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weekend vegan brunch at meet market
23February 20th, 2010LA restaurants, meet market (closed)all you can eat. vegan brunch. $10. yeah i know it’s kind of old news at this point, but this is just a reminder that the meet market is there for you when you want good food…cheap and fast.
the self-serve buffet used take place only on sunday, but now it happens on both saturday and sunday from 10am-2pm. when you aren’t feeling like a fancy pantsy decadent brunch, the meet market is the perfect cure for those long non-weeknight drinking sessions, and seriously the most stress-free way ever to start a relaxing day. the menu varies but never disappoints—check out my haul from last week:
plate #1: tofu scramble, tofu bacon and breakfast potatoes with orange juice and coffee.
on plate number 1 (because you cannot go to meet market without several trips back to the buffet table), i had a hearty portion of tofu scramble, sauteed breakfast potatoes and smoky tofu bacon with a side of coffee and orange juice.
one item you are always sure to find at the meet market’s weekend buffet is the tofu scramble…yet the scramble itself is never the same. sometimes it’s chunky, other times it’s fluffy…sometimes it has spinach in it…you get the point. this time it was super scramble-y with lots of vegetables and the perfect amount of nutritional yeast. it was a great one for sure, and my only complaint is that lately the scramble has regularly contained bell peppers (which i HATE). 🙁 oh well, they were easily picked around. similarly, the breakfast potatoes had peppers as well, but were cooked just right and still delicious. the tofu bacon is no doubt my favorite thing pictured above, because it is seriously the best faux bacon ever. marinated tofu thinly sliced and grilled to dark brown perfection….yum!
seitan sausage at meet market
plate number 2 yielded more awesomeness, this time in the form of seitan sausage. what you see pictured above is probably the juiciest animal-free breakfast sausage ever. i have been known to pay admission to the all you can eat buffet and get nothing but plate after plate of this stuff. it’s thick, tender, and deliciously spiced…and it is available in unlimited quantities. lookout!
vegan french toast
also on plate 2, some pancakes and vegan french toast are represented. meet market makes good vegan pancakes…but so do lots of other restaurants, so i won’t go on and on about it. what i will freak out about though, is the french toast! in order to make traditional french toast, i think you break up some eggs, milk, butter and/or other monstrosities and coat your bread with it before cooking? i know, that sounds gross, but meet market’s take on it is INCREDIBLE. i am more of a savory breakfast person, but this thick slice of sweet battered bread really hit the spot.
i dunno what your plans are tomorrow, but i think you should definitely consider meet market for brunch. they open at 10am….and aren’t uncomfortably crowded. i know there was some kind of snafu on new years day because they ran out of food or something…but i can tell you that is not typical and has never happened to me.
meet market
Tags: all you can eat, silverlake
3206 W Sunset Blvd (at Descanso)
Los Angeles, CA 90026
20 responses to “weekend vegan brunch at meet market” 
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That french toast looks a bit on the brown and wheaty side. I think wheat bread has its place, but not in all things. I think french toast and grilled cheese ONLY work well with white bread. Skeptical 😛
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Skullowl February 21st, 2010 at 01:08
I was there for the new years day food issue. I think I scored the last pancake. Even with that being said, I love this brunch! I am a french toast addict and wish there were more places that served this dessert worthy breakfast staple. Now if only I could find a place that does vegan crepes. Any suggestions?
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Christina February 21st, 2010 at 06:52
I am so sad I haven’t eaten here yet. I actually tried to go once, but parking was a nightmare. 🙁
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Yeah “new year’s gate” at Meet Market was a real problem. I know plenty of people who won’t go back because of it. That suits me: I’m more likely to get a seat when I go.
SUCKERS
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I don’t mind bell peppers, but I think Meet Market uses too many of them. I am surprised you were able to pick them out.
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Avistrange February 21st, 2010 at 09:43
I’ve been to this deli-style restaurant (and now market) about 6 or 7 times. They have several excellent sandwiches and salads and cupcakes that are truly the best in LA (thanks to VeganBakeSale.com).
I’ve tried this buffet three times now. Each time it got progressively worse, only to peak in awfulness on New Year’s Day when they handed me filthy plates and ran out of food. The fact is that the syrup is not real. It’s standard issue, corn syrup based crap that I woulnd’t wish on my worst enemy. There’s nothing in the world like real maple syrup. It’s truly amazing stuff and it’s the definitive element that separates “Ihop people” from true syrup fans, whether they be vegan or not. The “bacon” is way too salty and has an odd, mushy, not-at-all-like-bacon texture to it. Standard issue tempeh bacon or even the cheap soy bacon you can buy at Ralph’s is much tastier and more bacon-like. To top it off, the tofu scramble is consistently under coooked and unseasoned.
If the staff of this market/deli would hold the buffet food up to the same standard as the rest of their menu, I’m sure this buffet would be great. The fact is that they simply don’t. If all you want is lots of sugar and salt, and you don’t really care about the details, I’m sure you’ll love it. But, if you are a REAL maple syrup fan like I am and you’ve had tofu scrambles at say, Mani’s or Swingers, don’t bother.
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Avistrange February 21st, 2010 at 09:51
Small correction: The amazing cupcakes are from the amazing http://www.TheVeganBakeSale.com.
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Yo, Avistrange. On the one hand I completely agree with you about Meet Market: since the Vegan Spot days consistency has been their greatest challenge. I’ve had some amazing food from there (including the breakfast brunch) and just last week I put a chef salad I bought to go from there in the trash rather than eat it (no tomatoes, soggy croutons, was 95% lettuce). The exact same dish I ordered a week before was out of this world.
To me, though, when they do a good job its really excellent. The brunch last week was dead on – everything was cooked to perfection.
If you don’t like the style of their food (the tofu scramble isn’t undercooked, it’s just chunky rather than mushy) I can completely understand.
Oh, and as far as fake maple syrup goes – if Meet Market had unlimited real maple syrup on their all you can eat menu they’d lose money like crazy. That stuff is 5 times more expensive than fake. I like your idea, though, of bringing your own.
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tammie February 21st, 2010 at 10:42
@avistrage – I’m a devout iHop person and I can’t tell the difference between any kind of syrup. What I can tell, though, is a really great vegan breakfast against the crap you’d get at Swingers. There’s simply no comparison between the chef-designed amazing food at Meet Market and the vegan burrito or tofu chiqiullias from Swingers.
Perhaps you have a discerning palate for maple syrup, but you clearly don’t know a great breakfast when you eat it!
BTW: you are right – if you’ve been unfortunate enough to only have Meet Market on a “bad day” (about 50% of the time, IMHO) I can see how you’d say what you do.
//T
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“I can’t tell the difference between any kind of syrup.”
Man, I don’t know whether to feel sorry for you or to consider you fortunate. The corn syrup stuff is gross and the real stuff is awesome.
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This food is too heavy for me. To Greg’s point…it’s all too brown and wheaty for my tastes. Weighs me down all day….
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Greg/EricM: It’s an ALL YOU CAN EAT BUFFET. Every time I’ve eaten there I’ve eaten too much and left stuffed! Just eat less.
Oh, and all syrup is gross to me!
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I went to the brunch this weekend and loved it–however, I do totalllllly agree with EricM. I had to take a 2 hour nap after eating (and I didn’t stuff myself silly either–I had one reasonable sized plate) and felt generally weighed down all day. I wish they would incorporate more fruit and veggies into the spread instead of being a lot of “white” food.
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Avistrange February 22nd, 2010 at 15:50
@Tammie Regarding the Swingers reference, I was only mentioning them as an example of a better tofu scramble. I actually think that the best scramble in LA, by far, is at Mani’s on Fairfax. It’s truly awesome. In fact, I think Mani’s has the best vegan breakfast in LA. It’s a lot like Curly’s in the East Village in NYC. It’s full of veggies and has melted vegan cheese on/in it. So good!
To everyone who can’t tell the difference between real maple syrup (you know, it comes from a tree) and corn syrup based diabetes in a bottle: I feel very sorry for you. But… I would bet that if you A/B taste tested them, you’d notice a HUGE difference. It’s like the difference between freshly squeezed orange juice and Tang.
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Of course most of us would prefer maple syrup, but it seems hardly worth something to gripe about at a cheap, home-style vegan buffet.
I was also there this weekend and the brunch was spot on. Was the food heavy? I disagree, I thought their items were of light-moderate composition but very tasty. All the items really tasted very good, including the pancakes that were deceptively tasty in contrast to their plain look. My only complaint was that they were a little slow to refill the empty containers.
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Gauri Radha February 22nd, 2010 at 19:05
I haven’t tried their brunch yet, though I have tried (and quite liked) many items on their regular every-day menu.
Early-afternoon parking on weekdays is fine on Sunset near Descanso too, I can always find a space nearby. [After many parking tickets in Pasadena, I’ve become really careful about parking in general, can’t afford any more tickets!]
3 Trackbacks / Pingbacks
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Greg February 21st, 2010 at 00:24