got plans today?! why don’t you head over to locali and support one of our favorite vegans ever, clara polito. the 13 year old baker behind the delicious clara’s cakes is holding a bake sale to raise money for a school trip to new york.

let's send this girl to nyc!

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i’m not even going to say where this snap shot is from…but it’s a local restaurant, and it pretty much illustrates what i refer to as “the vegan tax.”

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as you probably already know, since going vegan himself, vegas mogul steve wynn has ensured that every restaurant in his strip hotel has a vegan menu. we’ve already posted most of the menus online for you to check out, but what about the food we’ve actually eaten?aside from pizza place (which we reviewed earlier), the only other wynn establishment we’ve dined at is red 8, a fancy pants chinese bistro.

upon arriving and asking for the vegan menu, we realized it was all pretty standard “vegan 1.0” stuff (meaning mostly vegetables with a touch of tofu), but we decided to give it a whirl anyways…

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argh, i forgot that february is a short month…which means it’s almost half way over! this is just a quick post to alert you to some of the excellent monthly specials that hugo’s is offering, because they won’t be around much longer!

i am still working my way through these babies, but here’s what i’ve got so far…

Le Crostini: Crispy garlic herb toast (coated with a nut and seed spread) with red pepper hummus, blanched broccolini, artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes. Garnished with roasted garlic jalapeno sauce, a marinara drizzle and chopped basil. $7.50

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heads up, readers! i just wanted to throw this out there in case you are already starting to make your dinner plans for next week: be sure to pencil in a couple evenings at hugo’s tacos.

throughout next week, the super vegan-friendly taco stand is gonna be offering a pretty epic vegan dinner deal that i’ll post about on monday morning. it’s gonna be every day from 2/14 – 2/20 after 5pm, at both locations (atwater village and studio city). details to come, but i know you’re gonna love it. i mean, have you been to hugo’s tacos yet?! they have insane vegan burritos, taquitos, nachos, tortas, tostadas, soft serve—i could go on and on—and it’s all part of the deal!

mexican food on valentine’s day? you know it makes sense. i may just need to have dinner at hugo’s tacos every day next week.

remember the vegan twinkies that los angeles was obsessed with a while back? well they aren’t available anymore…but the mastermind behind them, jennshaggy, has recently released a cookbook called veganize this! where she divulges the twinkie secret, along with 199 other amazing recipes from surf and turf to ice cream pie.

if you are in the bay area, you have the chance to meet jenn and her lovely wife jane this friday, when they’ll both be signing copies of their books. (yep, jane is a published author as well!) here are the details:

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tuesday evening was pretty awesome because it marked the launch of highland park’s din din a go go, a weekly vegan-friendly truck feast in the parking lot of figueroa produce. i arrived at right at the beginning (5:30pm), and there were already tons of hungry peeps milling around, waiting to get their grub on.

when i saw the multiple trucks lined up neatly behind figueroa produce to the right, i knew it was gonna be an epic night. all the trucks had vegan items on their menus (many added specifically for this event), so i had a pretty tough time deciding what to order. i chose my meals (yes, i ate multiple meals) depending on who was ready to serve and had the shortest line. first up, lomo arigato.

tofu lomo saltado: tofu sauteed with onions, tomatoes, french fries, soy sauce, and red wine. served over peruvian rice.

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UPDATED: loads of restaurants have been added! check out the full post, updates are in bold.

i am not a huge fan of valentine’s day (in fact, i think it’s kinda ridiculous), but that doesn’t mean i’m gonna miss the opportunity to eat lots of special holiday grub!

here’s a list of places around LA that are doing vegan valentine’s day menu, or offering seasonal items. the big day is just 2 weeks away, and i will keep updating this list as more info becomes available…so check back often!

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hey peeps! time for a field report on one of my favorite foods ever: NYC PIZZA! this one comes to us from blogger JL goes vegan, as she reports on the super vegan-friendly west village pizzeria, slice. i am booking a trip to manhattan as you read this. no joke!

I attended the NYC book signing party for The Happy Herbivore Cookbook which was held at SLICE (on Hudson Street). I’ve been dying to have a slice of SLICE’s vegan pizza!

I started with the Fresh Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing…

Fresh Salad: Organic mesclun greens, carrots, cucumbers, plum tomatoes. Choice of homemade carrot ginger dressing or house balsamic vinaigrette. $4

This is a great, fresh salad. The dressing is good (LOTS of garlic).

This was my first time at a “pizza joint” with vegan choices (you know, other than “hold the cheese”). I went with the server’s suggestion and ordered the Skilled Eggplant.

Skilled Eggplant (vegan): Herb crust, sundried tomato pesto, vegan cheese, sauteed eggplant, kalamata olives. $13

I ordered the personal pizza size (versus one slice). And…

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over the past couple years, we’ve seen west hollywood grow into quite the little vegan mecca. santa monica boulevard, west of la cienega specifically, has been just blowing up with options lately—from zpizza, to tender greens, to millions of milkshakes, to o!burger—everyone is serving up cruelty-free cuisine. the latest addition to the list is fresh east, a quick casual asian eatery that specializes in healthy fare with loads of meatless options.

after scoping out the menu online, we decided to check out fresh east for a fast weeknight dinner. when we walked in, i was immediately smitten by the bright, clean interior—colorful yet simple with lots of comfy seating.

we approached the counter to place our order, and i noticed that fresh east’s menu was even more vegan-friendly than i thought. there’s a little V symbol next to each item that can be veganized, including several dishes where tofu can be subbed for the meat. unfortunately the vegan symbol isn’t shown on the online menu right now, but trust me, there are loads of options.

after much deliberation, we decided to share a noodle and a curry dish, both of which were exceptional…

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vegan field report time! it’s another one by bess of i dream of greenie, and this one comes to us again from austin, texas. here she gives us quick reviews on 2 different places. she covers some awesome thai food at veggie heaven, as well as some vegan soft serve from toy joy. i am officially more jealous than i ever thought possible of those of you who are heading to sxsw next month. check it:

Curry Bun: Made of flour dough outside and filled with onions, tofu, vegetable cooked in curry sauce. $2.50

After eating and drinking my weight in vegan tacos, enchiladas and tequila, for my last meal in Austin, I decided to switch things up a bit.

My friend and I spent the day in the UT campus area and after consulting the Compassion Over Killing Austin dining guide, opted to check out Veggie Heaven…

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UPDATE 9/5/11: before dining at the wynn, please check your restaurant’s dress code. i’ve heard some horror stories of nice vegans being turned away for not being fancy enough. boo! just a heads up!

we scored a load of vegan menus from the wynn. check out the update here.

i can’t believe it, WE FINALLY TOOK A SPORK FOODS CLASS! and it was every bit as awesome as we hoped! read on.

personal seitan pot pie with a biscuit topping and caramelized onion mashed potatoes with crispy sage

spork foods has been on our radar for ages. the popular cruelty-free cooking class, run by adorable local sisters jenny and heather goldberg, has been written up by everyone from vegnews, to the los angeles times, to LAist.com, and various vegan blogs alike. i’ve tried their marvelous food in the past, first at the opening of their weho instructional space, and next at an LA vegan drinks shindig. i’ve also had the pleasure of virtually taking their classes and making their dishes in the comfort of my own home via the newly-launched sporkonline.com, a website that gives you access to high quality instructional videos as well as recipe breakdowns.

even though i’m usually pretty intimidated by the thought of cooking, the sporkonline classes were so fun, i knew i had to take one in real life. the sporkies do a different themed class every weekend with several time slots available. they are $65 each, and include about 2 hours of instruction plus a huge home cooked meal at the end! they’ve covered everything from italian food to curry, to holiday feasts and healthy meals. plus, every month they do an entirely gluten-free class for people with gluten sensitivities. we tracked the cooking class calendar until we found one that sounded perfect for us: “throwback to the 50’s – TV dinner edition” with recipes such as succulent succotash, personal seitan pot pies with a biscuit topping, crispy sage and caramelized onion mashed potatoes, and rich chocolate peanut butter brownies. sounds too good to pass up, right?! well it was…

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i LOVE mashed potatoes. love, love, love. so naturally i was super excited when i heard about bangers and smashed, a company that specializes in gourmet mashed potatoes and always has at least one vegan flavor on hand. they don’t have a storefront at the moment, but they are currently taking orders for pickup in west hollywood, and also cater special events.

the menu at bangers and smashed is changing constantly, and their current vegan offering is moroccan spiced squash: a medley of sweet potato, winter squash, root vegetables, and a touch of african spice. i tried a pint of it and was absolutely blown away by the silky deliciousness…

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The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Puccini, Truffles and Chianti: Buildings, music, food and wine respectively are all synonymous with Tuscany in Italy, probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. Boasting a similar climate to Southern California with a natural beauty and centuries-old architecture and culture, Tuscany is a place that you know you’ll always go back to after you’ve been once.

I am, therefore, glad that I don’t have to travel for 18 hours to experience a little bit of Tuscany thanks to Rosti Tuscan Kitchen, a traditional Tuscan-style casual dining restaurant with two locations in Santa Monica and Encino. The owners have also taken great steps to accommodate their vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian guests, and we each have our own menu in addition to the main omnivorous menu.

Hungry for some vegan Tuscan cooking, we dropped by the Santa Monica location and were greeted by the owner, the super-nice restaurateur Kevin Goldfein who was kind enough to tell us about his restaurant concept and advise us on ordering a bunch of items from the vegan menu.

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