Un-burg-lievable

This isn’t the most creative post I’ve done, nor is it the most… hmmmm how do you say… QUIRKY, but I feel extremely passionate about this topic and wanted to share my feelings with the internet as I like to do.

If you hear the words “Organic Vegetarian Drive Thru” and are instantly turned off, I invite you to open your mind and accept that this is the future of food. Amy’s is the first of its kind and it’s not going to be the last.

From the ingredients that go into each item on the menu, to the cotton in the uniforms, Amy’s is raising the standard for what ‘fast food’ really should be: healthy, quick, affordable and sustainable.

As someone who attended Cherry Valley for all of elementary school (seven long years!) where I was taught more about famous artists and how to tend a garden than California history and the state capitals (hey, I made it all the way through college just fine, ok?), the Amy’s mission is right up my alley. They are the embodiment of large-scale farm to table and are slowly but surely convincing people that organic food is super cool, and that being a vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free isn’t weird or something to be made fun of. Amy’s is for everyone!

The very first time I went to Amy’s was right when it opened in 2016. My mom had already been—she’s lucky enough to work close by—and she wanted to share the goodness with my best friend, Fie, and I. I was super excited because I, someone who gets really impatient when cooking, have always been a longtime fan of Amy’s frozen meals (I’m eating one as I write this). Both Fie and I got ‘The Amy’ with spicy sauce, which is their classic double-patty hamburger, along with fries and a vegan chocolate milkshake (me, a lifelong lactose intolerant’s, dream). The strawberry one is also quite good but that's coming from someone who demands strawberry cupcakes every year for my birthday... to this day.

After finishing my ‘burger’, somehow unaware of the concept of the restaurant and ignoring all of the signs around me, said, “Wow! It’s kind of weird: This burger doesn’t really taste like meat.” My mom was like, “Are you kidding me? It’s not meat. That’s the point.” Oh! I get it now.

I could go on and on about it, but I’ll let some other people take over:

Sarah, the biggest Amy’s (and El Roy’s) fan I know, absolutely raves about it and actually gets mad when she finds out that her friends from home are eating at Amy’s when she’s at school almost 300 miles away. Not just like, “oh ha ha funny! I want Amy’s—now I’m jealous”. It’s more like actual pain in her heart and feelings of betrayal. I love the energy, Sarah. She said, “I like it because I can eat a whole meal there and not feel like I have to hate myself after”. She’s talking about health and sustainability. As a fellow lactose intolerant, I can relate to her when she says that she is head over heels in love with the chocolate milkshake.

Justine, better known as Weenie, which is confusing because she’s vegan and definitely doesn’t have a passion for hotdogs, has similar positive feelings towards Amy’s as Sarah does. She said that “it’s great for me because they have tons of options that are vegan-friendly and they don’t taste weird or overly healthy”. I agree that at times, food marketed specifically for vegans has too many “weird” ingredients that no one really wants to eat, or they’re overly complicated (has anyone else tried vegan bacon? Here's a tip: DON’T), which makes the vegan-option not only overwhelming for people who are trying to eat less meat, but also makes the food less appealing. Justine believes that there’s something on the menu for everyone at Amy’s, and says that she goes with her carnivorous friends (rawr!) all the time who always comment on how good it is. She, of course, loves the chocolate milkshake the most, and for those of you out there that are cringing at the though of how many straws are being given out every day, don’t worry—at Amy’s they're eco-friendly.

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Come one, come all. Swing by, grab a bite, hangout on the patio in the sun and stare at the living roof, wondering if you could make a living roof too (the answer is no).

Amy’s is Heaven for the quality-obsessed, environmentally conscious, ballin’-on-a-budget-type people on the move.

The future of food is here, and she goes by Amy.