Review of Zen Burger

As a vegetarian, one can find it very hard to eat well (and on the cheap) in East Midtown. Salad bars are often mysterious in both food items and cleanliness, sit down restaurants take too long, pizza every day upsets the waistline, and chain fast food is not an option. Brown bagging it most days tends to be a better option. Which is great - great for the wallet, great for the health. But sometimes, a person wants to grab and go. We want to stuff ourselves with greasy comfort food. Vegetarians want to eat junk too! Thankfully, the proprietors of Zen Palate recently opened Zen Burger, a completely vegetarian fast food heaven. Located smack dab in Midtown hell, Zen Burger sits across from Grand Central on Lexington and 46^th Street.

Zen Burger bills itself as "Good for You, Good for the Earth". Not just lip service, Zen Burger uses containers which are 90% biodegradable or compostable, 100% recycled napkins, boxes, and wrappers, and their store was built with mostly recycled materials. Zen Burger's philosophy outshines the despicable practices of the fast food industry and their horrible factory farms. No slaughtered and suffering animals, no hormones, no antibiotics, no artificial flavors, no trans-fats, and much lower doses of cholesterol. Compared to fast food chains such as McDonald's and Wendy's, Zen Burger is healthier, but it's not exactly a dieter's paradise. Apparently, Zen Burger markets to meat eaters and flexitarians (people who only eat meat every so often), trying to coax them into switching from big name fast food franchises.

Zen Burger occupies a bright space punctuated with mood-lifting splats of orange - orange on the walls, orange chairs, orange tables, orange employees (well, their uniforms anyway), giving a cheery vibe to the atmosphere. I've noticed a diverse crowd of patrons every time I come to Zen Burger: businessmen and women, construction workers, teenagers, mail carriers, parents with young kids. The place is busy, but not overwhelming. The staff, made up mostly of teenagers, have definitely stepped up their game from when the restaurant first opened. Confusion over making change from a twenty dollar bill when an employee's drawer had no singles, then spending almost ten minutes discussing with other staff about what to do and sending me to two different registers made up my first encounter with Zen Burger. By the grace of Buddha, Zen Burger has gotten their act together. The staff is now quick and knowledgeable.

Now onto important stuff: the food! I definitely feel odd ordering food named after animal carcasses. Despite the slightly annoying tag of "Zen" before each item name, the menu reads like any other fast food joint. I guess this makes meat eaters feel more at home.
The first time I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich, it wasn't hot. In the interest of journalism, I should have returned it and asked for a hot one. I didn't. Despite the "chicken" being lukewarm, the sandwich was good. Crisp lettuce with clean, dark leaves, a robust, good looking tomato and the chicken was tasty, tender, and flavorful. The sandwich comes with a dollop of Veganaise - which I normally find off putting - with some more on the side.

The fries were awesome. Perfect crispy bites with a minimum of grease. Another item besides the fries that could get me (and my thighs) in trouble? The nuggets. Oh wow yum, the nuggets. Zen Burger also has self serve (read: free refills!) organic ice teas in red hawaiian, green, and peach flavors.
Next to ketchup, Zen Burger offers BBQ sauce and sweet & sour sauce. Definitely a bit disconcerting that the BBQ sauce comes from Ken's Steakhouse. This made me pause, but there were no meat chunks or animal products listed in the ingredients, so I left licking BBQ sauce off my fingers.

Unfortunately, their only vegan option, the veggie burger is pretty weak. To be fair, I hardly ever like veggie burgers. There are many options I haven't tried - chili, a few differenct soups and salads, a shrimp basket, milkshakes, a southwestern burger with chipotle sauce. They even offer a varied breakfast menu. I encourage everyone who finds themselves in Midtown to give Zen Burger a chance. Overall, Zen Burger offers delicious, relatively healthy, socially conscious fast food. I hope Zen Burger spreads to all corners of the country, putting the traditional fast food chains out of business.