California Chain Burger Lounge Is Now Making Plant-Based Versions of Its Most Popular Dishes

This week, California-based restaurant chain Burger Lounge transformed its location in the Larchmont neighborhood of Los Angeles into a “Real Food Innovation Kitchen,” with a new menu that spotlights plant-based innovation. The new Flora and Fauna menu places equal emphasis on the restaurant’s traditional meat-based items and newly created plant-based versions. The Larchmont location now offers the Impossible Burger (available as single or double patties) and vegan cheddar as options on its classic burger builds such as the S.O.B. (Son of a Burger) and Lounge Burger, and as toppings on shareable Cowboy Fries. The Larchmont location also created vegan versions of its strawberry and vanilla milkshakes made with cashew milk. The chain recently reformulated its buns—which previously contained dairy and honey—to be vegan by default.  

“We love Los Angeles, because much like us, the people who live here really care about where their food comes from. We have always sourced the highest quality grass-fed beef possible and we are putting that same emphasis on sourcing our new plant-based menu, of course with taste and flavor at the forefront.” Burger Lounge Co-Founder J. Dean Loring said. “We are so excited to share with Los Angeles what we have been cooking up behind the scenes.”

The menu launch follows a similar change at its Hillcrest neighborhood location in San Diego last month where it is testing proteins made by vegetarian brand Sweet Earth on the “flora” portion of its menu. Burger Lounge—which operates 23 locations in California and Las Vegas, NV—plans to roll out the Flora and Fauna menu systemwide next month after it determines its preferred vegan protein.