Saturday, 23 February 2013 13:17

Restaurants with Healthy Meals Near Expo West at the Anaheim Convention Center

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UPDATED: February 24, 2015 (originally written in 2013)

It's that time of year again - Natural Products Expo West starts on March 7th! This business trade show is an amazing place for professionals in the health field to meet eachother, discover new products and introduce others to them. Attendees are bombarded with free food all day long, namely energy bars, chocolate, sweet drinks and bagged snacks. Unfortunately this wonderful experience often leaves to upset stomaches due to weird food combinations and cravings for nutritious, sit-down meals. Though the area around the Anaheim Convention Center doesn't offer much in the way of healthy restaurants I've pulled together a list of places that offer whole plant-based meals, which will satisty both vegans and omnivores.

  1. Healthy Junk is a recent addition to the Anaheim area and this plant-based, gluten-free joint is sure to be a hit with vegans attending Expo West and Disneyland. It is a bit of a drive from the Convention Center, so attendees should plan to visit for dinner (they're open until 9pm).
  2. SeaBirds Kitchen is another recent addition to Orange County. This vegan restaurant is located in Costa Mesa and is based on the former food truck of the same name. Here is a video with a brief interview with the chef and my thoughts on some of her food.
  3. Au Lac is one of my favorite restaurants of all time - though it's a drive from Expo, it is absolutely worth it. They're open until 9:33pm everyday, so go in between the closing of the floor and the slew of parties each night. You can go wrong with the menu - the raw Chimichurri and donut holes are must tries. Check out my video review from forever ago.
  4. 118 Degrees is a nice organic, raw, vegan restaurant that's also kinda far from Expo, but worth going to for a clean, nutrient-dense meal. Here's that video review.
  5. Native Foods is virtually next door to 118 Degrees and is a great place for a satisfying, warm, resonably-priced, plant-based meal. The only video I have on that is quite informal but will give you a taste of there offerings.
  6. Veggie Grill is similar to Native Foods and a little farther away - it's one of my favorite veg chains because there's something for everyone there and most of their customers aren't even vegan! I've done a ton of videos on good ol' VG

I haven't been to the rest of the restaurants on this map - I found them through HappyCow and trust them to be good options, depending on your palate, time and budget. Would love to hear your thoughts if you try them!


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Read 20393 times Last modified on Tuesday, 24 February 2015 12:59