it’s time to start planning the weekend, and i hope to see all you guys in highland park on saturday for the vegan cookout at figueroa produce! plant food for people will be serving our favorite jackfruit carnitas tacos, and the folks at figgy prod will be grilling up match meat burgers, chicken, and crab cakes–oh my!

here’s all the info on the event:

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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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with 7 locations and counting, a commitment to house-made ingredients, an impressive bottled craft beer selection, and a rotating menu of ridiculously appetizing specials, it’s no wonder that native foods is our favorite fast-casual vegan restaurant in southern california.

well now it looks like midwesterners can get into the fun, because native foods is expanding to chicago with THREE locations opening up over the next few months…and the first one is scheduled for august 8th! to celebrate this joyous event, native foods is offering up a FREE TRIP TO CHICAGO for you and a friend with FREE FOOD, A FREE HOTEL ROOM, BONUS SPENDING $$$, and LOLLAPALOOZA TICKETS! all you gotta do is…

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it’s almost time for another summer vegan patio session at verdugo bar! sunday august 7th, seabirds is trucking it up all the way from orange county with guest chef stephen hauptfuhr to serve up a full menu of cooked and raw goodness, paired with craft beers by the verdugo.

Beer Battered Avocado Taco - Topped w/shredded cabbage, red onion and creamy tequila-jalapeno sauce. $2

the menu is gonna be pretty epic. so far it will include jackfruit tacos, beer-battered avocado tacos, mac and “cheese” with roasted figs and mushrooms, alfredo zucchini pasta, greek hummus wrap with sweet potato fries, and a walnut fudge brownie with ice cream. proceeds will benefit benji the dog, so don’t miss it!!

facebook invite and full info after the jump…

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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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just a few updates for you folks regarding cruzer pizza in los feliz, LA’s only vegan pizzeria!

we’ve got their new whereabouts for this weekend, details on their frozen pizzas, and a reminder of what you already know…

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photo by little vegan planet

about a month ago we blogged about a moveable feast, a new underground gourmet vegan supper club in los angeles created by kim and alix. they’ve held two dinners so far (check out our review of the first one!), and both have been massive successes. they’ve just announced that august 13th is the date for the third dinner, and the theme is summer inspired spanish cuisine!

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UPDATED 7/22: the person who makes the top donation to benji the dog will receive FREE FOOD FROM THE FRANKENSTAND FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. seriously! to donate, hit up the frankenstand site and scroll to the bottom.

free all you can eat buffet from the frankenstand! do i have your attention? sounds like a dream come true, right? well first we need to deal with the sobering reality that there’s a poor little dog named benji who needs help. he’s a member of the frankenstand family, and he needs surgery ASAP! just look at that face:

the frankenstand is the only all vegan mobile food vendor in los angeles, and they’ve been serving up insanely tasty sausages and homemade toppings around town for years…even before the food truck explosion! they set up at various charity events and work long hours. i feel like it’s our duty to help out benji. and not just that, everyone who makes a donation to benji’s surgery fund will be invited to a FREE ALL YOU CAN EAT VEGAN BUFFET. it’s time to get generous. here’s the official word on benji’s condition…

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ever since pure luck shut down, i’ve been going through jackfruit withdrawals. their torta was by far one of the best meals in los angeles, and i’m so sad that i’ll never be able to eat it again. thankfully, though, i can still get my jackfruit carnitas fix from melisser elliot’s vegan girl’s guide to life. i definitely haven’t mastered the art of sandwich-making the way pure luck did, but i guarantee you this thing tasted amazing.

melisser’s recipe can be found online here, along with an instructional video. it’s super easy and comes out delicious: all you gotta do is throw some jackfruit, spices, onion and garlic in a crock pot…and 8 hours later you have awesomeness.

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, you’re probably aware of the hoopla about the new Echo Park pub and restaurant: Mohawk Bend. Just like Sunset Boulevard, the street upon which it sits, Mohawk Bend has gone through many twists and turns as it wound its way through the acquisition, planning, construction and then opening processes – something that the City of LA makes as arduous as possible for small businesses.  The good news is: Mohawk is now scheduled to open next week, and as far as we’re concerned it will be the best place to eat and drink in Los Angeles.

So, what IS Mohawk Bend, and why has it garnered such intense interest? For one, the back-story is intriguing. Owner Tony Yanow (yes, that Tony) took a century-old theater which has been derelict for almost 30 years, and transformed it into one of the most astounding eating and drinking spaces in all of LA, if not the West Coast. It’s got 72 taps of craft beer (including two cask systems), an incredible food menu of locally-sourced ingredients (yeah, 60% of the food menu, and almost all beers are vegan: how about that?), with several distinct dining/drinking areas each of which has subtly different vibes. As Tony put it: “We wanted to create not just a place in Echo Park, but THE place in Echo Park”. There’s not a soul who would argue that he didn’t do just exactly that.

We were lucky to be invited to the pre-opening press/blogger event and from the moment we walked into the front patio area we felt comfortable, welcome and at ease. That’s the way Tony wants it to be, and he’s magically captured the neighborhood pub feel of Tony’s Darts Away while scaling it up massively and successfully into a veritable theme park of craft beer and gourmet food.

From its inception, the menu at Mohawk was designed to be extremely vegan-friendly. It’s a collaboration between two chefs—one of whom is a vegan herself, so as you can imagine, we’re well looked after. They’ve taken care of every last detail, down to separate fryers, utensils, and cooking preparation areas. The restaurant has succeeded in creating classic pub fare that everyone loves, with a vegan twist that’s extremely impressive.

Chickpea Beer Nuts

Upon arrival, we immediately started munching on bar snacks—almonds, pistachios, and absolutely amazing chickpea “beer nuts”. Although Mohawk had several appetizing cocktails on offer, we stuck to beer. A couple of Bootleggers Old World Hefes and a sampling of the appetizer selections really hit the spot.

Bootleggers Old World Hefe with a plate of housebaked bread and dipping sauces.

The bread and dipping sauces were ridiculously good! I’m telling you, freshly baked bread really does make a huge difference.

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UPDATE 7/20: the first urban food crawl on 8/20 is officially sold out! wow! no worries though, it’s a weekly event and they are now selling tickets through october. i suggest you pick a date and act fast. this is a popular event!

well now, this is exciting! there’s a new vegan adventure in town, and it’s called urban food crawl. the group plans to give weekly meat-free eating tours around the city, and the first one is on august 20th in downtown LA.

this actually sounds really freaking cool. a great excuse to try new food, meet new people, and explore our city. they haven’t disclosed the menu for the first tour yet, but here’s what one of the organizers has to say about it…

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starting today and running through the rest of the summer our favorite LA sandwich shop, mendocino farms, is having a vegan sandwich showdown!

the vegan spicy soyrizo is battling it out with the vegan shawarma to see who will get a spot on the permanent mendo menu.

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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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being a vegan can be rough. don’t get me wrong, there are tons of meatless restaurants to choose from here in los angeles, and tons of specialty stores for animal-free groceries…it’s just that sometimes we don’t have time to cook, and we want a healthy meal without all the empty calories of highly evolved vegan junk food. enter fresh n’ lean.

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if you read this blog regularly, you probably know that we are huge fans of the madeleine bistro meal delivery service, the bistro box. the menu changes from week to week, it’s available for pick up or delivery on mondays, and it always features an insanely delicious and wide variety of gourmet items. i’m talking several servings of restaurant quality cuisine, to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own home. well next week’s box will probably be the best one yet, because in addition to a stellar line up of classic madeleine bistro dishes, it will feature a dessert from one of our favorite vegan bakeries, clara’s cakes! (BTW, if you wanna catch a ride on the bistro box train next week, try to book by noon on friday/TOMORROW. that will guarantee you a seat, but they’ll be selling tickets until noon on sunday, or until they sell out.)

vegan gobs! vegan whoopie pies!

if you aren’t familiar with clara’s cakes, it’s an incredible los angeles-based bakery headed up by a 14 year old girl named clara. she may be young, but she bakes like a freakin’ pro, and her treats are something to behold. next week’s box will include a sweet from madeleine bistro as well as a bonus boston creme gob (or whoopie pie, whatever you wanna call them!) by clara. i have had these things and i promise you they are beyond yum—huge soft spongy cookies cushioning a generous blob of frosting…it’s what vegan dreams are made of.

the bistro box itself is bringing its a-game next week as well. highlights include QG favorites like chicken fried seitan, lemon rosemary seitan, mac n cheese, a scramble sandwich, the legendary red beet tartare and MUCH more.

chicken fried seitan, mashed potatoes, pan gravy. all in next week's box.

FULL MENU/prices/delivery radius/ordering instructions after the jump…

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