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early vegan thanksgiving at hugo’s
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November 27th, 2008quarrygirlhugo's restaurant, LA restaurants

yesterday i had the opportunity to check out a place i’ve been meaning to try for a long time, hugo’s restaurant. hugo’s is a well-reviewed eatery with a huge menu and more vegan options than i could ever get around to trying. they also happen to be the big brother to my new favorite taco stand, hugo’s tacos. hugo’s restaurant has 2 locations, one in studio city and one in west hollywood, both of which are said to be excellent.

yesterday, my husband treated me to breakfast at the weho outlet, and i took the opportunity to get my thanksgiving on one day early. you see, hugo’s was offering a holiday dinner meal that looked way to good to pass up, even at 8am.

happy happy holiday feast: two new american veggie patties, with vegan, gluten-free mushroom gravy. served with mixed seasonal vegetables, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes. $13.75

the happy happy holiday feast was a great way to experience hugo’s for the first time, and the perfect early start to what non-vegans make a most depressing celebration. the thoughtless slaughter of millions of turkeys per year makes thanksgiving, by far, my least favorite day of the year. i was so impressed to see that the holiday meal that hugo’s was offering up was completely cruelty-free…and damn tasty as well!

PLEASE NOTE: if you order this, be sure to order it without the mashed potatoes, as they are not vegan. my waitress mistakenly told me that they WERE, but according to commenter foodeater, they aren’t. my advice is to be safe and order the feast with extra vegetables instead. luckily, i barely touched the potatoes…but the fact i even had a bite still bums me out. totally gross.

anyways…the new american patties were positively delicious. they tasted like excellent mini homemade veggie burgers mixed up with traditional thanksgiving stuffing all in one. all slathered in tasty and thick mushroom gravy, this was definitely a feast by any definition of the word. i ended up taking half of it home because it was too much to eat in one sitting.

my husband opted for the more traditional vegan breakfast, and ordered hugo’s tofu scramble. i had a taste and i gotta say it is one of the best tofu scrambles out there.

tofu scramble: organic tofu scrambled with potatoes, green onions, tomato, spinach, garlic and mushrooms with ginger-soy sauce. $11.50

he ordered it with normal potatoes, instead of the sweet potatoes it usually comes with. they mixed up with the tofu very well, and everything was perfectly cooked. the tofu was juicy and plump, not like the mushy stuff in your typical scramble. a very welcome change.

so overall, hugo’s was an epic win. all the food was great, and they offered a scrumptious holiday meal that involved no murdering of animals. i can’t wait to go back and try out more of their vegan offerings.

have a great vegan thanksgiving!
Tags: breakfast, gravy, mushrooms, thanksgiving, tofu scramble, veggie patties

7 responses to “early vegan thanksgiving at hugo’s”

Foodeater November 27th, 2008 at 11:04

I love those new veggie patties, though I’ve only had them in bread like a real burger. I almost got this Thanksgiving plate the other day but opted for the hand held version instead. I sure hope they told you the mashed potatoes aren’t vegan! The waitress said she could sub extra veggies for me instead if I wanted, but without mashed potatoes it seemed a lot less exciting.

And that tofu scramble is the best in town, though the sweet potatoes are usually my favorite part 🙂

You guys gotta get on over to the Studio City location cuz it’s way better… and let me know when you’re heading over because I practically live there!
Lex November 27th, 2008 at 11:07

wow, I didn’t even know the Weho location was open for breakfast!
miss anthrope November 27th, 2008 at 11:33

foodeater: WTF, she told me they were vegan. i specifically asked if the whole feast was vegan and she said, yes everything. grrrrrrr. i ended up just eating a bite of them ’cause i was full, but still…EWWWW. totally lame. thanks for letting me know. and how is the studio city location better, bigger menu or what? yeah let’s go sometime!

lex: dude, it opens at 7:30 am and the breakfast menu is HUGE. go do it, you won’t be sorry.
Foodeater November 27th, 2008 at 11:57

Ok, I can’t truly compare how they are better cuz I’ve never actually been to the WeHo location. Big difference that I know of is that the Studio City spot was never closed down for health code violations or cockroach infestation like WeHo was. Ain’t that enough?!

Guess I’m just partial since I’m so close, and everyone who works there is super nice (and I think they only hire cute people).

Back to the mashed potatoes… granted, I am speaking of the Studio City location again but I’d imagine they’re all using the same recipes right? I was checking out the special and my waitress (who is also vegan and knows that I am too) noticed this and specifically told me that the mashed potatoes were not vegan. We even chatted about it as I mentioned it was so silly to have this otherwise meat-free, gluten-free, everything-else-free meal but then have the potatoes be not vegan. She agreed and said she didn’t understand why they did that either.

So unless the WeHo folks took it upon themselves to rebel and veganize the potatoes… they were not vegan and that waitress was straight up wrong 🙁

As a bona fide Hugo’s fan I’d caution that the one thing to be careful about there is making sure what’s vegan and what isn’t. It’s helpful that a lot of the staff (Studio City at least) are vegan and understand. Sometimes though the menu items don’t list every ingredient… you order something that sounds vegan enough but once it arrives you see the sauce has a cheese or butter base. I always double-check on everything when I try something new there just to be sure. If my server isn’t someone who I know is vegan, I make them go back to the kitchen to ask about the ingredients before I order, and they are usually very cool about it.
Vegyogini November 27th, 2008 at 12:44

Yum! I haven’t been to Hugo’s in ages and that apparently needs to change. I’m sorry to hear about the mashed potatoes. 🙁
birdgherl January 6th, 2009 at 16:59

That tofu scramble is the best! I used to live in LA and miss it terribly but figured out how to make a similar version at home. Also lots of good star sightings to be had at Hugo’s.
Su February 26th, 2009 at 09:33

I would be way way skeezed out about the mashed potatoes! Be careful about the breads, too – the bread they bring to the table and also the bread/buns the sandwiches are served on. I’ve been to both locations and gotten different information. In WeHo we were told none of the breads are vegan, but in StuCity they told us which were vegan and which weren’t.

There does seem to be a different level of customer service in each location. I would disagree that there is a huge range of vegan options…that seems like an overstatement. There are a few, and there are a few more that are easily adapted. Also, they offer Follow Your Heart cheese which is “really really” vegan, so that’s a plus.

Oddly, I’m not a fan of that scramble on principle. I don’t think it should be called a scramble if the tofu is cubed instead of crumbled. They should call it a breakfast stir-fry. THEN I’d like it.