Vegan Crunk: New Items at Mama Gaia!

Mama Gaia — the totally organic, vegetarian restaurant in Crosstown Concourse — has added two new menu items for the month of October. I tried them both, and they're among my new faves at the restaurant. Full disclosure: I do the social media and PR for Concourse, as well as Crosstown Arts. But I'd be sharing Mama Gaia news whether I worked in the building or not because I love this place! I'm so lucky to have an awesome, healthy vegetarian place in my office building.

Everything at Mama Gaia is organic, and nothing is fried. So you can feel pretty good about whatever you're eating there. The menu consists of pita sandwiches, bowls, and salads, but they just added a new vegan burger that blows so many others out of the water. And it's the first vegan burger offered in all of Concourse (several places there have veggie burgers, but they're not vegan). I tried the Smokehouse Veggie Burger this week — with vegan cheese, smoked onions, and garlic aioli. This typically comes with dairy cheese, but they're happy to make it vegan.

LOVE this patty! It's a homemade veggie patty, not a soy/seitan patty. So it's soft, but it holds together well, and it's packed with flavor. The smoky onions really take it up a notch. For all of October, you can get the burger in a combo meal with a side and drink (they serve Oogave agave-sweetened sodas and ginger-green tea lemonade) for $12. I opted for the Hummus & Veggie side.

They also added a new BBQ Tofu Pita with a smoky BBQ tofu and a creamy, vegan Asian slaw. It's a messy sandwich, just the way BBQ should be. And they're very generous with the tofu! I got one to go last week with a side of Mama Gaia's baked fries. This is also available for the $12 combo.