hey guys, you know the drill! time for another quick bite from trishells. this one is about a vegan-friendly happy hour in downtown LA.

this past weekend i hit up one of my favorite joints with one of my favorite vegans, @greatbrittania. spitz not only has great food but also has a happy hour that runs all weekend long. *glug glug glug* even though they serve some pretty gross meat selections, when you order at spitz you can be pretty confident about ordering vegan. not only does the menu clearly mark the vegan items but when you order and they put it in the computer you see a big red “VEGAN” come up on the screen that makes me smile every time.

the offerings are minimal but think quality, not quantity. falafel and veggies come in the forms of wraps, sandwiches and salads that are full of flavor…

Read the rest of this entry »

not only is NYC the best city in america—it’s arguably the vegan restaurant capital of the world, with an literally hundreds of restaurants to choose from. healthy food, comfort food, junk food, breakfast food, traditional food, dessert food, fancy food, shit food…new york has it all! no trip to the big apple is complete for us though without a meal at franchia, NYC’s fine dining vegan korean restaurant on park avenue. the food is always exceptional and the atmosphere is slick. whether you’re on a date, chillin’ with friends, or dining with colleagues, franchia sets the perfect tone. the menu covers everything from casual lunch and sushi to prix fixe tasting menus and intricate entrees.

spicy franchia noodles: stir fried noodles with peanuts, dried chili, vegetables and mushrooms. $14.95

franchia is usually our first stop after landing in NYC, and the above meal is no exception…

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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…

Read the rest of this entry »

i have driven by grassroots in south pasadena many times barely noticing it and passing it on by. well, i’m here to confess how foolish that was! grassroots is a small market and wonderful kitchen filled with healthy, organic, and vegan options in their store as well as a prepared food section. i was so hungry i walked straight up to the line for prepared food which was about 6-7 people deep. while i waited in the line that moved quicker than i anticipated (about 5 min) i glanced around and saw vegan mock meats, vegan desserts, and kombucha galore! waiting in line also gave me the much needed time to decide what to order. they had wraps, tacos, salads, burritos and, (as QG will be happy to hear) BOWLS!

vegan beef bowl

for my meal i went with the vegan beef bowl ($9.99) and it was A-MAZING!
the food line at grassroots looks like that of a subway sandwich shop. you place your order and watch them put all the ingredients together in front of you while you confirm that they include only ingredients you like.

Read the rest of this entry »

holy wow, guys! i think we all need to book a trip to brooklyn just to eat at vinnie’s pizza. the brooklyn pizzeria has two locations and an ASTOUNDING SEPARATE VEGAN MENU with options like bbq beef pizza, both follow your heart and teese cheese, garlic knots, hot dogs, beef rolls, drumsticks, and custom desserts. i’m going crazy just thinking about it.

reader jp sent us this picture and blurb after trishells’ papacitos post…

Read the rest of this entry »

the nice thing about staying with locals when traveling is that you get introduced to nice little neighborhood spots. on my last trip to ny i stayed with my friend in brooklyn and she suggested salud (in flatbush) for lunch one day. although salud serves some meat they are very knowledgeable about veganism and the menu clearly states veg and vegan options.

fiesta wrap at salud

Read the rest of this entry »

hey everyone! time for a quick bite from patricia’s recent trip to the east coast. since she’s such a regular blogger around here, i’ve set her up with her own user name. check it out above, the author of this entry is “trishells”! hope you enjoy all her posts in the future, and this one about atlas cafe in nyc!

when i walked into atlas cafe i thought my brain was going to explode. look at that menu:

LOOK AT IT! and that was only one wall. on the opposite wall was another chalk board filled with just as many different items. i didn’t even allow myself to look at the whole menu i just found the thing that seemed least typical for me to get in la and stuck with it: vegan pepper steak panini. it was pretty good but not amazing.

Read the rest of this entry »

usually quick bites are submitted by readers, but today i have one of my own. friday was the six year anniversary of my husband and i’s first date…and we decided to celebrate in true QG style: by hitting up a bar and a restaurant. we started off at our favorite local pub, the surly goat, and then took a 15 minute stroll down the road to hugo’s for some eats. i’m happy to report that everything was lovely.

New American Veggie Burger: an outstanding combination of organic sprouted mung beans, organic brown rice, assorted fresh vegetables, mushrooms, pumpkin & sunflower seeds, herbs and spices fried crispy. Served with onion, lettuce, tomato, Vegenaise and your choice of any burger toppings. $12.60

Read the rest of this entry »

hiya peeps! time for another edition of quick bites, a series of short reviews sent in by readers. this one covers sage vegan bistro in echo park and comes to us from my buddy patricia (who is also a bad ass massage therapist and yoga instructor). check it out:

on a relaxing night in echo park i was enjoying some beers at my favorite bar, 1642 (on temple). imagine my delight when i returned from the bathroom and my 3 omnivore friends had come up with the plan to have dinner at sage vegan bistro. although i have heard some mixed reviews and experiences about the restaurant i was incredibly curious to try it for myself.

the overwhelming response from the our group was “amazing!!!”

at 830 on a weekday evening the place was busy, but not packed. our food arrived quickly and still hot from the kitchen. the only detail that could have been improved was that our appetizer came at the same time as the food. however, we did not particularly mind. everything was so tasty we ended up dining family style and sharing all the plates.

trio of buffalo croquettes

Read the rest of this entry »

this just in, folks! ms cupcake has officially opened london’s first all vegan bakery and it looks incredible. our blogger buddy fat gay vegan was there at the scene in brixton and not only did he write an awesome post about the new shop, but he also sent us some exclusive photos for today’s quick bite.

Read the rest of this entry »

sadly, we were otherwise engaged and missed the epic all you can eat vegan buffet at savyon today. however, ken from living eco was kind enough to send us loads of photos just to make us jealous. i thought i’d share them with you guys in tonight’s quick bite.

vegan minions, please make it priority to check out savyon ASAP. they’ve recently added a separate all vegan menu, and their food is apparently delicious. unfortunately, the turn out for today’s buffet wasn’t super impressive…so they may not do it again in the future. WHAT?! that’s fucked up! let’s show them that the vegan demand in LA is strong. we need more options, always. go to savyon and order off the vegan menu, pronto. alright, i will step down off my soapbox now and share ken’s great pictures from the buffet. here ya go:

VEGAN STUFFED PIZZA!

Read the rest of this entry »

sooooooo….5 months ago we reported that nite moon cafe, one of our favorite hollywood vegetarian spots, was moving down the street to a new location. that’s right, from de longpre right behind the arclight all the way over to highland and de longpre. well apparently their new restaurant/yoga studio is up and running, and vegan scraps sent us a quick bite report to prove it. she sampled a plethora of vegan baked goods, all of which were apparently awesome. i can’t wait to get over to nite moon and try all this stuff, plus eat some food off their normal menu. check it out, folks:

After a delicious vegan lunch today in West Hollywood, I was left craving vegan goodies…Nite Moon Cafe came to mind! Let me start off by saying that this review is all about the vegan baked goods at Nite Moon. I had never been there, but I gave them a call and they told me they had tons of vegan baked goods, so my decision was made.

Read the rest of this entry »

hey y’all! today’s quick bite (aka reader review) comes to us from greg c. in los angeles. he recently checked out the valley’s new all vegetarian indian restaurant and loaded up on tons of tastiness from samosas to dosas. an entirely meatless restaurant with great food and low prices? yes, please! i am freaking dying to go here. check it out:

I was flipping though some of that junkmail w/ local businesses & coupons, and an ad for Streets of India Cafe in Encino caught my eye. The ad said “VEGETARIAN/VEGAN” ….so of course I had to check this out! I found their website, checked out the menu….and – they have DOSA!!!!!!!! Dosa’s my favorite Indian food, but not that many Indian restaurants make it. I’d go to Paru’s in Hollywood for my dosa fix, but Encino is closer to me so I was very excited.

Samosa: Crispy triangular turnover stuffed w/ veggies. $4

Read the rest of this entry »

hey everyone! today’s quick bite comes to us from fred (aka @cycled) who visited maggiemudd, a very vegan-friendly ice cream parlor in san francisco, over presidents day weekend. man, i really wanna go here someday. check it out.

We arrived here on a Sunday afternoon looking to indulge in some tasty treats after withstanding the deluge on Saturday. After staring at the menu board denoting a multitude of variations available to make your ultimate frozen treat, I couldn’t help but feel indecisive.

Mudslide and Birthday Cake, covered with soy whip, sliced almonds, and cookie crumbs. $7

Read the rest of this entry »