Ojai Restaurant Review: CAFÉ BŌKU

BōkU Superfood has been making its health-boosting powders in Ojai for the past 15 years. Now the company is showcasing them in their new café.

A selection of the plant-based dishes at Ojai healthy eating restaurant Café BōkU

January is the month of building healthy habits. It’s all about the “new year, new me” mantra, but if you find that kickstarting new routines is easier said than done, Café BōkU might just be the place to get you going.

Owned by the Rollé family, the café is the latest addition to BōkU Superfood, which has been producing its range of health and wellness powders in Ojai for the past 15 years. The company prides itself on sourcing only the purest organic and biodynamic ingredients for its products, which it exports to 65 countries around the world. Now the Rollés have taken their ethos of clean superfoods and turned it into a restaurant right here in Ojai.

Opened in December, the café’s food offering was conceptualized with the guidance of celebrity chef Todd English and comprises a plant-based menu of accessible comfort foods. The idea is to serve healthy, vegan versions of American favorites that are designed to both showcase the BōkU Superfood products and appeal to even the most ardent meat and potato eaters. This, of course, is no mean feat but if you’re wondering whether superfood powders and tasty dishes can really coexist, the answer is a resounding yes.

Take the smoothies for instance, which are built on a house-made earth milk base – a mixture of watermelon seed butter, jujubes, dates, bananas, lucuma powder and coconut milk with a moreish flavor that balances earthy nuttiness with subtle sweetness. This base is then infused with various powders to create health-boosting smoothies for every occasion. Suffering from a cold? Try the immune-focused Ojai Kreamsicle smoothie with a Super C formula that delivers a whopping 1000% of your daily vitamin C intake alongside a flood of 10 billion probiotics.

The café is a bright and airy space complete with retail area abundant with all manner of health and wellness products, while outside faux fur covered benches and comfy swings invite you to quite literally hang out for hours.

The food items meanwhile have been devised by head chef Jasmine Jacobson, who joined from vegan restaurant pioneers Café Gratitude in Los Angeles. It’s obvious she has a knack for plant-based cooking and effortlessly turns classic dishes into vegan delicacies, all the while incorporating BōkU’s many concoctions.

The BōkU Super Bowl at Café BōkU in Ojai

If you have a sweet tooth, try the indulgent Super French Toast ($13), made with a surprisingly fluffy gluten-free brioche from Breadblock in Santa Monica and topped with coconut cream, fresh bananas and maple syrup ($13). For a savory breakfast, there’s the Super Avo Toast ($12) with avocado and pickled vegetables.

The bestseller, though, is the Super VLT ($14), a vegan alternative to the classic BLT sandwich that is just as satisfying. Here the bacon is replaced with zucchini that has been marinated in spices including paprika, applewood smoked salt and maple, and then dehydrated to a crisp to mimic both the flavor and texture of bacon. Served on buckwheat sourdough or gluten-free bread, the sandwich is completed with the signature ranch dressing, infused with the BōkU Hot Mami seasoning, which lends a piquant savory flavor.

Then there’s the mac and cheese ($11), made from gluten-free pasta, vegan cheese and topped with panko breadcrumbs; the Quesadilla ($14) with Jerk Jackfruit that resembles pulled pork and is lathered with bbq sauce; and a Super Shroom Gumbo ($12) served over Jasmine rice. Even desserts are healthy, like the chakra balls ($3), which are made from cacao, dates, coconut and walnut. All the ingredients are sourced locally if possible and you’ll recognize many of Ojai’s vendors, from Bonito Coffee Roasters to Revel Kombucha and Ojai Roots.

Superfood powders may not be everyone’s thing but Café BōkU offers a gentle and delicious introduction to them. So if you’re looking to get into the swing of healthy eating, Café BōkU makes it just a little bit easier. 

This article was first published in the Ojai Valley News.