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vegan buffet and tacos at the new casa de tree
12December 23rd, 2008casa de tree (closed), LA restaurantscasa de tree is a newish japanese/french organic bakery and vegan deli that’s sprouted up near the venice area of los angeles. they used to have a location in torrance with a full-on menu, but for now the los angeles storefront just offers a few specials and a long pay-by-weight vegan buffet. my husband and i checked them out a few weeks ago and filled up on loads scrumptious vegan goodness. buffet, entrees, sides, we got it all.
casa de tree buffet with vegetables, tofu, crispy seitan, dumplings and other tasty things. $8.99 per pound.
my husband made his rounds through the deli, gathering tons of appetizing vegetables, savory tofu, crispy seitan and steamed dumplings. i helped myself to his plate and everything was amazing. strangely, the large trays of buffet food that lined the walls of casa de tree were completely unlabeled, however the woman behind the cash register was more than happy to explain each dish in detail. there was so much to choose from, and it was all delicious and completely vegan—the food was much higher quality than that in the standard whole foods pay-by-weight buffet of the same price.
i decided to go with the special of the day from the blackboard above the buffet, two crunchy tacos. they were very tasty, and came with a bunch of stuff that looked familiar from my husband’s buffet selections.
casa de tree tacos with seitan, vegetables, soy sour cream and side salads. $9.75
i thought the tacos were incredible. the breaded seitan katsu was perfectly cooked, the organic corn shells were light and crunchy, and both side salads were superb. the soy sour cream was sinfully good as well. my only complaint about my meal is that it took ages to arrive, and since my husband went with the deli option, he was done eating long before my food was served.
casa de tree also offers a counter full of ready-made items and take-away bento boxes that looked very appetizing, and wide array of mouth-watering desserts. my husband and i split the tofu quiche, which turned out to be the highlight of the meal.
vegan tofu quiche. $1.75
i have had a few vegan quiches in my time, and this was the best one ever. it was warm with fluffy tofu and spinach on the inside, and slightly burned and crunchy on top. quiche perfection.
so overall, i had a pretty good experience at casa de tree. the food was not only tasty, it was all organic, vegan and nutritious. the recipes were creative as well, i loved the blending of japanese and french styles—the dishes really reminded me of stuff you’d find at m cafe, minus the dead fish. i just hope casa de tree gets a proper menu at some point in the near future. while the deli/salad bar option would be great for grabbing stuff to go, i’d rather have more choices for a dine-in experience. plus, i prefer my food to be fresh and warm as can be.
if you want a quick bite on the west side, check out casa de tree. and eat some dessert for me, because i didn’t get a chance to try any!
casa de tree
Tags: casa de tree, deli, french, japanese, quiche, salad bar, seitan, tacos, tofu, west side
3741 motor ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
310.784.0455
10 responses to “vegan buffet and tacos at the new casa de tree” 
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I love Casa de Tree!
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It’s good to see they have a full menu now. A month or so ago, they only had a few baked goods in.
I believe it’s in Culver City, not really near “the venice area of los angeles.” While it’s near Venice Blvd., the venice area refers to Venice beach.
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I went there last week to meet a friend under the impression that it was an all you can eat buffet. Had I actually opened my eyes before piling Vegan Mount Everest onto my plate, I may have avoided sticker shock at the cash register.
The dumplings were so delicious, I couldn’t even give a damn. -
too funny JennSaggy on the all you can eat, lol. There is actually an option to do that for 19.99 I think!
Has anyone had their donuts? I had the Curry Donut, the Cinnamon one is always sold out.
-Rad on the Tofu quiche I’m heading to get that asap!
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They don’t have the same menu they had in Torrance? That’s odd because the menu is still on their site. I think the new location is near my office, so I should go after work one night.
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VegYogini, she has a small dry erase board with a few of the menu items now. Its just a slimmed down operation and as business grows the menu will be back to what it was I’m sure. Also, I think Fridays she stays open late and might have a more extensive menu.
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miss anthrope December 23rd, 2008 at 20:18
trina – me too! i just discovered it and can’t wait to go back.
louise – as far as i know, the west side location doesn’t have a full menu yet…they have a big deli buffet and then maybe one or two specials on the board. thanks for pointing out my location error! i will fix that.
jennshaggy – seriously, that’s fucking hilarious. i’d hate to know how much it ended up costing you.
lex – get that quiche!!!!! you won’t be sorry! and i actually know about this place through you, so THANK YOU for pointing it out to me!
vegyogini – you are missing out. if i worked near this place, i’d be there everyday. yeah, i am sure they didnt have the menu when i was there. their website is out of date in so many ways. for instance, the torrance location isn’t even open anymore…although it’s listed on their site.
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Ooh, I love the idea of a vegan buffet, so I can get a little of everything. No labels? Not so much.
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I called the number on their website and headed down to Torrance to find that they are closed. The woman who answered the phone told me they were open and had live jazz but was referring to the Venice locations. So we headed to the current location on another day and was really disappointed. She pointed to the buffet which looked really yucky… really messy and really dirty. The owners’ kids were sitting on the floor playing… I like kids but that was not the proper place for it. She also told me the website was not current so the menu posted there is not available.
We walked out…. STRIKE TWO!! -
Japanese/french organic bakery and vegan deli. Can’t say we have one of these in NY!
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new vegan menu and lower prices at casa de tree in west los angeles | vegan food and living in Los Angeles March 24th, 2009 at 22:11
[…] a few months ago, i wrote about this new little japanese/french vegan deli/bakery that opened up in west los angeles on motor avenue called casa de tree. at the time of posting, the […]
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[…] in west LA will close its doors with no plans to re-open.we have reviewed casa de tree a couple times, and my only regret is that i didn’t eat there way more often. they have a good mix of heavy […]
trina December 23rd, 2008 at 12:43