this chocolate creme filled treat is by far the best donut i’ve ever had, and it’s from the 100% vegan mighty-o in seattle.

i know i have gone on and on about mighty-o the past, and about ronald’s in vegas and so on…but this donut officially takes the cake (no pun intended).

creme filled donut $1.95 and mini donut 40¢

we stopped by mighty-o one morning on our recent trip to seattle, and i was planning on just ordering a couple of minis. when i saw the vanilla cake/chocolate creme filled donut staring up from me at the case though, i knew i had to have it…

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if you live in los angeles and want to have a completely unique vegan food experience, lemme tell you, it is definitely worth making the hour-plus drive to orange county to visit au lac. located in fountain valley, the humanese restaurant offers an entirely vegan menu, with several raw and cooked selections. all the raw foodies i know have nothing but wonderful things to say about this place, so my husband and i stopped in to check it out a few weeks ago when we were in the area.

we decided to go all out, ordering appetizers off both the raw and cooked menus, plus dessert (which is only available in raw). thankfully, although we ordered several dishes, the some of them were quite small, so we left feeling satisfied but not overly stuffed.

dau hu rang muoi: battered soft tofu seasoned in salt, black pepper, cilantro and jalapeno. $8

for our cooked appetizer, we started with a flash-fried tofu dish called ‘da hu rang muoi,’ which consisted of ultra-soft tofu in a light batter and cooked with salt, pepper, cilantro and jalapeno. this may sound like a typical asian tofu appetizer, but oh my word, it wasn’t! probably the best tofu dish i’ve ever tasted, it was barely coated with batter, completely covered in seasoning, and perfectly soft and moist in the middle.

for our raw appetizer, we went with the chimichurri, which turned out to be two slices of doughy bread with an oil and herb sauce for dipping. i seriously have no clue how they got ‘raw’ bread to taste so fucking good, but this dish was spongy, soft and porous beyond belief. even if you aren’t in to raw food, i’d recommend the chimichurri. not to mention the perfect infusion of fresh herbs and oil…excellent dipping sauce any way you look at it. at $5, it was pretty pricey for two pieces of bread, but i definitely think it was worth it.

chimichurri: dip with garlic bread. $5

for his main course, my husband ordered the ‘bo luc lac’, which was a massive plate of watercress and vegetables tossed in a light vinegar dressing, all topped with several slabs of faux beef. for just ten bucks this thing was absolutely huge, and everything tasted amazing. the soy meat was tender and well seasoned, and all the vegetables tasted extra fresh. i stole several bites of this throughout the meal.

bo luc lac: watercress, soy beef, garic, vinegar dressing, tomato, onion. $10

i went raw on my main dish and ordered jino’s pizza, a small round of raw bread covered in vegetables and a ‘cheese’ sauce. while i ended up liking my pizza in the long run, my enjoyment was overshadowed by the fact it arrived about 20 minutes later than my husband’s main course. in fact, he finished his food before i even started mine! when the pizza finally did arrive, it was delicious, albeit rather small for $12. i guess raw food is just phenomenally expensive any way you look at it, so at least this tasted really good. the crust was soft and squishy, kinda like the chimichurri appetizer, and was covered in just the right amount of herbs and vegetables. the cheese sauce was exceptionally creamy and tangy, and i couldn’t help but wonder what it would taste like on a plate of raw nachos. don’t let the picture fool you, the pizza was very small, maybe 3 or 4 inches across, i’d say the size of a medium pancake.

jinos pizza: roma, sundried tomato, marinara, basil, melted mozzarella. $12

au lac offers a raw dessert menu, and i was told by several people not to leave without trying the donut holes. while i was a bit skeptical of raw donut holes, these suckers definitely converted me. covered in a sugary powder, the round little treats had a distinctively nutty flavor and were filled with a thick rich syrup.

raw donut holes. $7

i actually almost spilled the syrup all over me when biting into the first one, because i didn’t know what to expect! while my husband wasn’t a fan of the donut holes at all, i thought they were wonderful. definitely like nothing i’ve ever eaten before, i highly recommend them.

so overall, our visit to au lac was a great success, leaving us filled to the brim with healthy vegan raw and cooked food. the cuisine there is definitely unusual, as is the decor (think asian-inspired 1980s), so this place may not be for everyone. although if you have an appreciation for raw food or humanese cuisine, or if you are just in for a tasty adventure, au lac will not disappoint.

plus, did i mention they have the coolest parking spots ever? check out the one above…reserved just for me. 🙂

au lac
16563 Brookhurst St
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
(714) 418-0658
Tue-Sun. 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Tue-Sun. 5:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

We’ve been contemplating a “Top 5 Vegan Restaurants in Southern California” post for a while, but with the notable fact that we’d never dined at Madeleine Bistro in Tarzana (frequently referred to as one of, if not the best vegan dining establishments on the West Coast). We couldn’t possibly start listing the wonderful restaurants we have here in SoCal, so we held off publishing this seminal piece.

Well, after a trip to Madeleine’s last weekend for brunch we can (spoiler alert!) confirm what we’ve been told for the last couple of years: Madeleine’s is without a doubt, and by a far margin, the absolute best vegan dining in Southern California. It’ll be #1 on our list, if – that is – we ever get around to writing the “Top 5” post! And, we only sampled the brunch menu — from what we’ve heard, dinner is even more astounding.

We’re talking menu composition, ingredients and food preparation waaaay beyond the norm here. After every first bite of each new dish we tried, we had instant eye contact followed by gasps and almost disbelief at what it was we were eating. For starters (although it was the dessert!) take a look at the chocolate soufflé with vanilla ice cream, this picture cannot begin to do it justice:

chocolate souffle with vanilla ice créme. $12

As my aunt could testify, a soufflé is almost impossible to cook successfully, as it has to be crispy on the top, spongy on the bottom and a smooth gradation in between – and that’s using non-vegan ingredients like eggs, cream and even GELATIN to prop up this most delicate of sweets. At Madeleine, though, the soufflé was incredible – I’m talking a perfection of texture and taste in every bite, and served at just the right temperature with cold ice cream on the side that (even on its own) would have been a completely scrumptious dessert.

Skipping back to the beginning of the meal, yet sticking (no pun intended) to sweet things, we enjoyed a donut that reminded me 100% of the French-style snack served all over Europe, yet with a lighter, purer texture that only non-dairy sweets can have. It was plump, round, slightly crispy on the outside yet perfectly fluffy on the inside and, just like the soufflé, served at exactly the right temperature, lightly dusted with crunchy sugar. It is, without a doubt the best donut I have ever eaten – vegan, vegetarian or omnivorous.

fresh organic donut. $2

So much for the beginning and end of our meal, but the in-between was even better!

the bigger maque: two no beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions. $11 add a side of potatoes. $3

I ordered the “Bigger Maque” with a side of breakfast potatoes, and had to have it ‘splained to me that the Bigger Maque was a pun on “Big Mac”, the ubiquitous McDonald’s ‘dish’ which, by its very existence, proves beyond a doubt that billions and billions are so misguided. Looking at the cross section of the Bigger Maque which (thankfully!) comes cut in two you see the complexity of this meal – meatless patties, lettuce, ‘cheese’, onions, pickles (thankfully optional in this case!) so carefully and beautifully packed inside a bun cut into three horizontally.

I polished off the Bigger Maque in record time, and punctuated every other bite by one of the breakfast potatoes – again, predictably, perfectly cooked and seasoned (crispy on the outside, soft on the inside yada yada, etc. etc. hopefully you’re noticing a theme here?).

porcini-crusted tofu benedict: smoked portobella mushrooms, rosti potatoes, hollandaise sauce. $15

I only managed a bite or two of our other entree, the “Porcini-crusted Tofu Benedict” which seemed not to be of this world. Again, perfectly designed, prepared and served with tastes and textures that defy words. Just like the Bigger Maque, this baby was layer upon layer of scrumptious ingredients. On the ground floor was a perfect medley of grated, fried potatoes all scrunched up into something resembling a burger patty, right above that were thinly sliced and (presumably) sauteed porcini mushrooms, the whole thing being topped off with a soft and tasty slab of tofu all hidden under a splash of yellow, tangy hollandaise sauce and surrounded by asparagus spears.

side of tempeh bacon. $3

Oh, I almost forgot that we ordered a side of Tempeh Bacon which disappeared pretty quickly. Crunch, crunch, munch munch and there was an empty plate. My only criticism of this side is that there wasn’t more of it. Like, a thousand times more of it so I could take it home and eat it forever – morning, noon and night. All night.

We also really loved the “Red Beet Tartare”, another creation of such taste and uniqueness that it’s difficult to describe in writing.

red beet tartare: warm tofu cheese crouton, english cucumber, balsamic glace. $13

Basically, you’re looking at a succulent patty of tofu cheese under a medley of finely diced and prepared beet, pickled to perfection all sitting on top of finely sliced cucumbers. After coming down off the entrees, our expectations were somewhat schizophrenic – on the one hand, sky high with anticipation, yet on the other wondering how they could possibly better what we’d just eaten. Well, the Red Beet Tartare delivered on every level imaginable. It kinda exists as a bridge between an entree and a desert, both in appearance and taste. Every bite starts with the cooler beet at the top, followed by the warm ‘cheese’ underneath, then a crunchy slice of cold cucumber to round off this diversity of textures and flavors. I define this dish as the ultimate synergy, defined as “the working together of two or more things to produce an effect greater than the sum of each”. This, my friends is an example of the real brilliance of culinary genius.

Oh, and not being familiar with the Madeleine menu, we were not aware that this is one of the signature dishes of the restaurant – an accolade so rightfully deserved.

Anyways, enough about the food. Ambience is important, and the high standards of the menu indicate that the interior of the restaurant has to be a notch or two above what you’d expect, and it is. Even allowing for the fact that all restaurants look better at night (those candles are strategically placed on every table for a reason!), Madeleine’s was relatively calm and peaceful on a Saturday late morning. People were bustling past outside, other customers were calling for reservations and the other clientele were clearly regulars – as will we after a few more more visits!

Our server was courteous, attentive, and knowledgeable. All the food appeared magically at just the right time, and the dishes were bussed with a smile. I can usually pick fault in any service, but not this time for sure.

The location is psychologically and physically far away from the Westside and all the potential well-heeled, guilty-rich-liberal types from Santa Monica that “dine vegan” as an occasional trend rather than a lifestyle commitment. However, it has an adjacent parking lot and is less than two minutes from the 101 freeway, so from West Hollywood it takes about the same amount of time to get there as would the tony establishments of Santa Monica (which can’t hold a candle to this place).

Talking of Westside vegetarian/vegan resturants, Madeleine’s delivers striking good value for money, especially when you consider that my Bigger Maque was priced at $11, less than the (inferior, prepared by line cooks, crappy dine-in experience) M Cafe Big Macro and $6 less than Real Food Daily’s “RFD Burger with The Works” which is basically inedible. Yeah, $13 for the “Red Beet Tartare” might seem like a lot of money at first glance, but it’s an entree that you will never, ever forget.

I only regret only one thing about Madeleine’s: that it’s been nearly three days since I ate there, and I have not been back for dinner yet – a travesty I fully intend to rectify as soon as possible!