UPDATE 9/17: as of sunday 9/20, THE VEGAN BRUNCH IS BACK!!! please go support flore cafe! we don’t want to see this brunch go away again!

UPDATE: unfortunately, due to slow business, the all-you-can-eat vegan brunch at flore cafe has been discontinued. you should still get over there ASAP though, as most of the brunch items are available on their menu.

so if you read this blog, you are probably already aware of the fact that a vegetarian restaurant called flore cafe now occupies the former space of the best vegan eatery in town (the vegan spot) and has recently started offering an awesome all-you-can-eat vegan brunch every sunday from 10am to 3pm for just 10 bucks. that’s right, probably the best vegan brunch deal ever conceived of, flore cafe provides quality vegan food in cafeteria-sized trays every week for a fixed price, and you can go up and get as many servings as you like. total recipe for over-indulgence disaster.

however this weekend, flore cafe started offering a different menu for the all you can eat brunch. today the tofu scramble and waffles were replaced with vegetable frittata and grilled “chicken” patties. both dishes were tasty, no doubt…but i can’t lie, i REALLY missed the tofu scramble.

flore cafe all you can eat vegan brunch. french toast, vegan bacon, vegetarian frittata and "chicken" patties. $10

the vegan menu this weekend consisted of french toast with berry compote, vegetable frittata, veggie bacon, grilled “chicken” patties, roasted breakfast potatoes, bread & jam along with coffee & orange juice. the french toast was delicious (as usual) and the new berry compote really added and extra wow factor, if you enjoy eating sweets for breakfast. i’d say this was the highlight of the meal, along with the “chicken” patties which are pictured above to the top left and below in the bottom center.

flore cafe vegan all you can eat brunch for $10

the “chicken” patties didn’t really taste like chicken at all, but thick seitany sausages instead. they were absolutely delicious, albeit a bit cold, and i seriously couldn’t stop going back for more. the vegetarian frittata was a bit bland and, like the breakfast potatoes, full of bell peppers…which i HATE. 🙁 bell peppers aside, the frittata just wasn’t as good as flore cafe’s tofu scramble. i don’t think i would ever spoon the frittata onto my plate again as long as other stuff was available, i’d rather just fill up on the awesome bacon and “chicken” patties.

i don’t know if this menu change is permanent for the all-you-can-eat sunday brunch at flore cafe, or if they were just trying out some new things. what i do know though, is i didn’t like it quite as much as the old menu that i’m used to. the seitan “chicken” patties and fruit compote were delicious, but they didn’t fill the hole that was left by the absence of the tofu scramble.

still though, in the end it is unlimited awesome vegan food at a fixed price and you just can’t beat that. if you haven’t been, definitely head out to flore cafe and get the sunday brunch as soon as you can. maybe put in a good word to your server about the tofu scramble if you are lucky enough to get it. 😉 believe you me, it’s the best thing they offer.

Flore Cafe
3206 W. Sunset Blvd.
@ Descanso in Silver Lake
323-667-0116

well, my dear readers, it’s about time for your humble narrator’s vegan culinary tour of manhattan to come to a stop. and what better way for me to end the string of quarrygirl nyc posts than to leave you with my absolute favorite meal from manhattan: brunch at an awesome little restaurant called counter.

like most places worth eating at in new york, counter is trendy. counter is pricey. counter is maybe even a bit pretentious. but counter is sooooooo worth it. i read about this swanky little restaurant originally on one of my favorite la based blogs, huggerfood, and i decided that i had to dine there on my trip, no matter what. when another new york based blog backed it up as being the best brunch spot in town, i dedicated an entire saturday morning to trekking across manhattan in search of the perfect post-hangover eats.

i found my way there and…..wow. wow. wow!!!! counter was fucking incredible. it’s a snazzy vegetarian joint where most of the food is vegan, the service is friendly, the digs are posh, and the ingredients are top-notch.

frittata alla fiorentina: tofu frittata with a creamy mushroom hollandaise on a bed of spinach with home fries. $9.75

i ordered the frittata alla fiorentina, because the tofu patties and vegan hollandaise sauce sounded absolutely divine. the dish lived up to its hype and so much more. a firm vegetable-tofu medley was formed into two succulent patties and topped with the most incredible eggless creamy sauce and made for the perfect late morning meal. plus, the course came with an ample serving of dark leafy greens and thick, fried potatoes. they also gave me a serving of vegan nutella on the house. i just had to have it after reading about it on huggerfood. even without any pastries to spread it on, counter’s vegan nutella was delightful, and acted as a great condiment for all my food.

the brunch was amazing—everything was out of this world. the real kicker is, the tofu patties actually contained bell peppers (which i hate) and i was still able to eat them. there’s absolutely no logical explanation for that…the food was just THAT FUCKING GOOD! i am still trying to rationalize it.

being seitan obsessed, my husband was thrilled to see the east side burger on the brunch menu at counter. he didn’t let the fact that it was 11 am stop him from ordering a slap-up meal consisting of a huge vegan burger and thick, juicy, sliced potato french fries.

east side burger: wild mushroom pâté, housemade seitan & fresh herbs with all the normal fixin's. $10

there was nothing at all to fault about the east side burger. i tried it, and it was one of the best vegan burgers i’ve ever had. the patty was absolutely huge, and obviously homemade….none of that freeze-dried shit. this was the real deal. vegetables, grains, soy protein, all blended together perfectly to taste hearty and slightly unhealthy. if we lived in new york, we’d be at counter every weekend for brunch, most def.

after wolfing down two incredible brunch items at counter, i was super satisfied…but also extremely disappointed that i wouldn’t be in town long enough to sample their plentiful dinner menu. i guess there’s always next time.

wrapping up my tour of nyc, i gotta say, counter was the most bitchin’ place i ate at. a dripping saucy tofu breakfast, chunky and rich clumps of vegan nutella, lush & fried perfectly seasoned potatoes and a juicy thick vegan-grain burger patty made for the most amazing meal i’ve had in quite some time. when in nyc, get your ass to counter.

thanks for reading, now i’m back home…so you’d better get ready for a shitload of cool posts about vegan los angeles.

ahhh…sunday morning breakfast. what better way to begin the end of the weekend than with a stomach full of homemade vegan food?

fantastic frittata: quarrygirl.com’s veganized version of the monterey frittata

i REALLY love a leisurely sunday breakfast. 3 cups of coffee and a calorific vegan feast sounds like the perfect way to prolong the agony of the forthcoming week. but in a world where most restaurants are packed on sunday mornings and/or pride themselves on the fact they shovel heaping piles of eggs onto peoples’ plates, it’s hard for me to get morning meal satisfaction on the day it matters most. 

this week, i found solace in this amazing recipe…located right under my nose, in the back of my cupboard, on the back of a tofu scrambler box. all it needed was to be veganized…
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