hi dudes! time for another quick bite from anderson. you may remember his drool-worthy escapades at the INSANELY-DELICIOUS-SOUNDING cheezy pizza in colton. that place is so close to LA, i don’t know why i haven’t been there yet! anyways, today he brings us a report from an all vegan restaurant in our neighbor state of arizona. sit back and enjoy this review of green in tempe. road trip, anyone?!

argentine po-boy: strips of seitan mock steak sauteed with caramelized peppers and onions, vegan mayo and a spicy chimichuri sauce. with sweet potato puffs! $8

it is totally a hipster hang out, but don’t let that discourage anyone from eating here. the service is quick and friendly, for the most part. and there is local art on the walls, some of which you can buy and all the proceeds go to charities like farm sanctuary.

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hey everyone! time for an OC field report from reader nicky tracy. in the following post, she explores a mostly vegan and gluten-free bakery called sensitive sweets in fountain valley. i can’t wait to check this place out!

Vegan dining options in Orange County aren’t exactly few and far between, but when you’re gluten-free and have an insatiable sweet tooth, that can be a whole ‘nother story entirely. Naturally when I got wind that an all gluten-free and vegan-friendly bakery had opened up in northern Orange County, I couldn’t wait to investigate. Sensitive Sweets, located off of Brookhurst and Slater Ave in Fountain Valley in a little strip mall next to Le V Cuisine and Golden Scorpion Tattoo, offers some of the best vegan gluten-free breads, cupcakes, cookies and muffins I’ve had yet, without charging an arm and a leg and without the nasty aftertaste typically left behind by garbanzo/fava bean-based baked goods.

Although not everything in the bakery is vegan (the lemon bars and fudge brownies both contain egg and the marshmallows they use contain gelatin), most of their sweets are vegan-friendly and those that aren’t are clearly marked otherwise.

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hey everyone, time for another quickbite from our resident pizza expert jon. you may remember him from the garage pizza review, or the post about john’s of 12th street. his brother is scott of scott’s pizza tours, so obviously a love of pizza runs in the family. anyways here’s his take on 900 degrees, a new pizzeria in manhattan’s west village…

900 Degrees in NYC is amazing. It’s just over a month old and they have a few options on the menu for vegetarians and vegans. Some pizzas are not on the menu, but are totally vegan and totally amazing.

Chef, Audrey Sherman, made me a pizza with a roasted garlic white bean spread, fried leeks, sicilian black olives, white asparagus and swiss chard sprinkled with olive oil.

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here in los angeles vegan cookies and cupcakes are super easy to come by, but vegan donuts are a bit more elusive. it’s a crime! donuts are the perfect junk food—they’re sugary, often fried, and covered in frosting—and vegans deserve the chance to indulge. this is why i’m super jealous of people who live in the bay area, pepples vegan donuts are everywhere! the main “donut farm,” as they call it, is based in oakland…but pepples treats can be found in oodles of locations from berkeley to santa cruz.

pepples vegan donuts!

on a recent trip to SF i hit up the pepples stall in the ferry building, and had a rough time deciding what to order. they had loads of flavors on hand including salted caramel, orange creamsicle, and matcha green tea to name a few…not to mention a whole tray of FRITTERS!! i’m a self-proclaimed chocoholic though, so when i saw that they had a chocolate covered “chocolate cookie flavor,” i knew i had to have it.

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in honor of fat gay vegan’s announcement about a soon-to-be entirely vegan multi-vendor marketplace in london, today we’ve decided to feature one of our favorite restaurants in the city: inspiral lounge.

we’ve been singing inspiral’s praises for ages, and have never had a bad experience there (other than the time i had a massive dessert craving and they were out of their amazing tiramisu!). the almost entirely vegan cafe (they have dairy milk on hand for coffee and tea) is just a short walk from the camden tube station and has a stunning view the canal and market. prices are low and the food is good—they’ve got ready to go meals, a deli counter, baked goods, and ice cream all for the taking.

we’ve blogged about their set meals before which come with an entree and a side (i highly recommend the tofu tarragon parcel!), but on our latest visit we went with the buffet style option. we each got a “regular bowl” for £5.95 and had it filled with to the brim with wholesome selections.

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we get a lot of field reports here on the blog from all over the place, and i think this one has to be my favorite of all. jon sent us this post from john’s of 12th street in nyc, an italian restaurant that’s been around for over a century and recently added a separate vegan menu. i’m kinda freaking out. i seriously can’t wait to get to manhattan and hit this place up ASAP!

Basically, John’s has been around for 103 years – very old school NYC Italian restaurant. About 1.5-2 years ago, they decided to make some changes and introduced an entirely separate vegan menu, which includes separate vegan cooking utensils (whaaaaat?!).

Vegan Garlic Bread

They didn’t half-ass anything, either. They brought in vegan authors to learn about veganism and the chefs tinkered with recipes until they were 100% perfect and worthy of being served.

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an old school diner that’s been around for almost a century, serves breakfast all day, and has loads of vegan options? sounds to good to be true! well believe me folks, it does exist…it’s called st. francis fountain, and it’s located in san francisco’s mission district.

we schlepped our bags to st francis straight from the airport when we visited SF a few weeks ago. our flight got in at around 9am, and we were ravenous. i was immediately taken aback by how crowded it was for a weekday morning! almost all the stools at the bar were taken, and the booths along the wall were full. we were lucky enough to get the last seat in the house, a small two top tucked away in the corner under a window. i loved the vibe of the place right away, decorated very 50s style with a friendly staff.

the menu was huge with lots of hearty vegan options. it’s completely different and much more vegan-friendly than the one posted on their website, so don’t even bother looking there. scrambles, pancakes, milkshakes—all available animal-free.

vegan thing: breakfast potatoes covered in vegan cheese, guacamole and salsa. $7.50

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we just got back from a long weekend in portland, and naturally we made an effort to eat as much awesome vegan food as possible. we only had 4 days, so i knew we couldn’t get to everything…but i think we did a pretty respectable job. shortly after we arrived in pdx, we ran into janessa from epicurious vegan, and she implored us to check out the city’s newest vegan-friendly sandwich shop: brass tacks.

photo credit: the brass tacks facebook page

located in northeast portland, brass tacks is owned by 3 lovely ladies who strive to create an environment where omnivores, vegans, and gluten-free folks all feel comfortable. although the restaurant does offer real meat, over half of the sandwich menu is vegan and all condiments, salads, and soups are completely animal-free. what makes brass tacks extremely special though, is that the vegan meats and sauces are all made in house from scratch—inventive stuff like agave smoked “ham”, cashew-based gouda, and white bean meatballs. there are four vegan sandwiches to choose from, as well as a “build your own” option where you can go crazy piling on the faux meats and vegetables.

salame: french roll, spicy sundried tomato "salami", tomato jam, aioli, yellow mustard, pepperoncinis, lettuce, tomato, red onion. served with chips! $7.99

my husband and i split the vegan “salame!”, a sandwich packed with spicy seitan, tomato jam, aioli, yellow mustard, pepperoncinis, lettuce, tomato and red onion. fantastic! everything about this sandwich was top notch—the french roll from local bakery fleur de lis was fresh and crunchy, the tomato jam was tangy and flavorful, and all the vegetables were cool and crisp. though the best component, by far, was the homemade salami.

seitan salami made from scratch

thinly sliced and perfectly seasoned, it was so reminiscent of real deli meat, and better than any store-bought brand.

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i love sandwiches. i’ve probably eaten thousands of them in my life…and this may very well be the best.

dinosaurs in san francisco is a somewhat new hole in the wall joint in the castro. the menu is small, and they’ve only got one vegan sandwich…but that one sanwich is guaranteed to blow your mind. let me introduce you to their ridiculously good tofu vietnamese offering…

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there’s a huge rivalry between the san francisco giants and philadelphia phillies, and i’m not referring to something as trivial as baseball. nope, i’m talking about which home stadium has the best vegan beer and food options. cititzens bank park in philly topped peta’s most vegetarian-friendly stadium list for years, only to be beat in 2011 by san francisco’s AT&T park. kevin of vegan brew brought us a vegan major league baseball report from philly in may, and he went to a giants game a couple nights ago just to do a firsthand comparison. let’s see how san fran measured up…

garlic fries. $7.25 and beer. $9.75

Here are the vegan options at Giants Stadium…

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i have never had vegan ethiopian food that i didn’t like. while in dc we saw a lot of ethiopian restaurants but instead of just popping into any random spot i relied, once again, on my buddy @kmudrick. he recommended Meskerem and we quickly headed on over.

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UPDATE 8/31/11: just confirmed that the dough at pizza port IS vegan. here’s the official word from the restaurant: All of our dough is vegan as well as our traditional tomato sauce (not the pesto or ranch). 

oh man, sometimes i forget how good GOOD cheeseless pizza is. sometimes i’m all caught up in the technology of stretchy melty-liciousness, that i forget to savor the flavor of exceptional sauce and perfect crust. pizza port in solana beach provided me with a much needed wake up call.

pizza and beer: 2 of our favorite things.

not only does the small family-friendly pub brew their own beer, but they also make their own pizza. and they’re damn good at it. first let’s discuss the pizza, because i know the majority of you are just interested in food. it was off the chain. after verifying that the normal crust (sorry, i’m not sure about the wholegrain!) and sauce were both vegan, we ordered directly off the menu—the “garlic veggie pizza”, sans cheese.

small garlic veggie pizza (no cheese): spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and garlic. $8.25

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Indian-inspired curries are the national dish of my home country, England. We Brits eat an astonishing 3.5 Indian dishes per person EVERY WEEK, we have over 10,000 Indian restaurants (as opposed to “only” 1,400 McDonald’s outlets) and Tikka Masala is the number one consumed dish by a very wide margin in the UK. Indeed, Fish and Chips have long been relegated to and also-ran in the national culinary identity league.

As a vegan, I’ve yet to find an Indian restaurant that can’t cater to my preferences. Most can prepare vegan dishes if you ask that they not be cooked with butter ghee, and instead use oil or vegetable ghee and omit any yoghurt or cream. Also, there are many Indian restaurants (often Hindu owned or run) which have a strict lacto-ovo vegetarian policy having no meat anywhere on the premises.

One such restaurant in London is Indian Veg Bhelpoori House which has stood for over 30 years on picturesque Chapel Market in Islington, a few minutes walk from Angel tube station or a nice stroll from busy King’s Cross station. Chapel Market is a narrow cobbled street that has hosted a daily market since Victorian times. Despite much modernization and full immersion into the cultural smorgasbord of the area, Chapel Market oozes old time London – one could be in the 1940s or the 2000s. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell depending on your viewing angle.

Crammed into what looks like the ground floor space of three large Georgian houses, Indian Veg Bhelpoori House has loud green banners outside proclaiming things like “A vegetarian diet will save the world!” and “Come and try our £3.95 all-you-can-eat buffet!”. Yes, the restaurant is at the same time lovingly familiar yet absolutely quirky.

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holy wow, guys! i think we all need to book a trip to brooklyn just to eat at vinnie’s pizza. the brooklyn pizzeria has two locations and an ASTOUNDING SEPARATE VEGAN MENU with options like bbq beef pizza, both follow your heart and teese cheese, garlic knots, hot dogs, beef rolls, drumsticks, and custom desserts. i’m going crazy just thinking about it.

reader jp sent us this picture and blurb after trishells’ papacitos post…

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if i could only eat one meal out in philadelphia, you can bet your arse it would be a vegan philly cheesesteak. thankfully, JL goes vegan is the same and she’s written us a lovely field report on the coveted sandwich. i really wanna go to philly so bad someday, and when i do, this thing is on my bucket list.

I recently found myself on an Amtrak from New York to Philadelphia to attend a cooking intensive. The great thing about taking a three-day vegan culinary class is that you don’t worry about where to eat — you eat what you cook. I arrived Friday morning, the class was to begin at 2:30, so I had only one meal out. I met up with my friend who lived locally. She knew I wanted a vegan Philly cheesesteak sandwich for lunch and suggested Mi Lah.

This small, vegan restaurant is bright and bustling. As I read the menu I became quickly distracted by the specials of the day (from rice noodles to veggie burritos to mofongo veggie bacon and chorizo to corn masa cakes) and had to snap myself back to my mission: eat a vegan Philly cheesesteak!

But first, the salad…

Mango, avocado and mix green salad with spicy Caribbean lime dressing $6

This was the “small” salad. The portion was generous and the fruit and vegetables were extremely fresh.

Then it was show time.

Mi Lah Cheesesteak with sauteed mushrooms and peppers $8

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