i am very much a hollywood creature, and it isn’t often that i venture to the west side. when i do make the trek to santa monica though, it usually isn’t for the cool breeze or sandy beach—instead, it’s almost always to either visit friends or nosh on vegan eats. last week’s visit was a combination of both, when chloe coscarelli invited me for lunch at the newly-opened true food kitchen.

the restaurant occupies an absolutely massive and elegant space in the recently refurbbed santa monica place, and i was pretty wowed with the atmosphere. there’s a gigantic seating area indoors with comfy booths and an open kitchen, as well as a large patio area outside to take advantage of the never-ending LA sunshine. the service is at true food is excellent, from the complimentary valet on 2nd street to the overly attentive waitstaff.

the menu is very “california” style—local and healthy for the most part, with a huge focus on “sustainable” meat (grrr!). if you can look past that, they have lots of great vegan items which are clearly marked on the menu. i absolutely love it when restaurants have a separate vegan symbol…it takes all the guess work out of ordering!

to start, we split an order of the shiitake tofu lettuce cups from the appetizer menu, and they were absolutely wonderful.

shiitake and tofu lettuce cups: ginger, cashew and toasted garlic. $9

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anyone who is familiar with the vegan scene in los angeles knows that in recent years there has been proliferation of vegetarian thai-inspired restaurants (all with the word “vegan in their name) serving up almost identical menus full of mock meats and salty asian dishes. i honestly can’t keep track of them all, and it seems like there’s one on every corner! vegan express, vegan world, vegan house, vegan plate, vegan glory, you get the idea…they all start to run together in my mind. vegan factory in tarzana (who we’ve featured on the blog before) went so far as to claim on their website, “Vegan Factory is not just another Thai-Vegan Restaurant…”

that sentence will be especially true as of july 8th, when vegan factory will begin serving real animal meat. i think they should probably re-write the rest of the paragraph, though…

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another one bites the dust! after just a couple of months, savyon cafe on pico has decided to discontinue their all you can eat vegan sunday buffet.

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this is good news by any measure. one of our favorite vegan restaurants in los angeles, cruzer pizza, is under new management….and the food is even better! they’ve completely redone the place and the menu, with improvements all around! don’t worry, they still have a pizza named after me—but it’s even tastier now (if you can believe it)!

the first thing you’ll notice when you walk into the new and improved cruzer, is a stylish chalkboard menu that has taken over the left side of the counter. new items include starters like potato skins, inventive pasta dishes, a chicken cheesesteak sandwich…

they’ve even got mexicoke…

and several flavors of luscious organics cupcakes…

now, let’s get down to what we ordered. we ordered a lot. first up, who can resist potato skins…

potato skins: marinara and daiya inside potato skins. $5.99

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yes, yes, YES!! doomie’s may have been temporarily thwarted and shut down due to an electrical fire…but that’s not gonna stop them from throwing an epic all you can eat buffet this holiday weekend to use up their food. WE CANNOT LET THAT FOOD GO BAD, RIGHT? we all need to hit up this buffet.

crazy vegan stuff from doomie's: croissants, "pulled pork" sandwich, "fried chicken", gorgeous dessert things.

plus, a mere ten bucks for a bottomless serving of the insanity that is doomie’s cuisine is just way too good to pass up, no matter what the circumstances. here are the details:

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i simply couldn’t believe it a couple weeks ago when i received an email from a reader named ashlee raving about the vegan options at cut steakhouse in beverly hills! apparently she’d been dragged there for a family function, and found that the restaurant offered a 3 course meal just for vegans. as she pointed out in her message, “Although I am positive that no vegan would ever willingly dine at CUT, I thought I’d inform you of this in case you or any of your blog readers are stuck in a situation (like I was) where they have to attend a steakhouse.” luckily for us, ashlee found herself back at cut recently with some guests from out of town, and she sent me some snaps of her meal to post on the blog. enjoy! hopefully this will come in handy next time you have to go to a fancy dinner with omnivores in beverly hills.

I had dinner at Cut and it was just as amazing as last time. I let the chef pick this time again because it was so good last time. The waiters at Cut are surprisingly knowledgeable about veganism…I mentioned I was a vegan and the waiter said “are you a full vegan or just a vegetarian? If you are a full vegan, I will be sure that nothing will have dairy in it and will bring some bread to the table that isn’t made with eggs or butter”.

First course: summer bean salad with veggies and pine nuts and a tahini dressing…

Second course: mushroom and shishito peppers in this asian sauce, caramelized summer corn, green bean mixture with sun dried tomatoes, and various greens/peas with caramelized onions…

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woo hoo! native foods is launching a new summer menu on wednesday june 29th, and we have a sneak peek at the items. i can’t wait to try it all. here are the official descriptions from the restaurant.

BBQ Love Burger
: Thinly sliced Native Original Seitan slathered in smokehouse BBQ sauce and topped with crunchy Asian sesame slaw. A traditional Native favorite for Summer. $9.95

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if you don’t have your tickets yet for the LA vegan beer fest (which is TOMORROW!), i don’t know what you’re waiting for! unlimited beer, vegan food trucks, and local bands…drinkers and nondrinkers welcome!

yesterday we woke up super early to film a news segment for ktla with our partners nic adler from the roxy and tony and paige from tony’s darts away...along with vendors doomies, the frankenstand and mandoline grill….and bands the mowgli’s and the silent comedy. it was awesome. check out the pictures and 3 videos from the shoot below. huge thanks to allie mackay and the ktla crew for featuring us!

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BAD, BAD, BAD FUCKING NEWS PEOPLE! doomie’s home cookin’, by far the best vegetarian restaurant in town, had an electrical fire today and is closed until further notice. because they are insanely amazing people, they will still be at the LAVBF this weekend, but their vine location will not remain open at the moment.

they need our help, tonight if possible!

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free. vegan. pizza. aren’t they the best words in the english language? well tonight is the night that all 3 of them come together, as the original pizza cookery in woodland hills will be giving out complimentary samples of their new vegan menu!

we already love pizza cookery to bits….after all, we did include them on both our top restaurant list AND our vegan bucket list of 2010. my advice: get your ass over there and eat for free this evening. the vegan pizza at this place is truly special. (and be sure to try the vegan-cheese-filled garlic rolls, OMG!)

here are the details:

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reason #8,965 that you need to attend the LA vegan beer fest this weekend: the veg-it-up truck! hell yes, LA’s newest meat-free truck will be there with a giant menu full of vegan sandwiches, burgers, tacos, and wraps that will please omnivores and herbivores alike.

veg it up!

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photo by kat nguyen

aw shucks! recently we blogged that the much anticipated mohawk bend would be opening its doors on june 28th. unfortunately, the gastropub has been delayed until further notice. lemme tell you, i got a personal tour of the mohawk space over the weekend and it is INSANE. i think it’s gonna be the best place to eat and drink in town, especially for vegans! there are like 8 million beer taps, two cask pumps, a dedicated vegan fryer, and a gigantic dedicated vegan pizza oven! gaaaaaah, i have never been so excited about a place opening before! here’s the official/unofficial word from team mohawk:

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lately the vegan restaurant scene in los angeles has been in a constant state of change. pure luck closed down, doomie’s moved from downtown to hollywood, native foods replaced m cafe in culver city, veggie grills are popping up in every part of town at an alarming rate…and with madeleine bistro’s fate looking uncertain at best, for a moment it seemed like we were losing our one meatless fine dining option in the city. enter sage vegan bistro.

the small echo park eatery shares the bottom corner of the jensen rec center on sunset with kindkreme (a raw and dairy-free ice cream parlor) and has been open for a little over 3 months. the menu is ambitious to say the least, with a slew of lunch items (served all day), gourmet dinner fare (served after 5pm), and brunch on the weekends from 9am-4pm. the offerings are pretty creative as well—items such as banh mi spring rolls, almond crusted fried cheese, and white bean french cassoulet all sound incredible.

i’d dined at sage once before, for brunch, and quite enjoyed it…so i was anxious to try them out for dinner. we stopped by over the weekend with our friends jen & jen, and i’m happy to report that our meal was excellent.

polenta galettes topped with sauteed leeks and a raisin date spread.

upon arrival, we were presented with lots of menus! the dinner menu, the lunch menu, and the kindkreme dessert menu…and everything on them was ours for the taking. there was even a “specials” menu written on a chalkboard hanging in the restaurant. we were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of choice, but i think we managed to get at least one thing off every menu.

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UPDATE: this contest is closed. we have two winners! huge congrats to lolahippie and wendy samson!

huge news, dudes! we have TWO $20 GIFT CARDS to give away from juicy ladies in woodland hills! saturday june 18th is the restaurant’s 2 year anniversary, and they are throwing a massive party from 10am-4pm with samples, massages, face painting, live music and tarot readings. but first, they’re getting warmed up with some awesome generosity towards QG readers. read on for your chance to win some free grub.

this vegan restaurant is rockin’, with great burgers, sandwiches, salads, bowls, breakfast items, and specialty smoothies. you could do a lot of things with 20 bucks at juicy ladies; may i recommend the juicy special burger (pictured above) paired with a rich chocolate almond shake?! here’s what you gotta do to win:

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i have driven by grassroots in south pasadena many times barely noticing it and passing it on by. well, i’m here to confess how foolish that was! grassroots is a small market and wonderful kitchen filled with healthy, organic, and vegan options in their store as well as a prepared food section. i was so hungry i walked straight up to the line for prepared food which was about 6-7 people deep. while i waited in the line that moved quicker than i anticipated (about 5 min) i glanced around and saw vegan mock meats, vegan desserts, and kombucha galore! waiting in line also gave me the much needed time to decide what to order. they had wraps, tacos, salads, burritos and, (as QG will be happy to hear) BOWLS!

vegan beef bowl

for my meal i went with the vegan beef bowl ($9.99) and it was A-MAZING!
the food line at grassroots looks like that of a subway sandwich shop. you place your order and watch them put all the ingredients together in front of you while you confirm that they include only ingredients you like.

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