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Echo Park's Sage restaurant closing months after facing a vegan backlash

Echo Park — After 14 years in business — mostly as a vegan eatery, but ending in a controversial half-year with meat on the menu — Sage restaurant is going out of business this weekend, according to an announcement on Instagram.

This also includes their location in Pasadena.

Mollie Engelhart, the co-owner and chef, said last May that her restaurants had been losing money since the pandemic, and she had sold her home and many other possessions to keep the business running.

It was also in May that the restaurant shifted from vegan to “regenerative,” an agricultural practice that includes the cultivation and use of animals. This was done partly for economic reasons and partly from a change in outlook, Engelhart said.

But this brought a swift and bitter backlash from the vegan community, and did not end up saving the restaurants.

“Now we just find ourselves in the exact same position, deep in debt and unable to make payroll, bouncing checks to vendors,” Engelhart said on Eater.

Sage's last day in business is this Sunday, Jan. 5,

“We invite you to visit us during our last week,” the company said in its Instagram statement. “Please share your favorite memories with us; they mean the world.”

Vegan protestor holding sign

One of the vegan protestors outside of Sage restaurant in Echo Park in June 2024.

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