If there’s one thing the southwest is known for, it is Mexican food.  And yes, I am including LA in the “Southwest” (it is surrounded by desert, people!).  Aaron and his girlfriend, Kara, were unsure about where to take me (being fans of the blog and fearful of my iconoclasm towards their favorite restaurants).  They asked me where I wanted to go, and I said “I want Mexican food!”  They immediately came up with Hugo’s Tacos (a good sign), which fortunately was very close to where they lived in the Valley.

Hugo’s Tacos actually has two locations, one in Los Angeles, and one in the Valley in Studio City.  If you’ve never been to the Valley location it looks like parking lot attendant’s office and makes probably some of the finest vegetarian friendly Mexican food I had in LA.  Hugo’s Tacos is similar to other burritorium-style restaurants, they have your typical taco, burrito, quesadilla, torta combinations.  The cool part about Hugo’s tacos is that it is modular, where you can choose from one of seven different fillings, two of which are vegetarian.  They are: mixed vegetables with herbs, and soy chorizo, potato, and zucchini. I am a big fan of soy chorizo, So, I decided to get a torta with the soy chorizo option.  The torta was filled with organic white beans, guacamole, tomato and onions.  While it was very good, I still prefer the tortas from Tacos Lupita.  Unlike Tacos Lupita, this torta is vegan, as they use vegenaise instead of mayonnaise.  I think the deal breaker for me was the honey chipotle coating of the bread.  It made the torta unnecessarily messy, and I am not a fan of the chipotlification of food.

While I was already stuffed with the torta (it is very filling), I had to try the mixed vegetables filling to see if one was better than the other.  So, I ordered a medium spiced taco with the mixed vegetables.  This was a huge mistake as my definition of medium is completely different from Hugo’s.  Though the crispy shell and the mixed vegetables were very tasty, the “medium” sauce was so incredibly hot that I could barely eat the taco.  I should point out that I do have a tolerance of spiciness, so if you do not like spicy foods, stay as far away from medium as you can.

I was thoroughly impressed by the selection of foods at Hugo’s Tacos.  They certainly make an effort to try to cater to vegetarians as well as vegans.  Beyond just the two vegetarian options (which is way more than the standard “beans” option), they also have vegetarian burgers that look very good as well.  I would rate the food quite highly, though I would hardly say it is the best Mexican food I have ever had.  I am going to give Hugo’s Tacos five cheese sandwiches primarily because they make such a good effort to try to cater to vegetarians and vegans.  Though my food wasn’t overwhelmingly amazing for a five cheese sandwich review, I think I just ended up ordering the wrong dishes.  This is definitely a restaurant that I would want to come to again and again.

Hugo’s Tacos
4749 Coldwater Canyon Ave
Studio City, California 91423 
(818) 762-7771

If there’s anything that I try to do by writing this blog, it is to bust hype.  For years, west coasters have always gone on and on about how great In n’ Out Burger is, and how nothing can match the quality of In n’ Out Burger.  I went through the same experience with Five Guys from DC people.  Aaron, my friend that I was staying with in the Valley lived just down the street from an In n’ Out Burger, so he took me to the place so I can see what all the fuss is about.

Aaron insisted that the thing to get at In n’ Out was the Animal-style fries, which were fries topped with caramelized onions, cheese, and thousand island dressing.  While that would sound delicious, the fries on their own were very stale and unappetizing.  Even if they were fresh, I don’t really see how they are any different from McDonald’s fries.  I don’t know what exactly makes this “animal” style, perhaps that this is food more fitting for animals than humans? 

In n’ Out does not offer anything vegetarian friendly, the only option they had was a cheese sandwich or a grilled cheese.  I ordered the grilled cheese because I wanted something a little hot.  It turned out it was just a cheese sandwich on a toasted bun.  Unlike Five Guys, this cheese sandwich was slightly tasty so I will give it a few points for that.

Surprisingly, even McDonalds (in some locations worldwide) offer veggie burgers. Admittedly it is simply a ploy to get increased sales in markets where vegetarianism is quite high (like India).  When people go on about how places like Five Guys or In n’ Out are so great, I have to ask “Do they have a veggie burger?”  In my opinion, any place that doesn’t care about catering to a broad spectrum of clientele simply does not take food service seriously.  These local pale imitations of McDonalds will be just that, and until they are willing to cater to vegetarians, I’ll give them one and a half cheese sandwiches.

In n’ Out Burger
4444 Van Nuys Boulevard
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-2908 
(800) 786-1000

Boston, unlike New York, does not have a wealth of indigenous burger chains that serve mass-produced veggie burgers (see NYC Veggie Burger META Review).  There are a few, such as B. Good and Uburger, but that is it.  This is sad for perhaps the 3% of my readers that are really keen on getting a veggie burger fast (chime up if you think there are more people that want good fast veggie burgers not served as pub-grub).  Uburger is almost universally praised as being one of the best local burger chains in Boston.  A new location just opened on the Common, near where I work, so I went with Kenny to check it out.

While Uburger claims that it was founded on the premise that “high-quality and fresh ingredients make a huge difference”, they obviously do not apply that ethos to their veggie burgers.  It is obviously a frozen patty, very much akin to a Gardenburger patty (though it tastes marginally better than your typical Gardenburger).  What’s more, you have to pay 35 cents more to get a veggie burger!  Their “About Us” section states that they only have freezers to keep their ice cream cold.  Which makes me confused on multiple reasons - Do they not freeze their veggie burgers?  Are the patties just kept at room temperature and then fried?  That can’t be sanitary.  Unless they’re lying… Which would explain why you have to pay 35 cents extra for a veggie burger, it’s freezer overhead costs.

The fries are very tasty, as they taste like freshly made McDonald’s fries.  They are very simple and delicious.  No complaints on this front.

Despite it looking like a vat of sludge, the mint oreo shake was phenomenal.  It is just starting to get a little warm, and I am already looking forward to a summer of frappes (shakes for you in normal non-New England parts of the country).  And this frappe served as a good prelude for the summer to come.

I can understand how the meat eaters can enjoy Uburger, almost everything I had was pretty good and cheap.  I got a regular cheese veggie burger, fries, and a shake all for ~$11.  A pretty good deal for anywhere that is not overtly destroying the world (McDonalds, Burger King).  However, their veggie burger is of appalling quality considering they take such pride in their meat patties.  If they can make fresh meat patties daily, just make a small percentage of veggie patties.  I actually would not even complain if it was frozen (well, maybe a little), but it would still be 100 times better than the Gardenburger patty.  I don’t even understand why every crappy restaurant uses Gardenburger patties.  Is there some sort of sinister conspiracy that Gardenburger is behind trying to make meals disgusting for vegetarians everywhere?  Also, Gardenburger patties are not vegan.  At the very least, this should be considered if you actually care about customers.  Because of this meat-eating snobbery against making a decent veggie burger, I have to give Uburger two cheese sandwiches.  As the place is actually pretty decent, but they don’t nail the one dish that most vegetarians/vegans would eat if they came here.

Uburger
140 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108

One of the great quirks of living in a city is watching the turnover of restaurants in certain spaces.  Since I started working in Boston, I’ve seen a lot of places come and go near Downtown Crossing, and one of my old favorite locations was the Know Fat! establishment near the Eddie Bauer.  I loved Know Fat! because it pretended to be a healthy dining establishment, yet all of the food was still really fatty.  Also, if you want to be a healthy restaurant, you should probably not associate the word fat into your name.  Fortunately, the new Ufood Grill (technically it’s been here a year) has taken its place and has dropped the fat in the title.

Unlike Know Fat!, Ufood Grill has a veggie burger.  After eating the veggie burger, I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, as the burger was slightly uncooked (which is disgusting coming from a frozen patty).  Also, it was one of the “fake hamburger” style of veggie burger, rather than being a vegetable patty that I typically prefer.  Part of the reason giving up meat was so easy for me was that I only used to eat crappy processed food from fast food chains.  So, while this veggie burger was pleasantly nostalgic, I could have done without eating such rubbish.

As disgusting as the burger was, the fries were actually pretty tasty.  This was one pleasant continuation from Know Fat, which had delicious fries, that they insisted were low fat, but were in reality something like 500 calories per serving.  Overall, there are far more vegetarian options at Ufood Grill than the previous incarnation, which makes sense for a place that encourages healthy eating.  That was the most vexing aspect of Know Fat! since I could not fathom a restaurant that insisted it was healthy eating, when they had so few vegetarian options.  While their veggie burger is pretty generic and terrible, they do have a lot of other choices that are decent for a fast food joint.  The most fair comparison of Ufood is to other fast food places, and on those criteria, Ufood is pretty good, so I’ll give it three and a half cheese sandwiches.

Ufood Grill
530 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111-1723 
(617) 451-0043