after years of sticking it out in the valley, madeleine bistro (our favorite restaurant ever) is finally planning to expand over the hill and open a cafe in los angeles next month. according to them, it’s gonna be an all vegan ice cream, pastry, and sandwich shop in westside LA featuring many of the menu items from madeleine bistro as well as an array of handcrafted desserts and eventually booze! but before they open, they need to do a bit of fundraising, and they’re offering some pretty sweet prizes (pun intended!) to people who help them meet their goal.

they’re only accepting donations for ten days, so if you wanna get in on this, don’t stall. i’m usually pretty wary of online fundraising, but with this deal donors get something back in return—anything from free desserts to a party catered by chef dave. hmmmm…help a vegan restaurant open, and get a party catered by the country’s best vegan chef in the process? i may have to go out and make some actual friends so i can take advantage of this!

seriously though, read all about the project here and pitch in whatever you can. los angeles will be a much better place when this cafe is open.

SO PUMPED! teese, one of the best vegan cheeses ever (you may recognize it as the cheese in the LA’s best vegan deep dish), is now available at whole foods in california, nevada, arizona and hawaii. this is so great, i think i’m gonna celebrate with a buffalo mozzarella style pizza. what up:

click here for a complete list of western US whole foods locations selling teese, and click HERE for a one dollar coupon from chicago soydairy. race you guys to whole foods! 3 2 1!

we’re so happy to announce that as of today (at around 11am) cupcakes by clara’s cakes will be for sale at locali! the current flavors are chocolate peanut butter and vanilla raspberry, and they’ll probably rotate from week to week. clara’s cakes is one of our favorite local bakeries, it’s all vegan, and it’s run by a ridiculously cool 14 year old girl. we’re so stoked that these treats will be available on a regular basis.

in other clara’s cakes news, they’re also offering ZOMBIE CUPCAKES as a halloween special…

these scary little suckers are made of chocolate cake, filled up with raspberry filling (blood!), and decorated with awesome zombie artwork. they’re available for a special price of $40 per dozen. order some for your halloween party, or just because! people won’t be able to tell they’re vegan, i swear. to order, contact info@claracakes.com.

for more info on all things clara’s cakes, like them on facebook and follow them on twitter.

so exciting! los angeles has a new super vegan-friendly restaurant with a huge menu full of specialty pizzas, salads, wraps, inventive appetizers, wine and craft beer. EVO kitchen opened up its doors last week in the old hollywood/weho pizza fusion location, and we’re already huge fans. it focuses on organic, locally sourced ingredients, and is family owned by the same folks who ran the previous restaurant. with the re-branding, the menu still includes our favorite items (what up, beer floats and wraps!) plus it has grown to include even more vegan (and gluten-free if you care about that) options, and the food is even better than before.

we hit up EVO for a slap up feast this weekend, and sampled as many vegan dishes as we could. we still didn’t get through half of them though—i guess that means another visit is in order! check out what we ate:

vegan garlic cheese bread with marinara dip. $4.99

we started off with a slew of appetizers, the first of which was the vegan garlic cheese bread. as with all vegan cheesy items at EVO kitchen, this came with a choice of soy cheese (follow your heart) or daiya. we opted for the soy cheese in this case, and the daiya cheese for other dishes (more on those later!). the cheese bread was phenomenal—crispy and pipin’ hot, dusted with herbs, and served with a pot of tangy marinara.

mini vegan bbq burgers: portobello mushroom with vegan soy or daiya cheese, roasted red onion and bbq sauce. $6.99

next up, one of my favorite dishes of the evening: the vegan mini bbq burgers. SLIDERS…

Read the rest of this entry »

have you ordered your vegansaurus shirt yet? if not, GET ON IT. you only have until friday.

if you aren’t already aware, vegansaurus is an awesome blog based out of san francisco that posts about all things vegan including restaurants across the country (and world!), recipes, news, cool links, and cute pictures. they’ve got it all. not only that, but their logo is a badass pink dinosaur. who wouldn’t wanna sport that!

until friday only, vegansaurus is selling some super limited edition cute and affordable shirts, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. i already ordered mine—buy one too, so we can match! xo

heads up, everybody! susan feniger’s street, one of LA’s top restaurants, is offering an all vegetarian and vegan optional tasting menu this tuesday. we were wowed by street a couple years ago during dineLA week, so i highly suggest you check this out. the deal is: 7 courses for 45 bucks, plus an optional $15 wine pairing. here’s a look at the menu:

this place is pretty posh and popular, so be sure to book a table! and tell them you’re vegan!

i’m sure you’ve heard of urban food crawl by now. they host weekly gastronomic tours of downtown LA vegan hot spots, and in the coming weeks they have some pretty sweet events planned.

check it out…

Read the rest of this entry »

hey dudes! did you know las vegas has a new all vegan restaurant?! i didn’t, until fred (@cycled) sent me this field report on pura vida. looks awesome, and i can’t wait to go! check it out…

Due to its proximity to Los Angeles, a short journey to the desert is always on the horizon for the most trivial or celebratory events. My first stop whenever I go to Vegas is always Ronald’s Donuts so I can stock up on donuts for the duration of the trip and to take back home. After Ronald’s, we decided to make another short drive in order to try Pura Vida. After passing through an industrial sector, I managed to spot Pura Vida on the opposite side of the street, overlooking vacant lots and surrounded by empty business. This sector is certainly an unlikely place to find delicious vegan food, but after searching through their website and a handful of Yelp reviews I knew we were going to be in good hands. It appears the menu on weekends is mostly focused on “Sweet” rather than “Savory”. Seeing as how we were in the mood for “Savory” we decided to forego the waffles and ask for some recommendations. Our server was very accommodating, along with Chef Myra, who personally came out to assist us and explain what she could make for us.

Spinach/Tofurky Sausage/Daiya Quesadilla & The Jace Wrap

Spinach/Tofurky Sausage/Daiya Quesadilla
One of my pet peeves when dining out is ordering an item that you could easily make at home. For this reason, I don’t think I have ever ordered a vegan quesadilla at a restaurant. However, I have to say this quesadilla was fantastic, easily better than any I have made at home. I could try to duplicate it, but I doubt it would be as delicious….

Read the rest of this entry »

the other evening, i was feeling a little timesick and craving papa john’s pizza. it used to be my absolute favorite as a kid—probably because every pie came with it’s own pot of ridiculously rich garlic sauce. it was only relatively recently that i discovered the original crust, tomato sauce, and even the garlic dipping sauce (how is that even possible?) are all vegan. even with so many other fake cheese pizza options available in LA, i had to succumb to a throw back papa john’s friday night in front of the television.

papa john's cheeseless pizza with tomatoes and portobellos. around $10?

choosing a pizza wasn’t hard, because the topping selection at pj’s is rather limited. i went with a couple old favorites: tomato and mushroom, minus the cheese, extra sauce. i had a coupon, so i think the pizza came to around ten dollars—not bad considering a vegan cheese pie in this town is usually in the thirty buck range…

Read the rest of this entry »

just over a week ago, we joined the hot knives team on the verdugo patio for an afternoon of snacks and beer to celebrate the release of their new vegetarian (and vegan-friendly) cookbook, salad daze.

we’d been looking forward to this day for ages—we’ve been HK fans for years, and even had an opportunity to test out one of the the salad daze recipes (magic shroom dust, loved it!) several months ago. now that the book has been released into the world and i’ve got it in my hands, i can safely say that it doesn’t disappoint. page after page of meatless recipes, with all the vegan ones clearly marked, each listed with their own thoughtful beer and soundtrack pairing.

so how was the release party? it was awesome! we always love kickin’ it on the verdugo patio with some good beer, but eating hot knives food at the same time makes it even better. on this day, the dudes prepared a slew of appetizers including some recipes from the book, and played a strictly salad daze playlist of bands we love including the fall, the stooges, and belle & sebastian.

here’s what we ate…

Read the rest of this entry »

dudes, TDA has been rockin’ the vegan specials lately…and it’s our mission to try them ALL! they seem to have a new one every few days (sometimes even more often than that)—way to keep us vegans on our toes. my all time favorite tony’s special remains the seitan french dip, but here are the latest two offerings…

this week tony’s has been offering a vegan buffalo po boy made with a field roast country style sunflower cutlet and frank’s red hot sauce. our correspondent brittany ate it the other day, and sent us this photo along with a thumbs up.

last week was the vegan philly cheesesteak, a bun stacked with celebration roast, daiya mozzarella, peppers, and grilled onions…

Read the rest of this entry »

the hungry tiger too in portland has to be one of my favorite places on earth. not only is it a bar with a pretty good craft beer selection, but it’s a full on restaurant as well with a separate vegan menu and the best biscuits and gravy known to man. why, oh why can’t we have somewhere like this in los angeles?

we’ve been fans of hungry tiger too for a couple years now, and make it a point to eat there on every trip to portland. imagine how delighted we were on our recent visit, to learn from friends that the already giant menu had expanded to include even more vegan options! we headed over for what turned out to be one of the best brunches in recent memory. check it out:

portobello scramble: fresh portobello mushrooms with tofu, garlic, spinach, mushrooms and nutrtional yeast. with hashbrowns and toast. $5.75

Read the rest of this entry »

heads up, angelenos! our favorite local sandwich shop, mendocino farms, is rolling out a new vegan special at all of their locations tomorrow. as you probably know, we here at QG are obsessed with sandwiches, and this one looks incredible. i know i can’t wait to try it.

Vegan Picnic Sandwich: House Marinated Organic Tempeh Bacon with Potato Salad Spread, Vegenaise, Red Onions, Whole Grain Mustard Slaw, Tomatoes, Panini Pressed on Dolce Forno Roll (the bread is vegan!) with a Side of BBQ Sauce. $9.25

i gotta find a way to get downtown or to marina del rey this week—this thing looks way too good to pass up! go support mendocino farms for their always inventive and delicious vegan options.

how does native foods continually manage to have the coolest facebook contests ever?! a couple months ago, they sent two fans of the restaurant to chicago (the winners found out about the contest from this blog, btw!), and now they’re picking 3 different winners to have a pre-thanksgiving meal for 7 cooked in their very own home by chef tanya herself.

eeeep! could you imagine having your friends over for a dinner cooked by THE chef tanya?! native foods will be picking a winner from southern california, chicago, and portland—so if you live in one of those areas, be sure to enter! here are the details on the contest:

Read the rest of this entry »

listen up, parents! take your kids to any veggie grill location this monday october 3rd and try their brand new kids’ meal v-burger on the house.

this is a normal sized v-burger at veggie grill

i haven’t tried the new kids’ burger, because i’m way over 12 years old…but if it’s anything like their normal v-burger, i’m sure it’s fantastic. here’s the official VG description of the burger:

Read the rest of this entry »