Besides some fast-casual cafes, sit-down vegan restaurants are still pretty rare around San Diego. Enter The Plot in Oceanside. Go for lentil- and wild rice-based meatless loaf and Okinawan sweet potato gnocchi with cherry tomatoes and nori tapenade. The plant-based proteins are particularly good and all made in-house, including its chickpea-based tuna and lion’s mane mushroom crab featured in sushi rolls. 

You’ll definitely want to be outside on the patio—it feels less like a restaurant and more like a fancy friend’s backyard complete with an herb garden, heat lamps, and spare blankets for when the weather has the nerve to dip below 70 degrees.

photo credit: Hannah Guthman