Photo by Greg Cerwonka
Zucchini lasagna at O.B. Garden Café
I found an overwhelming amount of medical articles cautioning against fruitarianism, a diet famously revered by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. My research made me skeptical of the diet’s benefits, as fruitarians eat a minimal diet of fruit, seeds and nuts, but I was still willing to try some fruity dishes.
However, I found that locating fruitarian-friendly dishes was incredibly difficult, so I played it safe and hit up a fruteria first. To answer disgraced former La Gracia owner Jenny Niezgoda’s question (“What’s a fruteria you ask?”), a fruteria is a Mexican juice bar and deli. Fruteria Disfrutalas (3647 University Ave.) was recommended to me by a friend who lives in City Heights. He said this spot is well loved unlike La Gracia, which only got as far as a Kickstarter after San Diegans slammed it for being a white-washed version of the real thing.
I got a chamango—a drink with icy mango puree and swirls of chamoy topped with tamarind candy and mango slices. This was perfect for dessert haters because the spiciness of the chamoy and tamarind masked most of the mango’s sweetness. I do recommend mixing up this chamango before eating because slurping up pure chamoy can be a little intense.
O.B. Garden Café (4741 Voltaire St.) seemed like the perfect place for a fruitarian because of its vegan offerings. Opened just last year, the cafe is an expansion project of Ocean Beach People’s Organic Food Market. I settled on the zucchini lasagna, a carb-free take on pasta with zucchini noodles topped with house made cashew ricotta and marinara sauce. Before readers say, “hey that’s not fruit,” I’ll have you know zucchinis and tomatoes are botanically fruit even if they’re culinarily regarded as vegetables. *smug face*
Cooked zucchini runs the risk of being watery but O.B. Garden Café did a good job pressing out moisture from their zoodles. I also loved the flavorful, chunky tomato. With spaghetti or penne I might have wanted a runnier sauce but this one worked nicely on a lasagna. I always expect to be hungry after eating only vegetables but I was pleasantly full by the end of my meal.
The guava paleta from Tocumbo Ice Cream was super refreshing for a hot San Diego day. I visited the Barrio Logan store (1900 Main St.) but Tocumbo also has locations in Chula Vista and Chollas View. This paleta was made from the entire guava—I tasted chunks of guava skin, meat and seeds. Its natural fruit sweetness was much better than most overly sweet popsicles. The only downside was the large, round seeds, as they hurt to bite into.
Photo by Lara McCaffrey
Pitaya bowl at Swami’s Cafe
I’ve always loved sandwich shop Swami’s Cafe and am glad it’s expanding rapidly. I ordered a pitaya smoothie bowl from the North Park location (2920 University Ave.). The restaurant says it’s one of the first to introduce San Diego to pitaya and açaí bowls. The pitaya bowl was pretty and colorful as well as tasty. In a bowl as big as my face, vibrant magenta pitaya purée was topped with mango, strawberries, bananas, coconut shreds and granola. The fruit toppings were fresh and sweet and the pitaya was icy—perfect for surviving San Diego heatwaves. I was a bad pretend fruitarian and only noticed it had bee pollen when I was halfway done. Uggh, this diet is impossible to get right—how did Steve Jobs do it?