• June 22nd, 2010quarrygirlLA restaurants, leaf

    earlier this year, we were saddened when the raw vegan restaurant, leaf organics closed its doors to the public. we are happy to report now though, that as of june 18th, the eatery has re-opened its culver city location, and is serving an array of both raw and cooked vegan food! we checked out leaf on their second day back in business, and while they were still ironing out a lot of the kinks, the food was pretty good and we are feeling optimistic.

    veggie chili. $6.50

    the menu at the new and improved leaf is pretty impressive. they’ve got raw and cooked burgers, salads, soups, and even specialties like raw mac and cheese. when we were there, however, they were only serving about half of the menu…hopefully more items will become available ASAP. to start with, we ordered a bowl of the cooked vegan chili, which was a mix of vegetables, beans, and i think maybe a little bit of soy protein. the ordering process was pretty unorganized, and the girl behind the counter couldn’t tell us exactly what was in the chili, but we both really enjoyed it.

    spicy california rolls: spicy veggie pate nori rolls. $6.50

    we also shared an order of spicy california rolls, which consisted of raw vegetable pate rolled up in nori. i must admit, i wasn’t a big fan of these. first off, they came with bell peppers (which i hate), so i had to pick those out. secondly, i found the vegetable pate to be a bit odd. it tasted like mushy carrots and was kind of bland. these rolls weren’t bad…they just weren’t my thing, so definitely try them if they sound good to you.

    hale kale salad: with avocado, sprouted wild rice and mung beans. $10.99

    lastly, we shared a large order of hale kale salad. this raw dish came with massive amounts of fresh kale, sprouted wild rice, and mung beans, all mixed up in an avocado dressing. not only was this thing huge, it was delicious as well. all top notch ingredients with a smooth and refreshing flavor, i’d definitely order it again.

    inside, leaf is relaxing and spacious with large tables and comfy seats. like i said earlier, it was a bit chaotic when were there…many of the menu items were crossed out, the staff seemed stressed, and they were even repainting the sign. i think leaf may have just opened their doors to the public a little too early, and therefore things were not running smoothly. that being said, i can’t wait to return and try more menu items. the tempeh sandwich, sloppy joe, and raw burgers are all calling my name.

    hit up leaf when you have a chance and welcome this vegan restaurant back into the neighborhood. we don’t want to see them go out of business again.

    leaf organics
    11938 W Washington Blvd
    Los Angeles, CA 90066

    PS: leaf’s telephone isn’t working right now, and their website has the wrong address listed. (naughty leaf!) the address above is accurate though, so go check them out.

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  • February 4th, 2010quarrygirlLA restaurants, leaf

    so sad to see yet another vegan business go under. leaf organics has already closed its sherman oaks location, and plans to shut down its culver city restaurant on february 13th at 9pm. their packaged foods will also cease to be available at local retailers. 🙁

    the good news is, you still have 9 days to get over to leaf and take advantage of the discounts they’ll be offering before they close.

    raw food by leaf cuisine

    photo from leaf’s website.

    while i’ve never been to leaf, i have enjoyed some of their ready made meals from whole foods. i definitely hope to get over to the culver city location before it’s gone for good.

    here is an email forwarded to me by a reader, that leaf sent out to their newsletter subscribers:

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