Cinnamon Off Colorado: Highland Park

I'm not vegetarian but I love a great vegetarian meal. I was intrigued when I heard that a Mexican Vegetarian place was openning up in the Highland Park area. I finally dropped by to check it out.

The staff was really friendly. Despite some web posts elsewhere that were critical of the long wait for food, I didn't feel that I waited too long. Perhaps they worked out those kinks over some time.

First off, I saw a bunch of interesting smoothies. I tried an apple/carrot/cucumber smoothie. Um... this sucker was tasty. Fresh and refreshing! You can taste all the fruit and veggies in one happy union.

(I saw people coming in and just ordering smoothies to go. If I lived in this neighborhood, or if I was biking in the area, I'd stop here.)

Now this place does the faux-meat thang. I'm generally not a fan of the faux-meat. When I've had a faux-meat dish, its more for the novelty. I mean, if I wanted carnitas, I would eat real carnitas. I don't need my veggies to look like a piece of meat to enjoy the dish. So at this sitting, I didn't order the "carnitas" or "chicken" or "steak", but I did try the Soy Chorizo Sopes - which were great.

I also tried the Potato Flautas too. These were pretty good too. I was full and didn't even finish these two apetizers. So I'll have to come back to try some other stuff. I've seen some posts about the Chicken Mole - will try that next time.

If you have vegetarians/vegans in your group or if you have a hankering for Mexican but want a healthier alternative, this is a good place to check out.

Cinnamon Vegetarian Restaurant
5511 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park, CA 90042 (323) 982-9480
cinnamonvegetarian.com