Long Beach Vegan Eatery is in (you guessed it!) Long Beach.  For such a large metropolitan area, I am surprised at the lack of vegan places to eat in this town.  LBVE opened shop a little less than a year ago to help fill this void and received mixed reviews.  Vegans can be a very supporting group of people, or they can be quite vicious.  I was sad to see lots of the latter being directed at LBVE.  I guess I’m just nice about presenting something I don’t like.  I don’t want to be mean about it – unless it’s totally deserved – like they lie about putting animal ingredients in something.  Then I’ll be perfectly content with letting the vicious vegans out to play.

I’m not really in Long Beach very often, but one day my vegan guy and I were driving from Orange County to LA and decided to stop in.  We got the Quesadilla ($6.95) with Daiya vegan cheese and black beans.  You can also get this with beefless crumbles, but I love beans, so my vegan guy had to just deal.  I loved this (mainly because I am such a bean aficionado).  My vegan guy would have liked it better with the beefless crumble (as he is not such a huge fan of this legume).

The quesadilla came with Chips and Salsa that we could have done without.  The quesadilla is so huge, I don’t know why it would need such a big side.

Keeping with the Mexican theme, we also got the Tacos ($6.50).  It comes with refried beans, lettuce, cheese, and your choice of beefless crumbles or seasoned chicken strips.  My vegan guy petitioned for the beefless crumbles, and that’s what we got (although I still want to try them with the chicken).  I liked these tacos – and trust me, there are more fillings underneath all that lettuce!

My vegan guy wanted the Hot Dogs ($8.95).  It comes with a potato of your choice (I wanted the Sweet Potato Tater Tots) and Chili.  I love vegan hot dogs, but I think this was too simple to pay $8.95 for.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the chili, either.  The tater tots were good.  I’d never had tater tots before (I was a PB&J kid and not a product of school lunches), so I don’t know how they compare to other people’s tots.

And finally, we got the Kid’s Mac and Cheese ($4.95).  We thought we were getting some tiny portion, but this thing is like a meal for an adult.  I don’t know what fat kids are coming in here and eating this whole thing!!  And I say this knowing full well that I could have finished this as a kid!  Whether you finish this or not, I liked it.  I still think I’ve had better vegan mac and cheeses, but this was a great attempt.  I’d get it again (especially for that yummy garlic bread!).

I hope you give Long Beach Vegan Eatery a chance.  Just don’t go in expecting healthy foods galore!  This is more of a vegan fast food/comfort foods type place.

2246 N. Lakewood Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90815
562-986-LBVE

Monday: 11 am – 2 pm
Tuesday–Sunday: 11 am – 8 pm