how do quarrygirl.com readers celebrate new year’s?! this is how. thanks to everyone who sent in pix!

bess from i dream of greenie threw an epic new year’s eve/birthday party (she was born on 12/31), and had all kinds of crazy treats on hand including teese mozzarella sticks…

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hey everyone! time for a reader review from right here in los angeles. this one comes to us from VeganHeartDoc as she gives us the rundown on vegan factory in tarzana. while i’m not the biggest fan of LA vegan thai myself, it’s nice to know what our options are, and which places stand out above the rest. here ya go:

While some may suggest that vegan Thai food is overdone in Los Angeles, Vegan Factory does it incredibly well.

Located in a strip mall on Ventura Boulevard west of Vanalden in Tarzana, Vegan Factory features soups, salads, curries, and noodle dishes.

The dishes range from relatively healthy to downright decadent. Since I’m a cardiologist, I usually roll with at least a few healthful offerings, but my family, who I was bringing takeout dinner to, like some of the more sinful options.

Slim Gym (Salad Kak): Soy chicken, romaine lettuces, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and alfalfa sprouts. Served with peanut dressing. $7.50

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soak up that hangover with a vegan benedict?

hi everyone, happy new year! we’ve taken a moment to call some of our favorite vegan and vegetarian restaurants in los angeles and find a few dining options for new year’s eve and new year’s day.

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let’s turn veganism up to 11 in ’11.

i love you all. that is all. for places in LA that are open today, check out the list.

nooOOOooOo! could this be true?! eat/drink/see eagle rock reports that today marks fatty & co.’s last day in business.

we will miss the vegan chartreuse and all the other wonderful food at fatty's!

we have been fans of fatty’s for quite awhile, and we even named the meatless restaurant as one of our top vegetarian picks in 2009, so we are devastated by this news. the cafe has been scaling back its hours for the past few months though, so i really can’t say we’re too surprised…

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new vegan pizza options keep popping up in LA, silver lake seems to be the mecca for cruelty-free pie. the latest joint to offer a vegan option clearly on their menu is garage pizza. we’ve got a quick bite review from vegan pizza extraordinaire jon, who recently helped organize a popular vegan tour of NYC by scott’s pizza tours. check out what he has to say…

the vegan: vegan cheese, garlic, tomato, artichoke, basil. 18". $22.50

Overall: okay. They use daiya, but not very well.

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time for another quick and no-nonsense reader review from D (our correspondent who wrote about the RFD thanksgiving meal last month). this time he writes about one of the best places in los angeles to get a fancy (and i mean FANCY) vegan experience, XIV restaurant. we have reviewed their vegan tasting courses a couple times on this blog, and we’re sad to report that while they still have plenty of vegan options, the default meatless tasting menu is now vegetarian instead of vegan. 🙁 D checked out the new menu recently with some friend, and here are his thoughts…

Last year we went once or twice to XIV for some of our “special occasions” because they had an entirely separate vegan tasting / a-la-carte menu (with a wine pairing option to boot!). And it was a hip fancy Hollywood spot, so it felt like we were hip or cool or some bullshit like that.
We were invited there last week with some carnist peeps. Here’s my 2 cents…

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yes, you heard me right! locali is offering the best vegan reuben in LA at 10% off to quarrygirl readers for the rest of 2010!

vegan reuben: marinated deli slices topped with daiya cheese, sauerkraut & smothered with homemade vegan russian dressing. $9.75

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today’s quick bite comes to us from greg kanimian who recently visited fancy pants restaurant masa’s in san francisco. this isn’t a vegan restaurant by any means, but the chef accepted the challenge of making greg a 4 course animal-free dinner, and apparently it was awesome. here goes:

I don’t remember exactly what each course was since I didn’t have a menu to read off of. I was just told what I was eating as it was given to me.

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we already told you about the new year’s eve shindig over at tony’s darts away, and we just got wind of some more epic gatherings you should know about at rahel ethiopian and surly goat. these parties go from early evening until after midnight, and are pretty close to each other geographically…so we are thinking you should attend at least one of these, if not both. here are the details.

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I have to be honest: It was one of THOSE kinda days. Well, I’m not the world’s most physical guy, but I can lift a box or two. Add to that, I had nothing to do on Christmas Eve Eve, so I was very happy to rock it on down to Orange County in a friend’s truck to help load some chairs, on the promise of “grabbing a beer or two” on the way back.

Listen – If offered, ALWAYS help your friends get stuff from far afield, as you’ll have a designated driver (they don’t see it that way, but you sure as heck fire should) and if you’re extra lucky they’ll want to pick up the tab pretty much anywhere you go. After all, time and muscles (even my puny ones) = money. Or beer at least. And maybe even vegan food too. Read on….

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you may remember the insane vegan thanksgiving post, well now it’s time for the xmas version! we are collecting pictures of vegan xmas dinners, and so far, it seems like you guys are eating quite well.

we really want to make this the biggest collection of vegan xmas photos anywhere. let’s show people all the tasty holiday food that can be eaten without hurting lovely animals! if i am missing your pix, email them to me and i will add them to the post. check out what we’ve got so far…

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When flying back to America from mainland Europe, I rarely take the convenient direct flights. Usually, I find some excuse to stop off in my native London (even though the layover adds six or more hours to an 11 hour journey). Why put myself through such traveling torture? Because I can’t resist an opportunity to dine on my favourite of all cuisines: British Indian food, served in a local tandoori restaurant. That’s why!

Moments after touching down at Heathrow I’m usually in a black taxi heading east towards Central London and my favourite of all Indian restaurants: Victoria Tandoori. Yes, I really do like Indian food, the way we prepare it in Britain… it’s the best cuisine there is, and few places do it better than Victoria Tandoori. The travel time is more than worth it, and the smiling faces of the vegan-knowledgeable staff are a welcome respite from the rainy London streets.

Now, a word of warning: many Indian restaurants in the UK add ghee (a kind of thick butter), yogurt or cream liberally through the cooking process for most dishes – they say to satiate the Western taste buds. So, when dining in most restaurants I’ve become used to eating “healthy” style Indian food: Bhel Poori (a rice dish, requested without yoghurt), Chickpea curries, plain breads etc. The good news, though, is that most restaurants add in the dairy after they have cooked the base sauces, so can happily leave it or and substitute other oils (usually peanut) upon request.

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a year ago to the day was honestly one of the best days of my life.

sushi sushi sushi

we rang in the xmas with some close friends (who are also QG field reporters!) and ate some of the best foodz ever.

this post is to honor the most epic sushi party i’ve ever been to. (let’s hope 2011 offers something this good!!!!!!)

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xmas came early this year in the form of VEGAN FUNYUNS from trader joe’s!

i don’t know if you’ve ever eaten the original frito-lay creation, but i used to love them back in the day. it’s like an onion ring got together with a potato chip and had a bag of delicious babies…funyuns! unfortunately, real funyuns contain dairy and i haven’t eaten them in about ten years, so imagine my excitement when i saw this thread in the qg forums talking about a new breed of vegan funyun-style snacks at trader joe’s! of course i had to try them out…

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