hey everyone, just another quick vegan update from coachella. if you are an adult (or a cool kid with a fake ID) attending the festival today, be sure to get over to the beer garden across from the sahara tent and try some of the vegan pizza from slices…it’s amazing. that’s right, VEGAN NY-STYLE PIZZA at coachella.

vegan pesto pizza at coachella. $6/slice

i would have never thought to go to the sahara beer garden in search of vegan food, but luckily a quarrygirl.com reader named nick read my last post about coachella and told me i needed to try this place. i guess slices has been selling vegan pizza in the beer garden for years…i don’t know how i missed this place. seriously, the pizza was incredible. enormous thin slices you can fold in half with a light and crispy crust, all topped with a flavorful pesto sauce and huge chunks of vegetables.

slices even advertises one of their pizzas as vegan (you don’t have to modify it or anything)…and the vegan stuff goes really fast. when we got our pizza, they were just taking a new pie out of the oven and it was all sold within about 5 minutes.

there are tons of places to get pizza at coachella, but so far this is the only vegan-friendly place i’ve seen. it kind of sucks that it’s in the beer garden, so it’s off limits to people under 21. and the only other decent vegan food at coachella is in the VIP section. what fucking gives? i guess you have to be either old or rich to eat amimal-free at this festival.

sunday coachella goers, have a great time out there today. hope you check out tons of awesome bands and get some vegan pizza. thanks to reader nick for finding this place.

hey vegans, quarrygirl here reporting from coachella. yesterday in between drinking $7 beers, watching morrissey, and waiting in line for the bathroom, i was running around snapping vegan options all over the festival with my iphone. i wrote a quick post from my phone but had to delete it upon finding out that some of the stuff i suggested contained honey. so here is the updated info on vegan coachella 2009:

the best spot for vegan food is definitely inside the vip area. there you have luscious organic desserts selling a kick-ass selection of vegan cupcakes, plus a raw vegan stand called jenny’s. i had a cupcake from luscious and it totally blew my mind. more to come on that later.

luscious organic desserts

jenny's raw organic

if you don’t have vip access, never fear…you can get food in the dining area across from the dance tents. over there they have sweet leaf, an almost all vegan organic stand…except there is honey in all their dressings. so grab a wrap or salad at sweet leaf…just get it with no sauce or dressing. there is also a mexican stand called leno’s that uses no lard and a curry/mex stand called cowboys and turbans that sells vegan tofu masala. there’s also a middle eastern stand where you can get a falafel sandwich and some garlic fries.

sweet leaf

leno's lard free mexican

cowboys and turbans

so that’s it for now. if you are at coachella this weekend, i hope you enjoy the festival and that this helps you find somewhere to eat!

move over kids, there’s a new vegan baker in los angeles and the goods are amazing. vegan bake sale launched just a few weeks ago and specializes in beautiful and tasty cakes and cupcakes, but cheesecakes and cookies are also in the works. alix, the talented baker behind all of this, has been teasing los angeles vegans with her treats for quite awhile on her blog cute and delicious…i was so excited when she announced that she was making them available to the general public.

coincidentally, alix launched vegan bake sale just 5 days before my dad’s birthday. what better way to celebrate than to get him a huge vegan cake…right?!?! mwahahaha.

vegan bake sale double layered chocolate cake. $45

when i contacted vegan bake sale to place an order, alix wrote back and said she could make any flavor i could dream up. that sounded like quite an opportunity, but i still went with basic old double chocolate. i mean, who doesn’t love that, right? when i picked up the cake i was shocked at the size…it was much bigger than i imagined! it was also beautifully decorated with gorgeous piping around the edges. seriously, too pretty to eat. even the smell of it in the car on the way to my folks’ house was so sweet and tempting, i am shocked i made it all the way there without stealing a finger full of frosting.

i think everyone would agree the cake was a huge hit. my non-vegan parents loved it, and so did my husband who usually won’t go near sweet foods. on her blog, alix says her baked goods “aren’t the healthy, crunchy, cardboard vegan desserts you find at health food stores, they’re the decadent, delicious treats that could fool any non-vegan,” and she is absolutely right. the cake itself was sinfully tasty, and so was the rich luscious frosting.

after eating just one slice i went into an epic food coma. i left the cake with my parents and kept getting emails from my mom about how great the leftovers were. total success.

so if you are looking for a vegan birthday cake in los angeles, or a load of vegan cupcakes, definitely hit up vegan bake sale for treats that will impress. i got an amazing vegan birthday cake from real food daily last year, and i can tell you this thing topped even that…which is saying a lot! plus, alix can not only bake “any flavor you can dream up,” she’s also a total frosting artist and your cake is guaranteed to look amazing.

check vegan bake sale’s website, blog, and twitter for more info.

i live in hollywood and my local whole foods is the tiny one located at santa monica and fairfax. because the parking lot is so small, the lines are so long, and the prices are so high, i normally only go to whole foods when i need something crazy for a recipe…or when i’m grabbing a quick bite from the salad bar. i would never consider whole foods a destination to go hang out, or a place to sit and eat lunch. this all changed, however when my friend dragged me all the way to the newish whole foods in venice a few weeks ago.

holy crap! i realized then that not all whole foods are lame and tiny like my local…some are huge and awesome like this new venice store. there was parking, seating, and so much vegan food i couldn’t begin wrap my mind (or mouth) around. it was like a bloody vegan disneyland! pasta, sandwiches, ice cream, mexican food, chocolate and curry…it was all there ready to be eaten at the lovely outdoor tables. we ordered a ton of food for lunch and enjoyed it right there at the store. i can’t wait to go back.

whole foods vegan chicken salad sandwich. $6.99

we started off with a vegan chicken salad sandwich from the sandwich counter which was made with gardein, vegetables, and vegenaise. it was absolutely delicious…the gardein chicken salad was super chunky, thick, and creamy…and the bread roll it came on was amazingly fresh. definitely a good, solid sandwich for 7 bucks. it made me wish gardein chicken was available everywhere, i absolutely love that stuff.

vegan tamale, chocolate and more after the jump.

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UPDATE: just found out the dressings listed in the sweet leaf section of this post contain HONEY. if you order food from sweet leaf, get it with no sauce/dressing!

we vegans have it pretty rough sometimes. it feels like more often than not we find ourselves in places or social situations at meal times where there is almost nothing we can eat, and even then we live in fear that our salad, fries, or bread roll may be contaminated with traces of dairy. lemme assure you, coachella is not one of those places.

coachella is fucking annoying for loads of other reasons, don’t get me wrong. it’s hot as hell, it’s pretentious, it’s expensive and it’s inconvenient….but all those things aside, coachella is definitely VEGAN-FRIENDLY. this year i hear they are even going to be carrying VEGAN CUPCAKES in the vip section made by luscious organic desserts. so be sure to score a wristband if you haven’t already…you need to grab a vegan cupcake before morrissey and paul mccartney eat them all.

i went to coachella last year and took myself on a vegan tour of the festival…here is some of the stuff you can look forward to if you are headed to the desert next week.

sweet leaf organics at coachella

sweet leaf organics is a solar powered kitchen that shows up at music festivals and serves organic vegan food. kick ass. they were at coachella last year near the main stage, and if their website schedule is accurate, they will make an appearance this year as well. i didn’t spot this place until sunday last year, and i was pretty disappointed…my husband and i only got to enjoy one meal at sweet leaf, and it was easily the best food at the festival.

marinated tofu wrap with vegetables and peanut sauce. $9

the menu at sweet leaf is simple, but very appetizing. they have grilled tofu or tempeh wraps and burgers, as well as salads, stir-fry dishes and fresh smoothies. we ordered the marinated tofu wrap and tempeh burger, and were very happy with both.

marinated tempeh burger. $9

they also had vegan items in the vip section, although nothing as awesome as sweet leaf. we found a sushi stand that had vegan vegetable rolls and inari. while it was a total ripoff at 12 bucks, at least it tasted good and didn’t contain animals.

vegan sushi with a side of inari. $12

for a map of sweet leaf and the vegan sushi place, click here. and for a full review of those places, click here.

combination plate: coconut rice with dal and tomato pea curry

if you are more of a dance tent kinda person, don’t worry. there will be vegan food for you too. last year there was an entirely vegan place called bombay station near the gobi serving up a ridiculously good curry combination. anywhere serves 100% vegan food is a winner in my book, so i definitely hope this place returns. oh, and if you like to waste money, there is also a place that sells artichokes for $7.

ridiculously expensive artichoke. $7

for a map to the bombay station and artichoke place, click here. for a full review of these stands, click here.

vegan tofu naanwich. $7

if you want more indian-style food and get sick of the bombay station, there was also another place close by selling a tasty tofu naanwich. i don’t remember the name of this stand, but it had the words “vegan-friendly” posted on signs all over it. for a map to this place click here, for full review click here.

so i think it’s pretty safe to say that vegans won’t go hungry at coachella. you will probably go broke…but definitely not hungry. last year i was there with my husband for 3 days, and between the two of us we didn’t even get to try all the vegan food.

i will keep you posted on this year’s offerings as well. if you are going to attend the festival, follow me on twitter. i will tweet every time i run across vegan food. that is if i can tear myself away from the VEGAN CUPCAKES.

If you’re lucky enough to be a vegan living in Southern California — particularly Los Angeles – your favorite cuisine will, of course, be vegan Thai. From the Westside to the Southland to the Inland Empire there are over 9,500 vegan Thai restaurants, each with a totally diverse menu (except, of course, for everybody’s favorite “Cowboy Burger” and “Garlic Pepper Seitan”, which are faithfully included on every restaurant’s menu). The unique combination of fine dining, surprising menu options and incredibly attentive servers is offset to the negative by long waits (reservations at the Beverly Hills “Taste of Vegan” restaurant usually need to be made days in advance), and the famous “Vegan Tasty” in Alhambra usually has a 4-5 hour wait for a table.

vegan tasty in alhambra

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vegans, rejoice! there is a new cruelty-free product on the block from none other than chicago soy dairy. if you aren’t familiar with them, they are the same folks who created teese, which tied for 1st place in our best vegan cheese for pizza showdown and also covers our favorite pizzas in los angeles. as if making great vegan cheese wasn’t enough, chicago soy dairy has recently rolled out their most convincing product yet…a line of treats called dandies vegan marshmallows. lemme tell ya, the word dandy doesn’t even begin to describe how tasty these sweet, moist, little, gelatin-free puffs are…they are nothing short of exceptional.

vegan rice krispies treats made with dandies from chicago soy dairy!

i tested the dandies out in the standard rice krispies treat recipe from the kelloggs website, and the batch came out absolutely perfect. i haven’t had real rice krispies treats (or marshmallows for that matter!) in AT LEAST ten years, and still these little squares propelled me back in time to a place when eating cereal coated with gelatin was the uninformed yet delicious norm.

dandies vegan marshmallows: $5.29/10 oz bag

i kept the recipe exactly the same as on the kelloggs website, but i substituted dandies for real marshmallows and used earth balance sticks in the place of margarine. i tasted a few of the dandies raw before making the rice krispies treats, and i can assure you that chicago soy dairy has nailed the exact marshmallow flavor AND texture. i ordered my dandies the moment they were available from veganessentials.com, and they were very quickly sold out. they are still currently out of stock, but for more updates you can always follow chicago soy dairy on twitter.

dandies vegan marshmallows melting away!

i prepared the rice krispies treats exactly according to the original recipe…melting the dandies with margarine and mixing them up in a pan with the cereal. the dandies had a thick and gummy texture that was so close to real marshmallows, i could barely believe it! they melted down immediately and became a thick sticky stew that coated the spatula and kelloggs alike.

when i let the cereal/dandies/earth balance mixture cool, it turned into a perfect slab of rice krispies treat that was easy to cut and tasted great. i am so used to eating the vegan brown rice marshmallow treats from trader joe’s, which suck ass compared to the dandies version. i even took a bite of each one side by side, and the dandies treats were so incredible, i don’t think i will ever buy the trader joe’s ones again. the vegan marshmallows were soft, creamy, and chewy…the rice krispies treat was in every way identical to its non-vegetarian counterpart.

just for fun, i also tried roasting a dandie over the fire. it turned out perfectly. crispy edges and gooey insides, just like the real thing. if i were a camping person, i would definitely be loaded up with tons of dandies for campfire smores.

melted dandies vegan marshmallow on top of some dark chocolate. yum.

lastly, i threw the dandies in some hot chocolate to see how they did. they got soft and mushy, again, just like real marshmallows. it was so awesome being able to just drink a mug of cocoa with puffy white marshmallows…a simple pleasure that’s been off limits to me for over a decade.

hot chocolate piled high with vegan dandies marshmallows

so overall, dandies vegan marshmallows are a pretty impressive break through product. the marshmallow taste and texture are hard things to get right, and chicago soy dairy has got them both nailed. a+! i will be adding these to my list of staples to order from vegan essentials.

for more info check dandies out on the web, on myspace, and on twitter.

hey there LA vegan cupcake lovers (i know there is a grip of you out there), i have some really good news. remember when i lamented the closing of leda’s bakeshop in sherman oaks? well, as of recently, the original vegan baker at leda’s, kim garr has started selling her recipes to the public via her online bakeshop, c’est la v!

i know that a lot of vegan hearts (including mine) sank when they learned about the shutting of leda’s. kim garr read my melancholy post and emailed me to tell me that even though she no longer worked at leda’s, she had been improving her vegan recipes with plans to launch her own online bakery. i was so stoked to hear this, and now it looks like she is finally up and running. i haven’t personally tried any of c’est la v’s baked goods…but i thought i should let y’all know what they have to offer. here are just a few of the goodies. check out the full menu here.

c'est la v vegan cupcakes: moist, delicate cakes topped with fluffy, creamy frosting. (chocolate cake with vanilla frosting pictured) $3.25 each

vegan chocolate chip cookies: 12 minis/ $4.75

vegan rugelach: raspberry, strawberry or apricot. 6 pieces/ $5.25

c’est la v offers loads more vegan goodies than the ones pictured above. check them out and place an order if you want to relive the good old days of leda’s bakeshop and try some new/improved stuff as well. they also have lots of mouth-watering things that aren’t even listed on the menu like chocolate peanut butter fudge and plum kuchen cake.

so there you have it. while i haven’t actually tried c’est la v’s baked goods myself, i know they come from the mastermind behind my all-time favorite vegan cupcakes. i guess when one door closes, a new one opens…it was tough saying goodbye to leda’s, but c’est la v! so los angeles vegans, embrace the new vegan baking line from our talented local kim garr.

c’est la v
Kim Garr
Owner / Baker
818.326.4443
kimgarr1@gmail.com
www.cestlavbakeshop.com

also check out kim’s kick ass vegan blog:
www.cestlavegan.com

i had to throw this into the mix. i know the content isn’t 100% vegan, but anybody who consumes a plant-based diet in los angeles should be familiar with trader joe’s. what is trader joe’s, you may ask? this video sums it up perfectly…

hey kids, we are heading across the pond to blighty for the next couple weeks. we have tons of awesome vegan los angeles posts stored up, so keep checking quarrygirl.com like you normally do. we shall be rolling them out on a regular basis.

if you wanna stalk us and see what we are up to in the UK, follow me on twitter!

alright, that’s it. off to devour massive amounts of curry.

it’s no secret that we don’t really celebrate xmas. to me it’s just an annoying holiday when the bars and vegan restaurants are closed. however, that doesn’t stop me from taking the day off work and filling up on holiday-themed food. it also doesn’t stop my awesome parents from buying us tons of gifts. 🙂

this year on xmas day, my husband and i attended a slap-up vegan holiday party, meaning we couldn’t have dinner with my parents until the next day. we decided to invite them around to our place on boxing day for an informal vegan celebration. we provided the main course and desserts, they brought us some side dishes and some unexpected gifts. it was awesome.

one dozen vegan twinkies from no whey vegan baking. 6 regular flavored, 6 red velvet with cream cheese frosting.

we went a little over board with dessert, and ordered 12 twinkies from no whey vegan baking. needless to say, there were tons left over and we sent my parents home with a whole container full. everyone loved them, especially my dad who has been dying to try a vegan twinkie for like 6 months. while the normal yellow cake with white frosting filling variety was well received, my new favorite is definitely the red velvet twinkie. the cake is moist and insanely decadent, and the filling isn’t frosting, but instead vegan cream cheese. absolutely delicious.

red velvet cake with a cream cheese filling

for a main dish, we cooked up a standard tofurky. although i prefer the celebration roast, which we made on thanksgiving, the tofurky was only $7.99 at the santa monica co-op. you can’t beat that price.

tofurky!

my parents brought with them some wonderful sides including the quarrygirl recipe for potato salad, and a broccoli salad that my mom veganized. you can see the original broccoli salad recipe here.

vegan broccoli salad with raisins, vegenaise, "bacon" bits and onion.

in addition to food, my parents also brought with them some surprise presents. thanks mom and dad! knowing what fans we are of veganomicon, they brought us isa chandra moskowitz’s other two wildly successful cookbooks: vegan with a vengeance and vegan cupcakes take over the world. yay!

vegan cookbooks! w00t!

they also brought us some shirts in honor of the quarrygirl.com mascot, tofu robot. check out the cool t’s they found online at spicy brown.

tofu robot clothing from spicy brown.

so overall, it was a great feast with some extraordinary vegan twinkies and some vegan gift surprises. a fine, fine holiday indeed.

tonight is last night was the 2 year anniversary of the vegan happy hour and potluck at the short stop in echo park!

come check it out, it was awesome to drink some beer and eat some fine vegan foods. 5 to 9pm.

hope to do it again some time! maybe next week!

the short stop
1455 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(213) 482-4942

On Friday, actress Hayden Panettiere dined in Pure Luck…. this awful amateur paparazzi video shows her very clearly getting some food! Funny thing is, the poster of the video didn’t know the name of the restaurant, and called it “Friar Tuck”… Enjoy your celebfix below, with the Pure Luck action kicking in at 00:20s.

Link to the full story is here.

My three favorite things in the world are Music, Beer and Vegan Food – in pretty much that order. Now, if you take one of LA’s top music venues, the Fonda Theater, add in LA’s top ale house and a damn good vegan entreé, you have me SOLD. I will go there as often as I can, sometimes several times a week.

The Fonda Theater in Hollywood, as any music nut knows, hosts The Music Box, an eclectic live music venue for reasonably popular acts. Recent appearances include MGMT, Rancid, Tegan and Sara, The Arctic Monkeys and Conor Oberst…. I’ll be there in a couple of weeks to see the Kaiser Chiefs from my homeland.

Some bright spark had the idea of converting the awful Blue Palms Lounge, which I had frequented on occasion to consume over-priced martinis and bottled Heineken, into an absolute mecca for beer lovers in LA. Blue Palms has undoubtedly the best beer selection south of San Francisco, including several rapidly rotating taps and a single cask ale pump. In addition, you’ll find knowledgeable staff and even a video/audio feed from the stage so you can continue to enjoy your favorite act while you pop into the bar for a quick one.

On the food front, they have only one vegan selection, but it stands head and shoulders above what you’d typically get in a brewhouse: Blackened Tofu. This dish is perfectly prepared firm tofu, blackened in a pan and served with steamed spinach and a selection of delicious grilled vegetables. It’s absolutely vegan, as the chef knows what vegan means, and even prepares it separately from non-vegan dishes. That’s really cool, if you ask me.

But, for me, the best part is the beer selection — especially the cask ale which reminds me so much of rainy England.

Here’s a sneaky pic I took recently when the bar staff (and owner/leaseholder) were huffing and puffing to change a cask. You can clearly see the zillions of beer taps, along with the cask beer engine in the middle:

I think, on that visit, I was drinking a Porter from Craftsman, perfectly pulled into an English-style glass. Oh boy, it was quite a night. In fact, I absolutely refuse to drive when visiting Blue Palms, except on the odd occasion that I find myself wandering on Hollywood Blvd. after some event where I’ve drank a bottle or two of way-too-cold-American-Beer and absolutely, without a doubt need to wash my mouth out with something like this:

Alternatively, if you’re not completely sold on the whole cask ale thing (and it’s not for everybody, I can admit), the other two dozen or so beers on tap will, without a doubt, whet your whistle.

For those rare beer lovers who are also vegans, the blackened tofu is really a treat. Here’s a close-up so you can get excited about it:

So, if you’re looking for good music, great beer and above-average vegan food (for a bar, goddamit!), please visit the Blue Palms. You will get a warm welcome, a cold beer and a very soothing environment to imbibe. Highly recommended!

as a vegan, i am always looking for the perfect snack. it’s easy to find ubiquitous junk food items that don’t contain animal products (i’m talking to you, oreos!), but are full of scary ingredients that are hazardous to my health. for so long, i have been looking for an indulgence item that makes me feel like i am living it up, but not eating something that is gonna kill me. enter nutty steph’s. nutty steph’s is a vermont-based company making healthy, organic granola that tastes so decadent, it can compete with any household junk food.

nutty steph's vermont granola, nutty steph's trail mix, and cookies made with nutty steph's ingredients

steph started selling her granola in 2003, when she was only 23 years old, and had no knowledge of commercial food production. what she lacked in age, however, she made up for in creativity and over the past five years her granola has gained tons of respect from buyers and chefs alike. and even more importantly, i love it! her granola is so packed with flavor, i almost don’t want to sprinkle it on top of anything. i’ve never tasted a “healthy” snack that is so perfect straight out of the bag. sweet, slightly salty, and above all, nutty, this granola is beyond delish.

nutty steph's vermont granola: organic oats, pure vermont maple syrup, sunflower oil, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, cinnamon, vanilla extract and sea salt.

and, nutty steph’s granola can be used in various recipes. steph even has a whole category dedicated on on her website to the various uses for the granola. since i am a vegan, i decided to put the granola to the ultimate test and use it a recipe from veganomicon, the ultimate vegan cookbook. i made a recipe i already knew to be delicious, the chocolate-chocolate chip-walnut cookies, and substituted nutty steph’s granola for the actual nuts. i also used nutty steph’s magic chunks for 1/3 of the chocolate chips called for in the recipe. i can tell you, these cookies have never tasted so delicious. the delicate blend of sweet sugary oats and pure nut flavoring added more to the cookies than i could have imagined. these were so much better than the cookies with walnuts.

veganomicon's chocolate-chocolate chip-walnut cookies using nutty steph's vermont granola and magic chunks

the crunchy granola and magic chunks were the perfect compliment to the soft dough and chocolate chips. unlike when baking the cookie with actual walnuts, the oats mixed in throughout the dough making for a much more substantial and satisfying cookie. plus, there were plenty of nuts in the granola, so i still got the intended nutty taste. the granola was absolutely great to bake with, and i am sure it would make a fine substitute in many of my favorite dessert and snack recipes.

lastly, nutty steph also offers her own brand of trail mix which is out of this world. the minute you try this, it will be hard not to eat the whole bag in one sitting, because it is so damn addictive. the already irresistible granola gets thrown in with fresh batch of raisins, huge and whole crunchy nuts, and large chunks of dark chocolate to make something i can’t resist.

nutty steph's granola trail mix: vermont granola, peanuts, raisins and chocolate chips

this is by far my favorite product of nutty steph’s. i’m sure it would be great sprinkled onto some soy ice cream, or mixed in with some cereal, but i just enjoyed the entire bag plain, on its own. the chocolate discs really bring out the nutty-ness in crispy granola, and the raisins provide a softness to all the crunch. steph really has found the perfect way to combine natural ingredients and make them taste ridiculously good.

this trail mix is so freakin' delicious

nutty steph’s is a vegan junk food/health food dream come true. an unashamedly delicious snack containing ingredients that i can pronounce. all real food, no chemicals or fake shit is contained in nutty steph’s. let’s support this cool chick from vermont who makes the perfect vegan snack, and stick it to the big corporations!