listen up!! the veggie grill has invented some amazing new daiya cheese-filled recipes, and they are testing them out starting today at the el segundo location to see how they are received. i couldn’t resist heading over there this afternoon and ordering all 3 new menu items. every single one was absolutely awesome, and i implore you to go taste for yourself.

first i tried the vg cheeseburger (pictured above), which is basically the standard v burger slathered with gooey cheese. this meal contains two of my favorite vegan products ever, daiya and gardein, and it sure is a winning combo. if you like cheeseburgers (even if you aren’t vegan!), you will love this thing…it’s thick, juicy, and cheesy as can be.

since the vg cheeseburger comes with a side, i ordered it with the new vegan mac and cheese. again, this stuff was made with daiya and it was really fucking good! i don’t know what veggie grill did to it, but this daiya was creamier than any i’ve ever tasted. i’m so used to having it chopped up and melted in little shreds, but in this it was completely smooth. plus, i think it had some jalapenos mixed in to give it a little kick. yum!

lastly, i got an order of the nachos…and before you ask, no i did NOT eat all this at once!! i took most of it home and it’s in the fridge. the nachos were excellent, and are definitely my favorite of the new menu items. crisp tortilla chips covered in melty daiya and fully loaded with beans, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cilantro….all for under 5 bucks!

please take my advice and get out to the veggie grill el segundo location NOW. and if you can’t go now, be sure to go ASAP. the chick working the counter told me they are only trying out these menu items, and won’t keep them around if they don’t do well. i can tell you, they are amazing….so let’s make them do well.

veggie grill
plaza el segundo
720 Allied Way
El Segundo, CA 90245
310-535-0025
11am to 10pm

oh and be sure to follow veggie grill on twitter to hear about stuff like this, that’s where they made an announcement about all the new menu items.

hey people: i’ve got some breaking los angeles vegan news, so listen up! lucky for us, cruzer pizza and pasta in los feliz (the first place in the western US to start carrying daiya cheese) has made the decision to turn into a 100% vegan establishment. they are using up their remaining meat and cheese supplies, and expect to be completely animal-free by monday. not just that, but over the holidays they are revamping their menu and adding loads of new stuff—all vegan, of course!

do you understand what this means?! this is HUGE. an all vegan pizza place, that delivers, right here in LA!!! there are barely any vegan pizza joints in the country, and to get to the few there are, you would need to take a plane journey. i am soooOOOOOooooOOOOOOOo excited about this. go eat at cruzer now to show your support…they offer huge fluffy and delicious pizzas covered in daiya cheese and mock meats like gardein. and if you see the owner give them a kiss from me, because this is the best news i’ve heard in awhile.

PS: the glendale cruzer location offers vegan stuff as well, but there are no plans for it to go completely animal-free. just fyi, this is only for the los feliz restaurant.
PPS: cruzer is in the process of changing their delivery hours, so call ahead.

native foods in westwood has had a complete makeover, and i’m a fan of their new style. not only does the place have a fresh paint job with brighter colors, but they’ve implemented a new rewards program, added some pretty amazing dishes to their menu and are now offering daiya cheese.

oklahoma bacon cheeseburger: thinly sliced seitan, melted daiya cheddar, caramelized onions, crispy tempeh bacon on a bun slathered with BBQ sauce and ranch dressing, lettuce, carrots, onions, and tomato and topped with crunchy battered dill pickles chips. $9.95

we checked out the new native foods the other day, and while loads of stuff on the menu looked delicious, i couldn’t resist the oklahoma bacon cheeseburger, a seasonal special (pictured above). we ended up eating our food out of takeaway boxes—more on that later—so the photo really doesn’t do the burger justice AT ALL. let me tell you, this baby was massive, juicy, and probably one of the best things i’ve ever eaten in a bun. the seitan inside wasn’t a patty, but more like thick juicy strips of wheat meat topped with the tastiest tempeh bacon ever. there was a generous helping of melty daiya cheddar in there as well, which mixed in with the two types of creamy sauces to make a hot delicious mess. it was drippy, huge, meaty, cheesy and wonderful. seriously, where else can you get a vegan bacon cheeseburger in los angeles? this is on the “specials” menu, and it’s seasonal, so everyone needs to try this thing before it goes away!

twister wrap: organic greens, fresh avocado and cucumber salsa, creamy chipotle sauce and your choice of crispy or grilled chicken. $9.95

for our other entree, my husband and i split the much lighter twister wrap. it came filled with leafy greens, avocado, creamy sauce and crispy soy chicken. the faux meat in this thing was excellent, slightly greasy and crunchy on the outside yet moist and soft in the middle. we got this with a side of nicely seasoned native fries which were spicy and garlicky. yumz.

while we were there, we also learned that native foods has introduced a new frequent eater program where you sign up for a card and earn points that go towards free food every time you dine there. just by signing up we received a complimentary drink with our order, a refreshing cup of lavender lemonade. they also have this promotional gift thing going on through the holidays where if you buy someone (or yourself) a $100 gift card, you get extra $20 card for free. that’s a good investment, if you ask me.

now let’s talk about how the interior of native foods has changed. at the westwood location, you used to order at a counter in the front of the restaurant, then take a seat upstairs and wait for your food. now native foods has expanded and the counter where you place your order has moved next door. there’s also a new seating area there, but it’s not where you sit and eat your food…for some reason the new area is for take-out only. so you order at the new counter, then go outside and back into the original restaurant and sit upstairs, where they will bring your your meal. whew. sounds complicated, right? it is! when we were at native foods, there was no seating upstairs, so we had to eat in the take-out part of the restaurant. and unfortunately, if you dine in that area, you have to eat your food from a to-go container and not off real dishes. oh well, the food tasted great nonetheless!

while the dine-in experience was a little awkward due to the logistics of the westwood location, i was completely blown away by my meal at native foods and i can’t wait to order even more stuff off the new menu. they’ve got daiya quesadillas, pizzas, chili cheese fries, and more. but seriously dudes, get to native foods NOW and eat the bacon cheeseburger. it’s fucking amazing.

native foods
1110 1/2 Gayley Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 209-1055
Monday-Sunday
11AM – 10PM

this is fucking crazy. vegans, you need to drop whatever you are doing and hunt down the frysmith ASAP. the awesome food truck that has already been making delicious vegan chili fries has now added vegan daiya cheddar to their menu. we begged for this in our last post, but i never thought anyone would actually listen!

check out their website for their schedule, and follow them on twitter for updates. GO GET DAIYA VEGAN CHILI CHEESE FRIES NOW…LIKE, TONIGHT! the fries were amazing before, so i can’t even wrap my mind around this shit. i just can’t believe vegans are finally getting to eat greasy truck food like everyone else. wow.

Read the rest of this entry »

vegan bacon cheeseburger. redwood foods rashers, vbites burger patties, and daiya cheese. no joke kids, this is seriously the best vegan burger i’ve EVER HAD. i cannot wait until all these products become available in the states. for now, you can get the daiya in LA….but you will have to go to the UK to get the burger patty and bacon. let’s hope this becomes available to the masses super soon.

our trusty quarrygirl operative who us evidence of vegan pizza in las vegas is now stationed in san diego…and guess what? there’s vegan pizza there as well!

Read the rest of this entry »

great news, los angeles vegans! cinnamon in highland park now has DAIYA CHEESE!!!! named one of the top 5 vegetarian restaurants in los angeles, cinnamon has been one of our favorites for a long time. they specialize in light but traditional meatless mexican cuisine, and they are becoming more and more vegan-friendly as the days go by. now that they have added daiya cheese to their arsenal, i know i will be visiting much more frequently.

i know that there are tons of daiya pizza options in town…but cinnamon is one of only two mexican restaurants that offer the stretchy, gooey, realistic miracle product. i stopped by cinnamon this weekend to try out the new daiya, and it was awesome as always. they give you the choice of “cheddar” or “italian” flavor, my favorite being the cheddar.

i had my daiya in a plain quesadilla…which may sound a bit boring, but oh man was it delicious. the tortilla was soft and perfectly grilled, and the cheese was melted and sooooo real tasting. it went down great dunked in cinnamon’s amazing hot sauce and slathered with flesh guacamole. seriously, there is no vegan product on this earth i love more than cheddar daiya.

i can’t wait to get back to cinnamon and try out daiya in even more exciting dishes….i am thinking vegan cheese enchiladas next time. who’s with me? and if you haven’t tried cinnamon yet, you really are missing out. we wouldn’t name it one of the best vegetarian restaurants in LA for no reason, now would we?!

cinnamon vegetarian
5511 N Figueroa St
Los Angeles, CA 90042
(323) 982-9480

match vegan chicken quesadillas with daiya cheese.

have you tried match premium meat alternatives yet? this stuff is insane.

recently match sent me some samples to try, and i used their very versatile “chicken” to whip up some vegan quesadillas.

with the help of daiya cheese, this was hands down the best and most “real” tasting vegan quesadilla i’ve ever had. you could serve this to an omnivore, and they would never know they were eating vegan meat & cheese. seriously, this tasted just like the standard rich appetizer so many restaurants serve.

match is a vegan meat alternative that’s so convincing, it’s just unbelievable! you cook with it exactly like you would meat, it acts like meat, except no harm goes into making it. i seriously think that it’s this kind of product that could sway omnivores to consider a vegan diet—it’s game-changing.

if you live on the east coast, you can probably buy match at a store near you. unfortunately for us here in los angeles, right now our only option is to order it online…both cosmo’s vegan shoppe and vegan essentials carry it. the possibilities are endless with this stuff.

i am loving gardein’s new vegan frozen food line, and finally it’s available in los angeles. i’ve already told you all about the amazing spicy buffalo wings, so today it’s all about chick’n good stuff.

this little meal comes in packs of two and is basically a vegan take on stuffed chicken, complete with marinara sauce and daiya cheese in the middle. i topped mine with even more daiya cheese that i had on hand, and served it up with roasted brussels sprouts and collard greens.

on bite of this thing, and i was SOLD. the crispy bread crumb coating was garlicky and flavorful, and the vegan chicken was moist and perfectly chewy. as soon as i cut into it, rich daiya cheese and marinara sauce oozed out of it all over the place. the sauce was awesome, and i’m sure you already know how amazing daiya is. i’ve never had a vegan frozen product this tasty….seriously!

each stuffed chick’n is definitely enough for a 1 person meal…i even had a bit left over. these things pack so much decadent taste, i couldn’t believe it when i picked up the package and saw they only contain 210 calories each! i know i will be eating these on a regular basis.

oh and it looks like i CAN be eating these on a regular basis, because they are available at ralphs! i’d never seen gardein at a normal supermarket before, so i was pleasantly surprised when i saw their entire frozen line in stock at ralphs in hollywood yesterday. and at just under $4.50 per bag, the price is right as well.

come on, it’s VEGAN CHICKEN stuffed with VEGAN CHEESE….available at the grocery store!!!! i never thought i’d see the day!

it’s been a bad year for some of our favorite restaurants. a taste of life has closed its storefront, that’s amore is completely gone, and flore cafe is on the brink of shutting down as well. on top of all this, today i found out that the shitty economy is threatening the best place to get vegan pizza in los angeles: purgatory pizza.

vegan pizza: daiya cheese, roasted garlic, fresh basil, tomatoes, red onions.

the owner of purgatory pizza tweeted this morning, “TRYING to stay open…. Damn economy!” i dug a bit deeper, and the restaurant confirmed that if business doesn’t pick up, it’s a very real possibility that they could be forced to close their doors. i can’t even stress to you WHAT AN EPIC TRAGEDY THIS WOULD BE FOR THE LOS ANGELES VEGAN SCENE. after all, purgatory was named one of the top 5 omnivorous restaurants in los angeles. i know that tons of places in LA are offering daiya pizza now, but purgatory is the only place where you can get pizza with daiya cheese, gardein vegan chicken, AND field roast artisan grain meats. it’s also the best place to get nyc style vegan pizza in town, and they even have vegan pesto as well!

Vegan Chicken Pesto Pizza with Gardein and Daiya at Purgatory Pizza.

seriously, purgatory pizza is a one-of-a-kind restaurant and we can’t let it go out of business. they were the first pizza place to bend over backwards for vegans in los angeles, and i think it’s safe to say they have some of the best (if not THE BEST) vegan pizza in LA. they are a little bit out of the way for most folks, but the food is worth it and they have a quiet atmosphere where you can BYOB! so get out and spend some money at purgatory pizza ASAP. i highly recommend you try either the gardein chicken with pesto or the “classic” pizza with added field roast sausage. they know how to melt daiya vegan cheese perfectly, and i’ve never had a pizza there i didn’t absolutely love. if they shut down, i will cry.

purgatory pizza
1326 East 1st Street
Los Angeles CA 90033
(323) 262-5310

UPDATE 11/12: apparently some zpizza locations are now carrying non-vegan crumbles. so be sure to check ingredients before eating.

UPDATE 11/11: i have been talking to zpizza, and the veggie crumbles are STILL VEGAN, and they are lining up a new supplier!

UPDATE 10/15: zpizza corporate has contacted me, and they still have the OLD (vegan) morningstar crumbles in stock…and that stock should last for about 2 months. zpizza is scrambling right now to find new replacement crumbles that are still vegan. i’m sure with all the great faux meats out there, they will be successful. we will keep you updated! THANKS FOR BEING SO AWESOME, ZPIZZA. you make my vegan heart and tummy happy!

UPDATE 10/10: since the time of this post, i have learned that zpizza’s veggie crumbles are NO LONGER VEGAN. this isn’t zpizza’s fault…unfortunately, they use morningstar farms meal starters which used to be vegan but now CONTAIN MILK AND EGGS! GAH! why did morningstar farms have to go and ruin a good thing. SHAME ON THEM. you should still totally go to zpizza though, just avoid the crumbles.

…and that means vegan zpizza with daiya cheese!

i seriously can’t believe how the vegan pizza scene in los angeles has exploded over the past few months. we went from having almost no pizza options to having several, with tons of pizzerias offering daiya vegan cheese (a product so convincing and amazing, it changed my life). and of all the vegan pizza options in this town, one of the tastiest (and by far the most convenient) is zpizza, a national pizza chain with several LA locations. we have been working our way through the the zpizza menu, veganizing different pizzas to find which one is the best. recently we tried out the tuscan, which was amazing, and since then we have tried two more delicious creations.

vegan sausage and mushroom pizza with soy crumbles and daiya cheese

the first was from the “pizza standards” menu, a veganized version of the sausage and mushroom. we ordered the pizza and substituted daiya for real cheese, and soy crumbles for sausage. we also got it with roasted garlic sauce, because that sauce is the best sauce on the planet. this may sound like a pretty typical combo, but i can tell you this pizza was nothing short of spectacular. it was right up there in with the tuscan in awesomeness…perfectly garlicky and creamy with succulent mushrooms and fennel-seasoned crumbles. i highly recommend you try this one out.

the next pizza we tried was the provence (veganized) from the zpizza creations menu…

vegan provence pizza with daiya cheese. hold the capers, add mushrooms.

this pizza normally comes with capers, which we replaced with mushrooms….so our provence was covered with tomato sauce, roasted garlic sauce, daiya cheese, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, tomatoes and fresh basil. this pizza was also really damn tasty, i loved the two sauce combination! the ingredients were all super fresh, and the thing was packed with flavor from the garlic sauce and basil. while i didn’t like this quite as much as the tuscan or sausage and mushroom, i’d highly suggest you try it if you are in an italian-y pizza kind of mood.

so what are you gonna order on your pizza tonight?! remember, friday night is PIZZA NIGHT!!!! hit up zpizza and go wild. here is a list of their vegan options!

whole foods has done it again. the prepared food section that was one of the first places in los angeles to get daiya covered pizza, hot gardein products, and basu’s homestlye masala is now wowing us again with another revolutionary product, black garlic.

starting out as normal garlic, black garlic undergoes an intense and complicated fermentation process that makes it darker in color, sweeter to the taste, and stickier to the touch. it’s fruity and tangy, yet mild…filled with complex flavors, minus the annoying stuff that usually comes with garlic like pungent odor. that’s right, you can eat a mouth full of this delicious stuff and not walk away with bad breath. do i have your attention now?

being a longtime garlic fan and huge pizza lover, imagine how excited i was when the folks at whole foods and black garlic invited me to the weho store to taste the new product that they are rolling out this week in their prepared food section on some daiya covered vegan pizzas! i went in with pretty high expectations, all of which were exceeded. the black garlic was incredible!

the first type of pizza i sampled was whole foods’ special seasonal creation, the fall harvest or “deconstructed cabbage roll” pizza. this thing came covered in mozzarella and cheddar daiya, tomato sauce, shredded cabbage, green apple, black garlic and agave nectar. i’m usually not a fan of fruit on pizza at all, but this thing really blew me away. the sweetness was perfectly paired with black garlic’s subtle tangy-ness, and the 2 types of daiya added a load of rich flavor. speaking of daiya, whole foods weho really knows how to work with it on pizza…adding just the right amount for optimum melt without annoying clumpage that comes with too much cheese.

the second pizza i tried was italian-inspired and covered in pesto sauce, mozzarella daiya, tomatoes and black garlic. this is typically the kind of pizza i would order with roasted garlic, but the black garlic gave it a much more complex and rich flavor, without overpowering the pesto.

after trying these two pizzas and tasting some of the black garlic on its own, i’m thinking this stuff has endless possibilities. for garlic lovers, it introduces a whole new world of complex flavors….and for people who haven’t discovered the joys of garlic yet, this stuff isn’t all acrid and intimidating. on top of being delicious, black garlic is extremely healthy as well. it’s loaded up with twice as many antioxidants as raw garlic, and contains a cancer-preventing compound called S-Allycysteine!

black garlic is available in the prepared foods section of whole foods west hollywood this week, and should be rolled out at other socal outlets over the next couple weeks. i highly suggest you get over there and try this stuff asap on a vegan pizza. it’s like nothing i’ve ever tasted. plus, whole foods pizzas are cheap as hell. for about 15 bucks, you get enough vegan pizza to feed about 5 people!

for more info on black garlic, check out their website and follow them on twitter.

whole foods weho
7871 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90046-5344
(323) 848-4200

daiya vegan cheese pizza with gardein crumbles

a couple nights ago i got together with some friends and had a good old-fashioned vegan pizza throw down. the los angeles vegan pizza scene has kind of exploded lately, since daiya vegan cheese has become available at purgatory pizza, cruzer, whole foods and zpizza—so i went for quite a while without making pizza at home.

luckily now, daiya vegan shreds are available not just on take out pizza, but for to-go purchase by weight at nearly every whole foods in the los angeles area. no more ordering online and paying outrageous shipping fees—now you can take a stroll to the nearest whole foods and buy as many containers of daiya as you can carry. i suggest you follow my lead, round up some friends, and throw your own pizza party.

we made several pizzas, although some of them were devoured before i could photograph them. in addition to covering the pies with daiya, we also topped them with products from one of our favorite fake meat providers, gardein. if you haven’t had gardein yet, you really need to find out what you are missing. they have the BEST mock chicken product around, as well as mock pulled pork, mock beef, and other mock meats. you can find their stuff at whole foods, trader joes, fresh and easy, and even sometimes at ralphs. for more info, check out their website.

on the pizza pictured above, we used gardein’s meatless crumbles which were insanely delicious. they were soft and flavorful and tasted so much like what i remember ground beef tasting like…but without the weird animal texture. my favorite pizza of the night, however, was the one pictured below: white sauce, sauteed mushrooms, garlic, gardein chik’n strips and daiya vegan cheese. this thing was freaking incredible. the white sauce was filled with herbs, oil & seasoning, and was the perfect compliment to the meaty chik’n strips.

white vegan pizza with daiya cheese and gardein chick'n strips

these chik’n slices are definitely one of my favorite gardein products—i have had omnivores tell me they taste way better than real chicken. they are moist and full of flavor, but not overly dry like gross real meat. seriously, a bite of these mixed up with melted daiya and oily sauce is nothing short of heavenly.

as you can tell, the pizza shindig was a huge success thanks to all the amazing toppings, and also to the excellent pizza chef studiodrome who spent a lot of time in the kitchen making these things.

so what are you waiting for? everything you need to make the pizza of your dreams is available at nearby supermarkets. to think a year ago in los angeles, there were basically no vegan pizza options—and now we can make incredible vegan pizzas AT HOME with cheese and meat that taste like the real thing…it’s pretty damn amazing.

check your local whole foods for daiya vegan cheese, and check gardein’s website for where you can find their products.

oh, and if you feel lazy and want a gardein daiya pizza made for you, head on over to purgatory pizza. i’m pretty sure they are the only place that carries both these products right now. and they make the best pesto pizza with gardein chik’n that i’ve ever had.

gardein chicken sandwich: gardein chicken breast marinated w/ rosemary garlic & lemon juice, baby spinach, fresh tomato, cucumber, daiya cheese and vegenaise. $6.99

while the westside has lots of perks like money, beaches and prius-driving environmentalists, one thing it has been lacking for quite some time is quality vegan-friendly restaurants….especially in culver city. sure, for a while they’ve had m cafe, tender greens and akasha…but there hasn’t been a place to get a huge, cheap, satisfying vegan meal…until now. green peas casual food is a new cafe that opened in late june and offers loads of vegan options including sandwiches, salads, quesadillas, and even pizzas.

we checked out green peas recently and were quite impressed with the quality of food, low prices, and friendly staff. the first thing we ordered was the gardein chicken sandwich, a thick ciabatta roll topped with gardein chicken breast, melty daiya cheese and fresh vegetables. the sandwich originally came with bell peppers, and when we asked for them to be left off, the dude at the counter suggested we replace them with any other vegetable. see that? nice, helpful service? most places will just omit ingredients without offering to replace them.

the sandwich itself was huge and awesome. it came with a large side salad of dark leafy greens, and was absolutely packed with vegetables, gardein and daiya. i couldn’t believe this thing was only $6.99. at most vegan places, a sandwich this good with a side would be around $11-$12. what a score!

we also ordered the vegan pizza which came piled with grilled vegetables and daiya cheese. even though the menu at green peas describes it as soy cheese, rest assured, this stuff was definitely daiya. again, we got this without bell peppers and opted for sundried tomatoes instead. now you can’t really tell by the picture, but this pizza was massvie…enough for 2 people and only $7.99. i love that so many places are serving daiya now, we are truly spoiled in los angeles when it comes to vegan pizza.

vegetable pizza: grilled carrots, grilled zucchini, grilled eggplant, grilled red onions and daiya cheese. $7.99

the vibe at green peas is upscale casual. everything is super clean and well-presented, but you order at the counter and seat yourself. the food comes out rapidly, i’d we went from ordering to eating in less than ten minutes.

so westside vegans, head over to green peas as soon as you can. fill up on gardein packed sandwiches, daiya covered pizzas, quesadillas, salads and tofu scrambles. everything on the menu is under ten bucks, the portions are huge, and the food is fucking delicious. definitely one of my new faves.

green peas
4437 Sepulveda Blvd
Culver City, CA 90230
(310) 397-9815
6am-10pm