The Bottom Line
Pros
- Friendly service
- Nice variety of dishes
- Warm ‘neighborhoody’ atmosphere
- Stand-alone flavorful vegan dishes that are just as tasty as meat dishes (for non-vegans as well)
- They use the light and easy-to-digest agave as a sweetener (instead of raw sugar or maple syrup)
Cons
- Restaurant parking is only available at night (eight spaces in back)
Description
- Beyond raw and vegan cuisine, they can also cater meals to wheat gluten intolerant diners.
- They offer curbside service on ‘to go’ orders (pickup behind SunPower in the alley).
- They occasionally host guest vegan and raw food chefs for special event series.
Guide Review - SunPower Natural Vegan and Raw Food Cafe in Los Angeles' Studio City
Long gone are the days of bland-tasting vegetarian food, that ‘only a vegetarian could love.’ These days, Angelenos can look forward to more flavor and variety in their health food, thanks to newer healthy vegan restaurants like SunPower Natural Cafe. According to one of its owners, it attracts plenty of non-vegetarians as well. And judging by the assortment of available goodies, I can understand why.
I only regret that I didn’t discover this cute little eatery earlier, as it’s conveniently situated in Studio City, a stone’s throw away from Universal Studios. Unfortunately, its petite stature and location (which doesn’t seem to attract too much foot traffic) can make it an easy drive-by miss.
SunPower Natural brings inventiveness and flavor to its dishes--something that is thankfully starting to happen more and more in healthy vegetarian cooking. Its baby miso macadamia stuffed Crimini mushrooms are amazing, and the kind of food you could easily become addicted to popping into your mouth non-stop. The pistachio kale Stroganoff soup is rich and tasty, and a meal in itself.
In the exotic arena, the cafe menu boasts cilantro agave glazed tofu Pad Thai with kelp noodles. The noodles are interesting but were a bit spicy for my tastes. A similar (slightly spicy) seasoning seems to work better on the tofu as it simply coats the top of the bean curd making for a subtler taste.
On the raw side of things, SunPower Natural also offers up a lovely corn Sunrise soup, warmed up to the limits of its raw foods category (under 118 degrees). My favorite recently added dish in this category is the Portabello carpaccio herb salad, which really comes to life with the added accent of dill.
Quite a few of the dishes contain nut mixtures (cashew cheese, pecan cheese, pesto sauce) so those allergic to peanuts or nuts should be on alert. The servers are friendly and knowledgeable though, and should be able to navigate you in the right direction.
As someone who loves nuts (and is blessed to not be allergic to them), I thoroughly enjoyed their cookie dough desert, which amazingly tastes like the real deal--minus the butter, eggs and sugar (it’s agave sweetened). I dare say the average sweet tooth/dessert fanatic might hardly sense the difference...except along his or her waistline.
3711 W. Cahuenga Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604
818-308-7420
Hours:
Mon.-Wed., 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Thu-Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m., closed Sun.
