the franken stand! 100% plant-based gourmet franks!

whatever you are doing on thursday night, you should drop it and head over to the little bar at 8pm for the LA vegan drinks halloween meetup. and since this is a spooky themed event, who better to provide the food than our favorite food cart ever, THE FRANKENSTAND!

it’s been a while since i first reviewed the frankenstand on this site, and since then the 100% plant-based hot dog cart has become a staple of the los angeles vegan scene. if you haven’t had a chance to try their gourmet steamed franks yet, than this is definitely your chance. just take a look at the vegan beauties they have to offer…

the franken: this classic sausage will make you feel alive! with a monster blend of sun dried tomatoes and basil giving it a slightly sweet taste. $5

the wolf: this is a zesty frank you'll love to wolf down. packed with a fangtastic, chipotle pepper flavor! $3

the witch: how's your hex life? let this big sausage put its spell on you! made with real tofu and micro-brewed with full sail ale! $4

and there’s not just gonna be great food at the little bar on thursday, but also plenty of beer and LA vegans. unfortunately, the bar is for ages 21 and up only…but youngsters can come get their hot dog on in the street outside with the frankenstand.

here is the official meetup.com invite:

Get excited about the first Vegan Drinks HALLOWEEN PARTY!!!

Catering provided by the FRANKENSTAND. If you haven’t tried these delectable steamed Frighteningly Delicious Vegan Hot Dogs you have not lived! Read reviews here on Quarrygirl.com or visit The Frankenstand’s Myspace page.

This is a costume party! Costumes are not required, but the first 2 dozen attendees to come in costume will get a special vegan treat!

In addition, Little Bar is timing a Fat Tire (Vegan Friendly Beer Co) promotion for our party to promote the new Hoptober Holiday Brew. With each Hoptober you order you get to keep the promotional glass.

I know Thursday is a work night, but its a great chance to get the most out of your Halloween Costume this year and mix and mingle with the best vegan crowd on the planet!

There is no charge for the event, but we request you observe a one drink minimum (alcohol or non alcohol) out of appreciation for Little Bar for hosting us and consume as many FrankenStand Vegan Hot Dogs as possible along with me to support a rock’n Vegan Business who’s presence makes it a Vegan Halloween Party to remember.

so who is coming?! this sounds like a load of fun.

P.S. if you miss thursday night, you can also catch the frankenstand at cinefamily on october 31 starting at 8pm. for more frankenstand updates, check out their myspace and twitter.

UPDATED! turns out the vegan cheese at this place IS vegan, although i was skeptical. scroll to the near end of the post, update is in bold.

lemme tell ya about a lunch gone wrong with a very happy ending. a few days ago, me and my homie, vegan chef/blogger extraordinaire jennshaggy, made a pilgrimage to the mid-city chili factory earle’z grill which is believed to have tons of vegan options. we lined up when we got there, super hungry and high off all the positive vegan-friendly yelp reviews…very ready to be impressed. unfortunately when we got to the front of the queue, the cashier told us that the only vegan thing on the menu was “vegan cake”. all the veggie dogs and burgers were possibly vegan in their own right, but the buns contained dairy. fuck. we bailed and drove back down crenshaw racking our brains for a new place to eat. luckily, jennshaggy is like a an encyclopedia of all things vegan, so she tapped into her super computer brain and lead us to sky’s gourmet tacos on pico.

sky’s gourmet tacos is a small sit-down mexican restaurant with an extensive vegetarian menu that can be made vegan upon request. dude, right down to fake meat and soy cheese, sky’s gourmet tacos has got it going on. the woman there seemed pretty knowledgeable as well; before we even asked she assured us that the soy cheese was vegan and i heard her instruct the kitchen to cook our food on “the vegetarian grill”. awesome. we ordered a ton of food and shared it, and everything was completely off the hook.

veggie taco (prepared vegan): two corn tortillas, tofu, lettuce, tomato, cilantro, hot sauce and cheese. $3.25

the veggie taco comes with the choice of vegan soyrizo-type meat or tofu. we went with the tofu and it was absolutely incredible. it was covered in delicious seasonings that turned it bright orange and gave it a very spicy flavor. the thing that took this taco over the edge though, was the hot sauce. sky has their own mild salsa that we couldn’t get enough of…even though the food was covered in it, we kept going to the counter and requesting more. so damn good!

veggie torta (prepared vegan): vegan meat, sky's sassy sauce, melted cheese, lettuce, tomato and cilantro fused together on mexican telera bread. $5.95

we also ordered the veggie torta which was filled with chopped up and seasoned vegan meat along with beans, salsa, vegetables and soy cheese. this sandwich was a lot different from the amazing vegan torta at pure luck, but every bit as good. the bread was really soft and bendable, kind of like a huge store-bought hamburger bun, and it was cooked and covered in delicious orange spices (you really can’t pick this thing up without getting it all over you). the vegan meat inside was incredibly tasty–huge chunks of soy protein oozing with mexican flavor. packed with so many fresh vegetables and juicy beans, the torta is definitely a bit messy, but so worth the cleanup.

the veggie burrito caught us a bit off guard because it wasn’t wrapped. check out the picture below…doesn’t it look like a massive taco?? it was prepared just like the taco as well. it had basically the same stuff in it, except i ordered it with vegan meat instead of tofu, and it came in flour instead of corn tortillas. i definitely liked it, but i prefer a more traditional burrito experience.

veggie burrito (prepared vegan): two flour tortillas, vegan meat, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro and salsa. $5.45

lastly we got the veggie quesadilla with vegan cheese which was basically melted soy cheese sandwiched between two huge tortillas, then covered with beans, vegan meat, and more un-melted cheese. it was so massive, we didn’t even make it through half of it.

veggie quesadilla (prepared vegan): vegan meat and black or brown beans. $5.95

the vegan soy cheese didn’t taste like follow your heart, which kind of raised our suspicions but it definitely didn’t stretch like most soy cheese that contains dairy. it was strange. check out the picture below, it didn’t quite melt but it sure tried. although the texture wasn’t quite right, the taste melted was really good, which made us even more suspicious. after reading the post on sick of lettuce about vegan restaurants selling non-vegan cheese, i’m thinking we should treat all fake cheese as suspect. so although the lady at the restaurant told us this cheese was vegan, and she was very knowledgeable and even cooked the food on separate grills, you may want to avoid this soy cheese because i can’t tell you what brand it is. i don’t think i would order this again in the future, although it was really good. what do you think? should all “vegan” cheese be avoided if you don’t know the brand? where do the other vegans stand on this?

UPDATE: the vegan cheese is vegan! after reading this post, the resourceful vegyogini took it upon herself to email sky’s gourmet tacos directly and find out what brand of vegan cheese they use. it turns out they use follow your heart…maybe i just didn’t recognize it because it was coated in flour? it all makes sense now, considering the soy cheese didn’t quite melt. phew, the vegan cheese appears to be safe so go for it!

so there you have it, an great mexican restaurant with a huge vegetarian menu that can be veganized…what more do you require? the food is damn good as well. i think i will be spending many a lunch at sky’s gourmet tacos in days to come. and for you vegan cheese skeptics, just order everything without the cheese. the burritos, tacos and tortas would be just as tasty without it. get your vegan asses over to sky’s gourmet tacos. you will not regret it. and special thanks to jennshaggy for remembering this place, she turned our lunch fail into a lunch win.

sky’s gourmet tacos
5408 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA. 90019
323.932.6253

P.S. stay away from earle’z grill and don’t believe people when they tell you about all the great vegan options. it just ain’t true.