since the first time we reviewed the all you can eat brunch at rahel ethiopian vegan cuisine, a lot has changed. the restaurant has had expanded to take over the space next door, making for a much brighter and more comfortable dining experience, and has introduced a buffet table to their lunch special (rather than a server bringing you plates of food as you ask for them). overall, these improvements have transformed lunch at rahel from decent to downright exceptional.

new space along with buffet table

the way the all you can eat lunch works now is, you walk in and tell the server you’d like the buffet special. she then brings you your choice of soup or salad as an appetizer.

both are small, but very tasty.

after your warm up course, it’s time to dive in to the main event: plate after plate of hot ethiopian stew and spongy bread.

grab a plate and get your fill from the seven vegetable and lentil dishes, the two types of rice, and basket full of injera. also, be sure to get a huge helping of the bright green sauce. i dunno what it is exactly, but it’s incredible.

typically, ethiopian cuisine consists of various stews or wots served atop of and with a side of injera, a porous stretchy bread. you are supposed to use your hands to neatly scoop up the stew with the bread and stick the whole thing in your gob. presented with an all you can eat option, though, it’s really easy to go overboard and load your plate up with way too much stew. luckily, rahel’s provides forks for this very reason.

when i visit the buffet table, i like to spread a piece of injera out on my plate and then stack it up with the various vegetable dishes. as you can see in the picture at the top of the post, i get a bit of everything. we’ve got some red lentils, yellow lentils, potato stew, kale, carrots and green beans, cabbage, and more. i have no idea the proper name for all this stuff, but it is all mind-blowingly flavorful.

whatever you do, be sure to go to rahel’s all you can eat lunch with a completely empty stomach…because the food is so good, you can’t leave without at least a couple trips to the buffet table.

view from rahel's new section. the restaurant used to be only the room with the umbrellas on the ceiling.

seriously, i can’t think of a better way to spend a rainy afternoon than relaxing with plate after plate of warm ethiopian cuisine in such a light and spacious environment. the all you can eat buffet takes place everyday from 11am-3pm, and costs $8.99 per person. while that’s a damn good deal any way you look at it, it has to be noted that nyala directly across the street has an all you can eat vegan buffet for just $6.99 (over 20% cheaper!). however, considering rahel’s new buffet is so plentiful and tasty, and the atmosphere is so pleasant…i’d rather shell out an extra 2 bucks and support the only vegan business on the block.

so be sure to hit up the new rahel vegan ethiopian cuisine as soon as you can. all you can eat vegan food, under $9, 7 days a week. hell yes.

rahel vegan cuisine
1047 south fairfax avenue
los angeles ca 90019
323-937-8401
open daily
11am to 11pm
all you can eat lunch special
11am – 3pm

flore cafe vegan soul food buffet. all you can eat. $10. (photo courtesy of cuteanddelicious.com)

hey los angeles vegans, we’ve got some news about one of your local restaurants and some important info about what you should be eating this weekend. it turns out flore cafe has switched up their business model a bit. they are no longer open during normal hours, and are instead bringing us a few bottomless epic vegan feasts each week for just 10 bucks a pop. coming up saturday through monday, flore cafe is hosting three vegan buffets consisting of soul food on saturday, brunch on sunday, and curry on monday. this is gonna get awesome. (btw, do not confuse flore cafe with its sister restaurant flore down the street. flore cafe is at the corner of sunset and descanso!)

if you are wondering why the picture above is so damn lovely…it’s because i borrowed it from last week’s review of the flore cafe soul food lunch buffet on the cute and delicious blog. the post praises the buffet and asks, “What could be better than all you can eat vegan macaroni and cheese?…The cole slaw was honestly the best slaw I’ve ever had in my life…It was fresh, crunchy and sweet. So good.”

while flore cafe is still around (they not be for long), you should really take advantage of their ten buck all you can eat deals…starting with this weekend. saturday you have the amazing soul food deal as raved about above, sunday you have the incredible brunch that we have blogged about several times before, and monday you have an all new indian dinner that sounds pretty damn exciting to me.

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hey los angeles vegans, this just in! saturday through monday, flore cafe (3206 w. sunset blvd) will be hosting 3 vegan all-you-can-eat events! they are each $10 per person, what a deal. i highly suggest you get over there and fill up your plate like 80,000 times. here are the menus:

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what: all you can eat vegan brunch for only $10
when: every sunday from 10am-3pm (starting this sunday!)
where: flore cafe in silverlake!

the sunday vegan brunch is BACK

hey y’all, i got some good news! cancel your plans this sunday and make a date with flore cafe’s all-you-can-eat $10 vegan brunch!

that’s right, our favorite breakfast deal in town is back. ever since it first started, we have been massive fans of flore cafe’s vegan buffet brunch on sundays from 10am-3pm. we were super disappointed when they canned it due to lack of customers, and now we are super excited that they’ve decided to bring it back.

as we mentioned last week, flore cafe has been struggling…and this is yet another reason to go support them. they have decided to start up the all-you-can eat vegan brunch again every sunday for just $10, for as long as they can.

if you haven’t heard…the bottomless tofu scramble, unlimited french toast, endless vegan sausage and refillable coffee at this brunch are all top notch. the best breakfast in town, by far.

SEE YOU SUNDAY. GET THERE, OR SUCK AT LIFE. and don’t wait around, they may run outta food!

flore cafe
3206 W Sunset Blvd (at Descanso…not to be confused with Flore at Sunset Junction)
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 667-0116
open daily 10am-5pm

every sunday, deep in the heart of topanga canyon, inn of the seventh ray offers an all-you-can-eat vegetarian brunch with plenty of vegan options. the atmosphere at the restaurant is quite serene, with outdoor seating surrounded by trees, all overlooking a quiet stream. new age hippie waitresses keep the place running, and are ready to answer any question about the organic food that carries ‘cosmic energy’, or the vitamin infused water that will make you ‘live forever’ (i’m not kidding, they really say that). the price tag for the buffet is pretty hefty at $31 per person (is it possible to eat over 30 bucks worth of vegetarian food in one sitting?), but hey, the surroundings are beautiful and you can fill your plate up as many times as you want.

vegetarian brunch buffet with vegan options. $31 per person.

i hit up inn of the seventh ray for sunday brunch recently with my husband and fellow vegan blogger foodeater, and we were all pretty satisfied with the vegan options. although the seating is outdoors, the food trays are displayed inside, away from the bugs and elements. all the vegan food is labeled appropriately, and the meat is all together in one section (yeah, inn of the seventh ray also offers chicken and crab for an extra 4 bucks, blech).

my first trip to the buffet table yielded what’s pictured above. starting at the top and going clockwise, that’s a quinoa scone, tabouli, assorted salads, asparagus, white bean stew, hummus, and vegan mock duck with raspberries and cherry tomatoes. all of the food was deliciously fresh and filled with well-seasoned vegetables. i’ve never left an all-you-can-eat buffet feeling so light and energized, so i know this must have been pretty healthy. the only ‘fake’ meat offered was the mock duck, it was moist and chewy with a bit of a stringy texture and a savory flavor….and omg was it fantastic. my subsequent trips to the buffet line were seriously just to stock up on the vegan duck.

mock duck. oh so fucking wonderful.

the other highlight of my meal was the quinoa scone. i don’t think i’ve ever had a vegan scone before, but this thing was soft and fluffy in the middle and perfectly hard and crunchy on the outside. it was small and light, the perfect accompaniment to large feast. it would be pretty easy to fill up on these guys without feeling all gross and weighed down.

vegan quinoa scone. i could eat approx 8,000 of these.

the sunday brunch at inn of the seventh ray seems must be pretty popular, there weren’t many people there when we showed up at 11am, but as we were leaving at around 12:30, the place was already full. i suggest making a reservation and arriving a bit early like we did, to ensure you get a good seat.

we were lucky enough to get a stone ‘booth’ table with a creekside view, right next to the little stream that they call ‘the Mother flow’. according to the restaurant’s website, the area where we were sitting is filled with ‘angelic vibrations,’ so i am pretty stoked we got a table in that spot. on our way out i saw lots of customers paying the same price for their meals that i did, but crammed into little two-top tables, with no view of the stream. suckers.

after our meal, we got adventurous and went exploring in ‘the Mother flow’ to check out what kind of wildlife she was housing. we saw a lizard…

and tons of pollywogs, but no frogs in sight!

inn of the seventh ray is definitely one of the most unique restaurants i’ve ever visited, and their sunday brunch has plenty of things for us vegans to eat. i suggest you give it a try, because even if you don’t end up loving it, it’s a pretty special place. it’s a little too hippie dippy for my taste, and the prices are pretty high for what you get, but dude where else can you eat next to a stream and drink water that will make you live forever? you gotta go see this place for yourself.

inn of the seventh ray
128 Old Topanga Canyon Road
Topanga, CA 90290
(310) 455-1311

P.S. oooh, one more thing, and this is important: be sure to let your waitress know that you are eating the vegetarian buffet. we got charged $4 extra per person for the crab leg/chicken/death buffet, and didn’t even realize it until after we’d left! don’t let that happen to you. i’m pretty devastated because i guess that means that extra money we spent went to ‘supporting’ the sale of meat. (shudders)

so a few months ago, i wrote about this new little japanese/french vegan deli/bakery that opened up in west los angeles on motor avenue called casa de tree. at the time of posting, the restaurant was the sister to the recently-closed torrance location, and didn’t offer a full menu yet…just a pay-by-weight salad and hot food bar with a few blackboard specials to choose from each day.

3 months later, i am happy to announce that the west la casa de tree has expanded their menu and lowered their prices. these changes aren’t even reflected on the casa de tree website yet (most of the online info is out of date), so pay close attention to the prices and the menu that i will post below. not just that, but they wave before us the promise of their torrance location re-opening soon, which would be great news for the vegan community.

i had the awesome opportunity to catch up at casa de tree with like-minded herbivores last weekend for an oh-so-fun and sporadic happycow.net meeting. now for all you vegan angelenos who want to know about these meetings in the future…just join happycow, leave some reviews, and specify that you want in on all the vegan shindig info for your area. this site is a great place to meet other veg-heads and stay abreast of all vegan/vegetarian-goings ons in yer area.

that being said, the husband and i decided to have a slap-up feast, starting with the curry donut to share. as of recently, casa de tree offers several pastries…some savory and some sweet. so whether you are in the mood for an appetizer or dessert, they will definitely find a way to loosen your waistline.

curry donut: vegan curry paste inside crunchy bread crumbed dough. $2.50

the curry donut was nothing short of exceptional. seriously, even though it took a bit long for them to heat it up behind the counter, one bite of it immediately launched casa de tree into the category of “favorite vegan restaurants, ever”. and that’s a bold statement. it was fried with little crumby edges…all crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. not just that, but it was ooooooooOOOOOOooozing with salty and chunky curry goodness.

for my entree, i decided to order off the newly-introduced fixed menu. as i said, last time i went to casa de tree i was limited to the pay-by-weight buffet option, so on my recent trip i couldn’t help but test out one of the MANY BURGERS AND SANDWICHES they are now offering daily. not just that, but the meals are cheaper than they were even at the original torrance location. damn, i was having a fantasy menu field day when deciding what to order, there was so much awesomeness. i eventually settled on the katsu sandwich, which was a great choice.

katsu sandwich: homemade organic seitan katsu, cabbage, mustard and italian miso sauce. served with salad and side dish. $8.95

although it took way too long to arrive (maybe it just felt that way because all my fellow diners went with the buffet option), the katsu sandwich was totally worth it, and was a bargain at $8.95 with a salad and a side dish. the bread was remarkably soft and porous, the cabbage was fresh and crispy, the mustard was hot and tangy, and above all the seitan was crispy and just fatty enough. it was a sinful yet healthy tasting food, if you can imagine that…truly the best of both worlds. it came with a light and well-prepared salad as well as a cold and a creamy noodle dish which was packed with flavor. i’d order this again in a jiffy…after exploring the other amazing sounding sandwich and burger options, of course…

sticking to tradition, my husband went with with the pay-by-weight buffet option, which is probably the most obvious thing to do at casa de tree (it isn’t exactly clear when you walk in that they have a proper menu). since our last visit, the restaurant has lowered their price to $7.99 per pound, the exact same price as whole foods, but with much MUCH better shit. he filled up on loads of salad, sushi, tofu steak hamburgers, deep fried jalapenos, vegetable gyoza, and potato cakes. it really is a little self-serve vegan paradise. just be aware that it will cost you!

vegan buffet: $7.99 per pound.

the buffet is a great option if you are feeling up for eating samples of 15 different things, but i think in the future i will order off the newly-available set menu at casa de tree. they really give you a lot of food for the (now lower) price, and although it takes a while longer, it is so worth it.

check out the menu i’ve posted below. as i said, the items AND prices are different than the ones listed on the casa de tree website, which is well old and useless. also please note that casa de tree is CASH ONLY. if you come prepared with enough cash to foot the bill, this could easily be the best restaurant in los angeles. if you fill up on heavy shit from the buffet and get overcharged, then have to run to the atm…this could leave you with a very bad taste in your mouth. i hope my little hints will help you make the best of your experience.

casa de tree
3741 motor ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
310.784.0455

For those people in Ethiopia who are fortunate enough to get a square meal on a regular basis, the usual menu consists of a slab of meat with several vegetable side dishes and some flat, unleavened bread to scoop everything up into your face. It’s a coincidence that the vegetable side dishes fit into that unusual intersection of “naturally vegan, yet tasty”. Yeah, naturally tasty vegan food isn’t that common in ethnic mainstream (if you can call Ethiopian “mainstream”!) dining. After all, just about the only thing vegan at a Chinese restaurant is plain, white rice – the antitheses of tasty.

I’m really glad that LA has a thriving Ethiopian community. Even though there are pockets of Ethiopian ex-pats all over the city, the Ethiopian dining center (called, strangely “Little Ethiopia”) is one short block of Fairfax Avenue between Olympic and Pico Blvds., and we vegans can take advantage of the excellent food and warm hospitality at any of over 20 restaurants, pretty much any time we like. One common menu item is the “vegetarian combination” which is, in fact, entirely vegan as it consists of hearty portions of each side dish with some bread on the side.

I’ve eaten at many of the restaurants in Little Ethiopia over the years, and the vegetarian combination tastes exactly the same everywhere. I’m convinced they have one large kitchen in an alleyway somewhere that prepares all the side dishes and runners dash from there to each restaurant every time somebody places an order. OK, probably not, but the consistency is within a very fine tolerance of identical at each establishment.

So, when choosing where to dine, I used to decide between Nyala and Rosalind’s – two of the larger and more established restaurants on the “strip”, largely as a preference over the kind of ambiance and atmosphere I was seeking. However, after discovering Rahel Vegan Cuisine I’m somewhat torn with my loyalties. You see, Rahel’s is entirely VEGAN – the staff are right up my street because they are nice, polite and wear tee-shirts with things like “Vegan POWER!” written on them. It also offers consistently tasty food, and is on the opposite side of the street to the aforementioned establishments – which is a good, because I come from the west and crossing Fairfax here is like being Frogger in the video game.

I was fortunate, recently, to go back to Rahel’s with a friend and colleague who is much more of a regular than I. The lunch special during weekdays is an “all you can eat style” lunch, although a full a la carte menu is (surprisingly) available. I’m used to all-you-can-eat affairs being buffet-style where half the fun is pigging out on the dishes you really like, while ignoring the ones you don’t. Sadly, Rahel’s brings you one plate of food with no choice about what you get – probably due to the fact they don’t have room for a buffet setup as the restaurant is so small inside. This complicates things somewhat, and takes the fun out of scooping the food out of catering trays, as one would normally do at an all-you-can-eat session.

Lunch Special at Rahel Vegan Cuisine

Injera bread for scooping up vegetables

Once you’ve eaten the food, there are two choices: another plate of what you just had, or a delicate negotiation with a server who knows WAY more than you’ll ever know about what you just ate and how to pronounce it, so that you can get more of the dishes you want. Having to ask a server for more free stuff feels sort-of guilty to me, and the gluttonous nature of all-you-can-eat is mitigated to a degree by the proxy of a human whom has to acknowledge and process every order. Compounding this is the fact that, like most ignorant white people, I’ve never managed to memorize the real Ethiopian names of the food I enjoy so much – so I’m reduced to explaining things in terms of color and texture: “the black, creamy lentils, but the ones without potatoes” and “the green salad-type thing with the large tomatoes on it” when I want more of something.

Second plate of food after heavy negotiations with the waitress!

Bottom line, Rahel’s has a lot going for it because it’s entirely vegan, but falls down in other areas. It’s small and cramped inside, with strange décor (upside down umbrellas on the ceiling?!), extra-small, glass-covered two-top tables and a lunchtime vegan buffet that’s a full buck more than Nyala’s vegan buffet across the street. Nyala’s is a much nicer place to be (high ceilings, expansive floor space, booths) and has a self-serve buffet, to guarantee that fatty vegans like me will always be satisfied.

Remembering that Rahel’s is entirely vegan (although related to the anything-but-vegan Messob next door), it certainly warrants a visit – as do the other fine establishments in Little Ethiopia – but it falls short somewhat on atmosphere and convenience. Supporting a vegan business is always my preference, but I’ve added Rahel’s to my rotation of restaurants on this block, rather than going there exclusively.

rahel vegan cuisine
1047 south fairfax avenue
los angeles ca 90019
323-937-8401
open daily
11am to 11pm
all you can eat lunch special
11am – 3pm