i recently spent some time in fort myers, fl, visiting my parents. fort myers has pretty limited vegan options and i’d been to them all over the years. i was checkin’ around on my happycow app i found out about cool hand luc’s, a new ice cream shop/cafe that serves (GASP) vegan ice cream! i HAD to have it!

i strolled on up to the ice cream case and one thing i noticed right off the bat – anything that HAS dairy is marked as having dairy. anything that is vegan is just labeled with the flavor. lovesssitttt. i got peanut butter, naturally. lemme tell you this: it was fucking delicious. super creamy and peanut-buttery. i’m even going to go so far as to say it’s better than local LA heroes, scoops. cool hand luc’s, why are you so far away from me?!

my mom was hungry and decide to get the “burn after eating” – a pita stuffed with buffalo tempeh and vegan ranch.

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hey everyone! time for another northern california post from our field reporter, righteous fist! you may remember his last soul food find in eureka, and today he’s bloggin’ breakfast foods from arcata. enjoy!

On our way out of Eureka we made a stop for breakfast at Wildflower Cafe in Arcata. They serve eggs and dairy there but also have a good number of vegan choices. Since having so many options to choose from was a rare occurrence on this road trip, I opted for both a savory AND sweet dish.

Scrambled Tofu - Locally made tofu, sauteed with ginger, garlic, onions, and a wonderful blend of herbs and spices. Served with homefries. $8

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heyo! today we’re bringing you a field report on soul food in northern cali. who doesn’t LOVE soul food? nobody! now sit back and enjoy this post about bless my soul in eureka…courtesy of field reporter, “righteous fist”!

Stopping off in Eureka on my way up the coast my Happy Cow app (which I’m grateful for) lead me to Bless My Soul Café, a small soul food spot on 5th street that serves both meat and veg options.

I opted for the “Veggie Plate” with sweet potato and collard greens…

veggie plate (vegan): red beans and rice and a choice of 2 veggie sides, salad and corn muffin. $12.95

And my mom who went on this adventure with me ordered the same but with different sides (creole corn and sautéed cabbage)washed down with their very own secret recipe sweet tea…

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hey everyone! i’m so bummed i was outta town for FYF fest (aka LA’s best music event) this year, but our field reporter brittany was there and has your vegan wrap up. for more of her awesomeness, follow her on twitter and check out the daily kev. here ya go! -QG

fyf fest finally happened after months of being tortured with an amazing line-up and dealing with emotional scarring from last year’s festivities. okay, that’s a TAD dramatic. last year was a total shitshow and it did make me question if going this year was worth it. but, i went, i saw some great performances, and i ate!

first up was lunch from the yummy one truck. i saw the “bi bim burrito” on the menu and suddenly went from “eh i could eat” to “i’m fucking starving”. i ordered and was served faster than you can say… bi bim burrito.

tofu bi bim burrito: mixed asian style salad with romaine lettuce, red onions, cilantro, tomato and cucumber with marinated tofu and sesame dressing.

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when planning my trip to the east coast i started asking around for friends’ favorite spots to eat and drink. Red Bamboo came up undoubtedly every single time. i’m talking even from omnivores. so after walking around all day in the rain and having a few beers we strolled on over in anticipation of a great meal. we walked in and there were already several people waiting before us but fortunately for our empty tummies we only had to wait about 10 minutes. the seating was a little close for my taste but what’s new in new york city?

for dinner my partner went with tonkatsu “chops” that were served with steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes. the faux meat was breaded and covered in sauce (as the traditional meal is done) and was pretty tasty. the texture of the “chops” in my mouth was really smooth and unlike other fake meats i’ve had.

Tonkatsu Chops: Lightly seasoned gluten pork chops served with a side of steamed vegetables, sweet corn mashed potatoes and savory tonkatsu sauce… 9.95

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hey everyone, time for a vegan field report from north carolina! today’s post comes to us from amy to zucchini and she’s reviewing the very first vegfest in asheville. i’m actually pretty jealous of all this delicious looking food—we should start up an LA vegfest, stat!

Asheville is a unique little city in the hills of western North Carolina. By tourists and locals alike it is often described as a ‘hippie town’ and lives up to the reputation with street performers and buskers on every other corner, a penchant for open-air markets and fairs and at least 4 fully vegetarian/vegan-friendly restaurants. (In fact Asheville’s only all-vegan restaurant, Plant, opened just a few days ago). So I was pumped when I heard about the first annual VegFest that would be taking place downtown on Sunday, August 7. It was Asheville’s first and mine too!

I took my omnivore dad with me, just to keep things interesting and get him excited about veggie eats. It was a fun event, with lots of vendors selling food, local restaurants representing, and booths with animal rescue shelters and sanctuaries providing information on their causes. There was a whole kid’s section too with games and activities. After doing a lap and scoping things out it was food time.

We started off with a tofu dog from Avery’s Hot Dogs A hearty and delicious dog, we went classic with mustard and sauerkraut for $5 With Highland Brewery’s Gaelic Ale.

Tempeh reuben from Green Light Cafe, $7. Difficult decision over their tempeh tacos with avocado, slaw and cilantro-lime cream sauce but glad we went with the reuben. Wonderful flavors and great bread.

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hey everyone! i’m very pleased and honored to report that today we have a guest post from one of my favorite bloggers, fat gay vegan. he usually writes about places in london where he lives, but today he has taken time from his relaxing spanish vacation to send us a review of a vegetarian restaurant in barcelona. my mouth is watering…enjoy!

If you are ever fortunate enough to find yourself in the breathtaking city of Barcelona, you certainly will not go hungry. This world-class destination is packed solid with vegan dining and shopping options. There are at least two vegan grocery stores as well as a vegan deli, numerous restaurants, falafel merchants, juice stands, organic grocers and even Indian cuisine suitable for cruelty-free diners. I have taken leave from my own blog to wander across to talk to you about that last category… Indian food.

Veg World India is situated in the historical inner-city neighbourhood of Gràcia that once stood alone from Barcelona as a separate village. This district is cluttered with bars, coffee shops, cinemas and boutiques. It delicately treads that fine line between local tradition and chic progress perfectly. Veg World India slots effortlessly into this bustling bohemia and offers a satisfying food experience.

A sign outside reading “90% Vegan” was a lovely welcome on my visit and the knowledgable servers went out of their way to ensure all my vegan concerns were met. The starter plate for two was modified to remove paneer and we were informed our choices would be cooked in separate oil.

Everything on the plate was fabulous with special mention going to the outstanding onion bhajis.

My main meal was a stunning combination of lemon rice, cauliflower/potato curry as well as a spinach/tofu curry. A basket of naan bread was supplied with the meal and refilled as quickly as I could empty it.

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hey everyone! today we have a guest post from the makers of one of our favorite vegan products, upton’s naturals seitan. they hosted a “vegan chef showdown” over the weekend in chicago and they sent us a rundown and pictures from the event. i think we definitely need to organize something like this in los angeles. enjoy!

This past weekend Chicago was the proud home of the first ever Chicago Vegan Chef Showdown hosted by animal heroes, Mercy for Animals and local seitan producers, Upton’s Naturals. The event worked like this: 12 teams of chefs cooked their butts off in advance of the Saturday afternoon competition, arriving with food prepared and ready to be served to the hungry line of vegans waiting outside. The only rules were that the food had to be vegan and had to use one of the four available types of Upton’s Naturals seitan (Traditional, Ground, Italian, or Chorizo). Beyond that, the chefs, a mix of professionals, culinary students, and amateurs, were allowed to be completely creative with their dishes.

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hey everyone! time for an OC field report from reader nicky tracy. in the following post, she explores a mostly vegan and gluten-free bakery called sensitive sweets in fountain valley. i can’t wait to check this place out!

Vegan dining options in Orange County aren’t exactly few and far between, but when you’re gluten-free and have an insatiable sweet tooth, that can be a whole ‘nother story entirely. Naturally when I got wind that an all gluten-free and vegan-friendly bakery had opened up in northern Orange County, I couldn’t wait to investigate. Sensitive Sweets, located off of Brookhurst and Slater Ave in Fountain Valley in a little strip mall next to Le V Cuisine and Golden Scorpion Tattoo, offers some of the best vegan gluten-free breads, cupcakes, cookies and muffins I’ve had yet, without charging an arm and a leg and without the nasty aftertaste typically left behind by garbanzo/fava bean-based baked goods.

Although not everything in the bakery is vegan (the lemon bars and fudge brownies both contain egg and the marshmallows they use contain gelatin), most of their sweets are vegan-friendly and those that aren’t are clearly marked otherwise.

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hey everyone, time for another quickbite from our resident pizza expert jon. you may remember him from the garage pizza review, or the post about john’s of 12th street. his brother is scott of scott’s pizza tours, so obviously a love of pizza runs in the family. anyways here’s his take on 900 degrees, a new pizzeria in manhattan’s west village…

900 Degrees in NYC is amazing. It’s just over a month old and they have a few options on the menu for vegetarians and vegans. Some pizzas are not on the menu, but are totally vegan and totally amazing.

Chef, Audrey Sherman, made me a pizza with a roasted garlic white bean spread, fried leeks, sicilian black olives, white asparagus and swiss chard sprinkled with olive oil.

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hey everyone! time for another field report from rachel of power cut jewelry (check out her etsy site for awesome vegan and beatles-related items!). today she blogs about LA’s newest all vegan bakery, no udder desserts in woodland hills. check it out.

“The San Fernando Valley…it’s not the hippest place in the world, but it’ll do. It’s so unhip that it’s probably hip.” -Tom Petty

I suffered through the LVUSD school system and I’ve been engulfed by a bubble called “the valley” my whole life. Besides Tom Petty songs that make me happy to be a valley citizen, I have a strong dislike of the place. It’s too hot, the people are conceited, rude and terrible drivers lurk everywhere. One of my favorite restaurants, Madeleine Bistro, is hardly open and most recently the only somewhat decent vegan Thai place began serving meat. Although I complain, the most important thing about the valley is that my dog loves it here.

About two months ago, I randomly read about No Udder Desserts opening a storefront in Woodland Hills. Started by Trisha Lobefaro a few years ago, No Udder Desserts has been sold at various places in the L.A. area and can now be found at a quaint little bakery smack dab in the valley.

The umbrella is hiding the word "vegan", but it IS there!

The shop is nestled in a little outdoor mall near a Target and Payless Shoes, it might be hard to find if you’re unfamiliar with the area, but luckily a sign reading “Vegan Bakery” adorns the main window. Inside is very small, with two tables and one outside the doors; although I didn’t eat inside, I can imagine sitting there with friends over some coffee and sweets would be quite nice.

I first went here about a month ago and was pleased to see that many of the cake offerings were petit fours. They’re the perfect size for when you want to indulge, yet not overdo it. I left No Udder Desserts with a pecan bar which was delicious. I immediately told Quarrygirl that I wanted to do a field report on this place!

I finally made it back to No Udder Desserts earlier this week, and got myself more than just one thing to try. Various bite-sized cakes that caught my eye were carrot, coconut, and chocolate. I also tried a lemon bar, pumpkin “cheezecake”, whoopie pie, chocolate chip cookie and I couldn’t leave without another pecan bar.

Carrot cake, chocolate cake, lemon bar, coconut cake, and a pecan bar in the middle

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we get a lot of field reports here on the blog from all over the place, and i think this one has to be my favorite of all. jon sent us this post from john’s of 12th street in nyc, an italian restaurant that’s been around for over a century and recently added a separate vegan menu. i’m kinda freaking out. i seriously can’t wait to get to manhattan and hit this place up ASAP!

Basically, John’s has been around for 103 years – very old school NYC Italian restaurant. About 1.5-2 years ago, they decided to make some changes and introduced an entirely separate vegan menu, which includes separate vegan cooking utensils (whaaaaat?!).

Vegan Garlic Bread

They didn’t half-ass anything, either. They brought in vegan authors to learn about veganism and the chefs tinkered with recipes until they were 100% perfect and worthy of being served.

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i simply couldn’t believe it a couple weeks ago when i received an email from a reader named ashlee raving about the vegan options at cut steakhouse in beverly hills! apparently she’d been dragged there for a family function, and found that the restaurant offered a 3 course meal just for vegans. as she pointed out in her message, “Although I am positive that no vegan would ever willingly dine at CUT, I thought I’d inform you of this in case you or any of your blog readers are stuck in a situation (like I was) where they have to attend a steakhouse.” luckily for us, ashlee found herself back at cut recently with some guests from out of town, and she sent me some snaps of her meal to post on the blog. enjoy! hopefully this will come in handy next time you have to go to a fancy dinner with omnivores in beverly hills.

I had dinner at Cut and it was just as amazing as last time. I let the chef pick this time again because it was so good last time. The waiters at Cut are surprisingly knowledgeable about veganism…I mentioned I was a vegan and the waiter said “are you a full vegan or just a vegetarian? If you are a full vegan, I will be sure that nothing will have dairy in it and will bring some bread to the table that isn’t made with eggs or butter”.

First course: summer bean salad with veggies and pine nuts and a tahini dressing…

Second course: mushroom and shishito peppers in this asian sauce, caramelized summer corn, green bean mixture with sun dried tomatoes, and various greens/peas with caramelized onions…

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there’s a huge rivalry between the san francisco giants and philadelphia phillies, and i’m not referring to something as trivial as baseball. nope, i’m talking about which home stadium has the best vegan beer and food options. cititzens bank park in philly topped peta’s most vegetarian-friendly stadium list for years, only to be beat in 2011 by san francisco’s AT&T park. kevin of vegan brew brought us a vegan major league baseball report from philly in may, and he went to a giants game a couple nights ago just to do a firsthand comparison. let’s see how san fran measured up…

garlic fries. $7.25 and beer. $9.75

Here are the vegan options at Giants Stadium…

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i have never had vegan ethiopian food that i didn’t like. while in dc we saw a lot of ethiopian restaurants but instead of just popping into any random spot i relied, once again, on my buddy @kmudrick. he recommended Meskerem and we quickly headed on over.

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