hey everyone, time for another field report from our qg correspondent across the pond! check out dadatamonkey’s review of pho cafe in london. enjoy!

Phở Cafe opened in Clerkenwell in June 2005, and was London’s first Vietnamese “street food” restaurant, and has since grown to three cafes around London. The number of places selling Phở has since rocketed in London, however very few are truly suitable for vegans. Phở Cafe is different. They fully understand. I visited the Titchfield St branch, slap bang in the middle of ad agency land dahling.

Not surprisingly, given the name, they specialise in serving Phở (plus Goi & Bun), and very little else. Despite the short menu there is enough selection to keep you coming back for more, time after time. Well, actually I eat the same things every time after working through the entire menu over time!

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, well, well… time for another field report from my home town. An excellent vegan-friendly chain restaurant, chipotle, debuted in London this week, and of course we had an operative there on opening day to cover it. One thing I’ve been accustomed to in years of SoCal Mexican food is that there are high standards here. If I put my Brit hat on for a second, I can understand why dadatamonkey would feel as he does. I would. It’s worse than that… he’s dead, Jim…

It’s a burrito Jim, but not as we know it.

Well I popped along to the opening day of the new Chipotle “mexican” restaurant in London on Monday, after hearing, and reading (especially here) how good their food was. So was it good, bad, or just damn ugly? Read on. It’s kinda all three….

Lookin' good.

Read the rest of this entry »

it’s time for another vegan field report! this one, written by a brand new quarrygirl operative named steve, comes to us all the way from norfolk, virginia. here goes:

“I was looking for a job, and then I found a job, and heaven knows I’m miserable now.” – Steven Patrick Morrissey

It’s commonly known that every silver lining has a cloud. My silver lining was getting a job, but the cloud was having to spend some time in Norfolk, Virginia: A city of near unGoogleable veganocity. I mean, there’s not one vegan, or even vegetarian restaurant in the entire place.

So, on my first evening I wandered the streets late at night, happy in the haze of a drunken hour, heaven knows I was miserable now…. Until, that is, I hit upon the Taphouse Grill, a nondescript tavern hidden in a side street off the main drag. I intended to grab another beer so I could forget about my hunger and hopefully pass out when I got back to my hotel.

I walked in to a neighborhood pub: full of portly regulars downing beers (a good selection: the beer menu ran to several pages). There was a band playing by the window: Bob Marley covers seemed to be the order of the day. I sat at a table up against the wall, ordered a nice IPA and began to wish there was a ZPizza within delivery distance of where I was staying.

Read the rest of this entry »

finally, after much ado, we have our very own report on the vegan garden blend burrito (bowl) at chipotle that’s made with gardein chicken. no, the burrito has not hit los angeles yet…but luckily our field operative is stationed in new york where it’s available and was able to send us a brief rundown, complete with mouthwatering pictures. as usual, words taken from the agent’s report are in quotes…

Read the rest of this entry »

hey readers! today we have yet another vegan field report, and this time it’s from shine cafe in morrow bay. this one is written by brittany, who runs sick of lettuce. if you haven’t checked out her blog, you should! i will let her take it away:

shine cafe is located in morro bay, about 3 1/2 hours north up the coast. it is located in the back of sunshine grocery, which is probably the only health/natural foods store in the area (cause there ain’t much else!). the cafe is in the back of the store, i tried to get a picture of the kitchen area but the two guys working in the kitchen (who i think, judging by some family photos on the wall, were sons of the owner?) were on alert and i felt weird. anyway, the cafe area is super tiny with 3 tables, a huge chalk board menu on the wall, and an open kitchen which seemed to only consist of a hot plate, a sink, a few counters, and a few bakers’ racks full of small appliances and kitchen tools.

Read the rest of this entry »

well it has been a while since our last vegan field report from red velvet in las vegas, but i am happy to report that our operative is back in sin city and has even more delicious food to share with us.

Read the rest of this entry »

hey everyone, it’s time for another vegan field report/guest post! this time it comes from just around the corner in pasadena, by @ifitkillsjeff! enjoy, it’s a good one:

Occasionally I enjoy revisiting the 90’s; roller blades, hammer pants, grunge music, and Forrest Gump. A time I do not enjoy revisiting the 90’s is when it comes to vegan food. I feel that vegan dining has made so much progression in the past decade that the meal should not remind me of the vegan friendly places I visited in the late 90’s. My Vegan offers rice or noodle dishes with soy chicken, soy pepper steak, soy fish, seitan, or tofu. Sound familiar? Don’t we already have enough of these places in the Los Angeles area? They also have burgers, wraps, salads, curries, pancakes, and desserts.

teriyaki chicken: grilled soy chicken or topped with house teriyaki sauce, sesame seeds andand sprinkled with a touch of scallion. served with spring roll, salad, and brown rice. $7.95

Read the rest of this entry »

hey everyone, time for another field report from vegankitten. this one comes all the way from long beach, and reviews some vegan pho at number nine noodles! here you go:

When Number Nine opened on Retro Row in Long Beach a few years ago, I couldn’t help myself from stopping in to see if there were any vegan options. The Vietnamese restaurant is housed in a narrow building with white walls, modern, minimalist decor and big sign advertising NOODLES & BEER, all of which is very appealing to me. I was so excited to see the tiny menu was teaming with vegan options, including one of my all time favorites – PHO!

Let’s start with drinks: They offer 6 beers, 5 white wines, 4 red wines and 4 cocktails. Their menu is like their decor – minimalist. Our waitress was about as far from friendly as they come. She was awkward, uncomfortable and seemed suspicious of me and my camera. She asked for our drink orders and I asked her for a red wine recommendation. Keep in mind, they have FOUR RED WINES and she really gave me a hard time. If I ask for a recommendation, just give me your personal opinion, I’m not going to send it back! After asking a bunch of questions about my wine preferences, I settled on the Red Rock Merlot. If I would have taken a few seconds to check Barnivore I would have known it was not vegan-friendly. Sad. My dining companion ordered the Tiger Beer, which is vegan and only $4.00!

We had a few choices for our appetizer, but we chose the vegetarian spring rolls and Russian root vegetable salad. The spring rolls were amazing! The delicate rice paper was packed with tofu, mushrooms, lettuce, vermicelli and carrots. They were crispy, fresh and perfectly chilled. They were served with the sweetest, most delicious peanut sauce and Sriracha sauce, which I avoided. The peanut sauce was so delicious that, if I hadn’t been on a date, I would have eaten it with a spoon.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls. $7

Not surprisingly, we did not receive our russian root vegetable salad. The waitress didn’t write down our order and it was quite obvious to me from the get-go she wasn’t capable enough to take an order without writing it down. Unfortunately, we were in a bit of a rush trying to make a movie at The Art Theatre across the street and didn’t have time to ask for it.

Vegetarian Pho. $8

My dining companion and I both ordered the vegetarian pho as our main course. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, generally with a beef broth. I’ve rarely seen vegan versions of this delicious dish and have only had the pleasure of eating it at one other place – Gingergrass in Silverlake. I like interactive food, so I think that may have something to do with my attraction to pho. Along with your soup, you are brought a plate of garnishes to add to your soup at your discretion. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I usually find garnishes odd and the pho garnishes are no exception. They are intimidating, but I’ve eaten this dish enough times that I now embrace them. Number Nine offers the traditional pho garnishes: basil, lime wedges, bean sprouts, chili peppers, one sweet paste (Hoisin) and one spicy paste (Sriracha).

Although almost impossible to eat, Number Nine’s pho is delicious. The rice noodles at the bottom of the bowl are tied in a knot. Armed with only a pair of chop sticks and an asian soup spoon, breaking them apart is like solving a Rubik’s Cube. I recommend bringing a hair tie, as well! The ingredients included mushrooms, cilantro, onions, huge chunks of carrot and radish and the same amazingly seasoned firm tofu found in the spring rolls. From our garnish plate, I added the juice of one lime wedge, a bunch of bean sprouts and all of the Hoisin Sause. It was so tasty and the perfect meal for a blustery Southern California day. And would you believe it’s only $8.00? I can’t…just look at the huge bowl!

This is the third time I have been to Number Nine and I’m definitely going back. The service has always left something to be desired, and this time was the worst, but the food truly makes up for it. Plus it’s located on the coolest street in Long Beach. Number Nine is located in the heart of Retro Row and a block away from the beginning of Alcohol Alley. What more could you ask for 🙂

Number Nine
2118 East 4th Street
Long Beach, CA 90814
(562) 434-2009
Open Sun-Thu 12:00pm-9:30pm; Fri + Sat 12:00pm-10:00pm

heyo, readers! time for another vegan field report! this one comes to us from all the way across the pond, by da datamonkey in london! here’s a very humorous review of mango tree, a super vegan-friendly thai restaurant that i can’t wait to visit:

Let me start off by saying, I’ll give full disclosure! Mango Tree is my favourite Thai restaurant in London. I’ve been lucky enough to have been eating here for years, having found it by chance one day! What a good day that was. The menu is taken from all over Thailand – the milder cooking of the North (often influenced by Muslim curries), the spicy but simpler food of the East, the fiery heat and complexity of Southern dishes, to the Chinese/Thai style of the Central regions – and hand crafted into the refined “Royal Court Cuisine” style of Bangkok Palaces, with street influences in there too. Add in a slight Western take from Mark, the executive chef, and it really rocks. Be aware that MT is often fully booked from opening through to closing, so booking ahead can be essential (300 covers a night is not unusual). If you can, book using toptable and get 50% off your food bill (but not booze sadly). But even at full price it’s still great value! Suffice to say I normally eat here once a week and get severe withdrawal symptoms if it goes beyond 12 days…

Read the rest of this entry »

hey everyone, time for another vegan field report written by vegankitten! here ya go:

This is my last night is Vegas and I wanted to get a little creative for my final dinner. I ran across a Las Vegas Restaurant Guide site called lvvegan.com and noticed they had a tab for Japanese food. My omnivore traveling companion has been talking about miso soup non-stop for days, as it was her only experience up ’til now eating tofu. I got pretty excited when I read that Miko’s Izakaya Sushi & Tapanese has their own vegetarian menu and I knew we had to check it out.

It didn’t disappoint. The proprietor was also our waiter and his eyes lit up when I mentioned I am vegan. I grabbed a vegetarian menu for me and a regular menu for my buddy. He asked how I heard about the place, where we were from and was generally very chatty. He was very excited to tell us that he is discussing teaming up with Red Velvet Cafe to offer their cupcakes. Hopefully the excitement of my non-vegan dining companion at this news was enough to convince him it is a great idea!

The sushi bar was packed and the diners were enjoying sports highlights on the big screen TV. The atmosphere was really relaxed and the staff was super friendly! They were playing Social Distortion in the bathroom and the lotion on the counter was not tested on animals. Yay!

On to the food: I am not used to having so many vegan sushi options. The menu was front and back and very overwhelming for me, as it included many ingredients I wasn’t familiar with. I left it up to the owner and he chose the Age Tofu Roll. I added Inari and Edamame to the order. My buddy ordered the miso soup she was so excited about and the owner was kind enough to let me know I couldn’t eat it that day, as they has added bonito fish flakes.

The edamame was particularly delicious. Each bite was coated in salt and pepper. I’ve never had edamame with pepper before, so this was quite a treat. It was beautiful, too!

The Inari was some of the best I ever had. Fresh, sweet and moist.

Sadly, the Age Tofu Roll left a bit to be desired. The roll consisted of deep fried tofu, green onion and miso. I guess I was just looking for a little more excitement, because it was kind of bland. My biggest complaint was the sushi rice was very mushy in two out of the eight pieces. It was really strange and the other six had perfect texture. Next time I am going to be more adventurous and pick out something myself.

The absolute highlight of the meal was the tempura bananas. The owner happily explained their tempura batter is vegan and they do not use eggs, which I had also read online. We were in no way planning to eat desert, but can I really say “no” when the owner is offering us a delicious VEGAN option? We decided to share. Embarrassingly, sharing involved my friend gracefully eating two pieces while I wolfed down the other six. Ooops! They were delicately crisp on the outside and oh-so-warm and gooey on the inside. It was heavenly! The only thing that could have made it better was a vegan ice cream option on the side. Maybe next time???

I think Miko’s is one of my new favorite places. The staff was awesome, they love vegans and I love sushi. It’s a match made in heaven.

Miko’s Izakaya Sushi & Tapanese
500 E. Windmill Ln. Ste. 165
Las Vegas, NV 89123
(702) 823.2779
www.mikosushilasvegas.com
Open Monday-Thursday 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., Friday 4 p.m. to midnight, Saturday 5 p.m. to midnight, Sunday 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

hey readers, this is a very special guest post from none other than vegankitten who spent the last couple days in las vegas! she was kind enough to email me some great blog posts, so here’s the first one! take it away…

If you’re ever stuck at the Mandalay Bay for a convention, I suggest checking out the Burger Bar. The Vegas Vegan Burger came highly recommended, so I didn’t spend much time looking at the other options, although I should have for the sake of this review. There appeared to be another veggie burger on the menu, but I doubt it was vegan. However, there is a “build your own burger” menu that looks pretty do-able. (List of potentially vegan options at the bottom)

When we arrived, there was a 45 minute wait. The good news is Lush was directly across the walkway from Burger Bar and they were having a big sale. I did some shopping while we waited for our pager to buzz.

I went with an omnivore who has eaten her first two faux meat meals in the past two days and claimed to be “craving real meat” on our walk to the Burger Bar. Once were were seated and she browsed the menu, she ordered the Vegas Vegan, too. I would say that speaks volumes! Here’s the description per the menu:

Slow roasted eggplant, marinated and grilled roma tomato, grilled zucchinis, sauteed peppers. All sandwiched between two portobello mushroom caps.

The burger is served with skinny fries, but I requested mine with sweet potato fries. My eating companion kept the skinny fries and added a side salad. The burger arrived sliced in half, each half held together with a toothpick. This was necessity, as the veggies were slippery and smothered in juices. The second you removed the toothpicks, the whole thing fell apart. This was fine, because it was a delicious mess! The portobello mushroom caps were massive, fresh, firm and full of flavor. The veggies inside were cooked to perfection. The side of sweet potato fries was very generous and they were a perfect compliment to the burger. One of the most exciting parts was that I was not charged for substituting the sweet potato fries. It was $12.00 for this delicious lunch and, in Las Vegas, that’s a smokin’ deal!

The only thing which I found kind of odd was the garnish – but I often find garnish strange. Included on the plate was all the “fixin’s” for a burger – onion, lettuce, tomato and pickles. Not exactly appropriate for the type of burger we ordered.

Last but CERTAINLY not least, they have a pretty massive beer selection that takes up two pages of the menu. They have over 100 bottles of beers and about 25 on tap. I had a Pipeline Porter draft from Kona Brewing Company. Thank you Barnivore for letting me know if is vegan, too!

So the bottom line is this: Burger Bar is a fun place with good food and lots of tasty beer. I will definitely go here again!

Burger Bar
Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino
3950 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89119-1005
(702) 632-9364
Open Mon-Thu 10:30am-11pm; Fri 10:30am-2am; Sat 10am-2am; Sun 10am-11pm

Build your own Burger menu after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

as you know, this blog is mainly based in LA, except for when we travel…or when we get field reports from agents in other cities. lucky for y’all, tonight’s field report comes from our pacific northwest operative, who gives us a very brief yet drool-worthy review of seattle’s newish vegan and organic restaurant plum bistro.

plum apparently offers an AMAZING menu and is located conveniently on capitol hill, so you really have no excuse not to visit. let’s take a look at the food and read the one line reports of each item.

spicy mac n yease

“hands down ive had prob 10 diff vegan kinds and this was a bachelorette party in my mouth. ”

chili crusted seitan

“all as i can say as it was so good i finished this plate, even though it wasn’t mine because i couldn’t let the food go to waste.”

squash soup, the perfect starter

“perfect for the weather, perfect for the starter.”

[/caption

“it was perfect but i liked the chili seitan more because of the spice.”

tacos

traditional puerto rican mofongo

“fresh, delightful, flavor galore.”

from what i hear, everything was PERFECT…even better than it looks. so be sure to hit up plum vegan bistro in seattle when you have a chance.

from the report:

“all in all this was the best experience of seattle vegan food i have had on any of my visits…this was something different and so mind blowing to me, i was floored.

great service.
great atmosphere.
great food.”

Read the rest of this entry »

hey los angeles vegans, it’s time for another field report and this one is coming atcha from huntington beach. our field operative sent us some great info and pictures from an almost entirely vegan restaurant called good to go. the place focuses on simple, healthy, vegetable-filled living cuisine that won’t weigh you down and make you feel like shit.

red pepper hummus with lavash triangles.

he started with the red pepper hummus, served with lavash triangles for dipping. this thing got a rave review, and turns out it was made with italian squash rather than garbanzo beans.

vegan sushi: spicy tuna pate, mango, avocado, red onion, cucumber, carrots, and sprouts wrapped in dried nori accompanied by an asian cucumber slaw.

next up was the vegan sushi, nori rolls filled up with “tuna” pate and various fruits and vegetables, served with a side of asian cucumber slaw. refreshing, healthy, and colorful, this stuff is a welcome change from the decadent mock meats and cheese-filled entrees that so many los angeles vegan restaurants offer.

for his entree, our operative ordered the (sir) “wraps a lot,” which gives you a choice of several different vegetables, wraps, spreads and garnishes.

wraps a lot: cucumber, avocado, red onion, salsa and spiced pumpkin seeds wrapped in collard greens.

he went with cucumber, avocado, red onion, and salsa wrapped in collard greens and garnished with spicy pumpkin seeds. sounds like a pretty good choice to me, although all the options look delicious.

i’ve taken a look at good to go’s menu, and i can’t wait to get down to huntington beach and check this place out. they’ve got stuff like nachos with cashew cheese, brazil nut burgers, and fake tuna pate. i don’t think i would be able choose between it all.

our quarrygirl operative couldn’t speak highly enough of good to go. he has raved about it on a couple occasions, and made a really good point that we don’t report enough on the sort raw, healthy food that this place has to offer. not everything we eat has to resemble the dead animals we used to devour…right?!

go check out good to go ASAP. and follow them on twitter!

Good To Go
5930 Warner Avenue
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
714.840.6400

and special thanks to our field agent. if any of you readers wanna send in field reports on restaurants, please do!

vegan field agent