and meat-free pepperoni ($4.95), in favor of a spinach salad ($3.95) with olives, nitrate-free bacon, tomatoes, and feta cheese. My friend's first course was the soup of the day, tomato tempeh ($1.95).

The spinach in my salad -- a heap of tender, baby-size leaves -- was the best I have ever eaten. Frequently restaurant spinach salad is a challenge to eat because the spinach leaves are huge, tough, and difficult to cut through. Here it was a pleasure, even though the feta cheese was missing. When I pointed this out to our waitress, she checked back with the kitchen and informed me they were out of feta but would substitute another cheese. I chose provolone. The nitrate-free bacon was good, too, though a little tough.

My friend loved the soup -- lots of big chunks of vegetables in a lightly seasoned broth.

We ordered a serving of garlic sesame seed bread ($1.95), heavy on the garlic, not so heavy on the bread, which was melt-in-your-mouth soft instead of chewy.

By now I had gotten up the nerve to try a veggie cooler. From a long list of carrot-, cabbage-, and apple-based drinks I selected cucumber cooler ($2.75), a blend of carrots, cucumbers, and parsley. The strong flavor of carrot dominated, and there were hints of cucumber, but I missed the bite of fresh parsley. My companion sipped a mug of ginseng tea (95 cents). Later in the meal our waitress thoughtfully supplied a refill of hot water and a fresh tea bag.

There are many hot entrees such as pesto and pasta ($6.50), four cheese lasagna ($6.95), and buffalo stir fry ($7.95), and if you dine on weekends, volcanic vegetarian chili, a bargain at $2.50 a bowl.

Among the many deli sandwich offerings, I spotted quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), a high-protein grain that's newly popular as an alternative to rice or couscous. Here it's paired with tempeh (tofu) in a cutlet, brushed with sesame oil, baked and served on whole-wheat bread with lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, and tofu mayo ($4.50). My desire to be trendy won out over my tofu aversion, and I ordered it. The quinoa was chewy, but I wish the grain and tempeh mixture were more flavorful. I loved the hearty whole-wheat bread, however, and the tofu mayo was quite tasty.

My companion was satisfied with her sandwich, a veggie blast ($4.95) of avocado, sprouts, lettuce, and tomato on whole-grain bread.

We ran out of time for dessert, though the day's special, chocolate brownie chunk cheesecake ($3.25) was tempting.

I brought a garden burger back for a colleague who couldn't get away for lunch. He noted that the Garden Cafe's version -- homemade rather than one of those frozen, re-heated vegetarian meat substitutes, is quite good. It's served with lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts, mayo, and honey mustard on a hefty sesame seed bun. I asked for a sample and agreed, it beats a Big Mac any day.

The total for all three of us was $21.09 including tax but not tip.