• lifefood organic: vegan raw in hollywood

    12
    April 7th, 2010quarrygirlLA restaurants, lifefood organic

    so, i walked into lifefood organic with very high hopes…yet after placing our order, i was disillusioned and determined not to like the place. what i expected to be a proper restaurant, was just a take-out counter with pre-packaged foods. no plates, not much seating…just a deli case full of prepared meals and some napkins with plastic cutlery. to make matters worse, i tried to order item after item from the menu and was thwarted again and again.

    greek salad? “not vegan!” sandwich? “not raw.” corn tamales? “we are out.” falafel and hummus? “none left!” ugh. chili burger? “nope…oh wait, there are no chili burgers but we could make you one…i think.” ok.

    after a long exchange with the dude at the counter, we settled on the makeshift chili burger and a kelp salad. $20 later, this is what we received:

    totally underwhelmed by the portion size and the ordering experience, i naturally expected the food to be crap. boy, was i wrong! the burger was straight up phenomenal…

    LFO chili burger $15

    this was my husband’s order, but he let me try a bit of it and we were both very impressed. while i can’t deny that it was hugely expensive, this lil burger came with a raw homemade patty, a raw bun, and a delicious slathering of nutty cheese. it honestly didn’t taste “raw,” which could be one of the reasons the price was so high. i mean, a lot of hard work must go into making this thing. i can’t stress to you how much i was ready to not enjoy this meal, but i ended up loving it. that should give you some idea of how good it was.

    the burger came with a side of chili, which was some raw nut concoction mixed with vegetables. it was full of bell peppers, so i didn’t try it….but other than that, it looked quite good.

    now onto the seaweed salad:

    sesame seaweed salad. $5

    this is what i wound up getting after lifefood was out of everything else i wanted to order. i took one bite of this meal that i thought i was “settling for,” and i couldn’t get enough. the seaweed salad was SO TASTY! it wasn’t overpriced, it was a decent size, and the flavor was incredible. a seaweed salad may sound a bit boring, but this thing really got to me. i am honestly gonna go to lifefood and grab another one to-go for dinner this week.

    even though we’d already paid, and were ready to head out after the above two dishes, the food was just so damn delicious that we decided to stick around for dessert. i went back to the counter and ordered a slice of raw vegan tiramisu…

    tiramisu. $7

    the thing was super small, and we had to eat it off of a napkin….but like the rest of the dishes at lifefood, it blew us away. the cake was moist and spongy, the syrup was dense and coffee-like, and the frosting was as fluffy and creamy as can be. i have no idea how something that tastes this exceptional can be both raw and vegan. whoa.

    so at the end of the day, even though i have a lot of gripes about lifefood, i really can’t fault the cuisine. granted, the seating is awkward, the menu isn’t always available, and it is super expensive for a takeout joint…but other than that, the food is honestly very special.

    i highly suggest you check this place out. if you are anything like me, after one bite, you will be hooked!!

    lifefood organic
    1507 Cahuenga Blvd
    Los Angeles, CA 90028
    (323) 466-0927

    9am-9pm 7 days

    click here for menu.

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12 responses to “lifefood organic: vegan raw in hollywood” RSS icon

  • I will go there for lunch today!

  • Cool, another place to try out in Hollywood!!

  • i would love to know what the patty and the bread are made of?

  • Was the burger patty and chili warm?

    A mostly raw food diet would be perfect for Summer. Light and cool meals made with plenty of organic, seasonal produce..

  • miss anthrope

    @holly: nope, it was cool but pleasant. 🙂

  • Hahaaha ok for the record, it only takes 1 round of Dr Cow to yield way more than 1/2 cup when finely grated over a microplane. So there 😉

    Damn this place looks gooood…and so close by! Thanks for another great discovery.

  • told you it was great! the pesto kelp salad is also a must try (though I guess you had mooi’s you will have to let me know which is better)

  • wow great review.. ill try to check it out.
    great photos too

  • yummy, another place i have to eat at in Hollywood!!
    hope its worth it

  • Neat that place looks awesome, everything looks so yummy to. 🙂

  • Have you been back? How was the repeat visit?

  • I had such a similar experience. I walked in and looked at the deli case and just felt ‘eh’. I just couldn’t summon excitement looking at the plastic boxes of togo food.

    The lady behind the counter asked if we wanted a sample so I resolved that if we tasted something to be nice we should buy at least a smoothie, which we could drink on the way to find somewhere else to eat.

    The Lifefood lady gave us the chilli to try. It was fantastic! We ended up buying a large container and sitting down to eat it immediately. I would definitely go back.


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