when we went on sunday lunchtime, the place wasn’t nearly as packed as it should have been. i guess everyone was too busy lining up across the street to eat at home, which suits me! we had decided on eating healthy and passed on the onion rings appetizer (that looked SO good btw) for an order of spring rolls.

spring rolls: fresh vegetables wrapped in noodle skin with house sauce. $4.95

the spring rolls were pretty damn good, but the best thing was, they came packed with a little surprise. the menu didn’t mention anything about soy meat inside, yet they were stuffed with with some kind of protein as well as fresh vegetables! light and refreshing, exactly what you’d expect from a guilt-free appetizer. the sweet, peanuty sauce was lovely as well.

as a main course, we opted to share the seitan wrap. i’m always interested to see how each of these thai/vegan places makes a wrap, because each restaurant has its own variation. green leaves’ seitan wrap was right up there, almost as good as the one at the vegan joint. what i did like about this specific version, is that it was rolled with a flour tortilla-like lavash, rather than a wheat chapati-style bread.

seitan wrap: romaine lettuce, seitan, avocado, tomato, alfalfa sprouts served with tahini sauce. $6.45

what kinda irked me about this wrap though, is that it didn’t seem like it was filled with seitan, but rather soy chicken or some other crazy fake animal. i’m used to seitan that tastes like tough, chewy wheat meat and is dark brown. this was much softer and lighter in color. it still tasted great, just not what i was expecting. of course, i completely soaked it in a delicious mixture of tahini and chilli-garlic from the hot sauce carousel.

granted, we didn’t eat very much between us, but i was still pretty impressed when the check arrived and it was under $13. there aren’t many places you can sit in a hip little spot looking out at los feliz and finish off 2 plates of vegan food for less than a dub. i will definitely be returning to green leaves, and i hope to get something really unhealthy to make up for those fresh spring rolls. i’m thinking onion rings, a quesadilla, or some pancakes…maybe all 3.

stay tuned.

scrambled tofu (adapted from the ppk recipe!) with field roast sausages, tomatoes and sour supreme.

now i’ve eaten a lot (and i mean a lot!) of tofu scrambles in my time, and this was actually one of the best. i make them constantly at home, either with mix out of a box, using recipes online, or simply by throwing everything from my cupboard and fridge into a pan with some tofu…and this was the first one that can hold its own with breakfast from my favorite restaurants. the tofu was spot on, firm and not mulchy at all, and the spices were blended perfectly, enhancing but not overpowering. 

each morning the scrambly mixture just needs to be spooned out and microwaved for 1 minute to be the perfect breakfast again and again. we also cut up some fresh tomatoes each morning and split a chipotle field roast sausage, both fresh off the grill. and of course i cover mine with the hottest of hot sauces and garnish it with a goop of sour supreme every time, i just can’t help it. 

all hail the ppk—they rule and so does this scramble. it has been a great sunday and monday breakfast so far, so i know it will help get me out of bed and get me through the rest of the week.

adapted ingredients and more after the jump.

you can read the original recipe here. i added a few things and left out a few things, depending on what i had laying around. oh, and i made the recipe a lot bigger. enough for all week…because this deserves to be eaten 5 days in a row. i followed the directions pretty much like the original recipe, so here is a list of the adapted ingredients.

2 1/2 14 oz packages of firm or extra firm tofu
olive oil cooking spray
1 huge white onion, chopped
4 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
7 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
a few tablespoons of lime juice
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
1 cup of frozen peas

spice blend:
4 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon tumeric
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons chilli powder

it’s gonna be a good week. thanks, ppk! oh and a special shout out to my friends field roast, el yucateco and tofutti, without you guys, these breakfasts wouldn’t have been possible.

vegan twinkie from the vegan spot

you see, jenn shaggy is a fellow vegan blogger, who also bakes professionally for the latest hip vegan eatery to grace my fair city with its presence, the vegan spot. her twinkies and cupcakes are so popular that they are getting tons of yelp buzz and are selling out within days of delivery. i feel lucky to have caught her twinkies when they were available.

jenn emailed me the same day she dropped off the batch of piping hot treats, and within 12 hours, they were almost totally sold out. i high-tailed it from my job in hollywood, across town, to buy up the remaining pastries. that meant 5 twinkies at 3.50 each, $17 plus tip of vegan sweets on my lunch break. with only a $20 in my wallet, i couldn’t even afford a sandwich. whatever, it was totally worth it. i just hope jenn saw her rightful share of that small fortune.

the twinkies were chilled when i got them into my car, and i couldn’t resist opening the box and digging into them then and there. oh, so much better than hostess..sweet confectionery bliss. they were crafted perfectly—tiny holes in the sponge cake oozing with frosting.

the presentation was spot on, identical to the childhood treat…but the taste was above and beyond.

goowey details after the jump.

the texture wasn’t cheap and crummy like the boxed variety…instead it consisted of chilled, fluffy angel cake laced with the richest of vanilla frosting. seriously, i sat and devoured 3 of them parked on sunset blvd. in my mini cooper, completely losing the time until the honking parking hopefuls and my sense of duty called me back to my day job.

i have been back to get the twinkies since, and they’ve not been there. the way i see it is, if you happen to come across them (or any of the other much-hyped sweets at the vegan spot), buy as many as you can. you will not be sorry.

the fact that baked goods at the vegan spot are repeatedly sold out is a definite indicator of thieir awesomeness. plus, hey, who doesn’t like to support local vegan bakers/bloggers? can’t go wrong. eat those twinkies up!

"roast beef" & "cheddar" sandwich, comes with coleslaw. $8.95

the “roast beef” and “cheddar” sandwich was a must order. it’s the most reviewed menu item on yelp…and when googling the restaurant, it’s the one item i saw repeatedly mentioned. was it worth the hype? sure, i think it was. the sandwich was hot, the vegan cheese was deliciously melty, the fake meat was tasty and juicy, and the onions topped it off perfectly. the portion itself was small though, and it came with a kind of pitiful side of purple coleslaw. i will definitely be ordering it again, i just fear that it may turn off non-vegans, ’cause it’s not a great value. it’s so weird how places like m café can get away with it, but with the vegan spot it seems irrational. location, ingredients and atmosphere are everything. i guess that’s why i feel it’s justified to pay $12 for a homemade big macro with an organic side salad, but feel skeptical forking over $9 for a fake beef and cheese with slaw. hmmm. anyway, you’ve read the logical bit…now think with your taste buds and just know you’ve gotta at least try this.

soooo tasty. on to the club. this also came with a side salad of slaw.

club, with coleslaw. $9.95

a tad meh. i hoped because it was more $$$ than the beef and cheddar, that it would be more satisfying. i was wrong. i shared both sandwiches with mr. meaner, and found myself always looking for an opportunity to swipe an extra bite off the beef and cheddar. weird that this sandwich was a dollar more. cold on normal white bread, it had nothing on it’s melty-licious rival. that being said, it still tasted great….about $8 great.

while $8 great is pretty impressive (especially for a cold sammy on store-bought bread), it isn’t $10…which is what i paid. not to dwell on m café…but if you are gonna overcharge me, give me a guilt-rackingly decadent side. organic kale, soba noodles, chickpeas with protein are perfect—not shredded slaw. this dish was tasty, but not so tasty that i didn’t covet the hot sandwich that cost less.

i know the vegan spot is brand-spanking-new. the food is good and the annoyances are forgivable. that being said, i can’t wait to go back and get my VERY OWN “roast beef” and “cheddar” sandwich, along with some vegan twinkies. i will savor bite after expensive bite.

thank god (or whatever) for silverlake. may there be many more entirely vegan establishments for me to love, hate or be ambivalent about. good or bad, restaurants where i can eat anything on the menu are few and far between…and they make me feel slightly more like a human.

But, the arrogant owners and servers here don’t care — why should they? The place usually has a 15-20 minute wait at peak times and at the prices they charge probably brings in a tidy profit due to all the fashionable faux-vegans that frequent the place.

The restaurant is full of people who take a million years to order (if you’ve never been to a vegan restaurant before, it can be confusing ordering a protein that hasn’t been butchered to death). Actual quotes I’ve heard from patrons are:

• “Does the burger actually taste like a real burger?”
• “What is Satan?” (sic)
• “What do you have that will remind me of a chicken salad?”
• “Is that, like, soft tofu? Like in Pho?”

 
Seriously. This is Hollywood. You’re in an ‘in’ place that people will go to out of pure curiosity value, and because the renewed social focus on being outwardly environmentally friendly is all the rage (leave your Range Rover in the garage, and derive your Prius to RFD, please!). The beef I have with RFD is on multiple counts. First, the tables are cramped and waaaay too close together. How do you think I picked up those juicy quotes above? Second, the staff are usually dismissive and nasty and will absolutely REFUSE to seat two people at a four-top table, even when the place is next to empty.

Also, I once put my name on the list for a table and was asked to “Wait outside”, while others came in after me and were encouraged to sit at the bar while waiting for their table. I hate that! Also (and, yes, food comments coming up after the jump) I’ve been there four times in my life, and each time the bathroom has had no soap in the dispenser… each time I’ve told my waiter and NEVER has it been replenished.
 
On a recent trip there, we were in a basic and light eating mood so we thought we’d go for some sushi, a wrap and a salad. Well, we we completely DUPED! Here’s a picture of the sushi… is there anything in particular you notice?

Sushi: Nori with rice in the middle, and the occasional vegtable

So, we ploughed on through to the main course: a salad and a wrap. Well, the wrap was a complete disappointment, being some kind of leaf with a lot of air and cucumber inside it (ounce for ounce, cucumber must be the least expensive food item there is as it’s cheap and heavy). Look at the picture - it really does it an over-justice as I’m used to pointing my Leica at food and trying to make it look as good as possible:

Yes, it is as empty as it looks. Not that I’m worried as it was relatively inexpensive at only $8. Glad I didn’t get an optional $5 side - I might have fucking exploded.

OK, finally the salad arrived. Oh, it came on a big plate. Oh it was green. OH IT LOOKS LARGE! See for yourself:

A big salad: Lettuce, cucumber and grated fucking carrots.

You don’t believe me? Look at the close-up:

Minute detail. You can TELL it came from a bag.

And, yes, this is a considered opinion. I’ve been there for dinner several times and lunch once. It’s overpriced, full of assholes (staff and patrons — myself included) the bottled beer selection sucks, the wine is cheap exotic stuff you’ve never heard of (hence the 300% mark-up for the uninformed).

On the whole, RFD might well be a gateway drug to veganism for the masses, instead it lets us down in a big, bad way. What else can you expect from a restaurant owned by Danny DeVito’s ex-personal chef. He was hardly a picture of health and fitness:

Would he eat at RFD? NO WAY!

we (mr. meaner and i) found ourselves dining at around 11am. it was the real sweet spot of times, during that window where breakfast and lunch are both being served. i opted for breakfast, he chose lunch. both ruled.

tofu scramble with mushroom & spinach. $6.95

tofu burrito. $5.95

the tofu scramble was delicious. next time i want to order something a little more adventures, something really authentic sounding that i can’t pronounce—but this time i was a tad hung-over, a little worse for wear and just wanted a safe, comforting breakfast food with lots of tofu. and that’s just what i got. a mound of tofu, super tasty mushrooms and heaps of spinach all mixed together with a blob of beans and rice on the side. drown it in hot sauce, and i’m happy. nothing wrong with this dish.

the burrito was equally impressive. lettuce, green sauce, some other vegetabley things, tofu, rice and beans all rolled into a massive wheat wrap. oozing with flavor and scrumptiousness. chipotle’s got nothing on this sucker. it tasted like an old school mexican burrito, the dangerous kind with refried beans and god knows what in the rice…yet it managed to be creative at the same time with the wheat tortilla and vegetable variety. perfect.

cinnamon is a pretty sweet place. let’s review: vegetarian, check…huge menu, check…affordable, check. not bad. the service on the other hand, is a little slow and strange. over friendliness was followed by indifference, then again by more friendliness. and the complimentary chips suck, not only are they out of a bag, but they are ROUND. round chips are not cool. but, whatever, the hot sauce rocks and the atmosphere is lovely…with big windows that let the sunshine in to cover the cozy albeit cramped tables.

cinnamon could definitely improve in some areas, but the food rocks. and that’s all that matters, right? the food rocks.

i can’t wait to return and get a full-on slap-up dinner, because on this particular visit we just opted to split a few sides…all of which were amazing.

cauliflower with potato $7.95

spinach with lentils $7.95

sambar lentil gravy $1.95

the food at paru’s is a welcome change; much different to the indian food i’m used to eating. you see, i’ve been getting a little fed up with curry restaurants in la. none of them compare to london establishments, and since i have been spoiled by the best curry ever at home, i’ve had no reason to eat it when i’m out. so paru’s is officially the first indian restaurant i’ve been to since i got back from a vacation in the uk…9 months ago.

and it did not disappoint! paru’s totally redefined curry in my book. while my favorite dishes are usually full of oil and on the very saucy side, paru’s food was very light, a bit dry, but still full of flavor. paru’s really puts it best on their website when they state, “we specialize in the cuisine of South India, where cooks typically use rich spices and aromatic herbs to transform intricate conjurations of vegetables, lentils, and rice into tasty meals that are as fulfilling as they are filling.” i left completely satisfied and feeling energized. yum.

the cauliflower and potatoes were fantastic, but my favorite dish was the spinach and lentils. it went down perfectly with a side of pulau rice that was littered with peas and carrots. the paratha was also delicious—fluffy and warm, great for scooping up little bits of curry. i didn’t quite know what to expect from the sambar, and what i thought would be a gravy sauce turned out to be more like a vegetable soup. in any case, i loved it. we just passed the dish back and forth and ate it with a spoon until the bowl was dry.

the best thing about paru’s, for me, is that they are a 100% vegetarian restaurant, and definitely know the meaning of the word vegan. our waiter told us exactly which dishes contained dairy before we even ordered, so we knew just what to avoid. i highly recommend you go and support this place. they sure deserve it…even if their exterior makes me a little uneasy.

How things have changed from when PF Chang’s China Bistro fitted into that category. I recall waiting, on a regular basis, for 90 minutes outside an outlet in Denver. The wait used to be so long that I could get my name on the list, then go to the nearby Park Meadows Mall, drink a beer or two and then return (with bleeper stuffed into my overtight hipster jeans) to the restaurant in order to wait…. and wait…. and….z….zzzzzzzzz.

Well, that was in 1999, and this is now. The PF Chang’s at the Beverly Center in LA is usually half-empty on a Saturday night. The tables that used to be so clean and polished have now lacked the luster — some even have carved in graffiti that’s been there forever. And, over the past year or so, the margin-enhancing, cost-cutting measures have kicked in earnest. Let’s start with my favorite dish: Ma Po Tofu.

This dish is now very small. Sure, enough sodium and fat to keep me in heart disease and obesity (respectively), but a far cry from the Ma Po Tofu of old. You can see in this one that the tofu pieces are larger (but far less) and there’s less sauce and broccoli than there used to be. AND IT GETS WORSE.

The Steamed Dumplings now arrive on a Looooong dish (to make them seem larger, and more dominating) rather than the old dumplings that used to arrive in the (more expensive to clean and store) steaming bowl. See before and after, below:

BEFORE

AFTER

Now, this may seem subtle, but the “AFTER” has dumplings that are 30-50% smaller, as well as an absent leaf that was very tasty to eat. Not only that, but these dumplings are clearly MICROWAVED. The other were steamed. PF Chang’s is losing its luster for sure.

Now, let’ talk about the other key dish for us vegans, the Spinach Garlic. Sadly, I don’t have a picture of it from the good old days, but I have a picture of it from yesterday:

Seriously, there is NOTHING ON THIS PLATE…. about a can of spinach and no garlic to be seen. It didn’t even taste right — too watery and mulchy like you left a bag of spinach in the fridge for too long and forced yourself to eat it…. VERY SAD.

Next, we have la pièce de résistance, the Buddah’s Feast:

Yes, you are reading this picture correctly. We are looking at 1/2 a carrot, 6 pieces of broccoli, some snow peas and 11 (thin) slices of tofu. This is a fucking JOKE for $7.50.

Even the wine selection is unbelievable. A crappy bottle of wine that can be bought in Ralph’s for $5.99 costs $26.50. It’s so funny to see a server showing up at your table, giving you no eye contact and pretending to carefully ‘present’ a bottle of wine to you that is marked up by $20.00. Fucking despicable.

So, here we are. Dining at PF Chang’s like we wander the Queen Mary - a place of decaying elegance and of times gone by when things were better. I hope PF Chang’s goes the way of that other shitty chain that increased its prices and poured smaller beers until it ran out of money, and people stopped going there.

I hate you PF Chang’s. You took all that was good and made it jokingly smaller, more expensive and less tasty while at the same time hiring assholes to laugh at me when I show up at your door.

You are SO OVER!

Now, while Americans don’t (Chicago pizza aside) have much to teach the Italians about making pizza, they did invent an interesting variation called a “Calzone”. When we in the west adapt a food item from another culture we instantly give it an overly authentic name, hence “Calzone” - can’t sound more Italian than that. We British did the same thing with Vindaloo - a fictitious “Indian” curry based upon, of all things, a Portuguese recipe.

Anyway, while there are plenty of vegan pizza recipes around I thought it would be fun to set about creating a vegan calzone recipe, in honor of the American Pizza Company which serves a damn good, albeit non-vegan calzone.

A calzone is basically a pizza folded in half with lots of extra ‘toppings’ tucked inside. The secret to a properly prepared calzone is to get the crust just right, and then shove in as many toppings as  you can without the thing bursting or leaking while it’s being baked.
Let’s start with the crust recipe. I only make bread things in a bread machine because (a) it’s easier, and (b) life is too short to screw around with dough and flour any more than one absolutely has to. So, put all of the following ingredients into a bread machine:

1 pack of dried yeast (Fleischmans or whatever)
3 1/2 cups of general purpose flower
1 cup of warm water
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of sugar

… and press the “dough” button. Come back when it bleeps done, an hour or so later. At this point, put your pizza stone in an oven at 500 degrees (or as high as it goes if your oven won’t go to 11) so it will pre-heat.

Next, put some flour on a work surface, and roll the dough into a thin circle about 12″ in diameter just as if you were making pizza. Then, paint on a thin coat of olive oil and leave alone while preparing the internals (aka toppings in pizza-land).

For the sauce I usually use Ragu, or the regular pizza sauce you can find at a grocery store but I add garlic (fresh, bottled or powdered – sometimes all three). Use it sparingly (I use 1/2 cup of sauce, about half what you would if you were making a pizza). The rest of the internals are some fresh cherry tomatoes (use them whole) and coarsely chopped mushrooms. For the “cheese”, I used teese, but any vegan cheese substitute will do. As with the sauce, go sparingly. 3/4 of a cup at most is all you need. Also, feel free to adapt - there’s plenty of room in there for your favorite stuff — olives, roasted garlic, spinach, you name it will work just fine.

The beauty of a calzone, unlike pizza, is that the internals are steamed together inside the dough, so even raw stuff you’d never dream of putting on a pizza will cook properly without burning or drying out. Group the internals together at one end of the dough, like so:

Don’t forget a little extra olive oil at this point — it helps the cooking process and makes the calzone easier to fold and stick. Next thing to do is roll the uncovered dough back over the internals making sure the the join is well folded:

Above you can see some incessant rolling and folding. Pinch the sides together really well into an airtight join. Fold once or twice, and if things don’t stick use a little olive oil in between the dough to aid with moisture and absorption. OF CRITICAL NOTE: before you put it in the oven, use a fork to puncture the top of the calzone every inch or so, meaning you’ll have 5-7 punctures. If you don’t do this, the whole thing will explode in the oven as the steam can’t get out.

Sprinkle some cornmeal onto your very hot pizza stone before sliding the calzone into place and shoving the whole lot into the oven at the reduced temperature of 450 degrees.

Leave the calzone in the oven for 10 minutes, and resist the attempt to pull it out and turn it around. After 10 minutes, rotate the calzone on the stone, and put in for a further 10 minutes. When you slide your baby out, the crust should look like this:

And the insides will look like this, when opened up:

You can see the crispy, yet succulent crust holding very well cooked internals. Calzone needs to be eaten with a knife and fork, so tuck in and have at it. Bellisimo!

i think i may have to keep going back until i’ve tried everything on the menu. too bad it’s located pretty bloody deep into the valley and is usually packed on the weekends, which means a long drive and a wait for me if i want to get breakfast on a sunday. oh well, the food definitely makes up for it.

bob's breakfast (veganized): 2 corn tortillas covered w/ black beans, tofu, sauteed in a mild salsa verde. served with spanish rice, guacamole and grilled bananas. $9.95

i don’t know who bob is, but his breakfast is off the hook! you gotta try this out if you visit follow your heart. when i was a vegetarian, one of my weekend traditions was ordering huevos rancheros for breakfast. this definitely scratches the same itch, but uses tofu instead of eggs, which we all know is a lot kinder and also ended up being a hell of a lot tastier.

the tofu was firm, flavorful and covered in the yummiest green salsa. there was also some kind of fake cheese sprinkled all over my plate that was quite melted, but it sure tasted good. the grilled bananas were perfectly cooked and went down well with half a bottle of brother bru bru’s hot sauce. top that off with a huge mound of rice and a ball of guacamole, and you’ve got a great breakfast and good value for just under 10 bucks.

ahhhh. so replete. yes, i will be back.