Laughing Planet — Restaurant in Bend

Vegan Series, Part 4 So you’re planning to go out for a meal with friends or family in Bend, Oregon. You realize that some of them are Vegan and some are not. Now what? Do you pick the Vegan place and ask those who are not of that persuasion to be adventurous on that particular occasion? Or perhaps you pick a place that has more traditional offerings and ask your Vegan friends/family to scour the menu for at least one suitable selection? Well imagine not having to ask either camp to sacrifice anything and going somewhere that offers a full menu that caters to everyone’s preferences. How you ask? Take them to “Laughing Planet.”

Catering to the Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten Free, and Omnivore members of your tribe, I can’t recall ever seeing such a comprehensively diverse menu. Not only are all the Vegan options clearly delineated on the menu, but all of the entrees can be made Vegan by simply omitting or substituting cheese for Vegan “cheese” and chicken or beef with organic tofu or tempeh (for no additional charge). 🤯

No need to do any subbing when it comes to their chili or most of their soups because they are already Vegan. Does dessert sound good? Try their Double Chocolate, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, or Snickerdoodle cookies. We tried all 3, they were all good, and they were all Vegan.

No matter your food preferences I hope that you have an affection for our planet and want to see it cared for and cherished. Well these folks sure see it that way. Every sale of a kid’s smoothie results in a donation to the “Friends of Trees” organization that is helping to improve and restore the tree canopy in the Portland area by the planting of more than 900,000 trees and shrubs since 1989. That seems just all too fitting to me given that one of our responsibilities as adults is to leave this planet as an inheritance to our children in at least as good a condition as we received it. If you are like minded then you gotta love their saying, “There Is No Planet B.”

Laughing Planet is no joke and deserves a visit from you soon!

And that’s…Henry’s...

I am giving this location one star due to false representation of food safety. I must first explain I have a severe form of Celiac Disease, and I informed the representatives of this during each interaction.

I called before I arrived. During my phone call I was informed by the staff that this location was, "Celiac Friendly." I then asked them to explain what that meant. They proceeded to inform me that the only non-gluten item in the establishment are flour tortillas, that are manufactured outside of the restaurant, and that they are cooked with different cooking ware.

A couple of days later I then proceeded to drive one hour, and 30 minutes to Bend as this was the closest location to me. Once I arrived I then privately asked the staff if I could talk to them. I again explained that I have a severe form of Celiac Disease, and can not consume any gluten. The representative working said, she understood, and was, "Gluten Free." I then asked, "Oh do you have Celiac Disease too." She first said, "no," then ,"Pretty much," and then finally, "Well yes." This was a major red flag for me. If you have Celiac Disease it is incurable, and requires an upper endoscopy, and biopsy done by a Gastroenterologist to be confirmed.

She then asked if I would like to come back into the kitchen to view how the food was cooked their. I accepted the kind offer, and followed the staff into the kitchen. Once there I could see a wheat flour tortilla on the griddle being cooked inches away from the gluten free corn tortillas on the same griddle. The cook was also not wearing any gloves while switching between the two types of tortillas. The cook was also grabbing the ingredients to make tacos, and burritos by hand.

I quickly realized that this kitchen was not, "Celiac safe" as it was put by them at all. That infact this is an extremely dangerous misrepresentation. Most people dont understand that even micro amounts of gluten can cause irreversible damage to Celiac patients, and that it can, and does cause cancer in patients as...

Great place to get a healthy meal that could be tailored to our family members’ needs - gluten free, vegan, and low FODMAP (low FODMAP foods aren’t identified on their menu, but the descriptions are clear enough to make it easy to find what works for ourselves.) Ordering online was easy, and pick up was also easy and fast. The modification options on the online ordering form were super easy to use.

Unfortunately, the meal wasn’t packed as well as it needed to be. While I appreciate the avoidance of too much packaging and plastic, we had a bit of a catastrophe: the Killer Green sauce container came open, spilling all over the rest of the bag. The BBQ chicken quesadilla was in a box with steam vents in the lid, the sauce spilled through those and got all over the quesadilla, and it was too spicy for my kiddo’s tastebuds. So one meal went to waste, which was really disappointing.

There was no way to replace it, as the restaurant had closed by the time we got the order home. Another trip out for McDonald’s chicken nuggets to replace the $10 quesadilla. Oh well.

It happens, it’s not the end of the world, and I wish the sauce containers had been put in a separate bag. That way I might have had sauce for my Paleo bowl, and my kiddo might have had her quesadilla.

I also found slivers of chicken bone in my paleo bowl with chicken. So my experience is that the food is delicious, it’s reasonably priced for what you get, and the quality control could...