hey everyone! time for another field report from rachel of power cut jewelry (check out her etsy site for awesome vegan and beatles-related items!). today she blogs about LA’s newest all vegan bakery, no udder desserts in woodland hills. check it out.

“The San Fernando Valley…it’s not the hippest place in the world, but it’ll do. It’s so unhip that it’s probably hip.” -Tom Petty

I suffered through the LVUSD school system and I’ve been engulfed by a bubble called “the valley” my whole life. Besides Tom Petty songs that make me happy to be a valley citizen, I have a strong dislike of the place. It’s too hot, the people are conceited, rude and terrible drivers lurk everywhere. One of my favorite restaurants, Madeleine Bistro, is hardly open and most recently the only somewhat decent vegan Thai place began serving meat. Although I complain, the most important thing about the valley is that my dog loves it here.

About two months ago, I randomly read about No Udder Desserts opening a storefront in Woodland Hills. Started by Trisha Lobefaro a few years ago, No Udder Desserts has been sold at various places in the L.A. area and can now be found at a quaint little bakery smack dab in the valley.

The umbrella is hiding the word "vegan", but it IS there!

The shop is nestled in a little outdoor mall near a Target and Payless Shoes, it might be hard to find if you’re unfamiliar with the area, but luckily a sign reading “Vegan Bakery” adorns the main window. Inside is very small, with two tables and one outside the doors; although I didn’t eat inside, I can imagine sitting there with friends over some coffee and sweets would be quite nice.

I first went here about a month ago and was pleased to see that many of the cake offerings were petit fours. They’re the perfect size for when you want to indulge, yet not overdo it. I left No Udder Desserts with a pecan bar which was delicious. I immediately told Quarrygirl that I wanted to do a field report on this place!

I finally made it back to No Udder Desserts earlier this week, and got myself more than just one thing to try. Various bite-sized cakes that caught my eye were carrot, coconut, and chocolate. I also tried a lemon bar, pumpkin “cheezecake”, whoopie pie, chocolate chip cookie and I couldn’t leave without another pecan bar.

Carrot cake, chocolate cake, lemon bar, coconut cake, and a pecan bar in the middle

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oh, green leaves, you never cease to boggle our minds! for those of you readers not familiar with the history of the dishonest establishment, i’ll make a long story short. green leaves is a “vegan” thai restaurant in los feliz. for ages, they blatantly lied to people about using vegan cheese (suspicions date back to 2008, see the review by happycow user brittany). when we proved that they were deceiving customers by passing off real dairy as vegan, they threatened to sue us. since then, they’ve been under scrutiny by the los angeles health department for displaying an ostensibly bogus “truth-in-menu” certification.

cut to a few months ago. green leaves opened a new vegetarian restaurant on melrose and vine called green loves. basically a new outlet with the same menu and decor as the original restaurant. i guess that didn’t really work out for them—they reinvented themselves a pescatarian restaurant called sea minor…a pescatarian restaurant that serves real chicken, and specializes in vegan and vegetarian food. huh? i mean, have you ever seen such a confusing restaurant description?

photo credit: queerveganrunner

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although starbucks outlets in the UK have catered to vegans for years (the falafel panini doesn’t suck!), the stores in the united states have always been lacking in animal-free food options…until now.

according to the starbucks website, they currently offer a “sesame noodles bento box”. while the meal doesn’t explicitly say “vegan” on it, the ingredients are posted and they all check out. have a look…

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sad news, folks! ralphs grocery stores in los angeles are currently in the process of clearing their shelves of many of our favorite vegan products…for good!

bye bye

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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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here in los angeles, we have no shortage of impressive vegan cookies—and i’m on a mission to try them all! my latest discovery is michy’s, an entirely vegan mail order bakery based in west LA with an arsenal of cookie flavors that is guaranteed to blow your mind. the tag line of michy’s cookies is “gourmet. vegan. delicious.”—and i’m happy to report that the description is very apt.

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what, what?! all these san diego events are making me wish i lived further south. the folks at LOVELIKEBEER are hosting another vegan craft beer pairing this month on july 26th at blind lady ale house, and you don’t wanna miss it.

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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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about six years ago i tried inaka for the first time and fell in love with it’s healthy and flavorful food. their menu is macrobiotic and offers some fish dishes but is dairy free. i’ve tried several dishes at inaka and although i enjoyed everything i’ve tried the “inaka bowl” is absolutely my favorite.

inaka bowl: brown rice, today's bean, greens, root vegetables, sea vegetables and more. $11

the vegetables and beans that cover brown rice are often different but always amazing. this round came with kidney beans, kale, cabbage, lotus root, broccoli, carrots, seaweed, some kind of yummy gravy stuff, and other vegetables that i have no idea what they were but tasted damn delicious.

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plant food for people, the all vegan fast food joint with plans to open in highland park, is doing another preview of their jackfruit tacos on saturday night and you all should go check it out! we went to the last one, and fell in love with their tacos and salsa.

here are the details…

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dudes, this is HUGE!!! the much coveted mozzarella teese mozzarella cheese sticks (we have been obsessing about them for ages) are now available at our favorite pub, tony’s darts away!

photo credit: mercy for animals

i was just there and i saw them on the “specials” menu…

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i am very much a hollywood creature, and it isn’t often that i venture to the west side. when i do make the trek to santa monica though, it usually isn’t for the cool breeze or sandy beach—instead, it’s almost always to either visit friends or nosh on vegan eats. last week’s visit was a combination of both, when chloe coscarelli invited me for lunch at the newly-opened true food kitchen.

the restaurant occupies an absolutely massive and elegant space in the recently refurbbed santa monica place, and i was pretty wowed with the atmosphere. there’s a gigantic seating area indoors with comfy booths and an open kitchen, as well as a large patio area outside to take advantage of the never-ending LA sunshine. the service is at true food is excellent, from the complimentary valet on 2nd street to the overly attentive waitstaff.

the menu is very “california” style—local and healthy for the most part, with a huge focus on “sustainable” meat (grrr!). if you can look past that, they have lots of great vegan items which are clearly marked on the menu. i absolutely love it when restaurants have a separate vegan symbol…it takes all the guess work out of ordering!

to start, we split an order of the shiitake tofu lettuce cups from the appetizer menu, and they were absolutely wonderful.

shiitake and tofu lettuce cups: ginger, cashew and toasted garlic. $9

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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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anyone who is familiar with the vegan scene in los angeles knows that in recent years there has been proliferation of vegetarian thai-inspired restaurants (all with the word “vegan in their name) serving up almost identical menus full of mock meats and salty asian dishes. i honestly can’t keep track of them all, and it seems like there’s one on every corner! vegan express, vegan world, vegan house, vegan plate, vegan glory, you get the idea…they all start to run together in my mind. vegan factory in tarzana (who we’ve featured on the blog before) went so far as to claim on their website, “Vegan Factory is not just another Thai-Vegan Restaurant…”

that sentence will be especially true as of july 8th, when vegan factory will begin serving real animal meat. i think they should probably re-write the rest of the paragraph, though…

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