Vegan food court fare

Everybody’s favorite members-only warehouse store and cheap-ass food court is vegan friendly now. Costco, famous for its inexpensive pizza, hot dogs and ice cream, cut some unhealthier items from its food court menu, like its Polish hot dog, and added the vegan Al Pastor Salad and Acai Bowl. The Plant Based Foods Association reported the plant-based-food industry is generating $13.7 billion in sales annually, so it’s a smart move for Costco to jump on this money-making wagon. The new menu items are surprisingly good for food court food. The Al Pastor Salad ($5)—which was already prepared—was large and contained romaine lettuce; black olives; black beans; carrot shreds; red and orange bell pepper; pickled onion; and a generous amount of slightly spicy seasoned soy protein; with creamy, Thousand Island-ish dressing. The Acai Bowl ($5) was soft serve with granola, dried banana and fresh berries. Definitely not fancy, but great for food court grub.