vegans from los angeles may have a hard time finding food in palm springs. after all, we have been completely spoiled in this city with a huge amount of vegan restaurants options. still, there are two places not to miss in the desert—one is native foods, and the other is nature’s cafe. located inside a health food store, nature’s cafe is a very vegetarian/vegan-friendly counter with friendly staff and excellent food. they have a whole section dedicated to vegan selections on the menu, and the workers are very knowledgeable about what other items can be veganized.

we stopped by nature’s cafe on our way back from coachella, and were blown away by how delicious our meal was. i’m talking exceptional, large portions packed with vegetables and cooked to perfection. even better than most of the stuff i can get back home in LA.

tofu burrito. $7.50

my husband got the tofu burrito which was listed under the “breakfast” section of the menu, and was stuffed with scrambled tofu, black beans and sauteed vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. the vegetable selection was a bit odd for a breakfast burrito, but worked really well and was a welcome change. i ordered the tofu ranchero, which was absolutely huge and consisted of scrambled tofu, avocado, corn tortillas, black beans, rice, kale and assorted vegetables all packed into one box. incredible!

tofu ranchero. $9.95

the best thing about the ranchero is the way nature’s cafe seasoned and scrambled the tofu. it was thick and clumpy with just the right amount of nutritional yeast, and had a really spicy and savory flavor. i mixed the tofu, kale, avocado and black beans into one big hot stew of mush that tasted delicious.

other than being a lovely little eatery that caters to vegans, nature’s cafe is also a good sized health food store with tons of vitamins, groceries, juices, mock meats and the like. it reminded me a little of follow your heart, except much smaller and not entirely vegetarian. you order your food at the counter and can eat it inside the store, or out on their patio if you can stand the heat.

i know i will be returning to nature’s cafe every time i visit palm springs. the food is just way too tasty to pass up. i’m used to pretty damn good restaurants here in los angeles, and i’d still give this place a ****** out of 5.

nature’s cafe
555 s. sunrise way #301
palm springs, ca 92264
monday-friday 8am – 7pm
saturday & sunday 9am – 5pm

**please note, according to happycow.net, the mock meats in the cafe may contain whey or eggs. there is no mock meat listed on the vegan section of the menu at nature’s cafe…so i would steer clear of it!

Check out these related posts:

• vegan feasting at stuff i eat
• massive vegan menu at tierra cafe in downtown la
• vegan coachella 2010
• native foods: even better in the desert!
• best. breakfast. ever.