Reviews and Accolades
San Diego Downtown, Spring 2006, pp. 12 and 25:
Where's the beef?
A consummate vegan proves that the best things in life don't have faces.
By BLAKE JONES
As a vegan diner in San Diego, I am thankful for any options available to my small, yet emerging demographic. Eating out is not always the easiest prospect when one is avoiding milk, butter, cheese, eggs and all other animal by-products.
While searching for the perfect vegan meal, I found the Holy Grail at Kung Food near Balboa Park, 2949 Fifth Avenue. If I lived closer to this establishment, it would surely and regularly empty my wallet and fill my belly. The cuisine is entirely vegan and shows great care to incorporate organic, minimally processed ingredients.
The menu also offers many selections for raw foodists—a clan of brave and disciplined individuals who eat only plant-based foods that have not been heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit because of a belief that the cooking process kills nutrients and enzymes beneficial to one's health. While I agree that raw fruits and vegetables are an important part of every diet, I sorely lack the willpower and conviction to sustain a raw foods lifestyle.
Nonetheless, I was immediately tempted by a raw pasta marinara dish upon entering the small cafeteria-style eatery. After adding it to my plate, I moved down the line toward the hot dishes, selecting a helping of pesto pasta, a slice of spinach and "cheese" lasagna, a serving of "chicken" parmesan, and reached full-plate capacity with a scoop of "soyrizo and papas." While this may sound like a lot of food—and it was—customers can request small or large portions of as many or as few items as they please. Plates are weighed at the end of the line to the tune of $6.95 per pound. (Read more)
San Diego Reader, June 1, 2006, p. 144:
Sprouted Again
"Feeling sick? Try Israel's Tonic! Garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper, lemon, apple, beet, and carrot."
By ED BEDFORD
"Raw collard greens, man. They're the wrap around the wrap. I swear. You'll love it!"
I have created a monster. Yes, I'm the one who started Hank on his health kick. But now the guy never stops, 'specially since I confessed that, the other week, I chose Max's Deli across the road over this nutty, twiggy Kung Food joint.
I follow Hank into a spacious courtyard behind a trellis, giving onto a terracotta-red frontage. One end is bricky, with climbing vines, a, like, xeriscape garden with native grasses and a couple of bottlebrush trees with scarlet flowers. People sit out under square white canvas umbrellas. Everyone looks disgustingly healthy.
Then it all comes back to me. "Hank!" I say. "We've been here before. Remember? Vegetarian Zone? But it closed down."
"Well, looks like it's sprouted again," says Hank. (Read more)
Herbivore Magazine, Summer 2006, pp. 106-107:
Stuff We Dig
Kung Food Express Café www.kung-food.com
By DARA PERALES
When many people think of California, they think "The Land of Fruits and Nuts," and considering who our governor is, that might be true. However, in Southern California, it is often difficult to find a place that serves fruit and nuts and veggies without worrying what they're cooked on or in. Kung Food Express Café, nestled beside Balboa Park in San Diego, offers a haven for Veg*n eaters with its amazing selection of vegan, mostly organic food and comfortable atmosphere.
Kung Food is more like a community center than simply a restaurant. Yes, it has the only vegan drive-thru, featuring "juicy veggie burgers, burritos, French fries and sweet potato fries, salads, soft-serve, and drinks," but there is also the main restaurant, outdoor/garden seating, an open-mike stage area, and classroom-type space for organic and raw foods cooking classes. The main restaurant area features a pseudo-cafeteria setup where you pay for your food based on its weight: pay only for what you want to eat. You control the portion size.
Kung Food displays a selection of packaged pastas, fair trade coffees, books, cd's, and soaps alongside a selection of prepared sandwiches, snacks, and salads. Once you pay for your food, and maybe foreshadow what you'll have for dessert, you move onto the comfortable setting of the indoor or outdoor dining areas. The dining room feels like you've just entered someone's comfortable, hip home. Decorated with local artists' work, eaters are stimulated with interesting sights. The outdoor sitting area looks like garden seating, and it's a great place to soak in that terrific weather San Diego remains famous for. Dogs are welcome, so that's an added pleasure for patrons and passersby. The stage area hosts an open mic night every Friday, with musicians and poets on the rosters. By publication time, Kung Food will have hosted Gemini Soul featuring Aiamu Akinyele, a concert benefiting Mama's Kitchen, a San Diego-based organization delivering meals to hundreds of men, women, and children affected by HIV/AIDS. Free wireless Internet is offered; you can email everyone you know about how outstanding the food is while there.
Kung Food offers brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, and the selections include soy "sausage," chocolate chip banana or raspberry pancakes, tofu scramble, biscuits and gravy, homemade muffins, Righteous Roots potatoes, and the most amazing quiche ever; on my visit it was spinach and artichoke. On Saturday afternoons there is a BBQ with veggie burgers and dogs, marinated veggies and tofu, and sangria. Their delivery menu sounds more like upscale catered fare than what you would expect with sandwiches, wraps, sundried tomato hummus, salads, desserts, and more. The regular eat-in menu features deli salads, a burrito bar, soup, homemade desserts/baked goods (so yummy!), raw foods, fresh fruit smoothies, soft-serve ice cream, beverages, and alcoholic beverages. If I had a rating system, I would give Kung Food the highest rating on every aspect. This is one of the best veg*n places out there.
All the food I tried left me with a satisfied feeling without the negative of eating food that's unhealthy. The food is very obviously homemade, and after meeting Meaghan Leahy, Chef/Catering Director, it was easy to see why every aspect of this place is as terrific as it is; Meaghan and the rest of Kung Food Express Café believe "Eating plant based food is one of the most powerful ways to improve your health, clean up the environment, and conserve natural resources for your children's future." Voted the Best Vegetarian Restaurant in SignOnSanDiego.com Readers' Poll, Kung Food is located at 2949 5th Ave. in San Diego, open M-F 11-9, (Fridays 'till 11) and Sat-Sun 10-9 (Saturdays 'till 11) and hosts private parties and provides catering services.