Meatless Monday Lunch: Border Grill (Santa Monica)

Date: Monday, March 25, 2013
Restaurant: Border Grill
Address: 1445 4th Street, Santa Monica
Ordered: Meatless Monday 2-Course Lunch Special
Thoughts: Looking to grab a quick lunch on the Promenade before catching an afternoon matinee, I initially headed to the very popular newbie lunch spot, Hummus Bar Express. Somehow I had forgotten my own people's holiday - it was Passover. And although HBE was open, they were only serving unleavened pita/laffa for the day. The prospect of no meat and no real bread seemed too daunting, so I started to search for another option. Remembering that Border Grill had embraced the whole Meatless Monday thing very early on, I headed that direction. As it turns out, not just does BG support Meatless Monday, they offer an incredible Meatless Monday special both at lunch (two course) and dinner (three course). At lunch, the first course is a "sampling of vegetarian appetizers" (a green corn tamale and a delectable plantain empanada) and then basically your choice of any non-meat entree on the menu (I went with the Farmers Market Quesadilla, filled with slow roasted cherry tomatoes, squash blossoms, grilled zucchini, asparagus, epazote and machego, panela and cojita cheeses - note: nobody does the quesadilla better in LA than Border Grill, both in the restaurant and on their truck). The quesadilla also comes with a large serving of guac, pico de gallo and a green salad with a citrus-based dressing; each table also receives a basket of freshly made tortilla chips with three smoky salsas.
Did I Miss Meat?: No. In fact, the Lunch Special was so enormous, I brought home half of it and ate the remaining for my Tuesday lunch.