Yard House’s vegan burger surprise

The vegan burger at Yard House is surprising. Surprising because Yard House in Roseville (1166 Roseville Parkway), a national corporate chain restaurant, even has a no-omissions-or-substitutions-needed, clearly marked vegan burger on its regular menu. Heck, it’s on the menu twice—under the grilled burgers and the Gardein sections—and the patty tastes like chicken. That makes sense, since Gardein is a chicken substitute made of pea, wheat and soy proteins and ancient grains. A restaurant manager said the patties, which also include kale and shiitake, are made from scratch in-house, and the staff preps vegan orders with separate cookware. The massive burger has peppery arugula, red onion, tomato and a slice of melted Daiya on a scene-stealing onion bun. The eatery’s atmosphere is loud and warehousial (it’s a word now, deal with it), with flat-screens everywhere, but the kitchen will veganize most burgers by request with the vegan patty, so, Broseville, here we come.