what’s better than a happy hour with $3 beers and $5 martinis? a happy hour with all that, plus a vegan menu, that’s what! desert rose, the upscale bar/restaurant in los feliz has introduced a separate animal-free menu with everything from bar snacks to pasta & sandwiches…and even cruzer pizzas with daiya cheese. they’ve even veganized the drinks at the bar, adding organic martinis and cocktails sweetened with agave.

finally a bar in los angeles with a full separate vegan menu, i can’t tell you how excited i am. check out the new menu and all the food they are offering here. i am making it my mission to try it all, and so far i’m doing pretty well. these are the things i’ve tasted so far…

Garlic “Cheese” Fries $7

the vegan garlic cheese fries at desert rose are absolutely phenomenal. perfectly cooked, they come topped with melted daiya cheese. these fries make for a great bar snack, and taste just like the cheesy garlic fries i remember eating as a vegetarian.

i can also highly recommend the portabello and cheese panini, epic sandwich success!

Portobello Mushroom & “Cheese” Panini with choice of French Fries, Sweet Potato Fries, Mixed Green Salad or Fresh Fruit $14

it also comes with melted daiya cheese and a thick fresh slab of tasty marinated portobello. the bread they serve it on is exceptional, crispy on the outside, soft in the middle, and packed with flavor. i had to double check that it was vegan, it tasted so damn good.

they also whip up a mean house made hummus that comes topped with a kalamata olive and drizzled with olive oil. i know hummus sounds pretty standard, but desert rose does it right. thick, just the right amount of oil, and a really rich flavor.

Housemade Hummus with Pita Bread $5

the sweet potato fries are also top notch and the serving portion is pretty huge. for you vegans who love sweet potato fries, i can tell you that these are some of the best in town.

Sweet Potato Fries $5

they have salads as well, including a garbanzo and edamame salad topped with crispy tofu. i only had a few bites of this thing because it was full of bell peppers (which i hate), and other than the red demons it was pretty damn good…especially the fried tofu on top.

Garbanzo & Edamame Salad with Mixed Greens, Tomatoes & Crispy Tofu with a Sherry-Walnut Vinaigrette $6/$9

while the portobello panini is definitely my favorite at desert rose, the falafel sandwich is awesome as well. huge, soft green falafel balls all rolled up in soft pita with with fresh vegetables and creamylicious tahini.

Falafel Sandwich with choice of French Fries, Sweet Potato Fries, Mixed Green Salad or Fresh Fruit $7

when i was at desert rose, the chef offered to make me a sandwich that wasn’t on the menu, a mediterranean vegetable wrap with melted daiya cheese. oh my, it was delicious. i think you could add melted daiya to anything and it would drastically improve it, because it took this vegetable wrap from damn good to fucking incredible. even though it’s not on the menu, i’m sure if you ask for it, they would be happy to whip this up for you.

Vegetable Wrap with Daiya Cheese

and in addition to all the mouth-watering food pictured above, desert rose also offers 7 different vegan pizzas topped with daiya cheese from cruzer next door. now you can enjoy a delicious cruzer pie with a bottle of wine in a scenic setting.

if you haven’t been to desert rose already, you should get over there stat. it’s a great bar in its own right, and now they have added a bunch of vegan options that are available all day (not just during happy hour). there’s really nowhere like it in los angeles. this is definitely my new spot for drinking and eating good food.

desert rose
1700 Hillhurst Ave
Los Feliz, CA 90027
(323) 666-1166

oh, and one more thing: desert rose’s vegan menu is all thanks to farm sanctuary’s vegan outreach program. i could not be more grateful.

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

hey los angeles vegans, i have some pretty exciting news for you. if you are familiar with this blog and our travels, you may know that there has been one non-LA restaurant we can’t get enough of. maoz vegetarian is an animal-free and almost entirely vegan falafel shop/salad bar with locations all over the word, and i will go out of my way for their food whenever i visit london or nyc. for years i have longed for maoz to open up a storefront in los angeles, and i think i may have finally gotten my wish.

salad muma meal: salad box with falafel balls, eggplant, hummus and salad bar, plus a fresh juice. $9.50

muma vegetarian opened up yesterday on melrose, and in every way i see it, they are identical to maoz. the logo is similar, the menu is the same, the interior design is the spitting image, and of course the FOOD is tantamount to the ridiculously delicious stuff i remember. i asked the girl behind the counter if muma was related to maoz, but she didn’t know. if they aren’t related, muma has made such a good knock off that i will buy it. muma is the newest vegan food to hit los angeles, and also definitely some of the best as far as i’m concerned. i urge you to go check this place out before it gets crazy popular and crowded.

so here’s how it works. muma has a bunch of meal options, the main ones being a sandwich or a salad box. for both of these menu items, muma gives you a simple base of food which you expand on by adding whatever you want from the exceptional salad bar. hot sauce, carrots, crispy broccoli & cauliflower, cabbage, salsa, tahini and more are all at your disposal…and you can take as much as you can cram into your box.

for instance, here is how a salad box starts out…

then you go for an intense round of food shoving at the salad bar…

and you end up with this…

muma salad box (fill it up as high as you want!) $7.95

or you can make it a meal with some fresh juice…

same goes for a sandwich—it starts out really simple with some falafel in a pita…

and you end up with a massive thingy stuffed with billions of vegetables, hot sauce and tahini.

muma falafel with salad bar. $4.95 (you can also add hummus and eggplant)

it’s pretty fucking awesome. oh, and everything at muma is vegan, other than the eggs and feta cheese. so feel free to fill up on the creamy green sauces and marinated vegetables…it’s all safe. muma also offers some fine house-made beverages like the refreshing jalapeno lemonade (pictured way up top), plus a pumpkin hummus blend. i tried both of these strange concoctions, and they were completely unique and delicious. i will never get enough.

check out muma’s menu. i can recommend….everything (other than the egg and feta):

click to enlarge

in addition to incredible food and a fill-it-yourself salad bar (am i the only one who gets super excited about that?). muma also delivers and has free parking. and you never have to worry about your falafel or pita being grilled with meaty nastiness…the whole places is non-meat!

so what are you waiting for? LA’s newest vegetarian restaurant is a must visit as far as i’m concerned.

muma vegetarian
7275 melrose avenue
los angeles, ca 90046

323-936-7697

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

From the moment that we got our first POSITIVE result when sampling a “vegan” menu item from one of our favorite LA-area vegan restaurants, we knew that we were on to something with Operation Pancake. When POSITIVE readings gave way to HIGH and OVERLOAD results we were quite shocked. For us, though, the most memorable moment was when we unpacked the “vegan cheese (no casein) quesadilla” from Green Leaves Vegan and the acidic smell of “real” cheese came right at us out of the box as our sample crept toward OVERLOAD. We stepped back. We retested. We then warmed the quesadilla, played with the stretchy, greasy cheese and realized that the multitude of tip-offs we’d been getting about the sketchy ingredients and evasive staff members at Green Leaves Vegan might just be true.

Read the rest of this entry »

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

Is your vegan food really vegan? We pull out all the stops to test 17 LA area vegan restaurants for non-vegan ingredients, and to find out why seven of them failed miserably.

UPDATE: Please check out the follow-up post from today when you’ve read this. THANKS.

From Pure Luck to Green Leaves, Vegan House to Vegan Plate and Rosemead to Taipei we pull back the covers on the seedy world of vegan restaurants, and an international supply chain that pumps eggs and milk into our supposedly vegan food on a daily basis.

Vegan Quesadilla from Green Leaves Vegan tested “Overload” for casein, a milk protein.

Surely, a vegan restaurant is safe to eat at if I’m a vegan?

Really? Regular readers of quarrygirl.com will recall us publishing an email and photos from “Mr. Wishbone” detailing the contents of a dumpster at LA Vegan Thai with non-vegan ingredients plainly visible, and presumably used as ingredients in the food (pancakes in this case).

After we published Mr. Wishbone’s findings, several people wrote in with stories about potentially non-vegan ingredients being sighted in vegan restaurants, and one particular thread on the quarrums “Vegan Dirt” began to get rather busy, with accusations flying here and there about shrimp paste being spotted in some restaurants, and “vegan cheese” that looked and tasted exactly like dairy-based cheese being served in others.

While this blog hasn’t hesitated to call out non-vegan “vegan donuts” and non-vegan “vegan cheese pizzas” in the past, we can only make information public that can be empirically proven. Accusations and reports of non-vegan ingredients and suspect food handling (of which we get many) have to stay smoldering in our Deleted Items folder laying in a morass of uncertainty. Or so we thought until a couple of weeks ago, when Mr. Wishbone emailed again, and requested a meeting: “I have some knowledge of the food industry, and I think we can prove whether or not a food item contains certain non-vegan ingredients. I can tell you, though, it’s not going to be easy or cheap. If we meet I’ll share my ideas”. Intrigued, and under the strictest secrecy, we met up for lunch.

The Plan

During the meeting, Mr. Wishbone outlined an ambitious plan that would enable us to test for common non-vegan ingredients (eggs, casein [a component of milk], and shellfish) in a multitude of menu items from local vegan restaurants. The plan would be a logistical, financial and time-sucking nightmare but, if done properly, and to scientific testing standards, it would be a ground-breaking and highly reliable indicator of just how “pure” food from vegan restaurants really is. Here’s an outline of the plan:

• Locate a facility that has no traces of egg, casein or shellfish in which to perform the advanced tests
• Purchase anti-contamination equipment including industrial sterilization supplies, lab coats, uncontaminated bags, swabs, razor blades, gloves and floor coverings
• Obtain highly restricted industrial food testing “kits” only available to the food manufacturing industry
• Develop a regimented process to test each food item with the highest standards of inter-test cleanliness, ensuring that absolutely no food particles from one food item contaminate another
• Select a diverse set of menu items from 100% vegan-only restaurants throughout LA (with one exception, see later)
• Order the food for carry-out, and seal it in an airtight bag in its original packaging either inside, or very close to the point of purchase
• Transport the food items to the testing facility intact and sealed, and perform the tests within 48 hours of purchase, keeping them refrigerated until immediately before the test
• Develop a strict bracketing control, with a thorough analysis of the testing facility and equipment before testing: A negative control to ensure no pre-existing contamination, and a positive control test on a known-positive food product (containing all three target non-vegan items) to ensure that the tests do indicate positive results
• Conduct the test in absolute secrecy to ensure that no restaurant would know they were providing samples, and pose as regular customers ordering take-out food in a normal way, with no disclosure that the items would be used for a test

So, we divided up the work between us, and dedicated a Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday as well as over $1,000 of our collective money to pulling off the most extensive scientific test that we know of to find out, once and for all, if samples of restaurant food are vegan or not.

The Story

Here’s the story of what we did, how we did it and the surprising results….

Read the rest of this entry »

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

hey readers, i wanna encourage you to click over and check out this blog post i wrote for the popular LA blog, losanjealous.com. what you’ll find is some bona fide banh mi sandwich porn, and write-up on one of our favorite vegan eateries, vinh loi tofu.

curry meatball chicken sub. $6.50

if you don’t read losanjealous already, i suggest you start now. it’s a kick ass blog that’s updated regularly with los angeles news, concert pix, giveaways, food reviews and ramblings. plus, they cuss. and you know how much i love that. i’ll be writing for them sporadically in the “under $10″ section, a recurring series of restaurant reviews for the tight wallet. hopefully i can help spread the word around los angeles about all the great, cheap vegan food there is to eat. stay tuned…

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

i know in los angeles we have loads of vegan-friendly restaurants, but sometimes it can still be really hard to find a vegan meal. for instance, after a late night at 2am or early in the morning at 7am…it’s sad, but none of the favorite spots are gonna be open at those hours. rest assured to know when other restaurants are closed, you can always turn to swingers—the all american diner has plenty of vegan options, is open 21.5 hours daily, and has 2 locations (one in santa monica and one near weho). they also serve booze and offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day long.

recently my husband and i found ourselves stranded and hungry at 6:45am, and luckily swingers on beverly came to the rescue.

vegan soyrizo scramble: organic tofu scrambled with soyrizo, served with black beans, salsa, and your choice of tortilla. $7.95

i’m a big fan of the breakfasts at swingers, and they have loads vegan-friendly choices that are clearly marked on the menu. from tofu rancheros, to vegan nachos, to a vegan breakfast burrito there are more than enough options. on our most recent visit, i went with the veganized soyrizo scramble, with organic tofu rather than eggs.

i must say that this scramble was exceptional. they mixed the fake meat and tofu all together thoroughly and the fried it on the bottom so it had a really “scrambled eggy” texture, but with none of the gross egg taste. the plate came with a mound of black beans, fresh chunky salsa, and a huge fluffy flour tortilla…damn good value for under $8.

despite the fact that it was earlier than 7am, my husband wasn’t in the mood for breakfast, so he went with the swingers salad. on it’s own the salad is pretty simple, but for an extra $2.50, you can add some damn fine sauteed tofu. i wouldn’t call this salad amazing or anything, but it’s good, it’s vegan, and it’s available to eat at 6:30am.

swingers salad with tofu: organic mixed baby greens, tomatoes and carrots with choice of dressing and sauteed tofu. $9

so there you have it. when other places aren’t open and you are craving some vegan grub, swingers will always save the day. sometimes the service can be hit or miss, but i’ve always left with a belly full of decent food.

swingers
8020 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 653-5858
6:30 a.m. – 4:00 a.m.

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

there’s something weird going on with vegans and reuben sandwiches. i have never actually even had a ‘real’ reuben sandwich, but it seems that there’s obsession with them in the vegan community. vegan chefs i know are obsessed with making them, they are huge topics on most vegan blogs, and my vegan friends from other cities have the reuben itch as well. what is all the fuss about some mock meat, soy cheese, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing?! i mean really!? i had to find out. after hearing all this reuben talk everywhere i went, i decided i better get with the program and order one of these suckers for myself from one of los angeles’ favorite vegan-reuben-serving joints, flore on sunset.

tempeh reuben: grilled reuben sandwich served on organic corn rye with layers of tofu cheese, cashew cheese, tempeh, sauerkraut and thousand island dressing. served with your choice of side. $9.95

holy crap. one bite of this thing, and i started to understand why everyone makes a big deal over these sandwiches. flore’s tempeh reuben was served up on flavorful rye bread, grilled on both sides, and stuffed with bits of tempeh & 2 kinds of ‘cheese’. the sauerkraut and thousand island dressing complimented each other perfectly, making for a winning sweet/sour combination. this sandwich was fucking bomb. much better than i expected it to be.

while the sandwich was regular-sized, by no means large (especially for $9.95), it was packed with so much rich flavor that i was completely stuffed after eating just half of it. i threw the other half on the panini press for breakfast the next day, and it was even better than the night before. i can’t really speak on vegan reubens in general, but i can tell you flore’s tempeh rueben is an a+. i’m looking forward to ordering this warm, comforting sandwich again in the very near future.

flore vegan cuisine
3818 W. Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 953-0611
Tue-Fri. 11:00 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

if you like healthy food, relaxing lunches, and damn good tap beer, you need to hit up tender greens. the casual eatery has two locations, one in culver city and a brand new one in west hollywood. i checked out the weho outlet with friend and fellow blogger jennshaggy, and was blown away by the taste and quality of the food, the friendliness of the service, and the overall atmosphere of the place.

happy vegan: tabbouleh, hummus, pasta pearls, farro wheat, young kale, tender greens. $10.5

after browsing the menu online, i wasn’t expecting much from tender greens. they seemed to have mostly salads and nothing really jumped out at me. however, the minute i walked into the restaurant and was greeted by the smell of freshly baked bread and could see all the fresh vegetables being chopped and prepared behind the counter, i knew i was in for a treat. i could tell this was no ordinary salad place, and that our food was likely to be exceptional.

i ordered the happy vegan pictured above, which was a mix of several small dishes accompanied by soft leafy greens and crunchy bread. of the several mounds of delicious food on my plate, my favorite was the green hummus (pictured below), which tasted like a mix of hummus and edamame…absolutely amazing. of course i washed everything down with a pint of delicious draught beer. i don’t even remember what kind of beer i ordered, but it was something fancy. you don’t see crap like bud light and mgd on tap at tender greens, but rather selections like chimay and fine ciders.

while tender greens only has two salads that come vegan by default, most of their other creations can be veganized as well. jennshaggy ordered the chinese chicken salad, but with vegetables instead of chicken and tomato rather than sesame dressing. the roasted vegetables included squash, baby carrots, cauliflower, and asparagus….all of which were cooked to perfection. i tried a bite and jenn’s salad was even better than my happy vegan plate! i am definitely gonna take a risk and order off the menu next time like she did.

chinese chicken salad with no chicken, add roasted vegetables. spicy greens, golden pea sprouts, carrot, crispy wonton, cilantro, green onions, roasted peanuts, tomato dressing. $10.5

in addition to great food and fancy tap beer, tender greens has a super comfy and laid back atmosphere. you order at the counter and pay for your food then take your tray to one of the many sun-soaked booths or tables underneath the large windows. on a weekend i could spend hours at this place, sinking beers and eating hummus.

so overall, tender greens gets an a+. the food is fresh and tastes good, and everything is unbelievably light and healthy. i think i would do myself a favor by eating here more often.

tender greens
8759 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 358-1919

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

los angeles vegans: take the day off, pack your bags, fill up your tank, and head to las vegas asap.

it turns out sin city has a lot more to offer than cheap beer, false promises of wealth, broken down hookers and all you can eat shellfish buffets—vegas is also home to the best vegan donuts in the world. i shit you not. ronald’s donuts are so delicious, nobody would ever be able to tell they are vegan. not to be confused with ‘fancy’ los angeles vegan vendors, ronald’s is a typical low brow donut shop. located miles off the strip in LV’s china town, the unassuming hole in the wall opens early, lacks ambiance and charges very little for its treats. it’s an insane experience, going into ronald’s which is exactly like a normal donut shop in every way, and being able to order a box full of classic flavors for just $6. stuff like this in LA would be three times the price and wouldn’t taste nearly as good.

at ronald’s donuts, there’s two big display cases and everything on the top two rows is vegan. my eyes were bigger than my stomach and i went a little crazy ordering, luckily these things keep pretty well in the refrigerator. i highly suggest if you go here, you stock up as well. you aren’t ever gonna find donuts this good again.

my favorite by far was the soy cream filled donut. the round squishy white cake was injected with thick vanilla cream and topped off with a layer of chocolate frosting. i can’t stress how much this tastes like the donuts i remember eating as a child. a cheap, normal, decadent donut in every way….except this one was vegan!

i also filled up on other spiffy treats like the apple burrito thingy pictured above, a fried pastry filled with fruit and topped with crunchy cinnamon. the classic chocolate frosted donut was also delicious…

…as were the glazed donut holes.

and you can sit back and enjoy your pastries with a hot cup of coffee in the traditional donut shop atmosphere. seriously, i never thought vegans would be able to do this kind of thing.

the three and a half hour drive to las vegas is well worth it just to experience ronald’s donuts. if you live in los angeles, i suggest you start planning your trip now. i hear from friends that the thing to do is stay up all night then get to ronald’s at 5am when they open for fresh donuts. not even i am that hardcore, but who knows, maybe i will give it a try next time. get your asses to ronald’s now…and bring some donuts back to LA for me.

ronald’s donuts
4600 Spring Mountain Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 873-1032

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

stop eating animals…and start eating vegan sausages!

franken’s, the only vegan food cart in los angeles, will be out in full force this weekend selling vegan hot dogs on saturday at the apartment 3 vintage yard sale in hollywood. drop whatever you are doing and get out there between 1 and 6pm—there will be shopping, djs, beer and most importantly, 100% plant-based franks from the frankenstand! whooooooooosh! don’t miss it!

if you’ve never tried franken’s before, you are in for a real treat. we are big fans of the frankenstand here at quarrygirl.com, and we just can’t get enough of of their gourmet franks! show up hungry, that way you can try both the witch and the franken!

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

Last night was NOT the best of nights. I had to work late and then run a bunch of errands before coming home to work some more, dreading the “cupboard is bare” syndrome as I’ve not been shopping in days. I pulled into the Whole Foods Market at Third and Fairfax on the way home, deciding to get some warm food to carry out so I could pretend like I had prepared it myself (denial is a wonderful thing). Upon passing the pizza bar, I saw a sign that said “vegan pizza” so I stopped and inquired. Well, after a lot of to and fro it appears that Whole Foods not only have a vegan cheese pizza offering at every location in Southern California but they started topping it with the amazing Daiya cheese (yes, I had to pinch myself on this one – I even asked to see the cheese packaging, and they pulled out a bag that had “Daiya Vegan Cheese” written all over it.

In case you have been living under a rock or accidentally got to this page by Googling “asian pizza porn” (and, yes, that is an example of a real search than brought a visitor briefly to quarrygirl.com recently), you will be aware that Daiya cheese is the  most amazing vegan cheese substitute on the planet, and takes the whole experience of being a pizza-loving vegan up a notch or two.

So, I wasted no time in ordering a pizza with my standard toppings: Mushrooms, Garlic and Tomatoes and while I was waiting for it to be prepared I scuttled around the store picking up a nice bottle of organic wine and some groceries I’d been needing for a while. As soon as I was done shopping, I picked up my piping hot pizza and was back in the car and home in no time.

Massive Vegan Pizza from Whole Foods

When I plopped the pizza down on my countertop I had to step back and take a reality check at what just happened. I’d gone into a Whole Foods Market, and brought home an absolutely enormous vegan pizza, covered in melty Daiya cheese and chunky vegetables all piled on a crispy Italian-style crust. And, all for just $17. I’m glad I accidentally left my iPhone on the pizza box when I snapped the picture, as it provides some scale of the enormity of that 16 slice pie which is easily 50% bigger than an Extra Large pizza anywhere else.

Vegan Pizza with Daiya Cheese, Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Roasted Garlic. $17

So much for the size and Daiya cheese, but how did the pizza taste? The bottom line: If I’d been served this pizza in a pricey restaurant at twice the price, I’d have been impressed. The fact that I bought it in a GROCERY STORE, and it cost less than a three topping X-Large vegetarian pizza from most crappy delivery joints is seriously impressive. The crust was crispy and tasty, the vegetables were perfectly prepared and the vegan cheese needs no introduction.

Daiya: The Best Vegan Cheese out there

The pictures really don’t do this pizza any justice at all. The convenience of popping into any Wholefoods for one of the best vegan pizzas you’ll ever eat cannot be beaten. According to the duty manager, “all” Whole Foods Market outlets in SoCal will soon (or already do) have Daiya cheese, presumably replacing the chemical mass that is Follow Your Heart vegan cheese. (Of course, your results may vary, so call ahead if you have to go out of your way).

I predict that within two years most mainstream pizza joints will have a vegan cheese offering, where the cruelty free nature of vegan cheeses cannot be beaten. Also, vegan cheese (especially Daiya, which has less fat and calories than most) is a healthier option than dairy-based cheeses.

Rock On Whole Foods Market: you just made hundreds of thousands of vegans in Southern California very happy!

whole foods
6350 West 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90036 USA

Check with your local Whole Foods to see if they’ve started carrying Daiya!

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

recently i brought you the news that cruzer pizza in los feliz was offering pizzas topped with daiya cheese. now just a couple weeks later, i am happy to say they have not just expanded their menu and added many vegan pasta options, but they are also now serving up all their daiya cheese and fake meat creations at both the los feliz location and the glendale outlet. i hit up cruzer in glendale last week to try out their new vegan stuff, and i can tell ya that daiya is just as good (if not better) in pasta than it is on pizza.

vegan chicken parmigiana. $9.99

i’ve never had real chicken parmigiana, so i can’t really compare, but cruzer’s version of the italian classic was a bed of fat spaghetti noodles in a thick sauce, topped with soy chicken and covered in daiya cheese. they really piled on the cheddar and mozzarella daiya, and stuck it all in the oven so it melted up right nice.

for ten bucks, the portion was huge. it’s definitely enough to share and even then have some left over. it was really great tasting daiya in a pasta…all scrambled in with the soy meat and noodles, you seriously wouldn’t ever notice that this is ‘fake’ cheese.

vegan meat spaghetti. $9.99

we also tried out the vegan meat spaghetti, which was the same noodles as in the chicken parmigiana, but mixed up with soy ground meat and covered in cheese. again, the daiya was awesome; perfectly melty, stretchy and flavorful. this tasted just like an old school meaty cheesy pasta dish you get an italian restaurant…i’ve never tasted anything like it since becoming vegan.

cruzer also has other vegan pastas that i haven’t tried yet, including lasagna and eggplant parmigiana. my only advice is to call ahead if there is something specific you want, because when i was there they didn’t have the lasagna. oh well, i can’t wait to go back and try it.

vegan pasta menu at cruzer pizza

of course in addition to pasta, both cruzer locations are offering up good ‘ole daiya vegan pizza as well. i tried out the thin crust from the glendale restaurant with tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic and vegan sausage. definitely some of the best vegan pizza around.

large daiya cheese pizza with mushrooms, tomato, garlic and vegan sausage. $20.99

by now you all probably know how i feel about daiya, but just to remind you, this stuff is amazing on pizza. it melts, stretches, and feels just like real cheese. cruzer also mixes the cheddar and mozzarella together to give it more flavor, and it makes for an absolutely delicious pie.

just to be clear, cruzer is take-out pizza place, so while there are a few stools to eat at inside, it wouldn’t necessarily recommend it. do what i did, call for your pizza and pasta in advance, take it home and relax with a good movie and a bottle of wine, if that’s how you roll.

rumor is, cruzer is gonna keep adding more vegan stuff to the menu. i hope that’s true, because everything i have tried there has been excellent. go check it out if you haven’t already, now you have a cruzer in the valley AND los feliz to choose from.

cruzer pizza
1200 N Pacific Ave
Glendale, CA 91202
(818) 500-1289

and

cruzer pizza
4449 Prospect Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 666-0600

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

Gangadin, an Indian restaurant on Ventura Place that’s close to the intersection of Laurel Canyon and Ventura Blvd. would otherwise be an average Southern Californian interpretation of a Northern Indian curry house, but it smashes through a barrier of mediocrity by offering a special menu for vegans. I’m not talking about a typical vegan menu where meat is substituted for vegetables (kindly for the same price), but a REAL and seriously prepared vegan menu with a respectful kitchen and staff that are knowledgeable about what a vegan is and what we require as dietary predicates. All of this in an omnivorous environment with a cool vibe and convenient location.

As it happens, I’m weeks away from hosting some omnivores that hail from England: recognized as the home of Indian cuisine, so following a recent post on the Quarrums, we decided to do a dry run of Gangadin so we could check out the “vegan friendly” options on the menu.

Upon arrival, we were searching the menu for vegan items (the word “Vegan” doesn’t appear anywhere), and were planning to play the substitution game with long faces until we noticed the “ask about our vegan menu” subtitle on the front page. Upon reading that, I went to the rear of the restaurant to ask about vegan offerings (as our server was at best inattentive, at worst rude) and was handed “GANGADIN’S VEGAN MENU”, so I scuttled back to our table, and we began to order with aplomb.

First, we had the Tofu Pakoras. In some ways, they reminded me of the vegan fish and chips at Weird Fish, as they were slabs of firm tofu fried in batter and perfectly seasoned. It’s a fact that I’ve eaten Indian food in all 13 continents (including India), and this is by far the best appetizer I’ve ever had. In fact, it was so good I was tempted to order another serving as a main dish!

tofu pakoras: firm tofu dipped in spiced gram flour, fried. $6

Next, we mixed it up with Aloo Gobhi (potatoes, cauliflower and vegetables)…

aloo gobi: cauliflower and potaoes sauteed with tomatoes, ginger and spices. $10.50

Saag Tofu (spinach and tofu)…

saag tofu: spinach and tofu cooked in onions and tomatoes. $10.50

all washed down with a Vegetable Biryani (Rice, vegetables and spiced)…

vegetable biryani: basmati rice with mixed vegetables. $6.50

with a side order of Spinach Paratha – basically two paratha breads with steamed spinach stuffed inside and cooked in a hot Tandoor oven.

spinach parantha: parantha stuffed with rich leafy spinach, baked in the tandoor. $3.50

The quality of the food was superb — with or without it being vegan. The spices and textures worked very well together, and the seemingly endless supply of condiments and biryani rice gave a rather filling feeling to the evening leaving us most replete in our quest for curry.

I’ll proudly take my English friends to Gangadin, and while they enjoy their omnivorous whatevers I’ll sneak to the back and order from the vegan menu that (until now) was only available if asked for when visiting. Minor gripes like reheated potatoes and vegetables that were frozen before cooking (and, yeah, I can tell for sure) pale into insignificance with a menu like this. Gandadin might not be the best Indian restaurant in LA, but the fact it has a special vegan menu (even though it is mysteriously hidden) speaks volumes about what we vegans can expect these days in regular restaurants. here’s the vegan menu so you can see for yourself:

Do you know of the poet Rudyard Kipling? If so, you’ll certainly know the poem Gunga Din. It ends with “Tho’ I’ve belted you and flayed you, By the livin’ Gawd that made you, You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!”. Kinda sums up Gangadin (sic) in many more ways than one.

Gangadin
12067 Ventura Pl
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 509-0722

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

As a boy growing up in England during the 70s, “fish and chips” were a real staple food for me (yes, the stereotype about us Brits is true). I was never that much into the fish part as my preference was to peel off and eat the crunchy batter with my tiny, newsprint-blackened hands and consume huge mounds of chips and mushy peas at the same time. After becoming vegetarian, I used to eat just the chips and mushy peas — an unbeatable combo of grease and greens!

So, it was with much anticipation that, on a recent trip to San Francisco, I sampled the offerings of Weird Fish – a pescetarian restaurant in the Mission District that has a vegan Fish and Chips option on the menu. I was quite intrigued to understand how one could veganize the “fish” part of the fish and chips, and my intrigue quickly morphed into a very full belly not long after our order arrived.

Before we talk about the food, though, it’s worth mentioning that Weird Fish is rather small inside and can get very crowded at meal times. When we were there, around 1pm on a weekday, there was a line outside as well as way too many people cramped over tiny tables inside. Whenever something like that happens, you know you’re either somewhere trendy or somewhere really special. Well, I guess Weird Fish is both trendy and special, something we experience rarely in Los Angeles – usually places are firmly in the trendy or special camp and almost never both.

buffalo girls: seitan with buffalo sauce & vegan ranch dressing. $7

We ordered the Buffalo Girls (seitan “chicken” wings with buffalo sauce and vegan ranch dressing) as an appetizer, and were very pleased. Each piece was coated in a perfectly crunchy and spicy batter that was red hot (temperature AND spicy hot), yet the inside was warm and very chewy. I’ve never eaten “real” chicken wings, so I can’t compare these to them, but I can tell you they were absolutely delicious and I’d eat them again in a heartbeat.

tofu fish and chips: sweet and sour cream vegan soy-batter (gluten free) 2pc $8

For our main course we ordered one vegan seitan fish and chips (fries for you Americans), which came with vegan tartar sauce, wrapped in soy batter, and one tofu fish and chips entrée which was similarly presented, yet the sauce was vegan sweet and sour cream. At only $8 for two pieces with chips, this was not only a huge portion of food but great value too. If you’re extra hungry, you can get an additional piece of tofu or seitan “fish” for only $3 more. No wonder this place is so crazy busy!

seitan fish and chips: vegan tartar sause vegan soy-batter (gluten free) 2pc $8

The tofu choice was a huge, hunking chunk of firm, seasoned tofu with a very steamy inside…

yet the seitan “fish” was much more chewy (the same inside, I think, as the Buffalo Girls).

What’s special here is not a chunk of vegetable protein per-se, but what they DO with it. The vegan batter is incredibly tasty, soaked in oil and so crunchy that it breaks into bits that fly all over the place when you bite into it. The chips are also similarly perfectly prepared — probably from fresh potatoes which means you can actually taste the potato rather than the freezer bag that held them for months before you ate them.

The only downside I can think of for Weird Fish is the humongous amount of oil and calories one must consume when eating there. I must have had over 600 calories (most of them fat) from the one meal I ate. You know what, though? I’d eat that again if it was twice the calories and happily skip another meal to make up for it, even if that meal was at Millennium, allegedly one of the finest vegan dining establishments in the world, where I happened to have a reservation the very same evening I ate at Weird Fish.

weird fish
2193 Mission Street,
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.863.4744

Days
Mon – Fri: 11am – 4pm
Sat – Sun: 9am – 4pm
Nights
Sun – Thu: 5pm-10:30pm
Fri & Sat: 5pm-11:30pm

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz

it’s been a good couple weeks for los angeles vegans, as it seems daiya vegan cheese has hit the ground running. the amazing product that stretches and melts just like real cheese, is already at 2 awesome pizza joints, and now you can find it on sandwiches at chango, echo park’s vegan-friendly coffee shop, as well.

vegan grilled cheese sandwich with daiya vegan cheese.

i got the chance to sample some of the delicious sandwiches that chango just started serving up yesterday, and they were off the chain! i make a pretty damn good grilled cheese at home using daiya, and i can tell you chango’s version blew mine out of the water. it had the perfect amount of insanely melty cheese, and the bread was rich, moist and perfectly pressed.

JUST LOOK AT THAT PICTURE. look at how that cheese is melting, you know it belongs in your fucking face. i can’t stress this to you enough: if you have never had a daiya grilled cheese sandwich, you NEED to go get one at chango. the cheddar daiya is far superior to the mozzarella, and its actual flavor it a lot closer to real cheese. the alternative to going to chango if you wanna try this stuff, is to order it online and pay an enormous shipping cost plus an extra fee to have it sent in a cold bag. totally not worth it when you can roll over to echo park and pick up one of these.

the grilled cheese at chango also comes with a pasta salad (not pictured) which consists of colored bow tie pasta, olive oil seasonings, tomatoes, olives and daiya mozzarella shreds…absolutely creamy and delicious. it will all cost you $7.50, well under 10 bucks, which is pretty reasonable for a vegan sandwich & side in this town. you may want to call chango to make sure they have these before you drive over there. because they are new and all, who knows how popular they will be.

chango coffee house
1559 Echo Park Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 977-9161

Digg

Stumble Upon

Del.icio.us

Buzz