Well, the unavailability of most good vegan food in LA is very sad. What’s sadder is how available it is in Seattle, where I lived for a long time as a lowly vegetarian before I saw the light. The wonderful “eclectic vegan grocery store”, Sidecar for Pig’s Peace, stocks stuff I wish I could get at Erewhon or Whole Foods down here in LA and I’d shop there every day if I lived in Seattle, even with the unbelievably snooty person behind the cash register (lady, don’t shit on your own doorstep and poke fun of out of town vegans and where they live…). Fortunately, right across the street is an entirely vegan pizza joint, the only one I’ve ever been to and one I would (again) shop at every day.

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quarrygirl.com has moved to seattle, at least for the next few posts. we recently took a trip there for mr. meaner’s birthday, and were so absolutely overwhelmed with all the vegan options, we thought the least we could do for us, them and you was to blog all about it. plus, it gave us a really good excuse to eat like 5 meals per day. bam.

first up, the legendary teapot vegetarian house. in the mid-90’s, before i ever met my husband, seattle was his home…and this was his favorite vegetarian restaurant. suffice to say, when he first showed me around the city in late 2005, this was virtually our first stop. our subsequent/most recent trip to seattle was no different. we arrived via virgin america, had a few pints in a lovely brew pub, and made a beeline for the teapot vegetarian house.

steamed dumplings: traditional northern chinese dim-sum made of fresh diced vegetables and spices hand wrapped in an envelope of flour. steamed and comes with a dipping sauce of vinegar and sesame oil. our pride and joy. $6.95

broccoli tofu: a perrenial favorite, fresh crunchy chunks of broccoli florets stir fried with slices of wheat gluten in dark, savory sauce. $13.95

fried wide noodles in dark sauce: we use wide rice noodles, fresh bean sprouts, scallions and add a delicious dark rich syrupy sauce to make this traditional Singapore “roadside” dish. $8.95

i must admit, despite my pleasant encounter with the teapot in ’05, this time i wasn’t expecting much. 2 and a half years later, i consider myself a much more seasoned vegan-restaurant-connoisseur, and my disdain for the los angeles vegan thai food boom has made me the ultimate skeptic toward any faux-meat asian cuisine. but, as usual when i take a vehement stand against something, i was completely proven wrong. this restaurant was fucking spectacular—inventing each dish as it went along, not borrowing from or copying any other asian vegan restaurants. this place left me genuinely impressed and wanting more.

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Usually, when somebody says they’ve hit “rock bottom” it’s not a good sign. when I hit Rock Bottom, though, Holy Mother of God it’s a GOOD sign!

Rock Bottom is a chain of 32 breweries from Seattle to San Diego to Boston that offer so much more than a glass of Bud Lite when it’s “that time” of the day. I’ve had the privilege of eating and drinking in outlets in Bellevue and Seattle, WA as well as Denver and Colorado Springs, CO and Long Beach and San Diego, CA.

I can honestly say that the consistency of the on-premise breweries are spot on. The only vegan food at Rock Bottom is french fries or a “ball park pretzel” – both of which have sufficient carbohydrates and/or salt/fat to soak up some of the amazing beer.

Only last weekend, I was fortunate enough to be in Long Beach where I visited the Rock Bottom and enjoyed several pints of Dry Hopped Red straight from the cask, pulled expertly from one of two beer engines, the other of which contained Vanilla Stout.

The ale had all the constituents necessary for a perfect palate. From the initial hoppy aroma through the sumptuous gulps of smooth malty goodness rounded off by a slap in the face of dry hops as an aftertaste I was completely hooked. This beer can be better than stuff back home in England (not always, but sometimes!), and I can highly recommend it.

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this weekend i wound up in my hometown, santa clarita, visiting my omnivore parents and treating them to dinner. scv is great but when eating there, it’s definitely a lot harder to find a safe restaurant than in los angeles…so out of desperation, we chose to dine at the (somewhat) vegan-friendly macaroni grill.

before heading to the restaurant, i did my research and found that peta and various vegan blogs had confirmed the veganocity of certain mac-grill menu items.

i decided to give them a try and i gotta say, pretty good. pretty, pretty, pretty, PRETTY GOOD!

spaghetti with garlic and olive oil, broccoli, mushrooms and diced tomatoes

the wonderful bread was vegan as well, and dipped in olive oil it made the perfect appetizer.

peasant bread to start with

we also enjoyed glass after glass of the house chianti, which was left on our table to refill as we wished using the “honor system”. oh, macaroni grill, don’t TEMPT me!

as a vegan, i was happy as could be in this huge chain restaurant surrounded by meat-eaters…not something i can say very often. everyone had a great time, and our whole table ordered vegan as well!
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as you may or may not know, i’m a huge fan of native foods. it’s a westwood vegan establishment with several original options whose ingredients i completely trust. imagine how delighted i was on my coachella vacation last weekend when i looked up the nearest vegan restaurant to my hotel in palm springs and found a native foods just 2 MILES AWAY!
…bliss!

latino lover pizza: mexican marinara, soy taco meat, salsa fresca, corn, avocado, cilantro, and vegan sour cream. he cha-cha! $13.95

yes, luckily my parents happened to be in town, and i definitely owed them lunch for saving my ass. so what better place to treat them to a meal at, than the quarrygirl.com approved native foods?

now, while i LOVE native foods, my only problem with this restaurant is the ubiquitous unadvertised bell peppers which DRIVE ME MAD and are sprinkled all over most dishes. no matter what i do, i can’t seem to remember to ask for my meals without them. i digress. back to the wonderful food!

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the final day of coachella 2008, sunday april 27, featured the best vegan festival food to date. yet it was a bitter-sweet victory over the past couple days, because the selection of food (and alcohol) was just TOO GOOD.

so good, in fact, that your humble narrator spent most of the day relaxing in the shade, munching on snacks, smoking cigarettes and sipping cocktails…rather standing in the heat, fighting off hipsters, coughing up secondhand weed and waiting for the “next big thing(s)” to take the stage.

vegetarian sushi with a side of inari: $12.

marinated tofu wrap with vegetables and peanut sauce: $9.

marinated tempeh burger with vegetable and tahini: $9.

that’s right, my friends…i was so seduced by the fresh sushi, crisp wrap, and savory burger, that i barely had time to enjoy any music at all. oh…and did i mention the alcohol?
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coachella saturday was the day of technical difficulties. the screens went out during death cab for cutie‘s set, when M.I.A. took the stage the lights broke, and the biggest technical difficulty of all made us several hours late for the festival, causing us to miss the beloved MGMT.

luckily, the food was even better than it was on friday! god bless vegan rockers—at coachella, i reap the benefits of their dietary choices.

combination plate: coconut rice with dal and tomato pea curry $8

taking veganism one step further than the night prior, on saturday we decided to eat dinner at the bombay station, a stand that proclaimed to be ENTIRELY vegan.
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friday morning we packed up our bags and headed to the desert for 3 days of festival madness. i must admit, i was looking forward to the music, but not much else. i figured the entire event would be a huge pain in the ass that i’d ultimately regret.

luckily, the food at coachella turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. it was definitely a highlight and one of the main things making me look forward to coachella 2009 (bear in mind, i have no idea who is on the line up yet, so that isn’t saying much!).

vegan tofu naanwich: curry sauce, vegetables and tofu served on a piece of naan. $7

friday night at around 9pm we were completely spent. we’d spent hours in the car, an eternity in the parking lot, and had walked miles around the polo field in hundred-degree-heat from band to band. when it came time to look for dinner options, i would have been satisfied with just a basket of fries or potato chips.
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every time i go to the uk, i try new and wonderful food that i wish i could take back home to los angeles. well guess what? turns out i can!

spicy dumpling noodles (the quarrygirl version): steamed vegetable gyoza, asian vegetables, udon noodles, and miso broth

on a recent trip to london, i felt so out of my element. i was wandering the streets looking for any one of the vegan restaurants i’d so carefully researched online…none of which i was finding. to make matters worse, i was with my ex-vegetarian (now vegan) english husband who was kindly patronizing me as i promised to show him all the “vegan friendly” restaurants i’d bragged about finding in his hometown that he’d failed to notice, because he must have been blind!

2 hours later…no vegan restaurants. he’s late for a meeting…and his stupid american-girl-of-a-wife, who doesn’t even know from which direction the traffic will be crossing, is aimlessly pulling him around the west end looking for a restaurant that understands the difference between vegan (vg) and vegetarian (vo). disaster.

15 minutes left before the lunch window slams shut and my husband has take off, we happen across a little shop called itsu on regent street, and he convinces me to give it a try. completely pwned, i agree, and follow him in and try to make the best of the situation.

and boy am i glad i did!

recipe after the jump…

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