dining

When your kidney is acting up and you are prone to gout attacks, and it’s lunchtime and you’re near Via España in the banking area, old habits like McDonald’s or Burger King are BAD habits. These are times to go low on the protein and to abstain from red meat. But don’t worry, because there are options.

You may want to go to Mireya’s, the venerable vegetarian place down near the Marriott, which has survived the closure of its El Dorado locale.

But I was taking a cab to an appointment and noticed the new competition in the area, La Casa Vegetariana, just a few doors down from the Hotel Continental. After my business was done, I decided to give it a try.

This is chafing table Chinese, served cafeteria-style in an unpretentious setting. No superlatives are in order for the establishment as such.

But they served me a cheap, filling and very good lunch.

For three bucks I got a little bowl of soup, a bit of chow mein, a couple of deep fried spinach balls, a big vegetarian dumpling, some greens that I couldn’t precisely identify, a fried Chinese mushroom patty and a bowl of watermelon cubes.

Everything was good, some of the things were excellent and the mushroom patty, which looked like a hamburger, was really wonderful. I walked away feeling much better than would have been the case had I done the burger thing, or even my usual alternative to burgers when in that neighborhood, dumplings at the Fa Yuen.

La Casa Vegetariana isn’t your only vegetarian option in town, nor even your only Chinese vegetarian possibility. But this is a worthy little establishment and I hope it survives.

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