Appu's Cafe - Long Beach

About the Business

Specialties

Appu's cafe is Long Beach's best vegetarian/vegan Indo-Mexican fusion restaurant that specializes in holistic cooking taking into consideration heart, mind, body, and soul. Our specialties include a variety of soups, tacos, burritos and traditional Indian entrees. We cook with little to no oils, deep fryers or gas. Come taste the difference and let your taste buds go snap, crackle and pop.

History

Established in 2013.

Vinod Venkataraman has lived a lot of lives. In his native India, he was a classically trained jazz drummer. Then, he studied math, went to medical school and moved to the U.S. to open a practice. Along the way, he dabbled in art, raised a family (his wife is also a doctor), performed at colleges across the country and spoke at universities (like Berklee College of Music) about the intersectional possibilities of his disparate interests. Venkataraman retired by opening a cafe in a ground-floor storage room at Woodruff Medical Center, where his wife still has a practice. The unassuming Appu’s Cafe makes Yelp’s 100 Best Restaurants in America list every year. He can be found at Appu’s, serving a menu of his own invention that mixes flavors from his vegan Indian upbringing with meat-free options from other cuisines —The goal, he says, was to provide food and drinks for the kinds of healthy lifestyles he encouraged his patients to undertake when he was a doctor.