we’ve got some pretty exciting news! whole foods locations in los angeles have decided to participate in meatless mondays!

every monday the stores’ prepared foods sections will feature three vegan items at a discount (usually $2 off per pound), and surround them with appropriate sides that would round off a nice meal set…

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vegans, mark your calendars! this tuesday february 8th marks the launch of HPK din din a go go, a weekly food truck dinner feast at figueroa produce.

each week, the trucks will gather in the store’s parking lot and sling loads of their usual tasty grub as well as special menu item using a figueroa produce ingredient. (i think this week’s ingredient is kale.) the organizers are going out of their way to ensure that the event is highly vegan-friendly, so let’s go show them some support and eat a lot of good food in the process. on tuesday, it’s gonna be all trucks i haven’t tried yet, so i’m super excited. here’s a sneak peek at some of the trucks and the vegan options they’ll be offering…

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time for another edition of quick bites: where quarrygirl readers send in quick snaps and descriptions of their vegan meals. today’s quick bite comes to us from dana aka the broke-ass bride. she recently spent some time in the windy city and sent us a drool-worthy review of the chicago diner. the all vegetarian-restaurant is legendary in the vegan community, and after dana’s review i am dying to go there!

As a greek gal, the loss of gyros has been one of my biggest woes of being a vegan. Until I went to Chicago Diner. HOLY OPA! Thinly sliced strips of delicious and juicy seitan, crunchy lettuce, tomato and onion, all atop a buttery, griddled pita… with a side of the most creamy-licious tzaziki sauce imaginable. I ate these way too many times while I was in town. It was like crack. I ate it. It was good. I needed more. MORE! MOOOOORE! It comes with your choice of a side, and I got the “chicken/rice soup” which was equally to die for. I’m definitely going to start experimenting with my seitan recipe at home to try and make something gyro-y like this. Its crazy comforting and delicious. The best part is how they’ve managed to get the edges so crispy, like the kind of gyros that come from a spit. It was incredibly authentic, in the best (and least creepy) way possible…

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hey everyone, time for another field report by bess from i dream of greenie! today she reviews vegetarian restaurant mother’s cafe and garden in austin, texas…and all i know is now i’m absolutely dying to go there and grub up on burgers and mexican food. seriously looking into texas flights. check it out:

While on a recent trip to Austin, I had the pleasure of eating some of the best vegan meals I have ever had. In fact, I am still riding on a food high from the meal I ate at Mother’s Café and Garden.

This fully vegetarian spot (with almost everything veganize-able) was almost not on our meal itinerary (yes I plan out the restaurants before we arrive), but the place we were planning to eat at was closed on Monday (Beets Café, I’ll hit you up next time). However, our omni host was quick tor recommend Mother’s and all I can say is that I am forever grateful to her for this recommendation…

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we have been waiting for awhile, and the day is finally here! kindkreme, LA’s dairy-free ice cream parlor, is opening a second location in pasadena this weekend!

i got a chance to scope out the new digs, and this place is even bigger and better than the original. here are some pix and things you can look forward to at the grand opening on february 5th…

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it’s been almost a week since vegan pizza day, and i don’t know about you guys, but i’m ready for round #2! to celebrate the superbowl this sunday, pizza fusion hollywood and whole foods are both having awesome vegan pizza deals that you won’t wanna miss!

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wow, some hardcore vegan sleuthing has gone down. we posted earlier this week on some shocking findings by mr. wishbone (you all remember him from operation pancake, right?) regarding some completely non-vegetarian gummy bears that were mislabeled as vegan at whole foods. after some digging, it appears that whole foods isn’t entirely to blame; the fault actually lies with the distributor. please read the original story here, and check out the following update from mr. wishbone:

After reading the comment from “LE” on the gummy bear post, (“I just had some agave-sweetened gummy bears yesterday from Rainbow Acres. They had the exact same ingredients list. Sigh… should have known it was too good to be true.”), I thought that if the Rainbow Acres gummy bears were from the same manufacturer/distributor then the error in labeling might not be Whole Food’s fault at all.

I went to Rainbow Acres and found two products: Agave Sweetened Gummy Bears and Vegan Agave Sweetened Fruit Slices. I spoke with the Greg at Rainbow Acres, and he was happy to provide me with their distributor’s name, telephone number and item numbers from their catalog. I asked Greg to remove the two products from his shelves until we could determine if the ingredient listings were correct. Rainbow Acres should be commended for their transparency and genuine desire to please their customers and do the right thing.

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UPDATE: hummus king in thee valley has closed down, but they are offering catering and free delivery until they hopefully re-open in silverlake!

you people better get over there and eat at hummus king, because this is NEVER a good sign. the entirely vegetarian restaurant in valley village has slashed its hours, and is now only open sunday through friday until 4pm. they used to be open until 10…so that means they’ve chopped their hours IN HALF, and will no longer be serving dinner.

Vegan Shwarama Sandwich at Hummus King

hummus king is one of our favorite restaurants in los angeles, so this news is pretty worrying to us…

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i can’t believe it was nearly a year ago that we welcomed mandoline grill to los angeles.

since then, they’ve cemented a place in our hearts as one of our favorite food trucks—they are constantly adding to and improving their vegan options, and they even served a completely cruelty-free menu at the first LA vegan beer fest. to put it simply, we love mandoline grill!

so imagine how stoked we were to find out that at their anniversary party this saturday at verdugo bar, they’ll be giving away a free vegan crispy spring roll with every purchase…

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…well, sort of.

they aren’t the official doritos brand, but the new salsa picante tias by kettle brand taste almost exactly like the old school cheesy doritos that are now off limits…

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sigh. sometimes meticulously reading labels just isn’t enough when it comes to determining whether or not products are vegan. this was true for mr. wishbone (you remember him from operation pancake, right?) recently when he bought some agave-sweetened gummy bears at whole foods. here’s his story:

I bought some gummy bears that appeared to have vegan ingredients, but when I tasted them I knew they had to have gelatin as an ingredient. I wrote to Whole Foods Global Office the note below and they responded today that I was correct. If you read my email to them you will see that not only were some of the ingredients missing but the nutritional info area also failed to show the protein correctly.

mislabled gummy bears

Basically they checked their ingredient listing and it looked o.k., but after more checking with their supplier they found that the label had left out the ingredients Gelatin, Lactic Acid, and Purple Berry Concentrate!

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Perhaps the most famous thoroughfare in Dublin is Grafton Street. Immortalized by James Joyce, Christie Moore, U2 and (more lately) the touching musical romance movie “Once”, this eclectic street stretches from verdant St. Stephen’s Green in the south to Trinity College (one of the world’s great seats of learning), and the River Liffey to the north. A few steps west of Grafton St. lies Wicklow St., the heart of Dublin’s historical arts district, and home of Cornucopia, one of Dublin’s few vegetarian and highly vegan-friendly restaurants.

We visited Cornucopia on a warm autumn evening, and immediately fell in love with the place, despite being initially disappointed with a loooong queue of people waiting inside the door. You see, Cornucopia is counter service and buffet-style, so one has to stand in a line, order from a server and then take a tray to a vacant table – if you can find one. I personally find places with this setup a little stressful – I mean, when you arrive you have no idea how long it will take to get served, and when you’re being served you’re worried about if you can find a place to sit and eat – otherwise you’ll be left standing with a heavy tray attempting to rush to a vacant table, trampling other human beings like some post-apocalypic feeding frenzy.

OK, I got carried away there, but you get the idea. Let’s now talk about the food.

Sweet Potato, Pea, and broccoli Dahl with organic brown rice, garden greens, and sprouted beans. €12.95

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UPDATE 2/1/11: i am hearing mixed things about the availability of these funyuns. a worker at the store on sunset told me they were gone, but commentors can still find them at certain trader joe’s locations. plus, a TJ’s employee commented on our older post and said they were still available. what does this all mean? there’s hope.

noooooOOOOOOOOooOOOo!

it was just over a month ago that we were singing the praises of the trader joe’s vegan funyuns, and they’ve already been retired from the shelf until further notice.

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hey, everyone! time for another field report by bess from i dream of greenie. this one comes to us all the way from austin, texas at a place called somnio’s cafe. it looks amazing…so you lucky folks who are headed to sxsw soon, take note!

Nynavae’s tacos (made vegan) $8

photo by meredith

Warning: international trade secrets are being shared here. With one simple modification, a vegetarian dish became one of the best vegan meals I’ve ever eaten at Somnio’s Cafe in Austin.

I was a bit overwhelmed by all the vegan options in Austin and being someone who wants to make sure she enjoys every meal on vacation, I ran my restaurant list by some seasoned locals. My omni host instantly confirmed that she loves Somnio’s and that it is BYOB with just a $2 per person corkage fee. I was instantly sold!

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whew! yesterday was the first annual vegan pizza day, and it was insanely fun. people all over the world were eating loads and having a great time…all in the name of our favorite food: vegan pizza. huge thanks to teese vegan cheese by chicago soydairy for sponsoring this event with us. i know that everyone is already looking forward to next year.

check out the official vegan pizza day facebook page for a huge pool of mouthwatering fan photos, and be sure to upload your own. here are the pictures that readers sent in to us. if you’d like to have yours posted on the blog, shoot us an email. beware, graphic vegan pizza photos to follow. you’ll wanna be sitting down for this.

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