Mi Vida offers tasty, fresh, vegan cuisine made from local and organic produce. Watch your chef prepare your meal as you enjoy the magical atmosphere of this urban vegan oasis.

Is this your first restaurant?

Yes.

When did it open?

April 5, 2011.

Do you want to have more than one restaurant?

Yes.

What’s your favorite dish on the menu?

Canelones de verdura, a pancake-style dough filled with spinach and cashew cheese and topped with tomato-basil sauce.

What’s your most popular appetizer?

Eggplant a la Italiana, eggplant rolls filled with tofu and veggies and served with tomato-basil sauce.

What’s the most popular entrée on the menu?

Vegan seitan-and-mushroom sloppy joe.

What’s your most popular dessert?

It’s a seasonal dessert: the raw vegan passion-fruit pie.

What do you feel is special about your restaurant?

The vibe. We always try to keep the good energies up!

How often do you change your menu items? Do you have daily or weekly specials?

Items on our menu vary depending on the availability of seasonal and organic produce. Our specials change quite often, usually weekly.

Do you have gluten-free, soy-free, and sugar-free options on your menu?

Yes.

What do you do to reduce your environmental impact?

We recycle and we encourage our customers to bring their own containers for their pickup orders, offering a ten-percent discount if they do so. And we have many more ideas that we are planning on incorporating in the near future.

What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as owner or chef of this restaurant?

There are too many lessons learned by me to pick only a few. With such a varied customer base I find myself constantly doing a lot of research. Almost every day someone comes in with a new tale that makes me curious to learn more.

What led you to want to open a vegan restaurant, and/or what led you to the vegan diet yourself?

There are many things that led me to a vegan diet, but I must say caring for animals is my main reason. I’ve been vegetarian for more than twenty years, and vegan for about three years. So for me, being vegan is a lifestyle rather than a diet. I wanted to promote this kind of lifestyle by showing people that healthy food can also be delicious.

In the time since your restaurant first opened, how has the plant-based food movement changed?

Even though we haven’t been open for that long, I can see a difference. I’ve noticed people are now much more aware of the importance of incorporating greens and raw foods into our diets.

Do you find more demand now for vegan food?

Absolutely. I think the rise in cancer and other terminal diseases is really starting to have an effect on our community. People are seeing now that pills and artificial remedies don’t solve much, and that preventing disease by maintaining a healthy lifestyle goes much further.

Since your restaurant first opened, has your view of what constitutes healthy or delicious food changed? Have you changed the types of foods you offer?

Yes, and I embrace that. I believe, as a restaurant owner, it is important to have an open mind. Change is always necessary if you want to improve.

Where do you see the plant-based food movement going in coming years?

I believe this is the food of the future. I see it becoming more popular over the years until it takes over and finally becomes the way we all eat.

Canelones de Seitan or Tempeh

Serves 4 (2 rolls per serving)

For the crepes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon olive oil

3 cups unsweetened, unflavored almond milk

Pinch salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

For the filling:

4 cups ground seitan or tempeh

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup diced red, yellow, and orange peppers

1 cup diced onion

½ cup diced green pepper

½ cup diced tomato

1 handful basil, chopped

1 cup capers

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the tomato sauce:

4 Roma tomatoes

1 handful fresh basil

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Nutritional yeast (garnish)

For the crepes: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the oil. Gradually add in the almond milk, stirring to combine. Add the salt and baking powder; beat until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium-high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn, and cook the other side.

For the filling: In a food processor, grind your choice of seitan or tempeh (one or the other; don’t use both) until it looks like bread crumbs. Add the olive oil to a pan over medium heat and sauté the seitan or tempeh with all the other ingredients together for about 5 minutes.

For the tomato sauce: Blend all ingredients together in a food processor.

To assemble: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place some of the filling mix in the center of a crepe, then roll it. Do the same for each of the canelones and place them on a tray. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until they’re hot. In a saucepan, warm up the tomato sauce before serving.

Place 2 canelones per plate, pour some warm tomato sauce over them, and sprinkle with nutritional yeast right before serving.