My first encounter with alfalfa sprouts occurred in high school when I became a die-hard fan of Jimmy John’s Turkey Tom, a plain-Jane turkey sandwich stuffed with sprouts. Alas, sprouts disappeared from that sandwich in 2012, and since then, a turkey-tomato-mayo sandwich just isn’t the same – and neither is my palate.
Luckily I can get my sprout fix at MoKaBe’s, the coffeeshop that anchors the corner of Arsenal Street and South Grand Boulevard– and a much healthier, meat-free option at that. The vegetarian menu at MoKaBe’s isn’t just a dinky collection of salads and a grilled cheese sandwich; the number of its meatless menu items practically equals the carnivorous offerings. Four different house-made veggie burgers are listed (In fact, MoKaBe’s Blue Mac burger made our Veggie Burger Short List a few years ago.), not to mention several other meatless sandwich options, like the appropriately named Who Needs Meat?
Two slices of Companion multigrain bread speckled with white and black sesame seeds are slicked with a creamy, house-made dill sauce. The bread barely contains a large stack of lettuce, tomato, red onion, cucumber and a hefty handful of my crunchy, beloved sprouts, all bookended by slices of Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese. I continued to feed my veggie fix with a side house salad of spring greens, artichoke hearts, yellow peppers and mushrooms tossed with sundried tomato dressing. This vegetarian meal left me full and had me wondering the eponymous question: who needs meat? Well, at least for today.
This article appears in June 2014.