There are several “planetary” restaurants in the Berkeley area, ranging from Venus to Jupiter to Saturn. Saturn Cafe is the vegetarian diner of the group, serving traditional types of burgers, fries, and shakes – with a twist. Everything is vegetarian, from the appetizers to the sandwiches to the burgers.
Claiming to be “your favorite space-age vegetarian diner,” the restaurant had a pink, glittery, and slightly confusing future-retro decor. There were the expected booths as well as graffiti art, not exactly period-correct but very interesting.
My friend Dow and I split an order of the Chicken Avocado Club and half an order of Nacho Fries. The sandwich contained vegetarian chicken and fakin bacon, along with the usual club sandwich ingredients.
The “chicken” looked like thin slices of tofu, and the fakin bacon looked obviously fake, but the sandwich tasted surprisingly good. It wasn’t as meaty as an actual chicken sandwich, but considering that I was expecting a cardboard taste, the imitation meats were actually pretty similar in taste to the actual thing. Quite a praiseworthy feat.
The nacho fries were definitely easier in concept. No fake meat here, just some good ol’ nacho cheese, guac, and all the usual condiments you would find in nachos. The fries were cooked well and tasted great with the condiments.
Overall, a satisfying experience. Very large portions do a great job making up for the lack of meat, and the food tasted good enough to actually enjoy. Vegetarian dishes are hard to pull off, so props to Saturn Cafe for doing it right.
The distant future, the year 2000 at www.thefoodspotlight.com.