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• Celebrate Vegetarian Awareness month with some local patties

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Farren's Pub and Eatery »
Address: 308 N. Randolph St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 359-6977
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Address: 627 E. Green St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 344-0710
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Courier Cafe »
Address: 111 N. Race St. Urbana, IL 61801
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Did you miss World Vegetarian Day?

Don’t fret — you have an entire month! October 1, World Vegetarian Day, kicked off Veggie Awareness Month, both founded by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977.

Loaded with fiber and antioxidants, veggies reduce the chance of heart disease, stroke and cancers. According to the North American Vegetarian Society, a vegetarian diet saves animals and ultimately decreases deforestation and environmental destruction caused by ranching to meet the demand for cheap beef.

So, whether you want to ditch meat to save Babe and Gordy, or are veering toward a heart-healthy diet, CU restaurants have an option for you — the veggie burger.

Veggie burgers used to have a bad reputation. Rhiannon Mortenson, daughter of the owner of Zorba’s on Green Street, described the taste of some veggie burgers to be like “cardboard.” We decided to test out several burgers from area restaurants to see if they are improving the rep for this meatless delight.

Our first stop was The Courier Café in Urbana. Served on a home made toasted wheat bun, this Gardenburger definitely lived up to its name. The patty is a combination of mushrooms, onions, cheese, rolled oats, brown rice, and spices. And we could tell. Unlike some veggie burgers, this one was not trying to imitate meat, which we liked. The actual patty was a little overcooked but tasted great with lettuce, tomato and onion. Susan Fox, Courier’s general manager, said many customers top it with mushrooms, black olives, or spinach. The Gardenburger costs $4.25 and each additional topping is 60 cents.

Fox also mentioned other popular vegetarian

items like the pesto pita, grilled with basil pesto, veggies, and Swiss cheese. But going veggie doesn’t always have to involve vegetables. Courier offers a treat that brings you back to childhood: the monkey stuff, which is filled with peanut butter, sesame seeds, honey, bananas and shredded coconut.

Todd Cobbledick, general manager of Farren’s Pub and Eatery in Champaign, said they can make any entrée vegetarian, so we took a shot at their veggie burger as well. Cobbledick said they serve about 50 veggie burgers a week and considers them to be a popular menu item. Squeezed between a sesame seed hamburger bun, the burger was topped with lettuce, tomato and included a surprise, mystery sauce. Peppery and full-flavored, the “Cajun Mayo” sauce makes a great topping to the unexpectedly large burger. We picked apart the patty to try to determine exactly what Farren’s burger was. We identified rice, red peppers, tomato, and black beans — very similar to Zorba’s but not as spicy. It was the most expensive of the three burgers we sampled at $7.75, but was definitely worth the price.

We ventured back to campus to see how the burgers there stacked up. Zorba’s serves traditional Greek food and has many vegetarian choices. In order to give their Black Bean Burger a bang and beat the stereotype of meatless meals, Zorba’s adds cucumber dill sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion and wraps the Morning Star burger patty in a deliciously warm pita, giving it the look, and taste, of a burrito. It had a spicy kick and was definitely the most flavorful. We dipped it in the cucumber dill sauce for a light, sweet zing.

Mortenson said they microwave their patty before frying it on the grill. Zorba’s uses one grill but cooks vegetarian food on a side where they don’t usually put meat, she said. Mortenson likes that they offer more than just the traditional vegetarian dishes.

“We’ve added a falafel sandwich and added extra options to the original Veggee sandwich, like hummus,” she said. “When we added this, we thought of it as an extra option for everyone, not just vegetarians.” We recommend journeying to Green Street on Tuesdays when their Veggee sandwich is a dollar off. The Black Bean Burger is a sweet $3.99.

Whether or not you are supporting a cause, don’t hesitate to stray away from your usual medium-rare burger. “They’re low in cholesterol, high in fiber, and they taste really good!” Fox said.

So there you go, fellow herbivores. Three delicious veggie burgers within a three-mile radius with additional great vegetarian options to boot. Gotta love this town.