quarrygirl.com - a blog about all things vegan, lots of things beer, and some things los angeles

vegan glory is bad ass. yeah, i know if you read my blog you are probably so sick of hearing about these thai vegan restaurants with the word “vegan” in their title by now…and as you know, i’ve got a love/hate relationship with these places. i hate the fact they are so predictable, and that 70% of their menu consists of lunch specials and salty noodle dishes…but i love, love, love the fact that they are everywhere and that sometimes they offer non-thai food that rivals that of the best of the best normal vegan restaurants. case in point, vegan glory. a great little gem located on beverly, this joint has a parking lot, ample seating and some surprisingly good…mexican food? yep. strange, but oh so true.

soy chicken burrito: served with chopped romaine lettuce, beans, rice, salsa, & vegan cheddar cheese in a flour tortilla. $7.95

soy chicken burrito: served with chopped romaine lettuce, beans, rice, salsa, & vegan cheddar cheese in a flour tortilla. $7.95

i was totally reluctant to order this burrito. after hooking up with flore, and then hugo’s tacos, i felt i’d be unimpressed with any mex-food that the thai-inspired vegan glory had to offer. the burrito, however was flawless. it was huge, scrumptious, and full of fake meat along with beans, vegetables and VEGAN CHEESE! ok, so it wasn’t that melty…but it tasted awesome and after 30 seconds in the microwave, it was as ooooey and gooey as ever. wrapped up tightly in a thick, stretchy and thin flour tortilla, this sucker is easy to slice in half cleanly and split between two.

vegan-glory-burrito1 food in all its vegan glory!

the soy chicken was especially tasty—not too sweet or salty, and it had no asian flavoring what-so-ever, which made it perfect for my burrito. plus, there was a controversy a while back about some of the thai-vegan places using NON-vegan ingredients in their soy chicken. but even amidst all the scandal, vegan glory was known as one of the places to be upfront and legit about the contents of its food. so even now, i just feel a little safer eating it.

adhering to its traditional thai roots, vegan glory still offers a wide array of curries, rice bowls and salty noodle dishes. of these, i recommend the pad thai with seitan.

pad thai with seitan: rice stick noodles stir fried with pad thai sauce, bean sprouts, and green onion, topped with crushed peanuts. $7.95

pad thai with seitan: rice stick noodles stir fried with pad thai sauce, bean sprouts, and green onion, topped with crushed peanuts. $7.95

the pad thai consists of juicy slices of seitan atop thick, succulent noodles with the most delicious peanutty sauce. they even put on cabbage and carrot garnishes to make it look pretty & colorful too. sometimes the seitan at these thai places tastes kind of sugary or syrupy…not this stuff. this luscious wheat meat soaked up all the flavors of the dish: soy sauce, onions, peanuts and garlic. mmm.

vegan-glory-pad-thai-cu food in all its vegan glory!

and lastly, to start with, i suggest the freshy rolls. other than having a really cool name, they also taste great and are extremely light…so they won’t make you too full to enjoy your entree.

freshy rolls: thai spaghetti, soy chicken, romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, and fresh herbs, wrapped in rice paper and served with hoisin sauce. $7.95

freshy rolls: thai spaghetti, soy chicken, romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, and fresh herbs, wrapped in rice paper and served with hoisin sauce. $7.95

these rolls prove that vegan glory knows how to wrap up more than just an awesome burrito. thin strips of soy chicken packed in over refreshing greens, all rolled up super tight in light rice wraps. the sauce is delicious too, although for me it needs to be spiced up a bit with some chili garlic. i suspect these would also make a pretty good, light meal if you are looking for something on the low-cal side.

vegan-glory-freshy-rolls-cu food in all its vegan glory!

yep, vegan glory is pretty awesome. i am still getting over the fact that i thoroughly enjoyed a burrito at a thai restaurant. wonder what else is hiding out in that menu…

vegan-glory-ext food in all its vegan glory!

that’s right, you probably already know that california vegan is one of the many thai-vegan-restaurants-with-the-word-”vegan”-in-its-name that has popped up around los angeles. while i was getting pretty sick of these places for a while, i decided to return and give california vegan another try. we took my dad there for a belated fathers day lunch, because he just can’t seem to get enough of their orange chicken.

orange-chicken-lunch-special ca vegan - thai food and more
california orange chicken lunch special: battered and fried soy chicken coated in a spicy sweet orange-flavored sprinkled with sesame seeds. served with spring roll, miso soup, salad & brown rice. $7.95

pad-thai-lunch-special ca vegan - thai food and more
soy chicken pad thai lunch special: sautéed thai rice noodles with bean sprouts, green onions and crushed peanuts. served with spring roll, miso soup, salad & brown rice. $7.95

silver-noodle-salad ca vegan - thai food and more
silver noodle salad: glass bean noodles mixed with soy fish tofu for me, bean sprouts and tossed in lime juice. $6.95

and now for the amazing dish that made the whole trip worth it in my opinion, if there were ever any doubts:

banana-spring-rolls ca vegan - thai food and more
banana spring rolls & ice cream: bananas and shredded coconut rolled in spring roll pastry and deep fried with a choice of your favorite soy ice cream flavor. $6.95. OMFG. yum.

now california vegan is one of those restaurants that rules and sucks all at the same time. the prices are reasonable, but the atmosphere blows. the servers are friendly, but somewhat incompetent. the menu is huge, but it’s mostly the same salty meats listed over and over again. the orange chicken tasted amazing, but it arrived half an hour later than everything else because they forgot about it.

enough of my ambivalence, i know you just wanna read about all the vegan food.

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OK, anywhere that opens at 11am, remains open until 4am the next day and calls itself “rockin’ Thai food” is begging for the midnight and early morning crowd. Who dines at 3am?

  • I have been known to
  • Hipsters (usually just out of a recording session [they wish]) do
  • Stoners do (duh)
  • Vegans do, as this is almost certainly the only place to get vegan food of any quality (other than Burger King fries, and even those are questionable) after about 11pm

On a recent late night visit there, I chowed down on my usual order:

toi-saigon-rolls toi on sunset - vegan hipster/stoner food
Saigon Spring Rolls (Cold Vietnamese spring rolls with basil), a hearty portion for a hearty price of $9.95.

It’s nice to have a mixture of basil, cilantro and crunchy tofu all wrapped up into one, along with vegetables (outside and in) and a couple of nice sauces to boot. Ask for the hot sauce carousel, and you won’t be sorry. Spice it up!

Followed (quickly, when the service is good) with:

toi-pad-thai toi on sunset - vegan hipster/stoner food
Veggie Pad Thai (Thai noodles with mixed veggies, tofu, bean sprouts with peanuts on the side), $9.95.

You have to ask for it “vegan”, and in addition to skipping the egg (superfluous anyway in a pad Thai), they ensure your sauce is vegan. I’ve had a million pad Thai dishes here, all of them vegan, and they taste amazing.
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