Mars and Venus can’t find burger at Saturn Cafe
Saturn Cafe
145 Laurel St
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 429-8505
Say you’re craving a big bowl of gnocchi in a walnut-gorgonzola sauce, so you go out to eat at a place called Mars. Once there, you ask the waiter to make sure there’s no chicken broth in the sauce ’cause you’re a vegetarian, you wait for your meal to come out, and when it’s finally delivered to your table, you discover slices of prosciutto on top because there’s prosciutto in every dish at the restaurant? A small sign outside mentioned that they make their own cured meats, but didn’t say anything about every single meal being laden with prosciutto or sausages.
Although I’m now a recovering vegetarian, having been on that end of the spectrum for about 15 years, I was disheartened to have a similar (albeit opposite) experience when we headed to the Saturn cafe to satisfy our burger craving. Large signs on the windows heralding the presence of “Burgers” and “Shakes” and only a small sign above the door touting their fantastic vegetarian (but notedly, they didn’t say “ALL-vegetarian”) menu.
Luckily, after spending 15 years as a vegetarian, I’m well attuned to noticing the phrase “100% vegetarian.” And I noticed it on the menu the second I sat down… and two seconds later, I was out the nearest emergency exit door. Had there not been such a conflict between what was advertised and what was on the menu, and had I not been craving a big hunk of ground beef molded into the shape of a patty, I might have dove into any seitan-containing item on the menu… but I don’t take kindly to manipulation, and I wasn’t going to feel guilty leaving a restaurant which lured me in by false advertising.
But I’m a mid-century modern junkie. One star: for the decor alone.
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