SAD NEWS! shift restaurant isn’t gonna open.
and i was so stoked about this all vegan bar and restaurant that was set to open soon in venice! shift posted tonight on their facebook page that the restaurant has been postponed indefinitely due to devastating factors beyond their control. i am beyond sad about this—-especially since they were going to serve craft beer and incredible food made by sara radovanovitch (formerly of the vegan spot), one of the best chefs around and maker of some of the greatest sandwiches i’ve ever eaten.
a moment of silence.
urbano pizza bar celebrates vegan pizza day with calzones!
heads up, LA! the extraordinary urbano pizza bar in downtown los angeles is celebrating vegan pizza day with vegan pizza and CALZONE specials on june 30th.
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this weekend marked the re-opening of tom bergin’s, and of course we were there to celebrate. established in 1936, the fairfax bar is the oldest irish pub in los angeles, and it has been a staple haunt for me since before i was legally allowed to drink. i’m happy to report that after “renovations” not much has changed - it’s a bit brighter inside, the bathrooms are nicer, the beer selection is better (hello stone ipa!), and it’s all around cleaner. the shamrocks and NYC irish pub vibe are still intact.
just steps aways from tom bergin’s is LA’s little ethiopian district, so we decided to hit up rosalind’s for a vegetarian combination after our drinking session. big enough for 2 to share, the combo is a mixture of assorted vegan stews served on a giant piece of spongy bread for around $13. collard greens, lentils, carrots, potatoes, cabbage…all wonderful!
i’m telling you guys, fairfax date night. bergin’s and ethiopian. do it.
pink french vanilla vegan gluten-free scones that taste like the real thing by charmed scones. holy wow, delicious. how have i not heard of this local (and mother/daughter owned, awww!) bakery before?!
my kick ass co-worker spotted these treats at a bridal shower and scored me a bag. she’s neither vegan nor gluten-free, and she was raving about them. seriously so good.
charmed scones, you are now on my radar. can’t wait to try more flavors!
dessert at seed bistro, one of the finest vegan restaurants in los angeles. chocolate mousse terrine with pistachio nougatine. exquisite!
jackfruit tacos for days
listen angelenos: this weekend you have not one, but two opportunities to be rollin’ in jackfruit tacos. plant food for people, one of this year’s LAVBF vendors and soon to be LA’s only vegan drive-thru restaurant, is serving up mexican eats in highland park on both saturday and sunday! on top of insane tacos that i can vouch for, plant food for people also rocks the homemade hot sauce like you wouldn’t believe. they’re a family owned business that cooks up their recipes from scratch with tons of flavor and no processed ingredients. here are the flyers:
VEGAN MINI PIES!! you need these in your life!
just got a delicious special delivery of adorable treats from LA’s mini pie shop, cutie pie that. they sent me 3 chilled vegan 4 inch pies—-all super fruity and flavorful in a nut-based crust. i loved them all!! here are the flavors, going clockwise from the top (click on the photos to enlarge):
strawberry lemonade (also gluten-free): a mix of strawberries and limoncello liquor, garnished with lemons.
sweet strawberry (also gluten-free): straight up simple yet incredibly tasty strawberries.
winter apple pie: a mix of fuji apples, brown sugar, winter spices, and toasted nuts. (my favorite!) please note, i usually don’t even like apple desserts, but this thing was fucking fantastic!
i can’t wait to eat may more of these pies in the future.
you can get your own mini vegan pies from cutie pie that via special order for delivery or pick up at one of their farmers market locations. heads up: orders of $25 or more get free delivery!
LA food truck gets vegan gardein menu!
not all gardein news is bad news: green truck in los angeles now has a vegan gardein menu and it looks insane! apparently it’s part of gardein’s new cheat on meat campaign, and i’m all about it.
here are some photos of the new green truck gardein grub via herenah and royalefatale on instagram:
vegan sliders and tacos
gardein food truck offerings!
i can’t wait to try it! hey green truck, please keep this stuff on board indefinitely…!!
vegans: don’t eat gardein at yard house
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.
the weekend is almost here which means two days of BRUNCH coming up at tony’s darts away from 10am-afternoonish. this only happens on saturday and sunday, so get with it. my favorite thing thus far is the breakfast burrito: quinoa & tofu all scrambled up, onions and salsa in a giant tortilla. it normally comes with daiya and bell peppers—-but i opt out of both.
is that a beer at 10am? it sure is!
vegan at union station in LA: a plain wetzel’s pretzel (no butter) and assorted prepackaged foods from famima!!
vegan options at the federal bar
heads up, angelenos! the federal bar in north hollywood now has vegan options! i hit up the watering hole with brittany for some post work beers recently, and we were surprised to find a vegan burger, vegan sausage, and vegan chili on their dinner menu.
britt got the vegan burger, and it was ace. the patty was made of lentils and brown rice, and it came on a whole wheat bun. just be sure to tell the bar not to put cheese on your fries (i guess by default they come with parmesan?).
anyways, i’m looking forward to returning and trying out the “vegan weena”.
LAVBF3 meeting
today i met up with the team from the roxy and the folks from tony’s darts away at mohawk bend to discuss the next LA vegan beer fest. it’s happening this spring, and we’ll announce the dates soon, so lookout! until then, feast your eyes on all the amazing food we ate at mohawk:
broccoli soup
a v is for vegan burger and a salad daze pizza
vegan buffalo wings made from cauliflower (my new favorite!)
the flash gordon salad (this was incredible. trust me, order it!)
and of course, beer.
can’t wait to fill you in on the latest LA vegan beer fest deets! this year is gonna be epic.
