• vegan shawarma and more at hummus king!

    30
    August 9th, 2010brittanyhummus king, LA restaurants

    UPDATE: hummus king in thee valley has closed down, but they are offering catering and free delivery until they hopefully re-open in silverlake!

    i walked in to work the other day and happened to swing by my fellow vegan coworker’s office (to talk about food, of course, not work) after making my usual morning stop in the company kitchen. much to my surprise, she holds up a menu for hummus king and tells me she’s going there for lunch because it says “vegetarian heaven” right on the menu. i was intrigued, especially after taking a gander at the menu and seeing vegetarian shawarma. i’d brought my lunch but i said i’d go along to try some things (and to take pictures for you lovely people).

    four of us ended up piling into a car and heading over to valley village. when we walked in we had a lot of questions re: dairy, eggs, etc., and the guy at the counter was more than happy to answer. when asked about the shawarma, he quickly produced a plate for us to sample.

    vegan shwarama!

    this stuff was fucking aweeeeeesssssssooooommmmmmmeeee! i’m pretty sure just it’s just seitan that’s been seasoned and cooked, but it is damn good. i immediately regretted eating before my field trip because i imagine this shawarma stuffed in a warm pita with some hummus is just glorious.

    while i was hogging the shawarma samples, snapping pix, and texting QG about how awesome the shawarma is, i look over to see my coworkers being given samples of all of the different types of hummus. i got in on the sample action a little late so i only got to try 3 of them, and all of them were really good and super creamy. my favorite of the ones i tried was the jalapeno.

    my coworkers ordered and all got their food in a snap, and let me try a few bites.

    okay. i. loved. this. falafel. SO good! not super greasy or over-fried. it was perfectly seasoned. once again i immediately regretted having already eaten lunch and started thinking about having a shawarma/falafel pita. IT WILL HAPPEN.

    i’m not a huge fan of eggplant but i also liked this as well. once again, not overly greasy or fried tasting, and well seasoned!

    so, in conclusion, hummus king is the king of kings. the food is great, the staff is super friendly, the prices are reasonable, there is ample parking… there’s no reason not to check it out!

    hummus king
    12422 burbank blvd
    valley village, ca 91607

    sunday – thursday 10am-10pm
    friday 10am – 7pm

    PS: here are some snaps of the menu, since i can’t find it anywhere else online.

    click to enlarge

    click to enlarge

    Tags: , ,
 

28 responses to “vegan shawarma and more at hummus king!” RSS icon

  • OMG, I must try this place! Where the hell is valley village? One of the very few things I miss from my meat eating days is shawarma…I created my own vegan version, but…

  • looks amazing

  • I’ve never even thought of vegan shwarama!

    And that hummus looks really, really good.

    I’m dying for good falafel. Nice find! I’m gonna check this place out soon!!!

  • Oh my god that looks amazing! And, I will now proceed to have falafel for lunch for the third (work)day in a row!

  • Looks great!!

  • Brittany….you suck. 🙂

    I live around the corner from there and didn’t know they changed owners etc. I am freakin starving and work in Woodland Hills….

    Hmmm….maybe I could feign sickness in about 30 minutes.

    Oh….well, I’ll just hit up this place this weekend.

  • i think it’s so awesome that this place is entirely vegetarian. can’t wait to check them out!

  • Oooooh I pass this place all the time and never thought to stop in! Thanks for taking the plunge!

  • There’s a kosher restaurant on Pico (near Doheny) called Hava Nagali that has veggie schwarma that’s I’m pretty sure is vegan. They also have veggie-roni pizza (definitely not vegan, just vegetarian). Make sure you go to the correct side of the building, otherwise you’re in meat-land.

  • I dream of opening a vegan mid eastern restaurant one day. There are so many dishes that are already vegan and many that can easily be made vegan. Some of those dishes you never see in restaurants too. I wouldn’t even advertise it as a vegan restaurant. Just put it in small type on the first page of the menu…

    This place looks like it’s doing it right. Awesome.

  • What a great find, Britt! Yay for another all vegetarian place in the valley.

  • I have no idea what a shwarama was, but now I know. Everything looks pretty good. Especially the eggplant thing. Looks like a pillow….a tasty pillow.

  • I would like to go swimming in that hummus!

  • You forgot to mention it’s a kosher place! Across from the largest kosher market, Cambridge Farms, ever!

  • Oh, that makes me so hungry!!!

  • Well I stopped by there after work and grabbed a side hummus and the eggplant pita. The guy working there (wished I remembered his name) was really cool. He let me taste all the hummus and told me how they leaned how to make hummus from traveling around the mid east and Israel.

    The food is really fantastic, and the hummus is really authentic. I have been a fan of hummus since I was a kid and make my own that my Israeli friends love.

    Anyhow…this is an awesome find and makes me even more happy to find QG.

    BTW…he said that about three other QG readers ate there today….

    Thanks Brittany!

  • @k-dogg:

    Word. So tired of falafel being the only item at those restaurants (and something not even that is safe). There’s no way that’s the only thing to offer.

  • My mom met up with her orthodox Jewish cousin here…normally those certified hardcore kosher places don’t have great vegan options…my mom loved this place!

  • Debbie, Valley Village is sort of between North Hollywood and Van Nuys, west of the 170.

    I don’t think I’ve ever had shawarma in my life. “Shwarama” is a strange spelling they use but since it’s Arabic maybe it gets translated different ways.

  • I’ve seen a million different spellings of schwarma, hummus, and tahini. Either way, put it all together and it’s delicious.

  • great place. the religious fanatics wandering around in there are a little annoying but the food is awesome. portions are huge too. the veggie schwarma tastes like tofu jerkey.

  • This sounds so good, and it’s not too far from me! I can’t wait to try it. That hummus picture is killing me!

  • I checked this place out for lunch today. My thoughts:

    1) This is the best hummus in Los Angeles that I know of. Fresh, creamy, and full of flavor. Plus, six or so varieties!

    2) The falfel is some of the best I’ve had as well. They make it to order, and it’s crispy outside but moist and light inside. Perfect.

    3) I sampled the shwarma, and it was outstanding. I’ve never had meat shwarma before so not sure how it compares, but the texture and the flavor was unusual (for a vegan like me) and fun to eat.

    4) Pita was warm and tasted fresh-baked. Some places pull pita straight from a plastic bag and throw it on your plate. This place doesn’t roll like that.

    Finally, the owner, Jason, allowed me to sample just about everything behind the counter before I ordered (he just offered…I didn’t ask). Super cool guy.

    If this place was closer to my house, I’d be there all the fucking time!

    Amazing find, Brittany!!!

  • P.S. – Too bad Muma didn’t try a vegan shwarma instead of going to the dark side by serving meat. I’d rather drive halfway across town to patronize Hummus King than walk a few blocks from my house to Muma. In fact, I haven’t stepped foot in Muma since they started serving meat.

    Hummus King…I love you.

  • Wow…I just had some falafel for lunch today…but I think I’m gonna go eat dinner at this place! 🙂

  • Great find, Brittney! The owner (I think?) was very nice…gave me samples of every hummus, shawarma, and eggplant. I felt guilty about wasting so many spoons. 🙂 …I had the shawarma pita sandwich w/ a side of falafels …excellent! Another awesome VALLEY place, bwahahaha!

  • HUMMUS KING WAS HORRIBLE!
    WORST FALAFEL I EVER TASTED!
    I read the review for HUMMUS KING posted by Britany and went there with a friend who agreed with my opinion. This was the WORST FALAFEL I’VE EVER TASTED! Grossly undercooked, mushy inside and over-loaded with salt. So much salt that it was all I could taste. There were salt grains all over the sweet potato fries also. A good restaurant doesn’t overly salt their food. They let the customer add any salt wanted. I also found the Shawarma to be tasteless and the Heinz Ketchup on the table contained High Fructose Corn Syrup. I have eaten at 80% of all Falafel Restaurants in the L.A. area and this was absolutely the WORST EVER! I am a Gourmet Vegan Chef. Either the poster, Britany, is a relative or friend of the owner of this restaurant or she has no taste what-so-ever.

  • Wow, I went to Hummus King on Thursday afternoon with some coworkers and it was amazing. THANK U SO MUCH for telling me about it! The owner let us try so many hummuses, and the shwararama was delicious.

    I can’t wait to go back!


2 Trackbacks / Pingbacks

Leave a reply