Cinnamon Vegetarian: (Soy) Chicken Mole & Key Lime Pie

For this episode, KCET treated Jameson Rollins, a researcher at the California Institute of Technology's LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) Laboratory, to Cinnamon Vegetarian Restaurant in Highland Park. The emphasis at Cinnamon is vegetarian Mexican food (it also provides vegan options for almost any dish they serve) which is not typical for this heavily Latino neighborhood.

It was great to meet Jameson for lunch and to learn about his work detecting cosmic gravitational waves. It reminded me of Contact, the science fiction movie starring Jodie Foster that's based on Carl Sagan's novelof the same name. Unlike Jodie's character, Jameson does not believe his project will make contact with other life forms in space, but rather that it will continue expanding the field of astronomy for scientists.

Jameson ordered a fresh juice made with carrot, celery and beet to go with his chicken (soy-based) mole and ended things with a tofu-based key lime pie. The dishes he selected created a colorful combination on the table and according to Jameson, they also tasted as good as they looked. In case you're wondering, the key lime pie was made with tofu.

I'm glad we reviewed a vegetarian restaurant and hope to cover some more in the future. Do you know of any other vegetarian Mexican restaurants in town? What's your favorite vegetarian and/or vegan restaurant in Los Angeles?

Please post your comments below, and by doing so you'll become eligible to participate in Free Lunch. Also, if you have other restaurant recommendations for us, please add them to this discussion.

Keep on Lunching!

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