quarrygirl

UPDATE 2/20/12: a winner has been randomly chosen!! congratulations to phil robles! thanks everyone else for entering. if phil doesn’t confirm his win by tomorrow, we’ll pick somebody new.

yeah dudes, we’re totally giving away free beer! in case you haven’t heard, our friends over at colLAb are throwing a giant winterfest beer event on february 26th at the belasco theatre in downtown LA, and you can win a ticket (which is actually a nifty souvenir glass!) here + free beer tokens just by commenting on this post. 

we have long been huge fans colLAboration pop up beer gardens, and the one next weekend looks like it’s going to be pretty epic: we’re talking lots of rare specialty brews, vegan food available for purchase, and several different glass/taster packages to choose from. plus, it’s located close to the metro blue line so you can cut loose without having to drive. 

here are the particulars and how to win tickets: 

colLAboration winterfest

@ the belasco (1050 s. hill street LA, 90015)

2/26/12 noon-5pm

to win ONE free glass of your choosing, plus 3 free beer tokens: all you need to do is comment on this post. (just type out your comment and post it as a “guest”, and please use a valid email address so we can contact you if you win!) 1 winner will be chosen at random and announced on monday february 20th. best of luck!

PS: i know we’re only giving away one glass/ticket, so if you win, consider buying one as well for your buddy or date. you’ll be so popular. 

denver colorado is one of america’s top beer cities, and it’s also home to some of the tastiest vegan food i’ve ever eaten—-who’dve thought! on our latest trip there (you already read about our debaucherous meals at city o’ city), we hit up freshcraft: one of the town’s best beer bars that happens to boast a surprisingly vegan-friendly menu. here’s what we ate:

fresh avocado salad wrap: sliced avocado, marinated rice noodles, shaved cabbage, radicchio, red onion. (no honey vinaigrette!) garnished with cashews and chili sauce. $8

mole bello tacos: cocoa chili marinated roasted mushrooms, southwestern slaw, tomato junks, creamy lime sauce. (this dish is VEGAN by DEFAULT! it even says so on the menu!) $8.75

drown it all in some oskar blues hot sauce and i’m good to go. 

oh we also drank the shit outta several avery beers. i promise to take pictures of them next time i go.

denver rules, and don’t let anyone ever tell you any different.

if you must watch football this weekend, tony’s darts away is the place to do it. they’re going nuts with a vegan super bowl menu that will include: wings with ranch dressing, tortilla chips and five layer dip, frito pie, and jackfruit sliders. the normal menu will be available as well. 

oh, and golden road beers will be on sale for $3.50 each. TOUCHDOWN!  

i know that on my old blog, i posted about the vegan options at yard house several times…and i was super stoked when they started carrying gardein. after some back and forth with their staff in person and their PR company via email though, i’ve determined that it’s probably not safe to eat the gardein options there. the yard house prides itself on its ambiguity when it comes to vegan items, and though they have a menu full of the most popular fake meat on the planet, they refuse to confirm that they offer even one vegan item. i’ll spend my money and my calories elsewhere.

below is an abbreviated email exchange with someone on team yard house, which started with them sending me a press release about gardein items:

the first is the original email from yard house’s PR team about the gardein menu items:

then my response:

and their reply:

fucking bummer! what a wasted opportunity to offer vegan items at a huge chain restaurant. yard house should take a clue from zpizza and expand their customer base to include vegans.

if you have any more info on yard house’s continuation or departure from lameness, let me know.

pizza port rules. i mean, their slogan is “tasty grub and grog”…my 2 favorite things.

fresh beer

vegan cheese-less pizza with loads of toppings

vegetables with hummus

beer buddies (no cheese)

not all beers are vegan, so check with the staff about which ones are.

UPDATE: this just in via a tweet from a blue palms bartender: they have 3 more days in business, get over there!

sad, sad, sad. due to some totally bullshit lease drama, today is the last day of business for one of our favorite bars in los angeles: blue palms brewhouse. we said goodbye to it this afternoon with a craftsman triple white sage. if you read this in time, go hit up blue palms tonight for some damn good beer and a vegan sausage. end of an era.

…AKA my new favorite place to hang out.

golden road brewing recently opened the doors of their very vegan-friendly pub, and after one visit, i’m hooked.

in addition to a growing roster of freshly brewed beers, golden road offers an extensive menu with plenty of inventive meatless options. we tried:

the pretzel with spicy mustard. it was simple yet tasty, and the mustard was hot as hell. this also comes with a vegan cheese option for an extra charge.

next up: vegan meatballs! not all soy fake meaty, instead these were made out of rice! so delectable, and served with cornbread.

lastly: the potato sandwich (CARB HEAVEN!): roasted tatties with cheesy sauce, onions, and arugula in a huge baguette. (no peppers!)

we washed it all down with plenty of point the way IPAs, which made for a splendid saturday.

on top of the plentiful vegan food and craft beer, the atmosphere at golden road is chill and comfortable—-there’s loads of seating, the servers are friendly, and there’s a jukebox stocked with lou reed, pixies, and the smiths. the only thing i would warn about is the fact it got a bit chilly due to the giant doors, so bundle up!

OH!!! and i ran into tal ronnen today at golden road—-haha! this place is obviously a hub for vegan “celebs”!

definitely check out golden road ASAP. there’s nothing like it in LA. cheers!