just a quick update on the “vegan brands being pulled from whole foods drama“:

as of now, select vegan brands like kookie karma, rawk-n-roll, tomberlies, and lydia’s organics appear to be under new distribution and are back on the shelves at whole foods! brands such as a taste of life, rahel’s, euphoria loves rawvolution, and cru are still missing.

let’s hope whole foods starts stocking these other brands ASAP. oh, and be sure to check out the back story here.

LA Farmer's Market Vegetables, Mole Negro Oaxaqueno, Vincotto

it’s that time folks, dineLA restaurant week is almost here! from jan 24 thru 29 and jan 31 thru Feb 5, select eateries all over los angeles will be offering 3 course prix fixe menus at a discounted price.

just like last time, we made the effort to call pretty much every restaurant taking part in dineLA, and we’ve compiled a list of the places that can accommodate vegans. some restaurants haven’t finalized their menus yet, so i will update this list as more info becomes available.

list after the jump!

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heyo, just a quick post to tell you/shamelessly brag to you that we were mentioned in the latest issue of vegnews! (you know, the january edition with a ridiculously cute alicia silverstone on the front.)

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hey everyone, our friend erik marcus over at vegan.com has written a book about animal agriculture called “meat market: animals, ethics, and money” which is for sale on amazon.com.

i haven’t read the book yet, but it seems like it is something worth reading for omnivores and hardcore herbivores like ourselves.  a great review by ginny messina explains, “Written primarily for activists, this is well worth reading for anyone who cares about how farm animals are treated. It’s a super quick and easy read. That’s because Erik has a talent for distilling big chunks of information and compelling arguments into just a few pages that get the important ideas across.” sounds good to me!

due to some issues with his distribution agreement, unfortunately erik is being forced to take his book out of print in early january. to move the last copies off the shelves, he is offering some sweet ass deals if you buy 5 or more copies. “5 COPIES,” you say, “that sounds like an awful lot!” —-not really! it’s actually a great bargain, considering crimbo is right around the corner. these quickies would make perfect little stocking stuffers and gifts for all those poor unenlightened meat-eaters you still associate with. 5 copies may not be enough! check out his blog post about the situation and contact him if you wanna take him up on it.

let’s help a vegan homie out and learn some shit in the process, k?! win/win!

warning! the following content is NSFV!

please send this video around to your omnivorous friends and family members. they probably need a reminder of what they are really eating today for thanksgiving dinner.

video via the extreme vegan. follow @extremevegan on twitter.

there is nothing happy or kind about this holiday.

hey all you peeps who have been hanging tight, we finally have the winners of the first ever quarrygirl caption contest!

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a new vegan grocery store and deli called the meet market is opening in los angeles, in the same location as flore cafe! this just came in from the owners (i will keep you posted as more details become available):

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POST UPDATED 11/25 at 12pm

i can’t believe it’s that time of year already…thanksgiving is right around the corner! i know this is a big holiday for all the omnivores, but there’s no reason vegans can’t join in the feasting fun as well. there are several ways to have a meat-free celebration here in los angeles, so here is a list of your options. i will keep updating this post with more information as it becomes available, so be sure to check back as we get closer to tofurky day.

thanksgiving celebrations:

flore vegan in silverlake is having a thanksgiving dinner the day BEFORE the holiday (11/25) for just $10.95 per person. their special meal includes vegan turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce and a dinner roll.

akasha restaurant in culver city is having a vegan-friendly thanksgiving dinner fro $55 per person, and is a great place to go if you are dining with omnivores who insist on having turkey. the vegan options include wild peppercorn and sage roasted tofu, green bean casserole, sweet potato pie and apple tart.

shojin japanese restaurant is offering a thanksgiving feast from 11/25-11/28. it will include homemade vegan turkey with all the fixins and dessert for $34.95 per person. shojin was rated one of the top 5 vegan restaurants in LA, so i have no doubt this will be a great feast. for more info, check out their blog.

zephyr cafe in long beach won’t actually be open on november 26th, but they are having their third annual potluck on the day before thanksgiving. It’s on november 25th at 6pm. 340 East 4th Street, Long Beach 562.435.7113

vegi wokery in cerritos is having a special thanksgiving dinner on november 26th from 11am to 7pm. it’s only $15.95 per person and includes meatless turkey, stuffing, soup, vegetables and more. advance reservations are required.

madeleine bistro (one of LA’s top 5 vegan restaurants) in tarzana will be serving a brunch on thanksgiving day, and some birds from animal acres will be there as guests! the restaurant will offer its regular brunch menu, as well as a special thanksgiving sandwich…plus a full on traditional prix-fixe for $55 per person. here is what will be on the menu.

potluck time! the free vegan thanksgiving rancho park potluck picnic has been going since 1941! it’s LA’s longest running single day vegan tradition. read more about it here.

stuff i eat in inglewood (one of LA’s top 5 vegan restaurants) is holding and all you can eat buffet on thanksgiving day. i called them and they said it would be around $40 per person, and that they would be serving a variety of creative dishes. this is an amazing offer, because stuff i eat is seriously some of the best food i’ve ever had. (sorry, this blows real food daily out of the water and is the same price)

mary’s secret garden in ventura is offering a 3 course meal for $40 per person, with 3 menus to choose from…including a raw menu! a reservation is a must, and they also offer pre-reserved carry-out.

native foods in costa mesa is open for thanksgiving dinner from 2-8pm and are offering a holiday menu that includes their famous wellington (pictured above) with all the fixins. be sure to make a reservation asap.

one world vegetarian in west covina is also open on thanksgiving day and are offering a veggie turkey!

follow your heart in canoga park is closed on thanksgiving day, but has a famous feast for the two days before that, which you can get to go.

thanksgiving take-out:

for those of you who don’t feel like dining at madeleine bistro on thanksgiving day, they also have a holiday to-go menu which includes a 4 course meal for $50 per person. just be sure to order it by 5pm on november 22nd. it can then be picked up by appointment on the 25th or 26th. here is what’s on the menu:

vinh loi tofu (also one of LA’s top 5 vegan restuarants) is offering a whopping 4 pound vegan thanksgiving turkey starting sometime next week for $45! they will also have smaller “turkeys” available as well. i am definitely gonna get one of these, the offer of a 4 lb vegan creation by kevin tran is just too good for me to pass up.

m cafe de chaya has a holiday feast available that includes soup, salad, and a seitan roast dinner. just be sure to place your orders before noon on november 24th.

click to enlarge

real food daily has a full thanksgiving menu available for 40 bucks per person, as well as whole pies for individual purchase.

cinnamon vegetarian in highland park has a traditional thanksgiving menu, as well as a latin one including tamales and pozole.

cinnamon thanksgiving feast from cinnamonvegetarian.com

native foods (all locations) is offering their famous wellington, which feeds 6 people, for only $40 this year! this is what i am getting for thanksgiving. be sure to order yours asap.

the native wellington: puff pastry filled with savory seitan, organic kale, portobello mushrooms, orange-glazed yams, stuffings and caramelized onions. served with shallot-mushroom gravy.

cook it yourself:

gardein has a whole thanksgiving menu planned out, complete with step by step recipes on their website so you can make it at home. on their menu are things like sage and pumpkin encrusted seed gardein, wild mushroom stuffed cakes, sweet potato biscuits and much more. check out their thanksgiving dinner menu here.

check out the invaluable article vegan thanksgiving 101 from lunchboxbunch.com. it’s basically a crash course about cooking your own meal, throwing a party, and having a blast on the holiday.

viva la greens is holding a special thanksgiving cooking class along with a guided meditation session on sunday, november 15th. check out the website for details.

if you feel like cooking at home this thanksgiving, check out this meal by robin robertson, one of america’s best selling vegetarian cookbook authors. robin has recipes for every part of your holiday meal, from seitan en croute to garlic smashers and ginger-dusted pumpkin cheezecake. all the recipes are available for free, online at vegan.com.

also, spork foods is offering a thanksgiving feast cooking class on november 21st and 22nd, where they will teach you everything you need to know in order to cook a turkey-free meal on the big day. on their menu is rosemary & lemon roasted seitan, sauteed broccolini, tempeh bacon stuffing, and pumpking cheesecake.

that’s all i have for now. if you know of any more los angeles vegan thanksgiving stuff going on, leave it in the comments and i will update the post. keep checking in!

HAPPY THANKSLIVING, EVERYONE!

When President Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize last week, his first public reaction was a one-word tweet, “Humbled“. While a VegNews award isn’t quite as prestigious we’re also humbled that Operation Pancake, our investigation into Los Angeles area vegan restaurants, would win a “Scandal Breakers of the Year” award from VegNews magazine. The list was broken this morning over on ecorazzi, as follows:

As a quick reminder, for Operation Pancake we tested samples of food from seventeen Los Angeles area restaurants (all but one supposedly entirely vegan) and found that 40% of tested positive for ingredients that were not of vegan origin. We then tracked back the ingredients of many of these dishes to fake meat plants in Taiwan, and uncovered major inconsistencies with food preparation and labeling. It’s possible that many fake meats in supposedly vegan foods are not just non-vegan, but actually contain real meat.

What’s sobering about Operation Pancake, though, is not what we found, but what we didn’t find. It’s likely that all over the world vegans are eating animal products without realizing it, and we hope that the publicity gained by our investigation will help them to “vote with their feet” and only buy vegan foods from reputable sources.

Many thanks to VegNews for recognizing our work, we hope the publicity might persuade a couple more people to buy strictly vegan produce to save a few animals from a degrading life, and agonizing death.

If you read the original posts, they’re well worth reading again, especially the comments – some of which are really insightful. In the meantime, we’ll wait for our Veg News to arrive with the full scoop on November 1st!

Team quarrygirl and our collaborator, Mr Wishbone, gladly accept the award!

i’m sad to report that one of my (previously) favorite fake meat brands has started being awfully cunty lately. morningstar farms has recently added both MILK AND EGGS to several of their formally vegan products.

one of my favorite foods to be completely ruined by morningstar farms, was the meal starter crumbles. these things were perfect in any recipe that called for ground meat, and until recently they were vegan. then, without warning and without changing the packaging, morningstar farms added both skim milk and egg whites to the ingredients. gross, right? yeah.

morningstar farms has added milk & eggs to thier vegan crumbles!

to make matters even worse, when morningstar farms wasn’t busy de-veganizing stuff, they were discontinuing other wonderful vegan products. like the meal starter steak strips, GONE. i used these strips all the time…in stir frys, in cornish pasties, in burritos, you name it. no more.

morningstar farms steak strips discontinued!

this whole situation is pretty upsetting to me, and i probably won’t be buying much morningstar farms stuff in the future. if the crumbles are trashed, and the steak strips are gone, what else can they really offer me? if you buy morningstar farms products, i highly suggest you triple check the ingredients to make sure they haven’t snuck in any animal discharge.

there is a thread going about this topic over on vegweb, complete with a response from the company that really doesn’t make me feel any better. buyer beware!

oh, and special thanks to commenter Bil for bringing this all to my attention. you rock.

akasha: punjabi mung beans and rice. local greens, tandoori flatbread, tomato chutney.

dineLA restaurant week! it’s all the craze! it’s when fancy-schmancy dining establishments in los angeles offer specially priced 3 course meals that normal people can afford…and it’s happening NOW (october 4-9 and 11-16)! although at first glance, the online menus of participating restaurants show almost no vegan options, don’t let that discourage you…there is plenty for us to eat!

this post comes courtesy of a very awesome quarrygirl.com reader, emily west hollywood, who started calling up dineLA restaurants and sussing out their vegan options. we now have the following list of places that have been contacted, and whether or not they can cater to us herbivores. we will keep updating this list, so tell us in the comments section if you have any more info.

here is what the restaurants had to say when asked if they would accommodate vegans for dineLA:

akasha said “no problem,” but maybe call in advance so they can make a note about dessert. (i can personally vouch for this place…i went to their dineLA week in january for lunch and it was incredible!)
bazaar by jose andres said “yes,” they will give vegans access to a tapas menu with many options. plus, they are an “all olive oil kitchen, no butter!”
bella cucina italiana said “no problem and no need to call ahead.”
bld said “yeah, they will make it happen. just call ahead and let us know you are vegan so we can get ready for you.”
border grill sure thing, “come and tell your server when you arrive.”
buddha’s belly santa monica said “yup, they can make things vegan.”
checkers downtown said “sure, no problem.”
cache restaurant and lounge the chef said that they were willing to veganize, but for the things that would be left out it might not be worth the money.
chaya downtown said “NO, we won’t change anything.” (bitches)
ciudad said “no problem at all, we would be happy to oblige, no need to call ahead.”
craft said “sure! we can adjust our menu for vegans, just call ahead and we will make a note…”
grace restaurant said, “sure. our menu can be modified for vegans. no problem.”
fig seemed to think it would be fine, but call to make sure.
ford’s filling station apologetically said “no, we usually can accommodate vegans but we actually don’t even have a veg dish on the dinela menu.”
ivan kane’s cafe was they checked with the chef and said, “he would be happy to take care of vegans. there are several things he could make.”
il fornaio said, “sure, things could be modified to be made vegan.”
la botte said “no sorry, but there is vegan stuff on the regular menu.” (i doubt this however, because i ate at la botte once and they were COMPLETE DICKS when i tried to order a dish a without cheese. they said the chef wouldn’t allow it. i shan’t return, ever.)
loteria grill hollywood said “no, we can cater to vegetarians but we will not modify the menu for vegans.”
larchmont grill said “no, but there are vegan options on the regular menu.”
le grande orange is a big NO. (pfffft…meanies)
luna park said “no,” but they were very apologetic.
the must wine bar said “yes of course we will adjust our menu, just tell your server as soon as you arrive.”
rush street said they are in, and will replace dessert with a cocktail.
susan feniger’s street said “yes! but please tell us a day in advance so we are ready.”
taste said no.
wolfgang puck bistro said no, and might i add, they were VERY CUNTY on the phone. “i don’t know if you’ve looked at the menu, but every item contains meat and/or dairy…so NO.”
xiv said “yes we would be happy to allow a dineLA vegan menu…just call ahead.” (i highly recommend you take advantage of this offer…i have had the tasting menu at xiv and it was AMAZING!!)

vegan cauliflower tempura at xiv

oooh, and just a side note about xiv: they will be offering their vegan menu after dineLA at 20% off through december 15th! you need to get over there and try it, because the food is absolutely extraordinary…and the discount makes it much more affordable.

so there you have it, your vegan-friendly dineLA options! get out there and eat at some fancy restaurants over the next week, YOU DESERVE IT. let’s support these places for catering to us…PLUS, why should omnivores have all the fun when it comes to cool restaurant discounts?!?!

to avoid hassles, be sure to call ahead for dineLA and make a reservation…and check out this post on LAist.com with tips for making the most of your experience. happy vegan eating!

yep, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. the infamous quarrygirl.com vegan soundboard is finally available for download on itunes!!! you will never have to speak again!

special thanks to smooth landon for creating this app, and for brittany from sickoflettuce.com for voicing it.

Just what you were looking for – the app to keep you from having to talk to all those non-vegans! Or maybe you just want to put that pretentious vegan in their place? Regardless, this is the app for you. Smooth Landon partnered with the kind folks at quarrygirl.com and the result is this fun (and free!) app for all your vegan needs.

fuck yeah!

a taste of life soul food combo

okay, so there’s three events going on this weekend that you should be aware of. choose wisely.

1.) vegan soul food bbq
get your weekend started right with a back-to-school vegan bbq in inglewood sponsored by a taste of life. food will be served from 10am to 3pm, plus there will be live music, kids’ activities, speakers and more. if you don’t have plans today, this would be a good bet. a taste of life serves up the best soul food i’ve ever had, and some of the best vegan food in all of los angeles. for info on this event, check out their flyer or PETA’s website.

2.) rockin’ vegan breakfast
the first thing up tomorrow is a vegan breakfast concert at downtown venue the smell. the headline act is ted leo and the pharmacists, supported by davila 666 and moses campbell. the menu consists of vegan pancakes, tofu tacos, and coffee. show starts at 11:30am, it’s 8 bucks, and it’s all ages. for more info check out the announcement on losanjealous.com.

3.) vegan vietnamese and beer
if you wake up a bit later on sunday mornings, or if you are still feeling hungry after your large helping of rock and vegan pancakes…head on over to the verdugo bar for board games, beer, and (vegan-friendly) bbq. while it may not prove to be the epic 100% animal-free feast that was the hot knives gnosh pit a few weeks ago, the up and coming soon-to-be vietnamese food truck mandoline grill will be serving vegan friendly offerings including cha gio (spring rolls) and lemongrass tofu banh mi.

although the event isn’t entirely vegan, the verdugo is just about our favorite bar in town, so the fact they are offering a patio session with stuff i can eat is enough to get me down there. plus, i spoke with the person in charge at mandoline grill and they knew their stuff: no bone-char sugar in the ingredients, separate utensils, and fancy egg-replacer to boot. vegans, go check out the scene if you have a chance.

vegan food at verdugo bar this sunday

have a great weekend. let me know if you hear of any more vegan events going down. and if you go to either of the shindigs i blogged about here, let me know if you had fun.

redwood foods recently purchased by heather mills

i’ve got some vegan news, y’all. heather mills now owns cheezly, and she’s bringing it to america. if you don’t know what cheezly is, it’s an amazing vegan cheese from the UK that did very well in our best vegan cheese challenge. if you don’t know who heather mills is, she used to be married to that pink-colored dude at the top of the page.

i got an email from redwood foods (the company behind cheezly and loads of other vegan goodies from across the pond) today that was just full of great news. check it out:

We’re the importers and distributors for Redwood Foods Cheezly from the UK and I often read your blog, etc. I think it’s probably one of the best there is. Thanks for all the hard work. Anyway, I just wanted to bring you up to date on the latest Cheezly developments. Firstly, Redwood Foods was just purchased by Heather Mills who is a committed vegan and a very dedicated animal rights activist. The original management team is still in place at Redwood and Heather will be a great ambassador for us and veganism in general. Secondly, we expect soon to be offering a new and improved shredded version of Cheezly here in the States. Thirdly, we plan soon to lower our suggested retail price for Cheezly to $5.99 and maybe a little lower. Lastly, we hope that it won’t now be too long before we start marketing other Redwood manufactured items in the US.

Please take a look at these links:
www.redwoodfoods.co.uk/news/
www.heathermills.org

so to recap, the bloody awesome news is: new and improved cheezly shreds are coming to the united states, AND the price of cheezly is being lowered!!! this is like a dream come true. we are really gonna have way too many tasty vegan cheeses to choose from.

so congratulations to redwood foods and heather mills on this new partnership. i think this means i’m gonna get to eat a lot more of this:

CHEEZLY! WOO HOO!

bring us the vegan goods, we are ready. my days of paying thousands of dollars on shipping or filling my luggage from london up with nothing but cheezly may be over.

many of you may have noticed that mars is phazing out skittles containing gelatin, and replacing them with ostensibly vegan versions of the rainbow colored treats.

…but not so fast! before you rush out and fork over your hard-earned dollars for the candy you have been missing for years, stop a second to think about what that money is supporting. while skittles now contain all vegan ingredients, their manufacturer is anything but cruelty-free. mars, the maker of candies such as m&m’s, snickers, twix, dove, three muskateers, starburst, and skittles, conducts deadly and unnecessary tests on animals. since this is such a happy-go-lucky blog, i won’t depress you with all the details. if you want more information, you can read about it here.

as with anything, you should take all this with a grain of salt. although, mars openly admits to testing on animals for symbioscience research, they deny sponsoring “research that harms animals” in the development of their snack food. PETA, however, claims that they are lying to the public and provides a whole list of disgusting incidents in which animal experiments were conducted for candy research. either  way, mars has confirmed that they do test on animas. do you really think the candy division money is separate from the pet food?

just to be clear, i’m not telling you to avoid skittles or not eat them now that their ingredients are vegan. go right ahead. i just want you to be aware of the tests your money is funding. if you do decide to eat up the new gelatin-free skittles anyway, be sure to read the ingredients. not all the old calves’ feet candies are completely off the shelves yet.

my two cents.