long beach is only about 25 miles away from us here in los angeles, and still, i just don’t go there enough.

a recent visit to the LBC turned into a marathon session of fun that included vegan food, good beer, and awesome music. i need to get out of LA more often.

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hey everyone! today’s field report comes to us from nyc where kris from veganscraps has reviewed one of the city’s best kept secrets, jivamuktea cafe. the all vegan spot looks like a haven for tasty yet healthy eats, and i can’t wait to hit it up. great find!

marinated beet salad: a blend of spring mix, marinated beets, walnuts (I subbed for cranberries), carrots, cucumbers and sliced granny smith apples. $12 plus rosemary seitan/spicy tempeh. $5

After discovering JivamukTea Cafe a couple of months ago, I find myself going in to eat at least 3 times a week! This cafe is one of the hidden gems of NYC. JivamukTea Cafe is part of the JivamukTea Yoga Studio in Union Square. You would have no way of knowing this fantastic cafe existed unless someone told you (this is me telling you!).

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vegan tiramisu cupcake NOW AT DOOMIE'S!

holy crap, guys! i thought doomie’s couldn’t get any better! the entirely vegetarian comfort food joint opened in hollywood not even two weeks ago, and since then they have been supplying LA with the best vegan burgers known to man, cruelty-free country fried steak with gravy, onion rings, chili “cheese” fries, deep-fried oreos, and more. as if all that awesomeness wasn’t enough, now doomie’s is selling clara’s cakes, stuff you need to try ASAP…

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we posted a quick bite about hard times on the site last week, and after trying it out for myself, i am officially in love with their pizza.

vegan slice. $2.50

as far as i know, hard times in silverlake is the only place in los angeles to get authentic-tasting vegan NY style pizza, either whole or by the slice. and i’m talking huge foldable slices, partially baked and then finished off right in front of you, for just $2.50 a pop. i checked it out hard times yesterday for lunch with a friend, and we were both blown away by its awesomeness…

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the moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here! as of today, the latest veggie grill location is now open in santa monica. this place is EXACTLY what the west side needs.

as you probably know, veggie grill has already got a number of locations scattered around socal (the closest to me being the one in west hollywood), and they serve up healthy and delicious alternatives to fast food. their menu packs everything from soups and salads to nachos and burgers…even kids meals and desserts! we were invited over the weekend to check out the new restaurant during a special complimentary “sneak peek” lunch, and i’m happy to report that the food was fantastic and the space was beautiful.

we started with a plate of “chill out wings,” which were to die for…

chill out wings: bite sized chillin’ chickin’ served with dipping sauces.

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hey everyone! this quick bite comes to us from quarrygirl reader anderson who is visiting southern california on vacation and recently hit up cheezy pizza in colton. i’ve never been to colton, but apparently it’s in the san bernadino valley and about an hour away from los angeles. after seeing these pictures, i think i NEED TO GO THERE SOON! OMG. check out the crazy pizza, jalapeno calzones and garlic bread below…along with mini reviews for each item!

vegan bbq chicken pizza with daiya

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i’ve been wanting visit the Vx (pronounced “v cross”) in london ever since rachel reviewed it back in june. the entirely vegan boutique is just around the corner from st. pancras station and has everything from cupcakes and sandwiches to shoes and shirts, and it’s a must visit if you are ever in town.

we checked out vx a couple months ago and while they had lots of cool clothes and other things for sale, of course our focus was the food. there was a well stocked fridge full of sandwiches, a case of pies and cupcakes, and an assortment of pastries…ALL VEGAN! i so wish we had a place like this in los angeles.

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UPDATE 12/22: as of today, these things are back in stock! get ’em while they last!

UPDATE 12/17: they sold out of vegan mozzarella sticks! we will let you know when they are available again!

oh man, back when i was a vegetarian i used to love MOZ sticks. that’s why i’m so excited that today chicago soydairy has launched frozen VEGAN MOZZARELLA STICKS available at veganessentials.com!

photo credit: mercy for animals

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whether or not you celebrate xmas, it sure is a good excuse to eat some tasty holiday food. the 25th is just around the corner, so we’ve started a list of xmas vegan meals in and around los angeles. please let me know if i am missing anything, and keep checking back, because this list will be updated as i get more info!

vegan xmas from doomie's?! yes, please!

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i’m not gonna lie, this is one of the best field reports ever and it’s about my favorite food group: PIZZA. Aj aka QueerVeganRunner sent us this post about authentic nyc-style pizza from cafe viva in new york. if this doesn’t have you drooling, i dunno what will. damn, i wish we had a place like this in los angeles! in one visit, she ate FIVE different kinds of vegan pizza BY THE SLICE. amazing. here ya go:

I love LA. But, in my heart (and in my attitude), I am a New Yorker. And to me, and to any real New Yorker, there’s nothing like a slice. To qualify that slice with an “of pizza” automatically disqualifies you from the “real New Yorker” club. Back in my pre-enlightenment days, I swore up and down for Famous Ray’s Original. But Ray’s has not caught on that non-vegan food has gone the way of hookers and crack in Times Square, so passé. Luckily real New Yorkers and tourists can enjoy Original Café Viva (why the original in every pizzeria’s name?). And lucky for me, they are spitting distance from my parents’ apartment.

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not sure if you’ve been keeping track of the dramz, but the hollywood farmers market (home of the beloved taste of life breakfast sandwich) is being threatened.

la film school is trying to shut down the market, and we CANNOT LET THIS HAPPEN. seriously, this would be a huge blow to the vegan community considering how many vegan-friendly stands and vendors operate there.

check out the article on LAist.com about how you can help TODAY, before the meeting with city officials tomorrow. PLEASE DO YOUR PART!

i think it’s great when huge chain restaurants make the effort to have vegan-friendly items on their menu, and that’s exactly what california pizza kitchen has done. we checked out cpk at the beverly center recently, and i’m happy to report that it was super easy to order a ton of animal-free food, and everything we ate was delicious.

i can imagine that for people who live in some parts of the country, cpk is a godsend…not every city is like los angeles, with a vegan restaurant on every corner. cpk has hundreds of locations all over the country, and they’ve clearly posted their vegetarian and vegan information online for everyone to see. i love that they’ve done that! it saves all the guesswork of quizzing the waiters and/or emailing the corporate office.

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i have some pretty awful news for vegans in the united states: our beloved cheezly is no longer available here.

bye bye for now

we have been fans of the marvelous UK vegan cheese for years, and back in march after the natural products expo, we thought they were poised to take the united states market by storm. unfortunately we were wrong, and cheezly is no longer being distributed in the US at the moment.

i am really hoping the redwood wholefood company (maker of cheezly) finds distribution soon, because we NEED their delicious vegan cheese stateside. just earlier this month, i was raving about it.

i will miss you, cheezly.

please come back, cheezly! in the meantime, if any of my UK readers wanna send me some cheezly as a happy xmas gift, please do! 🙂

the wait is over! doomie’s home cookin’ is officially open for business. right now their hours are tuesday through sunday from noon to 10pm, and at the moment they are cash only…so go prepared. we checked them out over their opening weekend, and as usual the food was insane. have a look at what we ordered, and scroll to the bottom of the post to see the full doomie’s menu.

deciding what to eat was a challenge, because everything at doomie’s sounded so damn good. the appetizer selection was ridiculous…from jalapeno poppers, to buffalo legs, to chili cheese fries…i wanted it all! we practiced some restraint though, and decided to split just two main courses.

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My dear wife, Quarrygirl, says she loves only two things more than me: vegan food and beer. Bearing in mind she writes this blog, her standards for vegan food are stratospheric, and her increasingly sophisticated taste in beer (really brought to the forefront when she co-organized the world’s first Vegan Beer Festival) refines itself almost daily.

So, faced with the self-wrought challenge of choosing a perfect location for us to spend our 5th wedding anniversary, I wanted to find somewhere romantic and out-of-the-way that had awesome vegan beer AND really good vegan food, under the same roof. Close to home, I was considering Pure Luck and Tony’s Darts Away – two locations that firmly check the above boxes. However, there was one thing missing: Ms. Quarrygirl really likes freshly brewed beer and prefers to consume it at the point of manufacture – a brewery if possible.

Let’s examine each subject set closely:

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