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 rateful Heart Cafe located on Torrey Pines
is operated by the Scripps Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease, founded
by Dean Ornish, recently featured on the front page of Newsweek for his
work in reducing heart ailments.
 Their commitment to healthy good
eating is apparent immediately on entering. This vegetarian restaurant features
a beautiful salad bar, including a fruit bar with kiwis, mango, and strawberries.
A dining room table displays heart-healthy product samples, geared to educate
customers what on they can find in supermarkets which will be good to their
heart.
My prejudice of heart-healthy as
being taste-boring was broken with my first bite. I ordered tofu scramble
with a side of vegetarian sausage. The scramble included onions, mushrooms,
tomatoes, garlic, peppers and bit of spinach. Delicious. My smoothie combined
blueberries, peaches, pineapples, dates, flax seed, soy protein and apple
juice. Over half of items can be made vegan.
The food very tasty, and an hour
after eating, I felt very good like the food was helping my body, rather
than leaving me feeling lethargic and stuffed as I often do after a meal.
Jackie Geller, from the famed San
Francisco restaurant The Greens, was our talented chef. Jackie takes pride
in her art and Lou Ellen, the creator of Grateful Heart, has successfully
made it a priority to provide San Diegans with delectable food which is
good for the body and good for the planet. The service was prompt, amiable,
and genuine.
Grateful Heart opened up late April
as a Green Restaurant. Cafe-style, they go beyond what would be expected
of them environmentally. Not only did they open completely styrofoam-free,
using 100 percent post-consumer recycled, non-bleached napkins, but they
also use full reusables in-house., including linen napkins. They zipped
through 4 environmental changes in 2 weeks it takes most restaurants more
than a year to accomplish as much. They immediately diverted over half of
their trash into recycling, which will save an estimated 120 trees this
year and will divert 25,000 pounds of garbage into the recycling stream.
San Diego's newest vegetarian restaurant
has 5 months to prove itself to Scripps hospital as being a valuable asset
to the community. Open 7am-2pm Mon-Fri, their creative breakfast and lunch
menus includes black bean burrito, soy chicken burgers, taco salads, and
eggstrodinaire omelets (98% egg whites).
Located at 10820 N. Torrey Pines
Rd in La Jolla, they can be reached at (619) 554-4787. Meals average under
$5.  |
