Road Trip! Ike's Love & Sandwiches in Walnut Creek

I had lunch with my mom a few days ago at Ike's Love & Sandwiches in Walnut Creek. My son had been raving about the sandwiches, and since there are several vegan options on the menu, I'd been wanting to try it out.


As it turned out, there were so many vegan choices that it took awhile to decide what to eat. The veggie menu is full of tempting items like vegan meatballs, vegan turkey, and vegan chicken. This doesn't necessarily mean that the sandwich itself is vegan, though -- you'll need to veganize whatever you decide to order. All the breads are vegan, except the whole wheat, which contains honey. The veggie bacon is not vegan, since it contains eggs, and the pesto is not vegan, since it contains Parmesan cheese. All the sandwiches include Ike's Dirty Secret Sauce, which is a garlic aioli containing mayonnaise, but an egg-free version is available. The key is to make sure that the person taking your order knows you want a vegan sandwich so he or she can help you avoid any hidden non-vegan ingredients.


With all that in mind, I finally decided on the Sally Ride, made with vegan turkey, avocado, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and egg-free sauce, served on a sourdough roll. The only vegan cheese available was Daiya provolone, but that turned out to be perfect with this sandwich. The sandwiches at Ike's are served warm, so the cheese was melted and delicious. I'm not exaggerating when I say this was the best sandwich I've had since I went vegan!

Ike's has several California locations, but the closest one to Sacramento is in Walnut Creek. I just hope their expansion plan includes a Sacramento restaurant at some point down the road. More information is available on their website or Facebook page.