Early vegetarians learned how to determine the edibility of plant-based ingredients following unsuccessful attempts to eat moss-filled hoagies, Awesome Blossoms, and stick on a stick. Enjoy the evolution of meat-free meals with today's Groupon: for $7, you get $15 worth of raw, vegan, and vegetarian lunch fare at Gourmet Greenhouse Restaurant in Hollywood.

Without the use of animal products, the chefs at Gourmet Greenhouse raid Mother Nature's pantry to pile plates with healthy salads, savory sandwiches, drinks, and desserts. After discovering meat-free diets can lower the risk of disease and provide unconditional moral support to canine teeth, the founders inked a menu full of vegetarian, vegan, and raw delights. Creamy soups contain almond or rice milk instead of lacto-liquids ($4–$5), and almond-flaxseed meatballs wait to hatch in a squiggly nest of raw yellow spaghetti squash ($8).

Abetted by sautéed onions, mushroom caps escape the milliner's shop before getting slathered in spicy mango barbeque sauce in the portabella sandwich ($8). The salad explosion fires good-for-you shrapnel bits of pine nuts, carrots, figs, sprouts, grape tomatoes, and orange zest into a mix of spinach, watercress, and lettuce ($7). Vegan desserts ($4–$5) seal the meal more sweetly than an opera soprano dusted in powdered sugar.

Gourmet Greenhouse resides above The Center for Human Development, where it vends vegetable-rich vittles Tuesday through Saturday. The dining room's sunny yellow walls sport paintings of festive, fanciful flowers, and lucky diners near the picture windows might spot pink flamingoes napping in the garden below.

Reviews

Restaurants Raw positively reviewed Gourmet Greenhouse Restaurant, and 78% of Urbanspooners like it:

• From start to finish, Greenhouse Gourmet is one of those places where you can’t believe you never found before and can’t wait until you return again. – Laura Burdick Sherman, Restaurants Raw
• The decor was quaint and homey the food spectacular. – Veggigurl, Urbanspoon