• September 9th, 2008quarrygirlLA restaurants, vegan plate

    ah yes, it’s time for another installment of vegan-thai-restaurants-w/ the word “vegan” in their title, located in los angeles. this time we bring you vegan plate of studio city.

    grilled tofu burger served with lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and tomatoes on an organic bun. $5.25 (add avocado for $1)

    grilled tofu burger served with lettuce, alfalfa sprouts and tomatoes on an organic bun. $5.25 (add avocado for $1)

    first off, the presentation at vegan plate is great—all the food looks beautiful and appetizing. i was quite happy with my luscious tofu burger, and didn’t mind paying an extra buck for avocado, considering the dish was so cheap to start out with. two fat slices of tofu with fresh vegetables and a warm bun meant this burger tasted great, and was a hell of a deal.

    you see, vegan plate is a place i avoided forever. i guess i went through that “jaded LA vegan” phase of not wanting to indulge all the similar, thai-inspired eateries that litter my stomping ground. plus, it’s located in a strip mall and just doesn’t look too inviting from the outside. however, one lunch out with my parents at CA vegan and a post about my dad’s love of fake orange chicken inspired fellow blogger foodeater to leave me a comment, stating that the best fake orange chicken around was served up by vegan plate. i had to follow up on this, and decide for myself let my dad decide if she was right.

    orange chicken: soy chicken lightly battered and marinated with orange sauce. $10.95 (served with steamed brown rice)

    orange chicken: soy chicken lightly battered and marinated with orange sauce. $10.95 (served with steamed brown rice)

    of course i had to sample his fake orange chicken (for the sake of the blog) and decided that this was, indeed the most awesome fake orange chicken i’ve ever had. the thick, sweet, crispy battered shell wrapped perfectly around the soy-meaty insides and made each bite the perfect combination of sugary and scrumptious. my dad was a little harder to convince. at first, he missed the soft gooey texture of the orange chicken at CA vegan, but by the end of the meal, he agreed that this was better. (points off though, because vegan plate doesn’t offer it as a lunch special!)

    compare to CA vegan’s orange chicken here. as you can see, vegan plate’s orange chicken is more crunchy and thick…real restaurant quality. less slimy. i would compare this to orange chicken at a fancy chinese joint, and the stuff at CA vegan to orange chicken from panda express. both have their place. this just didn’t taste, well, microwaved.

    garlic pepper lunch special: sauteed garlic, black pepper, cilantro and garlic sauce on a bed of lettuce. with seitan. $8.95

    garlic pepper lunch special: sauteed garlic, black pepper, cilantro and garlic sauce on a bed of lettuce. with seitan. $8.95

    also at the table, mr. meaner opted for the garlic pepper lunch special with seitan. the thick wheat meat tasted more like juicy pepper steak, and was seasoned to please the extreme garlic lover. on trips to the restroom, we could see into the kitchen and witnessed the cook chopping up whole fresh cloves of garlic to be added to the dish. when a restaurant uses the right ingredients, it really shows. nothing tasted canned or stale, all the flavors were spot on. probably the tastiest and most attractively presented lunch special i’ve ever tried at one of the many thai-vegan restaurants in los angeles. highly recommended! even though this wasn’t my meal, i claimed the spring roll as my own and devoured it. also a winner…piping hot, crispy, and just oily enough to taste great but not make me feel racked with guilt.

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  • July 2nd, 2008quarrygirlCA vegan, LA restaurants

    that’s right, you probably already know that california vegan is one of the many thai-vegan-restaurants-with-the-word-“vegan”-in-its-name that has popped up around los angeles. while i was getting pretty sick of these places for a while, i decided to return and give california vegan another try. we took my dad there for a belated fathers day lunch, because he just can’t seem to get enough of their orange chicken.


    california orange chicken lunch special: battered and fried soy chicken coated in a spicy sweet orange-flavored sprinkled with sesame seeds. served with spring roll, miso soup, salad & brown rice. $7.95


    soy chicken pad thai lunch special: sautéed thai rice noodles with bean sprouts, green onions and crushed peanuts. served with spring roll, miso soup, salad & brown rice. $7.95


    silver noodle salad: glass bean noodles mixed with soy fish tofu for me, bean sprouts and tossed in lime juice. $6.95

    and now for the amazing dish that made the whole trip worth it in my opinion, if there were ever any doubts:


    banana spring rolls & ice cream: bananas and shredded coconut rolled in spring roll pastry and deep fried with a choice of your favorite soy ice cream flavor. $6.95. OMFG. yum.

    now california vegan is one of those restaurants that rules and sucks all at the same time. the prices are reasonable, but the atmosphere blows. the servers are friendly, but somewhat incompetent. the menu is huge, but it’s mostly the same salty meats listed over and over again. the orange chicken tasted amazing, but it arrived half an hour later than everything else because they forgot about it.

    enough of my ambivalence, i know you just wanna read about all the vegan food.

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