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whole foods tarzana: the best whole foods yet. PLUS A CAPTION CONTEST!
29June 9th, 2010LA restaurants, stores, whole foodsi shop at whole foods like it’s my job, and i officially have a new favorite location. first i thought it couldn’t get any better than venice, then el segundo took the crown, and now tarzana has got them both beat. it’s massive and it’s epic like no wfs i’ve ever been to before. it needs to be seen to be believed.
i first got wind of the new whole foods when a helpful tipster wrote in to the blog. (if you know of cool vegan places, please do the same!) she wrote, “FYI… I’m sure you’ve heard by now but the new whole foods opened in tarzana and there’s a crap load of vegan stuff. Soups, hot food, frozen food, and a wine and tapas bar that has daiya sandwiches…” yes! later that day, i saw a post on LAist, with a slew of photos of the new location, and i knew i had to check it out. it took me a few weeks, but i finally hauled my ass out to the valley, and boy was it worth it! (the new store is located immediately across the street from LA’s best vegan restaurant, madeleine bistro…in case you need more inspiration!)
naturally, i started my tour of the joint in my favorite section: prepared foods! it was amazing. the space was vast and there was way too much stuff to take pictures of. sensory overload to the max. i did catch the entirely vegan salad bar…
the ready-made vegan pizza with daiya cheese…
and the WINE AND TAPAS BAR!!!! (omg)…
the bar was pretty hoppin’, considering it was 4:30pm…and located inside a grocery store. i can’t wait to go back for a drink.
they also had a full-on sandwich counter with a vegan menu to rival any LA deli…
as well as vegan sandwiches to grab on the go…
the prepared foods section was also stocked with the wonderful health starts here meals. these things make eating healthy not only easy and cheap, but delicious.
oh yeah, and they have motherfuckin’ KOMBUCHA ON TAP. 3 varieties!
but not just the prepared foods section was insane, there was also a seating/dining area better than the ones at any other whole foods locations. counters with proper furniture…
…and a straight up lounge in the sun! COMFY.
the grocery area was amazing, too.
gluten-free, raw, CLEANING SUPPLIES…they all had their own section! not to mention, i saw the biggest collection of mcdougall soups ever.
i love this whole foods. it’s incredible. go shop there, and eat at madeleine bistro afterwards!
Whole Foods Market
18700 Ventura Blvd
Tarzana, CA 91356
Phone: 818.578.7840PS: here is the caption contest! on our last whole foods visit, a security dude with a gun approached us and told us to stop taking pictures (no lie)! at whole foods tarzana, however, the staff was all about posing for the action. submit a caption for the photo below. we will pick a winner and announce it on the blog. <3
Tags: caption contest, tarzana, the valley, whole foods
29 responses to “whole foods tarzana: the best whole foods yet. PLUS A CAPTION CONTEST!” 
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and that brings your total for seven items to…. whoaaa!!!!!
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yay! and ps that’s the least crowded i’ve seen it! you must have gone at the perfect time.
🙂
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kelli June 9th, 2010 at 19:51
this is what they all will look like soon, including 3rd & Fairfax. They are expanding. El Segundo is like Tarzana local fyi
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“I moved to LA to make it big and I did it! I’m going to be featured on Quarrygirl!”
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Gauri Radha June 9th, 2010 at 21:24
No caption here (I’m terrible at that sort of stuff) however just wanted to say this WF looks very cool!! I will certainly stop by if I go to Tarzana anytime. Thanks for the all the photos 🙂
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Emily June 9th, 2010 at 21:43
Just a heads- the folks at la brea bakery told me that none of their bread was vegan at all (that all their bread has milk) so maybe we should look into this b4 muchin at the wine bar (if no I bet u could buy a loaf of vegan bread n carry it over!)
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LCmom June 9th, 2010 at 21:53
“Andrew thinks it’s rude to price-scan without making introductions first.”
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We were chatting with some of the cashiers on our first visit about the good selection of vegan products. One said “oh, you’re vegan?” We said yes. “That’s cool!” another one said. It certainly isn’t the usual reaction. (Unfortunately on our second visit a week or so later, they were already out of some of those vegan products, like the cheddar Daiya.)
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schramm June 9th, 2010 at 22:15
“yo’ you down with dr. bronner’s? you’re pretty fly for a white girl!”
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christal June 9th, 2010 at 22:23
His real mindset “as long as you silly people keep spending money on organic toilet paper and cosmetics..ill be able to keep my job”. That’s why he’s smiling
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christal June 9th, 2010 at 22:26
But yes..this looks nice. El segundo is currently my fave. But ill try tarzana. By the looks of that pic the staff is friendlier than those at el segundo. That’s worth the drive and 405 traffic. 🙂
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miss anthrope June 10th, 2010 at 05:10
@emily that’s very odd, because pure luck (an entirely vegan restaurant) uses la brea bakery bread. i’ve seen it being delivered, and they are pretty upfront about it. also, tierra cafe downtown uses la brea bakery bread…and they say their bread is vegan. i also called la brea bakery once to find out if one of their hamburger buns was vegan. it wasn’t, it contained eggs, but they said that most of their breads are. hmmm.
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Love it! I also shop at WF (NYC, Columbus Circle) like it’s my job!
Sometimes, though, it puzzles me that the CEO Mackey is supposedly vegan…(eg, he admits that he eats eggs from “his own chickens”)…sometimes I am overwhelmed by the meat and all the non-vegan food throughout the store.
But still, no other store comes close to it in offering vegan fare, from Daiya cheese pizza to in-store-made cupcakes, to seaweed salad, channa masala, and all the rest. So, I am a WF addict.
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Hannah June 10th, 2010 at 06:32
Great news. Now if they could just lower their prices, it would be my favorite store 🙂
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Have you been to the Whole Foods on Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena? Its pretty darn awesome too. Can’t wait to visit the new Tarzana location.
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“Wow! That’s a low price!”
(a la those annoying Staples commercials seen here on the East Coast) -
Daisy June 10th, 2010 at 17:44
Guys, I just mapquested the website, It’s incorrect. Can someone please give me the correct address?
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miss anthrope June 10th, 2010 at 17:45
@Daisy: here is a link to the store. http://wholefoodsmarket.com/storesbeta/tarzana/
it’s right across the street from madeleine bistro.
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sampson June 10th, 2010 at 19:37
As Surface Cleaner stared giddily into Scanner’s glowing laser,
cashier #5 couldn’t help but let out an audible “AAAAHHHHH”…. -
SHIRLEY June 10th, 2010 at 23:31
MISS ANTHROPE:
do yourself a favor and check out the vegan sausage calzone. wow. @ whole foods Pasadena. the guy in charge of the section there loves making vegan calzones and usually has four different types to chose from! they also have a lot more vegan offerings than the tarzana one, vegan truffle bar, fresh juice bar [get the kale and grapefruit one, wow!] and the rest you mentioned plus more.<3
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Madeleine Vadeboncoeur June 13th, 2010 at 08:02
you purchased our new vegan cleaning supplies, way to go!
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I love this store design, especially the mural in dining zone with the lion walking through the streets of Tarzana, and the wine zone mural above the wine racks. Fantastico!
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Kelly July 12th, 2011 at 14:54
If you’re ever in Orange County, the Whole Foods in Tustin is amazing!
readywith June 9th, 2010 at 19:01