Pleasant surprises are always welcome. I entered Veg to get a routine food review in and eat some brunch. I exited, inspired with a real story.

Suleka Sun-Lindley quietly opened Veg at 2431 J Street (above Thai Basil) this January following the November closure of Level Up. To Sun-Lindley, this endeavor is so much more than a new restaurant concept to try on for size. It is the culmination of a lifetime of experience in the restaurant business, the realization of her true self and a humble expression of her intrinsic and learned values.

Veg is (duh) a vegetarian restaurant, and its entire menu stems from ayurvedic diet principles. That’s pretty cool; Sacramento could use more good dining options for vegans and the health-conscious epicure. The ingredients at Veg are sourced locally and the dishes change with the seasons—an initiative shared by a growing number of farm-to-fork restaurants that understand the environmental, economic, community-building, health and flavor-enhancing benefits thereof. But it’s Sun-Lindley’s conscientious decision to integrate her beliefs about an ideal food system as a whole, and her joy in witnessing the health and happiness the experience brings to her customers, that makes Veg unique in our cluttered culinary landscape.

Sun-Lindley’s family began the Thai Basil family of businesses in Suleka’s youth. Her own Thai Basil was opened in 2002 to rave reviews, and its flag is planted firmly in Sacramento soil as a mainstay—an institution even. Yet she had available space upstairs that was being underutilized, and she also had a hard-to-come-by liquor license to cash in on. Well-meaning friends, family and patrons advised her to open a bar, and she obediently opened the doors to her second business, a modern cocktail lounge and dance club that served Thai and American inspired bar eats—and so Level Up was born.

However, owning a bar just wasn’t something that resonated with Sun-Lindley. Night after night, she closed down the bar, eventually retiring at 3 or 4 a.m. She never got used to the vampiric schedule or the challenges of owning a nightclub … and Level Up never really leveled up. She tried hiring DJs to get people in, and the bar did become somewhat of a dancing destination, but the business wasn’t making her happy. So she closed the doors and took a trip to Thailand to regroup and rethink her next upstairs undertaking.

Already regularly practicing yoga and ayurvedic fundamentals in her personal life, Sun-Lindley’s observations while in Thailand led to an epiphany that informed the creation of Veg. She noticed that in Thailand, people paid attention to their food and ate with intention, rather than here where we so often eat when we’re not even hungry. And people took care regarding what they put into their bodies—eating as preventative medicine as opposed to thoughtlessly hoovering “comfort” foods that later required antacids or other pharmaceutical fixes. And she paid attention to how people seemed to be so positively affected mentally, physically and spiritually by their dining differences. The entire experience of eating was like night and day to the western approach.

Upon her return, Sun-Lindley resolved to open Veg, and share wellness and wisdom with her patrons.

While the atmosphere at Veg is clean, comfortable, well-lit and inviting, the focus is meant to be on the food rather than moody and thematic decor. Mindful eating and sharing conversation with your dining companions comes naturally in this no-frills, distraction-free environment. However, rotating art displays give the space interest and a platform for local artists to engage a captive audience. The sunroom, lined with windows and casual seating, overlooks J Street’s old-growth oaks and offers a relaxing bird’s eye view for people watching.

Veg serves up weekend brunch, weekday lunch, and is open for dinner Thursday through Saturday nights (they’re closed on Mondays for now). Sweet and savory menu options are available at every meal. Spices known for their healing properties like ginger, coriander, cardamom and turmeric are incorporated whenever possible. The food is priced affordably—expect to spend about $10 a plate.

Prior to knowing we were about to have a rad interaction with the owner and get schooled about ayurveda, we ordered a few brunch items to get a feel for the fare. The spiced, earthy Potato Hash included peppers, onions, tomatoes and green chutneys, and our super nice server upsold me avocado on top. The Savory Breakfast Crepe (yes, the crepes are vegan!) enveloped mixed vegetables in a panang curry sauce within a turmeric coconut crepe. The Sweet Crepe was tart, tropical and fresh, filled with a seasonal fruit salad, a spiced fruit puree and toasted coconut. Everything was delicious with skillfully balanced flavor profiles and satisfying without leaving you with a stuffed-to-the-gills, impending food coma sensation.

Although beer, wine and a craft cocktail list are served, attention was also paid to the non-alcoholic beverage menu. We washed down brunch with Blue Butterfly Tea, a chrysanthemum-infused cold tea with a hint of lavender bitters; and a Green Tea Lemonade which was sweet, herbal and citrusy with lemongrass notes. OK, and a coffee and IPA, too. They arguably have health benefits, too, right?

The restaurant’s menu is mostly vegan with options for vegetarians, but it’s not all about politics. Explains Sun-Lindley, “For me, it’s more about health. You have to take care of yourself first, and then you can take care of others. Animal byproducts like ghee and eggs can be used from the animal without killing them. What we need to do is less commercial raising of animals and mass production. But vegans have to be so extreme—activists—to spread the message. They are the voice of the animals. We respect that, but for us the vegan and vegetarian menu is more about the health benefits.”

Sun-Lindley is careful about who she hires and has curated a staff that shares her values. Last month, she hired Gabriel Crocker, an experienced vegetarian chef, to continue to improve upon the existing menu, oversee seasonal updates and bring even more good energy to the restaurant. “The person who prepares the food is the one that gives their energy to the food, the person that you are connecting with. You feel the aliveness of the food that you eat, and that’s how food can heal. I believe that food can heal, restore, nourish—and you don’t need medicine.”

The highest compliment for Sun-Lindley is when people come to the restaurant from outside of the Midtown area as a deliberate pilgrimage. They’ve heard about the ayurvedic menu and share with her their appreciation for a dining option that incorporates ayurvedic principles and ingredients that help keep their doshas in balance. With the realization of Veg, she has found happiness.

She proudly shares, “You can’t be everything to everybody. I had to become myself rather than try to cater to everyone. Being in the hospitality industry, you’re made to respond to what other people want. My mom owned a restaurant, so I learned this. But now, I want to be who I am, and this is my offer to you. I do my best to accommodate you within that—who I am.”

Veg is located at 2431 J Street in Sacramento. For more info, go to Vegmidtown.com. After this story was published, Veg changed their hours to include dinner service. For up-to-date hours of business, check out Veg’s Facebook page, or call them at (916) 448-8768.

The Coconut Midtown

2502 J Street • Sacramento, Calif.

Throw a rock in any direction in Midtown, and you’ll unfailingly smash the window of a Thai restaurant. Prolific as the shitty romance novels of Danielle Steel, the abundance of Thai food is, however, welcomed by diners in Sacramento’s grub milieu.

A new Thai restaurant predictably became the successor in the vacant space that once housed failed endeavors Negril Island Grill and BBQ Spot at 2502 J Street. The newly opened business quickly garnered a wealth of positive online reviews, and I jumped at the chance to try it out and pen my own review for Submerge readers.

With a mad legit Thai establishment, Thai Basil, just a block away, I questioned how another Thai restaurant could thrive in a location that had the added difficulty of seeing one restaurant after another struggle and go under, and imagined that its fare must be pretty impressive to dare such proximal competition.

My coworker Haley and I ventured out on Halloween, in our Adventure Time Lumpy Space Princess and Princess Bubblegum costumes into the perfect, crisp fall weather of Halloween to verify if such was the case. Given our garb, we were greeted with sideways glances, albeit friendliness.

The specials board by the front door rendered us both instant Pavlovian dogs with saliva-inducing dishes such as avocado yellow curry. For Lumpy Space Princess, that was all she needed to see to decide upon what to order. After sitting down, I comparatively mulled over every word, taking in the traditional options and weighing them against the unconventional ones, such as their Thai herb burger. After much deliberation, I ordered a Thai iced tea, an appetizer of cheese wontons and the “Drunken Noodle.”

The cheese wontons arrived briskly, and I immediately noted that they had been expertly deep-fried to golden brown perfection and served with a sweet chili sauce. The plating was oh so appetizing until I caught a glimpse of strawberries that were on the verge of rotten, like something still passable to feed your rabbit but not your human family, acting as garnishes on the rim of the dish. Carefully averting my eyes from them, I dug into the wontons, drizzling the chili sauce into the center cavity that cradled the warm, herbed cheese. I smiled at the mouthwatering first bite (and every bite thereafter).

Here’s where things got a little wack. Haley’s avocado yellow curry came out several minutes before my Drunken Noodle and was served with a very awkward explanation that they couldn’t use the avocado they had because it had all turned brown. Haley’s lumpy heart sank—avocado was the reason she’d ordered this, and without it, she was left with a run-of-the-mill yellow curry in which floated potato, onion, carrots and chicken.

Then things got even weirder. As she disappointedly dug to the bottom of the bowl, she scooped out a mass of phantom avocado. She was stoked that there was avocado after all, but the whole situation was a little questionable. I asked her how it tasted, to which she replied, “Creamy, coconut-y and sweet.” It was good.

Halfway through her lunch, mine came out of the kitchen—a colorful, steaming heap of my favorite Thai dish, Drunken Noodle. The Coconut Midtown’s take on it used green beans, onion, carrot, Thai basil, green and purple peppers, and my choice of beef. In regards to the vegetables, every bite was cooked differently. Some green beans were overcooked while others were skillfully al dente.

But the mushiness of the noodles made me feel violent. They’re supposed to be a little mushy, but these were so floppy and overdone that they deteriorated in my mouth and had a mealy texture that was not so yummy.

Thai food is like sex. Even when it’s bad, it’s good. So they had that going for them—in spite of being unimpressed over all, I’m not going to lie. I ate it all.

And the space itself was clean, with local art on display. They have a good array of both Asian beer and domestic microbrews. They deliver with a $20 minimum order, which is a stoner’s dream come true. It wasn’t all bad. It just wasn’t that good.

I walked in with high hopes of having nothing but positive things to say about Midtown’s newest Thai food addition, and walked out feeling like I wanted to get a bit Gordon Ramsay on their asses. But all of that said, that was only Princess Bubblegum’s experience, and they do have a lot of good reviews piling up. It’s always tough when you’re a new restaurant to please everyone, and to be consistent as you cut your teeth. I’ll give them another chance after I wash my mouth out with some Thai Basil.