cru is a vegan, mostly raw restaurant that i’ve been wanting to check out for quite some time. my little hipster omnivore friends go on and on about it at the office, and recently it got quite a glowing review on to live and eat in la. so last weekend, i finally decided to go check out cru for myself and see what everyone was raving about. oh, and i found out: simple, fresh, organic fare that’s bursting with tons of flavor.

deep green salad: marinated kale with avocado, tomatoes, sprouts and sunflower seeds in a chili lime dressing. $10

i went to cru, like everywhere else, with my husband…and he opted for the deep green salad. it was a mix of delicious kale, vegetables and seeds all tossed in a light and refreshing dressing. i would say this salad was pretty much perfect. not sure how they do it at cru, but they really concentrate on packing tons of flavor into each dish. most salads, even the tasty ones, are pretty boring and nondescript…the deep green salad at cru though, had a life of its own. when i tried it, i was tasting flavors i never knew existed.

i decided to get something off the cooked menu. i know, i know…lame of me, but i wasn’t in the mood for raw! i can’t find exactly what i ordered on the online menu, but it was an amazing mix of sauteed spinach, onion, squash, sauerkraut and mixed greens atop a bed of steaming quinoa. it was INSANE.

awesome cooked entree.

like the salad, the cooked bowl was just going crazy with deliciousness. i was bombarded with so many new and exciting tastes, i seriously can’t wait to go back to cru and see what else they have to offer. the quinoa wasn’t the least bit boring either, they cooked it with something that gave it an incredible silky texture that soaked up all the vegetables’ flavors.

we also split a glass of freshly made juice that was pretty invigorating.

spinach cucumber apple ginger juice. $6

it was a rather strange flavor combo, but it ended up being divine. light and made with fresh ingredients, the juice had a distinct ginger flavor that was tasty, but didn’t overpower the fruits and vegetables.

after two scrumptious and ostensibly healthy meals, we decided to splurge and split a piece of cru’s famous raw chocolate truffle cake.

chocolate truffle cake. $8

dude, this truffle cake was crazy. it didn’t taste or feel like you’d expect from looking at it. when it arrived at our table, i shoved my fork in it to grab a bite, and the fork just got stuck. breaking off each piece was kind of a chore. this isn’t your normal cake, think of it like a huge, thick, firm piece of pure chocolate. that being said, it soooo good. even my husband held his own and ate up half of the cake, and he usually can’t compete with my sweet tooth.

man, oh man, that cake was so rich! i loved it, but i highly doubt i will be able to justify ordering it again any time soon. i can only take that decadence once every so often.

on top of having insanely yummy food, cru was also quite pleasant and comfortable. i’d read on yelp that the place was absolutely tiny, so we decided to go for lunch (which they only offer on friday and saturday), in order to miss the dinner crowd. when we were there, the place was nearly empty. i would definitely recommend hitting them up during their lunch hours if you wanna bypass the craziness. plus, i’m pretty sure they give you a discount at lunch time. our meal seemed really cheap compared to the prices on the menu. maybe they just thought we were awesome, though…that wouldn’t surprise me.

so go get some cru. raw, cooked, drinks, desserts, it’s all off the chain.

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last week i turned 24, and while to me getting older is a kinda depressing thought, i took it as an excuse to completely gorge myself on vegan cake.

chocolate & peanut butter cake from real food daily! (i dunno how much it cost 'cause it was a gift)

i haven’t had a birthday cake since i was 18…back in the day when i was still a vegetarian. i used to love the gooey dribbling frosting and moist chocolate sponginess—all stuff i’ve half-way written off since becoming a vegan. luckily for me, i have the most awesome co-workers who went out of their way to surprise me with a delicious vegan cake from real food daily and 3 bottles of specialty beer. what a gesture!

the cake was out of this world. everyone in the office was going at it, and nobody had a problem with the fact it was vegan. in fact, the cake was GONE, no leftovers, in like 30 minutes. usually we order cake from sweet lady jane’s, and when we do, a few slices always get thrown out. not with the real food daily cake, uh uh. people were coming over from different departments, wishing me a happy birthday just so they could sleaze away with a slice of me cake! it was great watching omnivores enjoying the vegan dessert. and trust me, i got plenty of it to myself—two big slices that sent me into a food coma and rendered me useless for the rest of the day. mmm. chocolate-peanut-buttery goodness.

yummmmmmmmy cake.

i know we at quarrygirl have had some unkind things to say about real food daily in the past (sometimes they blow), but none of those feelings spill over into my review of their cake. i don’t really know how expensive this was because it was a surprise, and i don’t know how the service was because i didn’t pick it up…but i DO know that my bday cake tasted incredible and looked beautiful. people were questioning, “how do they make it so soft and moist?”, “are you sure this doesn’t have eggs in it?”, “omg how do they make this taste just like real cake?” and then it was all gone. and everyone was full.

i highly recommend real food daily for a stellar, tasty birthday cake. i may even have to give them another shot and eat there again.

and a big shout out to the peeps who bought me this cake. if you ever read this, you rule!

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on my recent trip to florida, i ate at a ton of cool veg restaurants, but none of them compared to the vegan perfection i would find at SUBLIME. actually, nowhere i’ve ever been compares to sublime, a high-class vegan eatery in ft. lauderdale, florida that boasts numerous celebrity patrons, including paul mccartney. i can safely say it is there that i ate the best meal i’ve ever had, and the owner wasn’t lying when she stopped by our table and assured us, “there’s nowhere like sublime in the entire united states.”

i could tell the moment i walked into the entirely vegan restaurant and saw the fancy interior complete with waterfalls, the neatly dressed staff and enormous bar that i was somewhere special. i would have to treat myself to a full on slap-up meal consisting of an aperitif, an appetizer, two entrees (to be shared by me & my husband), and dessert. so that’s just what i did.

(i apologize in advance for the dark photos in this post. sublime is a classy joint with dim lights, not ideal for taking pix that are up to snuff. you will have to believe me when i say these snapshots don’t do the food justice.)

before we even ordered, our fabulous waiter showed up at our table with a small plate of complimentary pesto polenta. i knew we were off to a good start. it, of course, was delicious.

pesto polenta, on the house!

for my pre-meal cocktail, i ordered a mojito—this is florida, after all, and drinking anything else would be a crime. it was cool and refreshing. sweet and minty. ahh.

minty-licious mojito $8

now, let’s get TASTY. sublime offers a pretty big appetizer menu and all of it sounds good, but one dish in particular caught my attention: sublime sliders.

sublime sliders: cheddar, seitan steak, onion, romaine, gherkin, special sauce. $12

i see people chomping on these mini burgers in bars all the time—a common happy hour food, most weekends i find myself 3 stools away from a plate of sliders and an endless stream of bud light. being super into vegan burgers, i’ve daydreamed from time to time about creating my own cruelty-free slider recipe. unfortunately, it all falls apart when i think about forming and baking miniature buns, or getting the itsy-bitsy patties just right. luckily for me, sublime took care of all that for me. i finally know what it’s like to eat a slider…fucking awesome. if there was a vegan heaven, god would serve sublime’s sliders nightly hourly.

after devouring my shameless, hamburger-emulating appetizer, i knew sublime was ready to bring it—i had to order some entrees that would be difficult to veganize; stuff normally reserved for omnivores. after those sliders, i had a feeling sublime would be up for the challenge.

what better way to start than with a quiche? upon googling a quiche recipe, the first result i found called for 4 eggs, 1 cup of half & half, 1/2 cup of real mayonnaise, and 8 ounces of cheddar cheese. yep, it could skate by as vegetarian, but the quiche contains all the vegan’s worst enemies. how could any fine restaurant possibly create one that i could actually eat? i dunno. but sublime sure as fuck did.

tuscan quiche: tofu, “mozzarella”, roasted shallots, wood-fired artichokes, braised spinach, roasted red bliss potatoes, seasonal vegetables. $16

this quiche was off the chain: delicious, soft, melty and moist. each bite was an explosion of creamy flavor. the order also came complete with sinful oily leafy greens and perfectly grilled potatoes. i’ve never had such a perfect replication of cheese, milk and eggs all in one. this tasted REAL, sans the cruelty and dead shit. give me any omnivore, and i guarantee they would believe they were eating the bloody puss-filled dairy products they are used to. i mean this all in a good way. there is NO reason not to be vegan.

next up, the even bigger test…PIZZA. other than tomato joe’s, nobody has made a vegan pizza that i’m totally impressed with. i knew that if sublime was on point, they’d be able to pull a out a decent vegan pizza. of course, they did.

margherita classico: tomato, fresh basil, soy mozzarella. $12

sublime’s vegan pizza is unique, because it doesn’t contain the crappy over-used follow your heart cheese that runs rampant here in los angeles. being a vegan cheese fanatic, i can swear that sublime’s cheese substitute tastes just like TEESE…a tasty brand that doesn’t get nearly enough attention. beyond taste, the sublime pizza’s cheese had an ever-so-slight pinkish tinge to it, another teese characteristic. of course, it was delectable. it’s so refreshing to eat vegan pizza in a restaurant, free of follow your heart’s impudent and never-melting fake cheese. this stuff was gooey and stringy, melty-licious and unruly…almost just like real cheese. a definite winner. cooked more like a fancy italian restaurant pizza, this isn’t your huge take-out, tv dinner pie. instead, sublime serves their dusty pizza on a thinner crust, with decorative garnishes and fresh light ingredients. the presentation, exquisite taste and top-notch fake cheese make this pizza an A+++++++++++++.

after eating away and sipping cocktails into oblivion, my husband and i agreed that this was, without a doubt, the best dinner ever. sublime was truly the most special, wonderful, magical place that we’d ever eaten. there is absolutely no way we could pass up on dessert. it just wouldn’t be right, to us, and ESPECIALLY to you!

being a choc-o-holic, i chose the chocolate nirvana cake with ice cream on the side. never before has being a vegan felt so decadent and delicious.

chocolate nirvana: milk chocolate, kahlua butter creme, dark chocolate ganache. $11

this cake was better than any crappy vegetarian cake i’ve ever eaten. i think whoever made it possesses secret powers. seriously, it was soooo luscious. the frosting was rich and creamy, the cake itself was moist, and it came with a huge piece of chocolate candy that was sumptuous. it totally had me scraping the plate and licking the fork. even my husband, mr. “i don’t like sweet stuff” was all over it. best dessert ever. wow.

my experience proves that only one word can describe sublime: perfect. this place is amazing, and the only thing i hate about it is that it’s located so far away from me. it’s absolutely superb—i recommend if you visit florida, or any of the surrounding states for that matter, you do whatever it takes to have dinner at sublime. it will be worth your while. i’m looking into booking another trip to florida ASAP just to eat there again.

best food. killer atmosphere. huge selection. what more do we vegans require? plus, the rock star on my banner eats there. go there. it will be so fucking tasty!

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