All the world is nuts about
What's in The Nut Gourmet
August 30, 2001 -- Vegparadise News Bureau
Naked Garden Closes
Let's face it. It's just plain hard to lose a great vegetarian restaurant. There are so few, and each is a treasure. We are sad and are mourning the loss of Naked Garden, an exceptional restaurant that has been serving outstanding vegan foods in Hermosa Beach since its opening on April 28, 1999. Chef Francois Galipeau, known by many friends and restaurant regulars as Frank, will close his doors by the second week of September.
Naked Garden's regular menu had an array of tasty favorites like the Grilled Vegetable Burrito, the Naked Garden Burger, Warm Spinach Salad, Caesar Salad, and appealing appetizers such as Hummus Pinwheel and Greens and Beans ala Francois. However, it was one of Francois' innovative nightly specials, original creations that were freshly prepared and soul satisfying, that compelled us to make the one-hour drive to the restaurant in Hermosa Beach on more than one occasion.
No need to worry that this talented being will sit idly in front of the TV with nothing to do. Chef Francois, who attended the Johnson and Wells Culinary School in Providence, Rhode Island, has plans to jumpstart his culinary talents into an idyllic yoga, surfing, artist, vegan health retreat in Costa Rica. Meanwhile, he will be catering special vegan meals at yoga retreats, music festivals, and health and harmony fairs, as well as teaching cooking classes at Dick 'n Jane and other locations.
He began his vegetarian direction at age15 for health reasons. He says, "Now I don't want to mess up my karma by killing animals." He'll miss certain aspects of the restaurant business, but his artful food preparation skills will not languish.
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