UPDATED: brittany shared the recipe! check it out after the jump.

and now for today’s what you sick people come here for. vegan mac and cheese pancakes:

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I don’t know about you, but every time I get an inter-Department Delivery in an orange envelope it’s usually something like a boring circular from HR or a “policy update” from the legal department. Imagine, then, how delighted I was to be sent such an envelope from Hot Knives containing not some pointless corporate drivel but a sneak peek at one of the recipes from their very first cookbook, “Salad Daze”.

Now, Hot Knives (a.k.a. Evan and Alex) are known to us as the genius chefs behind both the Verdugo Bar Patio sessions of summer 2009, as well as the inaugural event at the pre-opening of our local pub, (and favorite bar in all of LA) the Surly Goat early last year. In fact these vegetarian, highly vegan-friendly chefs create such amazing dishes that we have been known to chase around after them like a couple of Grateful Dead fans from the 80s.

If we had one criticism, though, it’s that there are way too few opportunities to experience their dishes – they don’t cook at enough events! So, the best bit about getting the sneak recipe preview wasn’t so much the preview itself, but the news that Hot Knives are publishing a cook book of some of their best recipes, so we can make their original and inventive dishes in the comfort of our own home. Truth be told, on occasion they will post a recipe or two on their blog, but nothing beats having everything at your fingertips in a good cookbook.

The recipe they sent to us was called “Magic Shroom Dust”. The description alone blew us away (abbreviated here):

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hey everyone! time for another field report from VeganHeartDoc. this time she hit up loving hut in san francisco. check it out:

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I was staying at the Marriott Marquis, right next to the San Francisco Westfield shopping mall. Right there, in the middle of the food court was Loving Hut, in all its vegan glory.

I’m stunned, but very excited, to see something so clearly labeled as a vegan restaurant in the middle of a food court. Loving Hut is a chain of vegan fast-food restaurants under the supervision of the Supreme Master Ching Hai. Depending on the account that you read, Supreme Master Ching Hai is a loving spiritual leader, and others describe her as a cult leader and attention seeker.

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friends and readers, i’ve found a vegan paradise in altadena and it’s very aptly named oh happy days. the tiny hole in the wall establishment acts as both a vegetarian market and an entirely vegan cafe, and offers up incredible food at unbeatable prices, not to mention friendly service. it’s a bit of a hippie hang out and the fare is super healthy (no fake cheese here!), so it may not be everybody’s cuppa tea…all i know is, it’s now one of my favorite restaurants and i can’t wait to go back.

the "yummie yam"

i was first alerted to oh happy days on twitter of all places (if you have any vegan tips, @reply me!) when i saw a tweet that called it “the best vegan restaurant in LA” and mentioned that they had soul food for $6 per plate. we wasted no time and headed over on saturday for lunch and were absolutely blown away by the awesomeness. the super small market is easy to miss if you don’t know what you’re looking for—we almost walked right by it!

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sadly, we were otherwise engaged and missed the epic all you can eat vegan buffet at savyon today. however, ken from living eco was kind enough to send us loads of photos just to make us jealous. i thought i’d share them with you guys in tonight’s quick bite.

vegan minions, please make it priority to check out savyon ASAP. they’ve recently added a separate all vegan menu, and their food is apparently delicious. unfortunately, the turn out for today’s buffet wasn’t super impressive…so they may not do it again in the future. WHAT?! that’s fucked up! let’s show them that the vegan demand in LA is strong. we need more options, always. go to savyon and order off the vegan menu, pronto. alright, i will step down off my soapbox now and share ken’s great pictures from the buffet. here ya go:

VEGAN STUFFED PIZZA!

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Well, I’ve been living more or less permanently in Barcelona for 9 months now, and had stopped checking out Happy Cow etc, as new places get passed round by word of mouth quicker than they get published. But one thing I missed out on last summer was ice cream. In a hot climate, that’s not clever. Well, I corrected that recently after a Dia Sin Carne demo. I’d heard about how good Gelaaati was, but for some reason never got round to it. I am glad I did is all I can say (dumb ass Monkey I am for waiting so long).

Nice clean frontage, but no sign of vegan goodies just yet!

The shop is just off Pl Jaume, just minutes walk from Las Ramblas along from Ferran. The shop front is simple enough, and the inside follows the same idea. Ice cream and fruit sorbets, to eat in or go. And a good selection for vegans.

VEGANOS GELAATI!!

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say it ain’t so! according to their facebook page, sante la brea is calling it quits in april.

this is such awful news! we’ve been fans of sante’s healthy, delicious, and very vegan-friendly menu for ages and will surely miss them!

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just a quick bit of good news this morning: the dandies tweets (a vegan version of peeps) that we tried out at expo west are now available to the masses via vegan essentials!

i’m so glad these are on the market just in time for zombie jesus day. they come in both orange and lemon flavors, and i speak from experience when i say the orange ones are out of this world.

i used to love peeps when i was a kid, and these are even better. get on it.

LISTEN UP PEOPLE! have you ever eaten match? it is honestly the most realistic meat substitute known to man, and it’s very hard to find in los angeles. well as of recently, it’s available at our favorite store ever, figueroa produce. and to get y’all excited about it, figgy prod is holding a FREE match meats cookout tomorrow from 12-5pm!!!

good god, you need to attend this! not only is it amazing that a market would hold a FREE vegan bbq, but they will be using a meat substitute that is almost impossible to find…

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whoa LA vegan dudes, this is epic! in the past few days, savyon cafe on pico has not only added an entirely new and separate vegan menu…but they’ve decided to offer an ALL YOU CAN EAT VEGAN LUNCH this sunday from 11:30am-4:00pm for $8.99. do you already have plans? cancel that shit! you know you gotta go to this.

i haven’t eaten at savyon yet, but i’m dying to check this place out. they have some positive vegan yelp reviews, and the owner is all about making the menu super vegan-friendly. i mean, they are holding an exclusively vegan all you can eat special this weekend with over 20 items! i can’t even name a vegan restaurant in this town that’s willing to do that.

savyon is taking the healthy vegan route, and their entire menu is made from scratch with real, unprocessed ingredients. here’s a menu of what’s going to be at the all you can eat special this sunday:

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sooooooo….5 months ago we reported that nite moon cafe, one of our favorite hollywood vegetarian spots, was moving down the street to a new location. that’s right, from de longpre right behind the arclight all the way over to highland and de longpre. well apparently their new restaurant/yoga studio is up and running, and vegan scraps sent us a quick bite report to prove it. she sampled a plethora of vegan baked goods, all of which were apparently awesome. i can’t wait to get over to nite moon and try all this stuff, plus eat some food off their normal menu. check it out, folks:

After a delicious vegan lunch today in West Hollywood, I was left craving vegan goodies…Nite Moon Cafe came to mind! Let me start off by saying that this review is all about the vegan baked goods at Nite Moon. I had never been there, but I gave them a call and they told me they had tons of vegan baked goods, so my decision was made.

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it’s no secret that our favorite restaurant in los angeles is madeleine bistro. chef dave anderson continually creates what i consider to be the best cuisine known to man—from his signature gourmet tasting menus, to the deep fried comfort foods, to the epic and unbeatable sunday brunch. it’s all out of this world.

about ten months ago we blogged about the introduction of the bistro box, a service that brings a week’s worth of world famous vegan food to your door for a fixed price. i’m happy to report that almost a year later, the bistro box is still going strong and is even better than ever. we picked up a single (the smaller size) order on monday and have been absolutely thrilled with the quality and quantity of the selections. in fact, i’d highly recommend you get your order in for next week ASAP.

we didn’t meticulously plate and photograph everything as it should be served (like we did in our last post), but here’s a photo of the spread before we tore into it to give you an idea of the size:

one week's worth of single-serving bistro box: vegetable pot pie, biscuits, pene with tempeh bolognaise, italian-style veggies, pan-roasted caulifower, corn and leek tamales, black beans, spanish rice, grilled citrus seitan, celery root puree, black kale with garlic, grilled eggplant with caramelized onions and roasted garlic aioli, potato leek soup, bbq ranch chop salad, pickled vegetable salad, millet and quinoa pilaf, coleslaw, and chocolate mousse. $125

i can say without a doubt that the value of this box is incredible. the food is of the high quality you’d expect from a great restaurant like madeleine bistro, and it holds up in all kinds of re-heating situations. plus, the portions really are generous. even with two of us living in the QG household, i don’t know how we’ll possibly get through a single order in one week…

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wahooooo! a new mediterranean restaurant called amwaj has opened up in los feliz, and it has an entirely separate vegan menu. i’m not talking about your run of the mill, normal meatless options, either…amwaj is packing all kinds of surprises such as “beef” shawarma, meaty pastas, “chicken” sandwiches, and 5 different pizzas. hot damn!

i first heard about amwaj from @tikidoll on twitter (tweet me anytime if you have tips!), and when i peeped their vegan menu online, i knew i had to check it out. i hightailed it to amwaj with brittany, my eating partner in crime, and we feasted it up like we were on death row. while it was clear to us that amwaj is still working out a few kinks, i know i will be back and i encourage everyone to check out this new restaurant that bothered to create a separate vegan menu.

first up: brittany’s meal, because it really stole the show…

vegan beef stoganoff: beef strips, roasted garlic, shallots, mushrooms, vegan cream cheese sauce, straw potatoes. $15.95

britt went with the vegan beef straganoff, which was fucking epic. i’ve never had the non-vegan version of stragonoff, but this thing was so creamy and decadent, it felt like i was eating the real deal…

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another day, another vegan restaurant opens in LA. that’s what it feels like sometimes, doesn’t it? we are spoiled for choice here in los angeles, and now we can add sage vegan bistro in echo park to our long list of local animal-free eateries.

the newly opened cafe occupies the former mooi space (so sad they closed down!) on sunset, and serves a wide variety of vegan cuisine with a creative twist–stuff like samosa burgers, french grain bowls, plantain sandwiches, seitan salads, and jackfruit tacos. i checked out sage this weekend for brunch with fellow quarrygirl staffer brittany, and our meal was ace!

the brunch menu is served on saturdays and sundays from 9am to 5pm, and it’s loaded with crazy-sounding menu items. in fact, we had a really hard time deciding what to order. after seriously considering the frittata, potato lattkes, and walnut sausage croissant (i need to go back and try that last one), i decided on the jackfruit chorizo burrito…

jackfruit chorizon burrito: smoked spicy jackfruit, roasted potato, tofu egg, gazpacho and avocado wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla served with a side of rice and beans and adobo chili sauce. $8.25

this thing was a monster and puts most vegan burritos i’ve eaten in my life to shame. it was giant and shoved full of all kinds of tasty ingredients. the menu description doesn’t do it justice—there was jackfruit, scrambled tofu, roasted potatoes, white sauce, black beans, salsa, guacamole, and fresh jalapenos all rolled up together. it came with a side of rice and beans, as well as some extra spicy hot sauce. i gotta admit, this thing was so full of food that i had to eat it with a knife and fork. it looks all neat and innocent in the photo, but believe me, i made a mess of it. this thing had everything i look for in a burrito—it was enormous, the ingredients were fresh, and there was a lot of variety. from the crisp vegetables, to the creamy sauces, to sausagy jackfruit and the chunky nutritional yeasty tofu, this burrito had me covered. i would definitely order it again.

brittany’s meal was quite impressive as well…

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what you sick people come here for.

today, ladies and gentlemen, alex estrada brings us the vegan double double burger.

double meat, double cheese, no animal products. it can be done. thanks, alex! ingredients are after the jump…

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