Project Taco (Los Angeles, CA) [CLOSED]

Enthralled by an article on Beyond Meat ‘s CEO Ethan Brown, Project Taco founder Nick Fontova mentally earmarked the company for future collaboration. The very next day, Brown walked into the Hermosa Beach taco shop. The two quickly hit it off, both passionate about innovation and health, and entered into a conversation giving rise to a exceptionally vegan-friendly taco menu.

Project Taco has always offered the beach-friendly Heromsa Hummus ($4); a tortilla slathered with hummus, with cool slivers of lightly pickled cucumbers, cherry peppers, diced tomato, corn and guacamole. But the Beyond Meat partnership gave birth to my new favorite taco: Miracle Meatless ($4)! An ample mound of ground “beef” heaped on a base of hummus and topped with cabbage, tomatoes, onions and a vegenaise based cilantro lime crema.

In addition to these two vegan-as-is options, Beyond Meat Chicken or Beef can be substituted into any taco AT NO EXTRA CHANGE! After reading that, my eyes immediately jumped to the Blueberry BBQ ($4). It had never occurred to me to mingle blueberries and BBQ spices, but these two belong together. I asked to substitute veggie beef for the pork, but then worried that the apple-kale coleslaw crowning this taco would be dairy based. Fontova gleefully informed me the slaw is made with vinegar. Score! The next taco begging to be veganize is the Thai Peanut Chicken ($4). Beyond Meat chicken soaked in a rich and spicy Thai peanut sauce is topped with carrots, cabbage, cucumber, cilantro and chili garlic sauce. Be sure to ask for no honey. Vividly hued salsas are available on the side with chips ($3 for one, $6 for three). The Guacamole is exceptional. It is made not with onion but with lime soaked jicama. The boldest and brightest turned out to be my favorite, the Habanero Pineapple salsa. The Edamame, splattered in a house-made teriyaki sauce, is also vegan-as-is ($2.5 small, $5 large). The support that Project Taco gives the vegan community is thorough and sincere. In addition to the no cost vegan taco upgrade, every Monday all veggie tacos are $3… including non-vegan ones modified with Beyond Meat! Even Project Taco’s CEO Andrew Listermann says the Miracle Meatless taco is his favorite snack. Vegans have scored big with Project Taco thanks to a partnership that was simply meant to be.