this just in! there’s a brand new menu launching at native foods on tuesday september 28th, and i could not be more excited about it. unfortunately we are out of town at the moment, but we have obtained exclusive photos and menu descriptions of the new items, and they look FANTASTIC!

over the past 6 months chef tanya has been developing new recipes made from scratch, including seitan and two new types of vegan cheese! as native foods put it in an email to me, their “mission to serve chef-crafted, fresh food is unwaivering.” judging by the looks of these drool-worthy new menu items, they are doing a great job. check them out:

Nuevo Native Nachos: Homemade corn tortilla chips covered in black beans, Native Taco Meat, Native Chipotle Crema, Native Cheese, salsa fresca, and guacamole. Topped with corn, green onions, and cilantro. $7.95

Broccoli Curry Crunch Salad: Fresh broccoli, cashews, cranberries, and chopped Native Original Seitan, all tossed in our savory curry dressing atop romaine with fresh apples and a citrus ginger vinaigrette. $8.95

Chef Tanya's Original Wasabi Bean Burger: Black and red beans with quinoa, ground Native Original Seitan and savory spices, topped with caramelized onions, romaine, tomato and fresh juicy cucumber slices. All on a whole grain bun with our signature wasabi-spiked mayo. $8.95

Classic Deli Reuben: Thinly-sliced, deli-style Native Reuben Seitan piled high on grilled marble rye. Topped with mom's original sauerkraut recipe, Native Horseradish Cheese and a slather of Russian dressing. $9.95 Goes great with a side of our lemon-dill potato salad!

Chimichurri Fajita Platter: Our Native Mexican Seitan seared with roasted sweet peppers, onion, and pear tomatoes drizzled with chimichurri sauce. Served with grilled corn tortillas, brown rice, black beans, and sliced avocado. Pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole garnish. $9.95

i don’t know about you, but that reuben and those nachos are calling my name! i highly suggest you get over to native foods on tuesday and try out their tempting new offerings. the restaurant already makes some of the best food in town, so i know the new stuff is gonna be AWESOME.

native foods! check the website for hours and locations.

we’ve been fans of the healthy vegans for quite sometime. their entire blog focuses on starch-based recipes and restaurant reviews, all with very little fat and no oil whatsoever. lately i have been loving their menu hacking posts where they go in to restaurants and modify items to be extra healthy at no additional charge. we dined with them over the weekend at native foods, and got a first hand lesson in how to hack the menu to mcdougall standards.

tijuana tacos made extra healthy. $7.95

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we aren’t really the type to celebrate religious holidays here at quarrygirl.com, but it’s really hard not to get caught up in the hoopla surrounding them. so here are our picks of the top 3 things to do this easter that don’t involve jesus or animal products:

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In 1796, the 1st Duke of Wellington set off from his native England to the Martha Empire, a Hindu state in what is now known as India. Sadly, his mission was not an honorable one as he was there to overpower the local resistance. Upon hearing, however, that the native Hindus held the cow as a sacred animal and therefore don’t eat beef, he asked for his food supplies to be wrapped carefully in dough such that they “could be easily transported and enjoyed in their entire splendour without offending the local indigenous”.

This ingenious combination of stealth, convenience and taste created the now-centuries-old tradition of his name-sake “Wellington”: A veritable cornucopia of foodstuffs wrapped tightly in crispy pastry giving way to a highly portable, easy to cook and VERY tasty meal.

Fast forward a couple of centuries to Southern California, circa 2010, and one of our favorite vegan restaurants, Native Foods, has a completely unique and interesting take on the Wellington: The Spring Wellington, a dish that I’m sure the 1st Duke would have reveled in while he was busy fighting wars and all.

Spring Wellington (serves 8): puff-pastry filled with fresh asparagus, garlic-roasted mashed potatoes, carrots, Native Seitan, caramelized shallots, green peas, organic kale and portabello mushrooms, served with a lemon tarragon hollandaise sauce. $39.95

Chef Tanya and her team have really excelled themselves this time around, creating an absolutely scrumptious dish that bakes in under an hour, feeds an army of eight people and has a list of ingredients that reads like a massive main course menu:

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i just got the news that starting today, native foods in westwood is offering 5 new flavors of homemade vegan cookies!

native animal cookies shaped like chef tanya's favorite animal. $2.95 per bag

i haven’t tried them yet, but the pictures are adorable and the menu descriptions sound delicious. just check out all the cookies they have to offer…

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Very, very few decent bars serve food suitable for vegans. The best we can usually hope for is french fries or a limp salad, and even then the chances of them being vegan are usually 10-1 against. Likewise, most vegan restaurants don’t have a beer and wine license, let alone the city certificate and capability to make you a gin and tonic to sup down with your Gardein burger.

So, while a bar can serve up some alcohol and a vibe you’re in the mood for, your favorite vegan, or vegan-friendly restaurant can feed you until you’re full, butthere are very few that can do both. What’s a boozy vegan to do?

Well, we set out to find a range of cool bars in LA that are no more than a few steps away from some of the best vegan restaurants in town. Figuring that one might go for a beer or cocktail before dining, we start with the bars first.

In the mid-90s I used to frequent an archetypal student bar half a block from the UCLA campus in Westwood. Back then it used to be called “Maloney’s on campus” and was a dirty, rough and tough bar that only the brave would survive. Hard drinking, $2 Jack Daniels chasers and the cheapest beer east of Santa Monica or West of Beverly hills was the order of the day. Add in 100 or so rowdy students (mostly making out), loud football games on old TVs and you pretty much get the idea.

A few years ago, Maloney’s closed down allegedly with the assistance of the LAPD (all those under age drinkers must have been a business risk, if indeed that’s why they closed) to be replaced with a facsimile bar in the same building called O’Hara’s. We’re talking cleaner facilities, nicer staff, better food, flat-screen TVs and even a tap beer menu that’s more than a Miller Lite keggerator stuck in the corner of the bar.

These days, the students are all still there, but seem better behaved and there’s a strict ID check in progress – even I get my ID scanned and I’m as old as the grand canyon. If you’re lucky you can settle into a comfy chair at the low bar, and get a great view of the TVs and friendly bartenders. There are super value 1 liter beers ($8.00) and the happy hour delivers suds for under 5 bucks a pint. Add a reasonable wine selection with full-on cocktail capabilities and you can have a great time drinking away in this relaxing, dark environment. If you’re super lucky, you might meet your future wife there (as happened to a friend of mine) or for the single ladies find a wealthy, cute foreign student to hook up with (I’ve heard that happens too).

After you’ve filled your skin with beer, a mere hop skip and jump away is one of LA’s greatest vegan fast-food restaurants: Native Foods. I usually hit up O’Hara’s around lunchtime when it’s relatively quiet (before the big games start) then just as it starts to get crazy slip away to Native Foods, just after their lunch rush, around 2:30pm.

Of course, in between O’Hara’s and Native Foods is the busy Westwood branch of Whole Foods Market, with a parking lot adjacent to the bar. Although I’d never condone others to do the same, I usually park at Whole Foods before my beer, pop in after the pub to get some groceries, shove ’em in my trunk and then head to Native Foods for lunch. This seems to confuse the parking attendants (who presumably think I’m a slow shopper) so I’ve never been ticketed or towed, and have parked, for hours on end, in expensive Westwood for free.

Of course, if you’re a vegan living in LA you will have heard much about Native Foods, and have probably even been there on a few occasions. The restaurant, though, has been upgraded lately and is now twice the size, which is a great job as the menu has also been upgraded with some mouthwatering new items from Chef Tanya’s repertoire.

What is the ideal thing to eat after filling your belly with beer? An Oklahoma Bacon Cheese Burger, that’s what. While the inebriated jocks back in O’Hara’s are clinging to the wall with one hand and stuffing meat and cheese into their faces with the other hand, you can be stuffing YOUR face with an entirely plant-based burger that’s as tasty as they come.

oklahoma bacon cheeseburger: thinly sliced original seitan, melted cheddar, caramelized onions, crispy tempeh bacon on a bun slathered with BBQ sauce and ranch dressing, lettuce, carrots, onions, and tomato and topped with crunchy battered dill pickles chips. $9.95

Layer upon layer of Chef Tanya’s seitan under home-cooked tempeh bacon that’s topped with vegan cheese and smothered in a creamy sauce will knock your socks off. Add in some of Native Foods’ exclusive hot sauce, a side of spicy fries and you’ll have the same “I’m full” buzz as the O’Hara’s customers, but with none of the guilt.

native fries: thinly cut potatoes cooked in pure vegetable oil and dusted with a fun blend of garlic and spices. $2.95

The pub-grub style of Native Food’s menu is uncanny: They have chicken wings, nachos, chilly cheese fries, tacos, tons of burger options and healthy salads. If only they had a full bar and a bunch of drunk students I could avoid the 300 yard walk from O’Hara’s.

Do enjoy a happy afternoon in Westwood for Pup ‘n’ Grub: you know it makes sense!

o’hara’s
1000 Gayley Ave
Westwood, CA 90024
(310) 208-1942

native foods
1110 1/2 Gayley Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 209-1055

native foods in westwood has had a complete makeover, and i’m a fan of their new style. not only does the place have a fresh paint job with brighter colors, but they’ve implemented a new rewards program, added some pretty amazing dishes to their menu and are now offering daiya cheese.

oklahoma bacon cheeseburger: thinly sliced seitan, melted daiya cheddar, caramelized onions, crispy tempeh bacon on a bun slathered with BBQ sauce and ranch dressing, lettuce, carrots, onions, and tomato and topped with crunchy battered dill pickles chips. $9.95

we checked out the new native foods the other day, and while loads of stuff on the menu looked delicious, i couldn’t resist the oklahoma bacon cheeseburger, a seasonal special (pictured above). we ended up eating our food out of takeaway boxes—more on that later—so the photo really doesn’t do the burger justice AT ALL. let me tell you, this baby was massive, juicy, and probably one of the best things i’ve ever eaten in a bun. the seitan inside wasn’t a patty, but more like thick juicy strips of wheat meat topped with the tastiest tempeh bacon ever. there was a generous helping of melty daiya cheddar in there as well, which mixed in with the two types of creamy sauces to make a hot delicious mess. it was drippy, huge, meaty, cheesy and wonderful. seriously, where else can you get a vegan bacon cheeseburger in los angeles? this is on the “specials” menu, and it’s seasonal, so everyone needs to try this thing before it goes away!

twister wrap: organic greens, fresh avocado and cucumber salsa, creamy chipotle sauce and your choice of crispy or grilled chicken. $9.95

for our other entree, my husband and i split the much lighter twister wrap. it came filled with leafy greens, avocado, creamy sauce and crispy soy chicken. the faux meat in this thing was excellent, slightly greasy and crunchy on the outside yet moist and soft in the middle. we got this with a side of nicely seasoned native fries which were spicy and garlicky. yumz.

while we were there, we also learned that native foods has introduced a new frequent eater program where you sign up for a card and earn points that go towards free food every time you dine there. just by signing up we received a complimentary drink with our order, a refreshing cup of lavender lemonade. they also have this promotional gift thing going on through the holidays where if you buy someone (or yourself) a $100 gift card, you get extra $20 card for free. that’s a good investment, if you ask me.

now let’s talk about how the interior of native foods has changed. at the westwood location, you used to order at a counter in the front of the restaurant, then take a seat upstairs and wait for your food. now native foods has expanded and the counter where you place your order has moved next door. there’s also a new seating area there, but it’s not where you sit and eat your food…for some reason the new area is for take-out only. so you order at the new counter, then go outside and back into the original restaurant and sit upstairs, where they will bring your your meal. whew. sounds complicated, right? it is! when we were at native foods, there was no seating upstairs, so we had to eat in the take-out part of the restaurant. and unfortunately, if you dine in that area, you have to eat your food from a to-go container and not off real dishes. oh well, the food tasted great nonetheless!

while the dine-in experience was a little awkward due to the logistics of the westwood location, i was completely blown away by my meal at native foods and i can’t wait to order even more stuff off the new menu. they’ve got daiya quesadillas, pizzas, chili cheese fries, and more. but seriously dudes, get to native foods NOW and eat the bacon cheeseburger. it’s fucking amazing.

native foods
1110 1/2 Gayley Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 209-1055
Monday-Sunday
11AM – 10PM

unfortunately, in the past, i have been guilty of giving the vegan restaurant native foods mixed reviews. the westwood outlet can be hit-or-miss, with it’s long wait times and inconsistent food. although i have had lots of great meals at the west side eatery in the past, after a couple bad experiences i found myself not returning for months. well, lemme say i am ready to give them another chance after some recent lunches that were nothing short of amazing at the palm desert location. over the weekend i ate there twice and had the opportunity to sample 4 different dishes, all of which blew my mind.

as you probably know, from friday to monday i was trapped in palm desert attending coachella. the only eating options were pre-made grocery store meals, over-priced festival fare, and dining at native foods, palm desert’s most popular (and maybe only?) vegan restaurant. we found ourselves eating at native foods 2 of the 3 days it was open during our stay…and we couldn’t believe how refreshingly delicious everything was.

mina's macro: brown rice, quinoa, tempeh, steamed veggies, sea greens, sauerkraut green onions & sesame salt. Served with lemon miso sauce. $13.95

on both visits to native foods, i ordered mina’s macro, a hot bowl filled right up with fresh warm vegetables, tangy sauerkraut, sesame salt and crispy tempeh. it also came with a side of lemony miso sauce that tasted just brilliant drizzled over the crisp broccoli and cauliflower. from the quality produce, to the perfectly-grilled tempeh, to the flavorful creamy sauce, everything about this bowl was perfect. i wanted to order something different on my second visit, but i just couldn’t bring myself to. mina’s macro FTW!

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native foods in westwood has been one of my regular haunts since becoming a vegan. i mean why not? they’ve got great food and have used to have a huge menu with reasonable prices. that’s right, it’s all changed. imagine how bummed i was to walk up to the native foods counter over the weekend only to find the enormous novel of a menu replaced with a one page paper hand-out. it was tiny! and there wasn’t even enough food to carry on to the back side of the menu, so it was just covered with creeds and missions about saving the earth. really? a disposable paper menu, that you are handing to each customer who is dining in, just because you haven’t had time to get the real menus printed. that’s not saving the environment, now is it, tanya?

so let’s get to the food. upon opening the menu, my heart sank because most of my favorite items had gone. latino lover pizza, malibu veggie burger, farrah’s fatoush…all history. drats. so i went with something that sounded exciting, the portobello & sausage burger.

portobello & sausage burger: big grilled beauties with seitan sausage, pommodoro, caramelized onions, vegan mayo, pesto and sweet roasted garlic. $10.35

while the portobello & sausage burger is by no means a new item, it did used to cost only $9.50, and now it’s $10.35. don’t think i didn’t notice, native foods! while this burger was pretty tasty, it had waaaaaay too much oil. a more appropriate name would the grease & grease burger. seriously, the drippy pesto, globby cheese, and runny olive oil totally overpowered any protein. in fact, the burger got so covered in grease that the bun fell apart and i had to eat it with a fork. ick. a little too slippery for me.

grease and oil on top of fat

also, i just wanna add that the sausage patty tasted EXACTLY like a celebration roast. it even had the same little ridges on the side.

not a bad thing, just makes me wonder if native foods has started buying in bulk.

while navigating the new menu was a little bit intimidating for me, it was especially daunting for my husband, because he’d never ordered anything at native foods EXCEPT the malibu veggie burger. he decided to go with the new burger option that looked kind of similar. unfortunately, it wasn’t.

veggie-mighty-vita burger: 100% angus friendly veggie patty, lettuce, carrots, sprouts, beets, onions, pickles, and 1000 island. $8.75

the veggie-mighty-vita burger isn’t much to write home about, especially since it comes in at a buck more than the malibu veggie burger. the patty is smaller and thinner, and doesn’t have the same combination of grains and quinoa that made the malibu so luscious. the vita is kind of limp and bland. don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t BAD, and it did come stacked with a ton of lovely vegetables, as you can see…it just wasn’t great, either. ooh ooh ooh!–and another thing to note: all burgers used to come with a side of coleslaw, rice or black beans. now the default side is 8 pieces of slightly brown edamame that taste fresh out the microwave. hmmmm.

one cool thing though, as the kind lady at the counter pointed out, is if the new menu is missing one of your old favorites, they can probably still make it for you with the ingredients that are still around…for now. oh really? let’s just see about that. i decided to return to native foods and give this offer a shot with the poltz burrito, a wildly popular item from the previous menu.

poltz burrito: black beans, brown rice, original seitan, flamed banana salsa in a whole wheat tortilla, topped with salsa fresca, chips and guacamole. $8.95

i guess this emasculated version of a poltz burrito counts as making something off the old menu. but seriously, who would want this? i mean, does that look “topped with salsa fresca, chips and guacamole” to you? no! and the inside of it was even more depressing.

pitiful

this burrito used to be massive, overflowing with guacamole, beans and colorful salsas. why did they have to go and ruin a good thing?

oh well, i’m sure i will keep going back to native foods anyways. after all, they do still have the awesome greek gyro on the menu, although it costs more now as well. it’s always a bit sad when menus shrink or prices rise…and it’s especially sad when these two things happen at once.

R.I.P. all my old favorite dishes from native foods.

here is the new menu for you to check out.

and here is the old menu, if you wanna reminisce.

especially after eating this amazing bowl at native foods.

steamed veggies, quinoa, creamy garlic lemon sauce, peppered seitan, hummus and grilled flatbread. $9.85

i really consider myself a seitan connoisseur—i like only the best shit and i am very hard to please. i’ve never found a homemade seitan recipe that lives up to my standards, and i am super picky about the brands i buy in the store. so of course i was a wee bit skeptical when ordering what sounded like a delicious seitan bowl at native foods. luckily, they stepped up to the challenge and made the best seitan dish i’ve ever eaten. and it was smothered in the tastiest, creamiest, hummus-iest sauce. delicious.

peppery and flavorful, this seitan is gonna be very hard to beat. definitely the best dish i’ve ever ordered at native foods. and as an added bonus, the bowl comes with protein-laden quinoa instead of rice. i loved every last bite.

as you may or may not know, i’m a huge fan of native foods. it’s a westwood vegan establishment with several original options whose ingredients i completely trust. imagine how delighted i was on my coachella vacation last weekend when i looked up the nearest vegan restaurant to my hotel in palm springs and found a native foods just 2 MILES AWAY!
…bliss!

latino lover pizza: mexican marinara, soy taco meat, salsa fresca, corn, avocado, cilantro, and vegan sour cream. he cha-cha! $13.95

yes, luckily my parents happened to be in town, and i definitely owed them lunch for saving my ass. so what better place to treat them to a meal at, than the quarrygirl.com approved native foods?

now, while i LOVE native foods, my only problem with this restaurant is the ubiquitous unadvertised bell peppers which DRIVE ME MAD and are sprinkled all over most dishes. no matter what i do, i can’t seem to remember to ask for my meals without them. i digress. back to the wonderful food!

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i love to eat at vegan restaurants, but as you know from earlier posts, i’m slightly sick of the numerous thai restaurants with the word “vegan” in the title, who serve nothing more than a noodle-ridden sodium-filled menu with faux meat replacing chicken and beef. don’t get me wrong…i enjoy california vegan, vegan express, vegan glory, truly vegan, and the vegan joint. but come on, just A LITTLE originality goes a long way! plus, as i read more and more, some of these places (not all of them, to be fair) are having their veganocity and the integrity of their ingredients called into question. this doesn’t mean i don’t eat at and enjoy these establishments (so DO NOT call me a hypocrite if i write a post in the future singing their praises), it just means that i am utterly grateful for a vegan restaurant with an original menu. enter native foods…

malibu veggie burger: a native original veggie burger made with soy, quinoa, oats, veggies, and delicious seasonings, sprouts, carrots, onion and vegan mayo. makes waves! (pictured above with a side of jasmine rice) $7.95

farrah’s fatoush: a middle eastern crusty bread salad with chopped tomato, cucumber, onions, tofu feta, tossed with a lemon olive oil dressing on salad greens, hummus and kalamata olive garnish. $8.95 (BEWARE the mother fucking bell peppers, keep reading!)

let me just say, these pix don’t do the food justice. it’s absolutely spectacular. in the same league as pure luck (sorry native foods, you don’t have tap beer…and therefore, i will never love you as much as PL), this restaurant offers fresh and tasty dishes without a hint of fake canned meat, or “choose your protein” pad thai. (vegans: you know what i’m talking about! this place is a find.) it’s JUST like a normal LA restaurant. without the death.
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