as you may know, we here at quarrygirl are determined to eat all the good vegan club sandwiches in los angeles and compare them for you readers. this week our club comes to us from flore vegan in silverlake, and i must say it is a damn fine contender for the #1 spot.

club sandwich: battered baked tofu, tempeh bacon, tomato, avocado, lettuce, daikon sprout and eggless mayonaise on sourdough bread. served with choice of potato salad, side salad, or fruit. $9.95

flore’s club sandwich is pretty hefty and comes stacked with baked tofu, tempeh bacon, tomato, avocado, lettuce, and daikon sprouts. it weighs in at $9.95, which is nearly a buck 50 more than the club at follow your heart, BUT this one comes with avocado (which is an extra charge at FYH) AND a hefty side salad.

i would definitely say flore makes one of the best vegan clubs i’ve ever tasted. maybe it’s because the succulent tofu is battered and then baked, so it has all kinds of flavor goin on…or maybe it’s because the strips of tempeh bacon are extra thick and smoky. or maaaaybe it’s the way the slightly toasted bread mixes in with the creamy avocado and juicy tomato. i dunno, but everything about it is just so…perfect.

when ordering any sandwich or burger at flore, i always opt for the potato salad as my side dish. it really can’t be beat, and a side of leaves or fruit just doesn’t come close. trust me, this stuff is awesome.

so there you have it, flore’s delicious club sandwich may just be the best in all of LA. there are still so many to try though. be sure to comment with your favorite.

flore vegan
3818 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 953-0611

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uneducated people think that vegans only eat salad, but we know better than that. one look around this blog shows that peeps adhering to an animal-free lifestyle can still enjoy ‘meat’, ‘cheese’, sandwiches, burgers, ice cream and cupcakes just like the rest of the world. sometimes, however, a good animal-free salad can be hearty enough to satisfy the omnivores and herbivores alike…and such is true of the avocado seitan salad at flore.

avocado seitan salad: bed of mixed greens with sliced avocado, grilled seitan, daikon sprouts, tomato and red onion. served with your choice of tahini, 1000 island, vinaigrette or miso dressing. $9.95

i’m not much of a salad person, but this may very well be one of the best menu items i’ve ever tasted. for under 10 bucks you get a large serving of soft leafy greens (more than i can eat), topped with sexy grilled chunks of homemade seitan and fresh vegetables in a dressing of your choosing, all garnished with generous slices of creamy avocado. i always go with the tahini dressing (it’s thick and rich, yet not over-powering)….but i hear that the 1000 dressing is killer as well.

if you feel like eating a salad that will actually make you full, head over to flore in silverlake. this dish will satisfy the meatiest of cravings, and it’s still a mere healthy and organic salad! win/win!

Flore
3818 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 953-0611

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on some days it’s so cold and rainy out, all you wanna do is huddle inside and mow down a hefty plate of vegan comfort food. yesterday was indeed one of those days. it was storming hard in los angeles, like it does so rarely, and by chance the daily special at flore vegan was a tummy-warming plate of shepard’s pie. when i saw the announcement on twitter, i knew i had to brave the weather and haul ass across town to try this meal. suffice to say, it was worth the trip.

vegan root vegetable and beef shepard's pie with a sauteed broccoli and carrot side. $10.95

served in a casserole dish, the shepard’s pie at flore was a mix of milky sauce, thick chunks of soy beef, and hearty vegetables under a layer of creamy partially-mashed potatoes. each layer of this dish was top notch—the meat was salty and chewy, the vegan sauce had a dairy-like richness, and the unpeeled potatoes were soft with a touch of crispy. i have never tasted such a wonderful shepard’s pie.

oh, and the sauteed vegetables were ridiculously good as well. they were simple—just carrots and broccoli—but were cooked to the point where they were crunchy and oily yet not overly wilted. i am not a huge carrot fan, but i munched these up immediately and was sad when they were gone.

while i love the regular menu at flore, this shepard’s pie is above and beyond anything i’ve eaten there before. moral of the story is, be adventurous and try the daily specials. this one was damn good.

to find out what special flore is offering each day, follow them on twitter.

flore vegan
3818 w sunset blvd.
silverlake ca 90026 (sunset @ hyperion)
(323) 953-0611

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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.

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you may have read a recent post of mine in which i criticized flore cafe, a new vegetarian coffee shop under the same ownership as the vegan restaurant flore, for deciding to offer eggs and real cheese in some of their dishes. thankfully, the original flore is still 100% vegan and 100% delicious.

i have been grabbing a lot of take-out from flore over the past few months, and here are a few of the things i’ve been eating.

portabella panini: Marinated grilled portabella with soy mozzarella, kale and creamy dill dressing on organic ciabatta bread. Served with choice of potato salad, side salad or fruit. $10.25

flore’s portabella panini is pretty awesome. the bread is crispy and fresh, the portabella is juicy, and the kale is soft. you can tell flore really strives to use quality ingredients in all their dishes, and this sandwich is no exception. the only thing in this panini that could be improved upon is the melty-ness of the cheese. it tastes just like standard follow your heart vegan cheese, and as you can see in the picture, the shreds are intact. oh well, i guess them using the second-place-winning vegan cheese isn’t that bad. the meal as a whole is still very delicious, and i could drink a gallon of the creamy dill dressing it comes with.

southwestern seitan quesadilla: Whole wheat quesadilla of cashew cheese, seasoned seitan, diced tomato, and shredded lettuce. Served with sides of pico de gallo and cilantro cream. $7.95

next, the southwestern seitan quesadilla is probably my favorite thing i’ve tried out at flore. huge, meaty seitan chunks all mixed up with a really creamy cheese sauce, plump tomatoes and soft lettuce in a double-grilled tortilla. so good! and for only $7.95, it’s definitely worth a try. i tell ya, after ordering this once, it was hard for me to every taste anything new at flore again. their seitan is some of the best ever.

the salad is also really good, and comes with a whole slew of fancy and yummy ingredients.

the salad: Bed of mixed baby greens topped with portions of tofu egg salad, shredded carrot, baked tofu, roasted beets, edamame salad, tomato, avocado and daikon sprouts. Served with a side of hummus and choice of thousand island, miso, vinaigrette or tahini dressing. $9.95

the tofu egg salad bit is insanely awesome, as is baked tofu. everything in this salad tastes light and deceptively healthy, and flore does a great job at pairing flavors. beware fellow bell pepper haters: the edamame portion of the salad came with mixed in peppers, even though i requested none in my salad. i just had to pick around that section. still tasty though, and definitely worth 10 bucks.

basmati brown rice bowl: Brown basmati rice with crispy kale, shredded carrot, raw sunflower seeds, lime wedges, daikon sprouts and avocado served with your choice of teriyaki seitan or baked tofu and sides of tahini dressing and tamari. $9.95

the basmati brown rice bowl is the latest thing i’ve ordered from flore, and of course i love it. it tastes a lot like the salad, actually, but comes on a fluffy bed of brown rice. i can’t get over all the delicious unusual vegetables flore manages to pack into each dish. it makes every meal exciting, because i am always eating something i’m not used to getting at other restaurants. the only thing is, a lot of their dishes taste similar—maybe because they use the same sauces and ingredients from dish to dish. so the wrap tastes kind of like the salad, as does the rice bowl, etc. still, all are very yummy.

so there ya have it, just a quick look at some of the several delicious vegan options on flore’s huge menu. the restaurant can get pretty crowded, especially in the evening, so i suggest calling ahead and ordering your food. oh, and add an extra 5-10 minutes to the time they tell you it will be ready—they always seem to be running a bit behind.

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i’ve been to flore vegan in siverlake a few times, and the food has always been super delicious. this last meal was no different, and it proved to me that flore is not just a great place to dine in, it also provides a lovely take-out experience as well. i ordered my grub on a weeknight at around 7pm, and when i went to pick it up, the place was packed. people waiting, every table full on the inside and outside, phone ringing off the hook with orders. my food took about ten minutes longer than promised, but seeing how busy the restaurant was, i really couldn’t blame them. to be honest, i was just thankful that i wasn’t one of the poor shleps standing around waiting to be seated. finally my order showed up, i paid the disgruntled hipster working behind the counter, and 30 minutes later i was home with my beautiful food. ahhhh.

the appetizer was as tasty as ever…

fusion rolls: sliced wheat rolls of nori, black bean, jicama, carrot, daikon sprout and cashew cheese served with lime wedges and a tamari citrus dipping sauce. $8.95

normally this dish comes with bell peppers as well, but i decided to pass on those. these little rolls withstood the wait, the car ride, the unpacking, and turned out to be quite an amazing appetizer. they were much thicker and heartier than i expected from the description, and actually could have been a meal on their own. all the vegetables blended together with the smooth cashew cheese for a unique taste that was intensely flavorful and very refreshing. the crisp carrots and jicama added the perfect amount of crunch to the creamy cheese and soft black beans. and the tamari dipping sauce had a citrusy bite to it that went so well with all the fresh ingredients. this roll was anything but bland.

as a main course, i opted for the flore burger, because i believe that any custom-made burger patty needs to be tried. going in a totally different direction from the grainy ricey burgers at places like follow your heart or m café, flore’s vegan burger is made mostly of black beans. in fact, i’ll be damned if it doesn’t taste almost exactly like the veganomicon black bean burger recipe.

flore burger: black bean burger grilled and served with sliced tomato, sprouts, red onion, green leaf lettuce and thousand island dressing. served with a side salad. $9.95

being such a fan of flore’s cashew cheese, i had to add it to my burger for an extra $1.50. totally worth it, that stuff enhances all it touches. as you can see, the burger came with so many extra leaves and vegetables, it looked like a salad on my plate. if you look at the picture above, that’s ALL the burger and stuff that came with the burger. i didn’t even photograph the actual side salad. since i love black beans, i fell in love with this dish right away. the patty was thin but juicy and boasted several grains and beans that blended together perfectly.

while this entree didn’t hold up quite as good as the fusion rolls, as far as take-out food, it put on a pretty good show for a burger. it had to be microwaved a little bit as it was getting cold, and the only thing that suffered was the bun. it got a little tough and chewy, but other than that, the burger was as good as new. one thing that really helped was that they packed it up all separately. in the take-out box flore separated the burger, the vegetables, the sauce and cheese, making for an ideal reheating situation. these flore peeps really know what they are doing. when i get a burger from m café to go, it’s already stacked and i have to peel it apart if i want to warm it up.

so overall, this take-out experience was on point. i think flore vegan is rapidly becoming my favorite restaurant in los angeles. all the food is perfect, they use tons of black beans, and they have a huge menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner that i will never be able to conquer. if only they had a little more seating and served beer…

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with pure luck under construction lately, i’ve been searching for new ways to get my fancy beer/vegan food fix. over the weekend i discovered a pretty great alternative: flore. but they don’t serve beer, you say? nope…but the good, located right across the street, does. the good offers tons of beer on tap and like a million bottles, so it’s a great place to get a buzz before walking over and soaking up the drunk with pure vegan awesomeness. i just cannot get over flore’s amazing food…and the menu is freakin’ huge!

the wrap: stuffed with baked tofu, roasted vegetables, shredded kale and brown basmati rice with a drizzling of creamy tofu dressing wrapped together in a wheat tortilla. served with potato salad. $9.95

the wrap is enormous, delicious and satisfying—filled with delightfully seasoned tofu and very tasty dressing. it comes cut in half, so it’s perfect for sharing. hell, get 2 wraps and switch it up! the potato salad hit the spot as well—light, fresh and not too soggy.

burrito flore: brown rice, black beans, tempeh bacon, cilantro cream, cashew cheese, lettuce, avocado and tomato wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla. served with a side of pico de gallo and a green salad. $10.95

i really, really, REALLY love burritos. when i was a vegetarian they were my second favorite food, and now that pizza is gone, they are definitely #1. seriously, when i eat at a restaurant that has a burrito on the menu, i find it very difficult to order something else. that being said, flore’s vegan burrito is one of the best i’ve ever had. they cram so much stuff inside, i almost can’t handle it. they’ve got the fake meat, beans, fake cheese, vegetables and even fake creamy stuff as well. with most vegan burritos, you are lucky to get any kind of protein along with the standard rice and beans…not to mention fake cheese! this burrito really takes it to the next level.

i mean look at that. it just belongs in your face, right? and it’s not just crammed full of cool shit, it also tastes really good. all the ingredients are so fresh and juicy, your mouth will have a party. thanks a lot flore, now i am gonna have a really tough time ordering anything else off your majorly enticing menu.

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…and wow, i was impressed! the food was just incredible, and i managed to show up at a time when it wasn’t crowded and the atmosphere was pleasant. yay! here’s to one of LA’s tastiest breakfasts! thanks flore!

tofu benediction: fluffy sliced tofu, tomato slices, kale and avocado piled atop toasted batard and smothered in our own take on hollandaise sauce. served with tempeh bacon. $9.95

breakfast burrito: tofu scramble, tempeh bacon, potatoes, cashew cheese and avocado wrapped in a tortilla. served with pico de gallo and a side of fruit. $8.95

now as you know, i love saying what annoys be about any restaurant, or how i think they can improve. the thing about flore is, there’s nothing wrong with it—except maybe that there’s too much delicious food to choose from.

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