stop what you’re doing, check your calender, and schedule some time quality to eat at seed bistro. the west LA restaurant is brought to us by the folks who opened seed kitchen in venice—vegan chef eric lechasseur and his wife, macrobiotic counselor sanae suzuki. unlike the casual beach cafe though, seed bistro is a classy joint; and at barely two months old, it’s already arguably the city’s best vegan restaurant.

seed bistro is the first restaurant in LA proper to serve a varied menu of exceptional vegan organic food along with alcohol in an elegant atmosphere. with its moody lights and sleek ambiance, it reminds me of my favorite fancy vegan restaurants in NYC (think candle 79, blossom, or franchia). food wise, there’s something for everyone on the dinner menu—from “meat” and potatoes, to salads and sushi, to raw items and a four or six course tasting menu prepared by chef eric for $45 and $60 respectively. the restaurant is also open for lunch during the week, and serves casual fare such as burgers, bento boxes, and salads.

we hit up seed bistro recently for the six course tasting menu, and it was a meal i’ll remember forever. we opted to sit in the bar area, which has limited seating, and watched eric prepare everything while he chatted with us the whole time. so what did we eat? tons! check it out:

course one: cucumber jicama roll (raw), coconut shooter with turmeric, kelp noodles and butternut squash (raw), paella ball with romesco sauce.

course one was a trio of light dishes including a sushi roll, a coconut “shooter”, and a paella ball. i started with the roll and worked my way left across the plate. the raw sushi was outstanding—shreds of jicama acting as rice mixed with avocado and carrot, with paper-thin sheets of curled cucumber holding it all together. the shooter was equally as impressive: a raw blend of coconut turmeric soup, avocado, squash, and kelp noodles…a smaller version of a raw entree available on seed’s menu. i finished the plate off with two bites of paella ball, a delicious fried mound of rice with a mild and creamy romesco sauce.

course two: roasted farmers market beets with grapefruit and avocado.

course two was a small plate from seed bistro’s a la carte menu: roasted beets with avocado and grapefruit. this dish embodied seed’s style: “back to basics” cuisine made with top notch ingredients and prepared extremely well. the flavors really popped, and my husband and i both agreed that we hadn’t had a salad this good in ages.

course three: grilled trumpet mushroom, forked mashed potatoes, grain mustard sauce.

course three was a contender for my favorite of the night (though i can say that about two other courses as well!). thick meaty trumpet mushrooms were perched atop fluffy fork mashed potatoes, topped with field greens and garnished with grain mustard. un-fuckin-believable. the mushrooms were fat and juicy, and the potatoes were rich and perfectly seasoned. this course was epic—i couldn’t believe i was only half way through…

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the other day i hit up doomie’s with my better half to prove to him that i wasn’t lying about the insane vegan big mac on the secret menu. thankfully the restaurant is still serving up the double decker sandwiches to customers in the know, and we were able to score one…

vegan big mac with fries. $10.95

my second vegan big mac experience was just as good as the first, and i feel the need to re-iterate that i think this is the best fast food style burger by far in LA, and maybe even the whole world. i’ve never had anything like it. the combination of the fat soy beefy patties and doomie’s homemade cheddar-style cheese is a beautiful one. plus they have all the big mac details down, from the shredded lettuce to the diced onions to the sesame seed bun and the flavors in the sauce.

we also grabbed a philly cheesesteak sandwich (without bell peppers)…

vegan philly cheesesteak: strips of beef smothered in homemade vegan cheese with grilled onions, peppers, and mushrooms. $8.95

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okay, so recently shojin (downtown LA’s premiere vegan spot) introduced a new sushi menu. naturally, i had to check it out. last week i hit up the little tokyo restaurant armed with only an iphone and my pals from clara’s cakes for a light dinner of rolls split between the table. the food was fantastic, the service was friendly, and the all around experience was perfect.

rock mountain roll: tempura shiitake mushrooms and green onions in a vegetable roll, served with wasabi mayo and soy sauce. $10.95

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don’t miss this! for a limited time, madeleine bistro is selling coupons to get $20 worth of food for ten bucks! the restaurant is now open on saturday and sunday evenings as well as sunday for brunch…and if you haven’t tried it yet, now’s your chance! we’re approaching the holiday season, which means they’re starting to roll out thanksgiving menu specials!

get your coupon here, and if you ever see the thanksgiving sandwich on the menu (herbed seitan, cranberry mayo, caramelized onions, gravy), ORDER IT!

tony yanow—the vegan behind 2 of our favorite establishments, tony’s darts away and mohawk bend—has been working hard this year. in between running his popular burbank bar and opening a massive gastro pub in echo park, he’s assembled an all star beer team (meg gill of speakeasy and oskar blues as the co-owner, jon carpenter of dogfishead as the brewmaster) and in less than 5 months has launched golden road brewery. we attended the grand opening of the massive atwater village compound on sunday and had a blast.

not only did we sample what golden road has been brewing (their signature hefe, point the way IPA, and burning bush smoked IPA were all awesome!), we also got a sneak peek at the brewery’s pub/restaurant that’s slated to open later this year, and got our fill of vegan food prepared by their chef randal st. clair. check it out…

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the much anticipated long beach vegan eatery opened its doors to the public the other day, and we haven’t had a chance to get down there yet! we posted the menu yesterday, and now we’ve got a full on field report sent in by sasha. i’m hoping that because she visited on the first day, LBVE is still working out some of the kinks. i think i’ll give them some time to fix the glitches, and hit them up in a few weeks. check it out:

my boyfriend and I ordered the tots, a chicken sando, the bbq drumsticks, and a whoopie pie.

drumstick style chick'n basked in sweet and our or bbq sauce. served with one choice of side and a roll. $9.95

the drumsticks tasted great, but they were still cold in the middle! any they weren’t anything i couldn’t have made easily at home.

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as we announced yesterday, LBC’s newest restaurant, long beach vegan eatery is now open! i can’t wait to check it out. reviews from QG readers have been kinda…er…mixed. here are the first shots of the menu along with much anticipated photos of the food (dinner, appetizer, and dessert!). these were sent to us via an anonymous reader w/ no comment. what do you think? keep in mind, this is the first day in business. i need to get over there and check it out for myself!

long beach vegan eatery menu page 1
long beach vegan eatery menu page 2

Chick'n Parmesan sandwich: Breaded chick'n and tomato sauce in side a grinder roll and smothered in cheese. $8.95

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*for an explanation on the secret menu, scroll to the bottom of the post.

oh god doomie’s, are you trying to kill me? i stopped in the other day and inquired about their current “secret menu*” (something ALWAYS worth doing when dining there), and they pointed me towards a brand new vegan big mac. i can say without hesitation that this was the most gigantic, delicious, ridiculous burger i’ve ever eaten. nothing else comes close. if you’re feeling like having a healthy, light-eating day, stay away from this thing. if you want the a vegan burger that you’ll remember for years to come, proceed.

vegan big mac with fries. $10.95

this thing was what a real big mac should look like (massive, not smashed the way fast food always is), except it was 100% vegan. two huge beefy patties, tons of melty vegan cheese (look at it in the bottom left of the picture!), creamy special sauce, lettuce, onion, (i got mine w/o pickles), double bread, and a sesame seed bun. we all know how much i love doomie’s, but they’ve really outdone themselves this time. get over there and beg them to let you try it.

but wait, there’s more…

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ah, i’ve been wanting to try this place for ages. let’s go eat there!

now open!

long beach vegan eatery
2246 N. Lakewood Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90815 · Get Directions
562-986-LBVE
Mon – Sun: 11:00 am – 8:00 pm

today’s good news comes via my friend basia, who stumbled upon the nacho truck in the valley. while their online menu isn’t updated to list vegan options, they’ve got ’em—with daiya cheese and everything!

veggiefied vegan nachos: daiya cheese, black beans, soyrizo, chipotle corn, lettuce, pico de gallo, salsa verde. plus guacamole.

she writes: “This is random, but I stopped by Cinema Secrets in Burbank yesterday, and there was a Nacho Food Truck there that served veggie/vegan nachos, which were REALLY yummy. They make everything themselves, and the chips are incredible. 1 plate of nachos is more than enough for one person, I was sooo filled. The bowl might look small, but there’s lots in it.”

here’s a snap of the truck menu…

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breaking news! tony’s darts away, LA’s vegan-friendly craft beer bar, launched a new menu today of signature sausages. the old deal was, customers would pick a sausage with up to 4 toppings and order at the counter. that’s still an option, but now TDA has introduced 6 custom combinations to help you out and make ordering easier. the new menu isn’t posted on their site yet, but we’ve got a snap of it. you’re welcome. check it out…

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after years of sticking it out in the valley, madeleine bistro (our favorite restaurant ever) is finally planning to expand over the hill and open a cafe in los angeles next month. according to them, it’s gonna be an all vegan ice cream, pastry, and sandwich shop in westside LA featuring many of the menu items from madeleine bistro as well as an array of handcrafted desserts and eventually booze! but before they open, they need to do a bit of fundraising, and they’re offering some pretty sweet prizes (pun intended!) to people who help them meet their goal.

they’re only accepting donations for ten days, so if you wanna get in on this, don’t stall. i’m usually pretty wary of online fundraising, but with this deal donors get something back in return—anything from free desserts to a party catered by chef dave. hmmmm…help a vegan restaurant open, and get a party catered by the country’s best vegan chef in the process? i may have to go out and make some actual friends so i can take advantage of this!

seriously though, read all about the project here and pitch in whatever you can. los angeles will be a much better place when this cafe is open.

we’re so happy to announce that as of today (at around 11am) cupcakes by clara’s cakes will be for sale at locali! the current flavors are chocolate peanut butter and vanilla raspberry, and they’ll probably rotate from week to week. clara’s cakes is one of our favorite local bakeries, it’s all vegan, and it’s run by a ridiculously cool 14 year old girl. we’re so stoked that these treats will be available on a regular basis.

in other clara’s cakes news, they’re also offering ZOMBIE CUPCAKES as a halloween special…

these scary little suckers are made of chocolate cake, filled up with raspberry filling (blood!), and decorated with awesome zombie artwork. they’re available for a special price of $40 per dozen. order some for your halloween party, or just because! people won’t be able to tell they’re vegan, i swear. to order, contact info@claracakes.com.

for more info on all things clara’s cakes, like them on facebook and follow them on twitter.

so exciting! los angeles has a new super vegan-friendly restaurant with a huge menu full of specialty pizzas, salads, wraps, inventive appetizers, wine and craft beer. EVO kitchen opened up its doors last week in the old hollywood/weho pizza fusion location, and we’re already huge fans. it focuses on organic, locally sourced ingredients, and is family owned by the same folks who ran the previous restaurant. with the re-branding, the menu still includes our favorite items (what up, beer floats and wraps!) plus it has grown to include even more vegan (and gluten-free if you care about that) options, and the food is even better than before.

we hit up EVO for a slap up feast this weekend, and sampled as many vegan dishes as we could. we still didn’t get through half of them though—i guess that means another visit is in order! check out what we ate:

vegan garlic cheese bread with marinara dip. $4.99

we started off with a slew of appetizers, the first of which was the vegan garlic cheese bread. as with all vegan cheesy items at EVO kitchen, this came with a choice of soy cheese (follow your heart) or daiya. we opted for the soy cheese in this case, and the daiya cheese for other dishes (more on those later!). the cheese bread was phenomenal—crispy and pipin’ hot, dusted with herbs, and served with a pot of tangy marinara.

mini vegan bbq burgers: portobello mushroom with vegan soy or daiya cheese, roasted red onion and bbq sauce. $6.99

next up, one of my favorite dishes of the evening: the vegan mini bbq burgers. SLIDERS…

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heads up, everybody! susan feniger’s street, one of LA’s top restaurants, is offering an all vegetarian and vegan optional tasting menu this tuesday. we were wowed by street a couple years ago during dineLA week, so i highly suggest you check this out. the deal is: 7 courses for 45 bucks, plus an optional $15 wine pairing. here’s a look at the menu:

this place is pretty posh and popular, so be sure to book a table! and tell them you’re vegan!