when i tried the new tofurky frozen pizza at natural products expo west a few months ago, it was seriously love at first bite. covered in stretchy daiya cheese and plump pepperoni bits, it was the best frozen pizza i’d ever tasted.

imagine my excitement then, when i got a letter from tofurky advertising their new pizza line, along with a coupon to get one for free. the only problem is, i couldn’t find a store in LA selling the pizzas yet. i had no choice but to hop on a plane and head up to the cutting edge food fight grocery in portland, oregon.

Read the rest of this entry »

time for another vegan field report all the way from norfolk virginia. we’ll let our resident VA field reporter steve take it away…

I have traveled all over this country as a vegan, and I’ve never found a breakfast place quite as special as Yorgo’s. At first glance, it looks like your typical bagel shop; customers line up at the counter to place their order while cheap plates of hot food are slung out of the busy kitchen. There’s a small seating area, but most of the crowd is office workers grabbing their morning meal to-go. In an eatery like this, I’d honestly be happy just to have a tofu cream cheese option. Of course Yorgo’s has that, as well as a complete vegan menu with specialties ranging from “omelettes” and breakfast sandwiches to “cheeseburgers” and “philly cheesesteaks.”

Read the rest of this entry »

hey everyone, time for another field report from our qg correspondent across the pond! check out dadatamonkey’s review of pho cafe in london. enjoy!

Phở Cafe opened in Clerkenwell in June 2005, and was London’s first Vietnamese “street food” restaurant, and has since grown to three cafes around London. The number of places selling Phở has since rocketed in London, however very few are truly suitable for vegans. Phở Cafe is different. They fully understand. I visited the Titchfield St branch, slap bang in the middle of ad agency land dahling.

Not surprisingly, given the name, they specialise in serving Phở (plus Goi & Bun), and very little else. Despite the short menu there is enough selection to keep you coming back for more, time after time. Well, actually I eat the same things every time after working through the entire menu over time!

Read the rest of this entry »

we’ve already written about how pizza guru in santa barbara serves up the best pizza (vegan or otherwise) that we’ve ever eaten. and after a recent return visit, i can say that’s still the case!

on top of having amazing food, pizza guru has a relaxing coffee shop/bar-type atmosphere and is the perfect place to hold fort for a few hours. a couple weekends ago, we did just that. we arrived at around 5pm, and the place was empty. we secured a huge, comfy corner table and ordered a pitcher of firestone dba to start with. (that’s right, this place is so rad, it serves good beer by the pitcher!)

after what amounted to a pretty good drinking sesh on its own, we decided go share an appetizer. pizza guru was offering a hummus and bread plate on special, and when i inquired, they assured me it could easily be made vegan.

Read the rest of this entry »

it’s hard enough finding vegan mexican food at all, let alone stuff that actually tastes good—i’m happy just to get a burrito that’s free of chicken stock and lard in the first place!

so imagine how shocked i was when i ate at pokez in san diego. they serve up authentic mex that is downright delicious and even have the vegan options clearly indicated on the menu.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, well, well… time for another field report from my home town. An excellent vegan-friendly chain restaurant, chipotle, debuted in London this week, and of course we had an operative there on opening day to cover it. One thing I’ve been accustomed to in years of SoCal Mexican food is that there are high standards here. If I put my Brit hat on for a second, I can understand why dadatamonkey would feel as he does. I would. It’s worse than that… he’s dead, Jim…

It’s a burrito Jim, but not as we know it.

Well I popped along to the opening day of the new Chipotle “mexican” restaurant in London on Monday, after hearing, and reading (especially here) how good their food was. So was it good, bad, or just damn ugly? Read on. It’s kinda all three….

Lookin' good.

Read the rest of this entry »

hey everyone, time for another vegan field report from norfolk, virginia! this one (just like the last one) was written by steve….so i’ll let him take it away:

Okay, you REALLY have to bear with me on this one. In Norfolk, VA one of the most interesting vegan restaurants is actually a place called “San Antonio Sam’s“. It’s a no-apologies Texas Grill, with pictures of cowboys on horses rounding up cattle on its website, as well as all sorts of awfully un-vegan food offerings on its menu.

Read the rest of this entry »

as far as i’m concerned, the people’s organic food co-op in ocean beach is a MUST VISIT anytime you find yourself in san diego.

the small, clean, vegetarian grocery store has been in business since the 70s, and is now housed in a eco-friendly building made from recycled steel and engineered lumber. on the bottom floor, there’s a completely meat-free market filled with everything you’d need to get you through the week. on the top floor, there’s a modest cafe that serves up a killer vegan breakfast every morning.

Read the rest of this entry »

it’s time for another vegan field report! this one, written by a brand new quarrygirl operative named steve, comes to us all the way from norfolk, virginia. here goes:

“I was looking for a job, and then I found a job, and heaven knows I’m miserable now.” – Steven Patrick Morrissey

It’s commonly known that every silver lining has a cloud. My silver lining was getting a job, but the cloud was having to spend some time in Norfolk, Virginia: A city of near unGoogleable veganocity. I mean, there’s not one vegan, or even vegetarian restaurant in the entire place.

So, on my first evening I wandered the streets late at night, happy in the haze of a drunken hour, heaven knows I was miserable now…. Until, that is, I hit upon the Taphouse Grill, a nondescript tavern hidden in a side street off the main drag. I intended to grab another beer so I could forget about my hunger and hopefully pass out when I got back to my hotel.

I walked in to a neighborhood pub: full of portly regulars downing beers (a good selection: the beer menu ran to several pages). There was a band playing by the window: Bob Marley covers seemed to be the order of the day. I sat at a table up against the wall, ordered a nice IPA and began to wish there was a ZPizza within delivery distance of where I was staying.

Read the rest of this entry »

Stone Brewing is one of Southern California’s largest breweries, perhaps best known for its “Arrogant Bastard” brand, a beer which they say was named after me. If you’ve only ever had the Bastard, there are another 14 beers, each of which is expertly crafted and brewed. Oh, and the entire brewing process is 100% vegan so you can drink yourself silly with Stone products worry-free.

I’ve long been a fan of Stone IPA, one of the best American style hopped IPAs available, even though it can be a little on the strong side. This means that after your fifth glass you may not be able to stand up, a fact which I gladly verified recently. Gulp. On our recent trip to San Diego, we decided to detour slightly through Escondido so we could visit the brewery and dine in the restaurant, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, which we’d heard had a few vegan options.

Read the rest of this entry »

The UK is littered with Chinese restaurants called “Peking Palace”. There were two in the small town I grew up in, and one a few feet away from my house in London. Although they’re not related to each other as some kind of chain, the menus are almost all the same as are the red flock wallpaper and white tablecloth interiors. Back when I was a vegetarian, the only “safe” thing to eat at one of these types of restaurants was steamed white rice – even vegetable dishes and noodles were made with chicken stock.

On my last trip home, though, I was delighted to discover the best Peking Palace of them all, nestled on busy Holloway Road in north London. Proudly adorning a “100% Pure Vegetarian” banner on the outside, Peking Palace is actually entirely vegan, as it’s one of the Supreme Master locations in London.

Read the rest of this entry »

finally, after much ado, we have our very own report on the vegan garden blend burrito (bowl) at chipotle that’s made with gardein chicken. no, the burrito has not hit los angeles yet…but luckily our field operative is stationed in new york where it’s available and was able to send us a brief rundown, complete with mouthwatering pictures. as usual, words taken from the agent’s report are in quotes…

Read the rest of this entry »

this is just a short, sad post to commemorate what was once a very awesome pub. the george in brighton has been a beautiful, traditional, yet entirely vegetarian pub for years…and up until recently, they had loads of vegan options.

the george burger: a beanies veggie burger in a floured bap with mayo, salad and tomato, served with a salad garnish and chips. £6.25

burgers, nachos, pub food, ice cream…you name it, they had a vegan version of everything. we ate their george burger just a few months ago, and were extremely impressed. however, now the george is under crappy new management and they are rapidly deleting all the vegan options off the menu.

Read the rest of this entry »

long before cruzer, purgatory, or zpizza were serving up daiya cheese-covered pies, stephanie’s bakery in san diego was known for its vegan pizza. the small family-run business has been around for over a decade, and specializes in entirely vegan, organic cuisine with no processed sugar or hydrogenated oils.

when we hit up stephanie’s for lunch recently, the place was packed. the line (which thankfully moved quickly) was out the door, and almost all the seats were taken….however, we were lucky enough to grab the very last table inside.

Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATED 3/27/10: while soy & sake offers absolutely incredible vegan food, they do have a fish tank in their restaurant…and fishes do not belong in tanks. we’ve removed the fish tank photo because, well,  fish tanks suck. for the record, we do not endorse aquariums! xo

soy & sake is manhattan is one of the loveliest places i’ve ever had the pleasure of dining. the vegetarian cafe is located in west village and serves up japanese/pan-asian cuisine with an emphasis on fake meat and sushi.

the menu is extensive and almost entirely vegan with just a handful of clearly-indicated items containing dairy. when you visit though, i would skip through the pages of noodles and rice and head straight for the sushi…because it’s mind-blowlingly good, and like nothing available in los angeles.

Read the rest of this entry »