• doomie’s home cookin’ buffet: worth the hype

    22
    November 22nd, 2010quarrygirldoomie's, LA restaurants

    the pre-opening doomie’s home cookin’ all you can eat brunch went down on saturday, and while the lines were long and the place was packed, the food definitely didn’t disappoint. in fact, it was one of the best meals i’ve had in quite awhile and after this weekend i’m even more excited (if that’s possible) about doomie’s opening next month.

    the brunch was scheduled to start at 10am, but the kitchen was running a bit behind. one thing about doomie’s is, they can be unpredictable. at their worst, they might be running late or running out of food early…but one thing’s for sure, the quality of the food never suffers. EVER. on saturday at 10:15, doomie’s still hadn’t started serving, but there was already a huge crowd ready to eat. seriously, vegans were excited about this place, and with good reason…

    hungry vegans!

    at 10:30am, with a line wrapping around the restaurant, doomie’s finally lifted the metal lids off the serving trays and let people dig in. the deal was $10 per plate with unlimited trips to the buffet, or $8 for a single-trip to-go box. the line moved quickly as plate after plate was stacked with insane looking vegan food. the first spread that doomie’s had set up consisted of chocolate chip cookies, biscuits, a vat of country gravy, salad, pesto cream pasta, french toast, waffles, breakfast burritos, chimichangas, home fries, maple yams, and green bean casserole. here’s a list of the stuff we actually tried…

    plate #1: french toast, a breakfast burrito, green bean casserole, biscuits and gravy!

    french toast (pictured above towards the bottom left of the plate). it was super thick and delicious, the bread had a thick coating with slight hints of cinnamon. i skipped the syrup and ate it with country gravy instead. so good.

    breakfast burrito (pictured above to the right of the plate). the little burritos were sooooo cute and so tasty, i could have eaten ten of them. they were small but filled to the brim with what i think was some kind of scrambled tofu, onions, and fake meat. excellent.

    green bean casserole (pictured above at the top right of the plate). oh boy, the casserole was out of this world. the green beans were smothered in a rich creamy sauce and all topped with crispy fried onions. i have had lots of green bean casseroles in my time, but none as rich as this one. only doomie could take vegetables and make them taste this much like junk food. (in a good way!!!)

    biscuits and gravy (pictured above at the top left of the plate). i am a biscuits and gravy connoisseur, and doomie’s score very high marks. with only one other place to get vegan b&g in town, i really hope doomie’s adds these to the regular menu. the biscuits were of the small and denser variety, and the gravy was absolutely divine. it was so thick and creamy, i would eat it on anything. seriously, ANYTHING.

    plate #2: pesto cream pasta, green bean casserole, breakfast burrito, CHIMICHANGA, breakfast potatoes!

    pesto cream pasta (pictured above at the bottom of the plate). pasta may sound like a strange thing to eat with brunch…but if doomie’s makes it, i’ll take it! the coiled little noodles were smooth and buttery, and pesto sauce was excellent.

    home fries (pictured above to the left of the plate). i will admit, i didn’t go near the home fries because they were filled with bell peppers (which i HATE), but my husband assures me they were really good.

    chimichanga (pictured above, hiding at the very back of the plate). in my mind, the chimichanga is the clear winner for the title of best thing at the brunch. i mean come on, a vegan FRIED BURRITO. does it get any better than that?! it was filled up with stuff like rice and beans (maybe some fake meat too)…i’m not sure, i was too busy inhaling it to stop and analyze it.

    even more hungry vegans

    after one plate each, we considered going up for seconds, but we didn’t want to bother with the long line. plus, we honestly were stuffed. good thing we sat out round 2, because at around 11:30am, doomie’s started running out of food! they cooked more periodically through the afternoon though, and i hear that later they even busted out MASHED POTATO BALLS and empanadas! damn, i wish i would have been around for that!

    overall, even though the demand was high and there were a few kinks, i’d say this brunch was a huge success. we really need a restaurant like doomie’s in los angeles. i’m talking non-pretentious, hearty, insanely delicious home cooked vegan and vegetarian food. (the doomie’s menu will be entirely vegan other than a real cheese option for some dishes.) honestly, i have never met anybody who tried doomie’s food and didn’t go crazy for it. see you all there at the opening on december 11th!

    doomie’s home cookin’
    1253 n. vine street #9
    hollywood CA 90038
    714-883-7657

    PS: i just wanna add that throughout the whole brunch, doomie’s was blasting nonstop morrissey and the smiths. of course that makes me love them even more. <3

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20 responses to “doomie’s home cookin’ buffet: worth the hype” RSS icon

  • Starting late and running out of food is a very common thing with Doomie. On Saturday we were turned away after we had waited 45 minutes. At the beer fest we gave up waiting for jalapeno poppers. He ran out of food at the Meet Market, and his real restaurant in Chinatown was a crapshoot as to what would be on the menu and whether it would be open.

    DOOMIE: There’s demand for your product. Get your fucking act together and organize things better. I’m seriously debating if I’m going to bother trying your food again.

  • Definitely the best brunch ever. I am counting the days until December 11.

  • I could eat 4 plates worth looking at those pictures… And a great idea to launch the place. Get the buzz going.

  • That green bean casserole was out of this world and inspired our Thanksgiving menu to revolve green beans. It was actually my first experience with Doomie’s and I’d say, absolutely worth the wait.

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा November 22nd, 2010 at 09:26

    That looks so good!!

  • QG is stalking the back of my head!!!

    The chimichangas were AWESOME, as were the breakfast burritos. The maple yams were AMAZING….and I’m not even that much of a yam person…but they were brilliantly flavored.

    I’m guessing once they’re officially open and doing regular service (not buffets), things will be fine and they won’t run out of food.

    They’re in a perfect location (for me)…I’ll definitely be a regular!

  • Oh – and the french toast was REALLY nice. It had a crispy cinnamon/sugar coating on it….most vegan french toast is just kinda soggy or bland. Doomie’s is onto something w/ their version.

  • I’m with Stevie. I will totally eat there again, not least because I live very close to it, but as someone who got there at 10 to beat the crowd and had to wait half and hour standing in a line while the place filled up, I am not a pleased customer and if things continue to operate erratically I will not patronize them for long.

    The food was ok, but honestly, I was not as impressed as I thought I would be after all the hype about Doomie’s. The breakfast burrito was nothing but tofu and soyrizo in a tortilla! The gravy with the biscuits was super bland. The chimichanga was good, but mainly because it was super greasy – the filling didn’t seem all that (refried beans and rice?). I would have filled up on the french toast but I felt the need to try everything. Perhaps I had my expectations raised too much from hearing so much about Doomie’s.

    I am not a blog troll, and usually refrain from being critical, especially of vegan restaurants that I would love to see succeed, but I was sorely disappointed on Saturday.

  • We were 2nd in line at 11:30 when they told us that they were running out of food. They didn’t tell us that they would be making more, just that they were sorry and to come back in December. Bummer.

  • I’m really excited to try them when they open for real.

    As for the brunch… Long lines + packed + reputation for running out of food = Glad I decided to sleep in and not go, because I had a feeling it would be like that.

    I’ll wait for the madness to die down, and then go fill up!

  • Waiting with gregalor….

    also i think i’d rather pay $10 for a nice brunch, one plate, than all you can eat. I think many people would. might be something for them to think about given lines, running out of food, mayhem, and mixed quality reviews.

  • I agree, Schramm. I’d much rather get one nice plate than all you can eat.

    I’m definitely steering clear of these brunches. This is the second time I’ve gotten no food after believing 10-2 really means 10-2. I arrived at 11:15 and was out of luck. I’m kind of confused why the big turnout is such a surprise each time.

    I loved Doomie’s the one time I made it downtown to their old location, so will definitely come to the restaurant when they open. But no more brunches for me.

  • can’t believe i slept thru biscuits and gravy. GEESH.

    the new place looks nice though.

  • yeah, sadly i also waited 45 minutes to be told when i finally reached the front that the food was gone. 🙁

    but i do really want to try it!

  • The Boyfriend and I swung by there and picked up to-go boxes around 11am, since we were heading over to the DGA for a movie at noon. Yes, there was quite a bit of waiting, but we managed to score a box full of food each. Pretty good stuff – the yams were my favorite, with the chimichangas second and the decent biscuits and gravy third.

    We’ve pre-ordered for Thanksgiving, since we’re going over to a omnivore friend’s home for the holiday. I’m looking forward to it!

    Here’s hoping that they’ll be able to get the logistics together!

  • Living in Long Beach, making a trip up to LA has to be worth it. Went to the first meet market Doomie’s and left after 30 minutes and no food. Meet market people were very professional, refunded our money and all.

    Driving 40 mins to have all you can eat brunch when it is crowded, having to fight for food, having the possibility of running out of food, even for $10 is just not what I’m down for anymore. Maybe 10 years ago. Too old and cranky now!

    Went to M Cafe for sunday brunch – every time there is predictable 100%. Predictable is good.

  • Doomie's Home Cookin' November 22nd, 2010 at 20:43

    To everyone who came out in support of us, thank you so much!!! It really was ridiculously more successful than we ever expected it to be. We’re extremely sorry to those who were turned away; we got a bit frazzled and were sure we had to stop service but ended up regaining our footing and kicking out more food. If you were in the group of people turned away, please contact us if Doomie hasn’t already talked to you.

    This was our first service in our new restaurant and we’re still working out the kinks, and we get the feeling that everyone’s being very understanding about that. We’ve been operating as a small team for quite awhile and hopefully we’ll be able to expand soon to better suit these events.

    Hope to see you all again at the restaurant and thanks for supporting!

    -Doomie’s Home Cookin’.

    PS Quarrygirl: It’s the 11th, not the 12th =P.

  • Gauri Radha गौरी राधा November 22nd, 2010 at 20:55

    “I’ll wait for the madness to die down, and then go fill up!”

    Same here! I am way too lazy to go on high-stress and high-volume days with tons of people and all this. Far too much work plus all the usual parking nonsense and who knows what.

    I will certainly swing by when things are calmer though, all the menu items sound great!!

  • I know it is frustrating to wait in a line and especially, to find out that there’s no food left…

    But Doomie’s turned out some delicious food on Saturday and I absolutely think that any of the skeptics should give them a second chance, especially since this was their first day in the new space.

    I did not get to try out the french toast (which is at the top of my list for next time) but the green bean casserole, maple yams, biscuits and gravy and pesto pasta left me speechless (and I’m a girl of a lot of words). Can’t wait for the real opening.

    Big supporter of another new vegan spot, especially in an area plagued by Roscoes and a bevy of other fast food restaurants (I used to work by there and was alarmed at the shortage of good dining in the area).

  • The potato balls were the best in my opinion. So spicy and delicious!! I cant wait for the new opening, even though the location is way farther than the original 🙁

    p.s. the chick pictured in the red and grey striped sweater is a cunt. she was bitching at people in line (including myself) because we were getting food (since we were inline instead of cutting like her) and she wasnt. just sayin’. 😉


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