• $$$andwiches

    11
    August 14th, 2008quarrygirlLA restaurants, the vegan spot (closed)

    UPDATE: since this post, the vegan spot has CLOSED. a new vegetarian cafe has taken its place. this is very sad news indeed. there is no more vegan spot…but i will leave the original post up below for those of you who want to reminisce.

    the east side is to los angeles as portland is to america—a vegan mecca where the restaurants (compared to other areas) seem too numerous to count, let alone eat at. maybe that’s why it took me 2+ months to finally check out the latest sandwich joint, the vegan spot since it opened in may. that’s right, it wasn’t the mixed reviews that stalled me from visiting, nor the fact that it’s located inconveniently far away from my pad—it was the fact that other restaurants needed to be tried first: flore, elf and cru, all legends in my mind. as it happened, flore is the only one i got around to eating at before the vegan spot. a love of twinkies took me there prematurely when i read on jenn’s blog that she was officially baking homemade vegan versions of the hostess treat especially for them. unfortunately (and let it be a testament to the twinkies), they were totally sold out when i got there. so my accomplice and i had to settle for some sandwiches, no dessert. damn.

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

    "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

    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.

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6 responses to “$$$andwiches” RSS icon

  • I know, right? How much does this city forking rock when there are so many vegan places to try that getting to them all is a seemingly endless (and so fun and tasty and fattening) task. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.

  • seriously, foodeater! i don’t think people understand the sacrifices we make to try out all these vegan places. i mean, the piles of tofu i’ve had to eat…it’s MAD.

  • I went last week and had a tofu scramble – bad idea. My boyfriend got a burrito that was AMAZING though. Almost as good as Pure Luck. The quality difference between our dishes was mind boggling! The scramble had maybe a piece of green pepper in there somewhere. It was basically mashed up firm tofu with some turmeric served on top of cold spinach. WTF, Vegan Spot. Seriously.

  • Mmm…that sandwich really does look tasty.

  • That roast beef & cheddar sandwich looks so delicious…messy & gooey!

  • you had me confused there. silverlake isn’t the eastside. i thought you were going to review buddhist food or something.


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