Lydias Express

6761 Sebastopol Ave.

Sebastopol

(707) 861-9431

Organic, gluten-free, vegan

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily

Entrées: $6.50-$18

Wine, beer and cider

The first time I met Lydia Kindheart was at the second annual Outside Lands music festival in San Francisco. She’d brought a couple trays of her offerings into the media tent, where I happened to be at the time (lucky me). After trying only a few things, I was forever hooked. I started seeking out her booth at every festival I went to, always excited to enjoy her food when I found it. Obviously, I was elated to discover she’d opened Lydia’s Express in Sebastopol this past summer.

Housed in the beautiful, 1949 Pullman Streamliner where Starlight Wine Bar and Restaurant closed its doors last year, Lydia’s Express breathes new life into the space in a great way. Everything, even down to the wine, beer and cider, is organic, vegan, gluten-free and made with love.

The menu is extensive and affordable, ranging from breakfast items to appetizers, soups, salads, curries, sandwiches, sweet and savory crepes, burgers, pizza, burritos, desserts and beyond. Everything is beautifully presented and generously portioned.

We started with the “cooked and raw sampler.” It’s a great way to try lots of things and also a good size for two people to share for a lighter meal. It came with a nori roll; hot soup of the day (butternut squash soup with vegetables that had a great balance of sweet and savory); green soup (a raw blend of kale, avocado, cucumber, cilantro, ginger, celery, parsley, basil, lemon and dulse seaweed, served cold, very refreshing and flavorful); blini pizza (cooked pizza made with gluten-free flours, topped with marinated vegetables, sun dried tomatoes, green goddess sauce and cashew “cheez”—it was terrific and tasted exactly like a “regular” flour pizza); roasted “roots” (potatoes, beets and carrots seasoned with herbs de Provence and drizzled with sesame dill sauce; they were sweet and the sauce added a savory pizazz); and kale seaweed salad (celery, kale, sesame seeds, nori, sesame oil, ginger and tamari with a miso-shitake gravy that brought it all together).

Lydia’s burgers are made with quinoa, carrots, beets, celery, kale, parsley, basil, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds and herbs. We tried both the goddess burger (open-faced with cashew “cheez,” avocado, purple goddess salad and green goddess sauce) and the super burger (tomato, onion, lettuce, sesame dill sauce, vegan pesto sauce that was the total bomb, cashew “cheez” and avocado). Our favorite was the goddess burger. Just think about the best veggie burger you’ve ever had, then times that by 10. The patty was at least 1.5 inches high, with great texture and range of flavors.

Next up was the tamale, made with sprouted brown rice, potatoes, carrots and kale, topped with pumpkin and sesame “kreemy” chili sauce (with a bit of a kick), served with fresh avocado and salsa. We also tried the oven-baked fries, served with house made ketchup and pink sea salt. Not greasy, they stood on their own without the ketchup (not that it wasn’t delicious, too).

For dessert, we had homemade herbal chai (rooibos, coconut milk and agave) and several small bites of different things, but what stood out the most was the raspberry “cheez” cake (I could close my eyes and believe it was a “regular” cheese cake, even down to the crust) and the “supernugget,” which looked and tasted like a large chocolate truffle but was made with cacao, raw agave nectar, coconut oil, coconut, maca powder, pomegranate powder and acai berries. Hello, um, yum. All in all, it was a delightful meal (presented to us by Sonya, Lydia’s lovely daughter).