El Cantaro

Cheese, spice and margaritas are the three main reasons I head over to my favorite taqueria or cantina. I experienced none of these at El Cantaro, the new 100-percent-vegan restaurant two blocks from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. But I was thoroughly satisfied with the abundance of healthy Oaxacan-influenced fare, the fresh juice bar and the array of mild flavors and textures that leave the mind, body and soul content.

It’s a colorful, warm space transformed from what was once a Subway sandwich shop, with equally warm and welcoming service. It’s a family-run, casual cafe, where you order at the counter and they bring the food as it comes out. All of it is served with paper plates, plastic cups and disposable utensils, but that doesn’t prevent beautiful presentation.

If you’re lucky, a young man named Christian will take your order. He is patient, speaks clearly and is knowledgeable about almost all of the ingredients and preparation of the menu items. Those with food allergies know this is rare.

For a Monday lunch, we ate like vegan royalty. Freshly squeezed orange juice ($5.75) and watermelon aguas frescas ($2.50/small, $3.75/large) were simply rejuvenating. Mexican chocolate is earthier than the stuff Americans are used to and the Oaxacan hot chocolate ($3.95) was just that, with a lingering tropical finish from the blend of cocoa beans, cinnamon, cane sugar and toasted almonds.

To start we feasted on taquitos ($7.50), three handmade corn tortillas (menu reads four) filled with spiced “chickin’,” a meat-free alternative made of gluten-free grains and soy protein, rolled up and served on a bed of cabbage and guacamole. These were a favorite – each bite was crispy crunchy with no drippy oil. More faux-meat filling would have been nice, but the fresh guac compensated.

If chilaquiles ($8.75) are on the menu, I will order them. Each restaurant has its own style, with many places adding egg. Here in Veganville, they offer a decent portion of fried tortillas smothered in green tomatillo or red tomato sauce, topped with shredded soy cheese. Mild salsa verde covered this fine casserole with a side of black beans and rice. Satisfying, even sans real cheese or egg.

One key to successful vegan Mexican: smartly sourced protein and cheese alternatives. Here the soy cheese is used more for decorative purposes, and only when heated does it melt like the dairy kind.

We then turned to the tacos, which are a must-try. Our party began with the ranchero taco ($3.85), filled with ground “meat” created from the amaranth grain and topped with tomatoes, lettuce and queso with choice of mild or hot salsa. Amaranth dates back to the Aztecs and is packed with fiber, iron and calcium. Most of El Cantaro’s soy-free, gluten-free “meat” is made from this ancient grain.

I devoured the crispy potato taco – deep-fried corn tortilla filled with mashed potatoes, fresh lettuce and salsa fresca – in three bites. Super crunchy, the potatoes could have used a hint of salt but I fixed that by dipping it in the orange hot salsa, which is nicely spicy and creamy with a nut-butter texture.

The mushroom taco ($3.75) was the highlight of my first visit, and this time it had been upgraded. Stuffed with sauteed mushrooms and topped with cilantro, fresh onions and salsa, it was nearly three times as pudgy with stuff inside.

Gluten-sensitive diners will be ecstatic to hear all of the fried items are gluten free, done with rice bran oil that’s great for high-temperature cooking. It’s also more rich in nutrients and antioxidants than your household cooking oil. I ordered the hand-cut fries from the kids’ menu ($1.88). If you prefer crispy, you may want to request it. I was just dandy with my flexible potato sticks.

On the sweet side, they offer vanilla soy ice cream with fried plantains ($7.95) or sweet potatoes ($6.95), chocolate cake ($6.99) in a milky coffee sauce, chocolate mint chip ice cream ($3.75) and Spanish rice pudding ($3.99), an 8-ounce portion of soy-milky, magic-infused rice with a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon.

I’d love to see more sauteed fresh vegetables on the menu – simple, flavorful and easy to prepare. But El Cantaro deserves a high five for its fresh salads, like the spinach salad ($8.25) with its fun twist of strawberries, carrots, crunchy jicama and pumpkin seeds served in an agave-lemon vinaigrette; and the tortilla-jalapeño salad ($8.95) in its base of spring greens topped with corn, tomatoes, cheese, avocado, cilantro and tortilla chips, paired with a ranch-jalapeño dressing which, like all the dressings and sauces, is made in-house.

My biggest beef with the beef-free place: It’s closed Saturdays. The owners are Seventh Day Adventists who don’t work on their sabbath, and most of them practice a lacto-ovo vegetarian lifestyle. That means the same thing that inspired the day off inspired the diet, which inspired the restaurant, which inspires me to say that’s a more than fair deal – and thank God they’re open the other six.

EL CANTARO VEGAN MEXICAN RESTAURANT 791 Foam St. , Monterey • 10am-9pm Sun-Thu; 10am-3pm Fri; closed Sat. • 646-5465.