Sage Bistro, Pasadena, CA USA

Ordered from Sage Plant Based Bistro in Old Town, Pasadena.

I discovered Sage thanks to their partnership with Lettuce Grow, a company URB-E works with. Their fresh and local approach to organic, vegetarian cuisine, had piqued my interest for months, and I was simply waiting for the right moment with the right person to branch out and try their vegetarian club sandwich.

Evan, a coworker of mine, dabbled in sandwiches quite regularly. He was also an avid yelp review reader. And dining out for lunch in Pasadena often involves a combination of these two pastimes.

Sage became the lunch destination of choice on one of the more beautiful spring days to grace Pasadena, me bating him with the hopes of club sandwich paradise.

$16. It seemed expensive for a vegetarian club sandwich, but perhaps veg proteins cost more than non-veg proteins? Perhaps. We ordered our meals and waited outside in the sun for the pleasurable experience about to come.

Delight and disappointment around all corners.

The bread was nice and crisp, and I enjoyed the firmness it held even with all of the grease it was soaked with. The center piece of bread, however, was entirely unnecessary, adding way to much bread to this sandwich.

What does rice paper bacon taste like? It tastes exactly how you’d think it tastes like. I couldn’t really tell if this added much substance the meal outside of a crunch that tasted like rice paper. I know they wanted to include it, and I bet some people like the rice flavor, but it honestly added nothing to this club sandwich besides ample laughter. I broke off a piece of it and ensured my coworker experienced it as well, laughter enveloping the table.

The rest of the ingredients were just that: ingredients. Avocado was lovely. Tomatoes were ripe but could have been cut better to enhance the sandwich’s ratio. The tofu was nicely prepared but unfortunately flavorless. The lettuce… adding nothing, and subtracted nothing.

The sauce. This was the most critical ingredient. It was honestly the only element that added flavor and depth to each bite. It’s tang and umami emanated through every morsel. I was thankful it was there, or this would have been quite the bland meal.

At $16 I would’ve expected a little bit better presentation. At least cut the sandwich. Fries were nice but they were just regular, fairly greasy, fresh fries. I was hoping for something better that would allow me to come back and rave to the office that I discovered a new meal, but alas that did not happen on this day.

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