-
February 5th, 2011chicago, more restaurants (not LA)
time for another edition of quick bites: where quarrygirl readers send in quick snaps and descriptions of their vegan meals. today’s quick bite comes to us from dana aka the broke-ass bride. she recently spent some time in the windy city and sent us a drool-worthy review of the chicago diner. the all vegetarian-restaurant is legendary in the vegan community, and after dana’s review i am dying to go there!
As a greek gal, the loss of gyros has been one of my biggest woes of being a vegan. Until I went to Chicago Diner. HOLY OPA! Thinly sliced strips of delicious and juicy seitan, crunchy lettuce, tomato and onion, all atop a buttery, griddled pita… with a side of the most creamy-licious tzaziki sauce imaginable. I ate these way too many times while I was in town. It was like crack. I ate it. It was good. I needed more. MORE! MOOOOORE! It comes with your choice of a side, and I got the “chicken/rice soup” which was equally to die for. I’m definitely going to start experimenting with my seitan recipe at home to try and make something gyro-y like this. Its crazy comforting and delicious. The best part is how they’ve managed to get the edges so crispy, like the kind of gyros that come from a spit. It was incredibly authentic, in the best (and least creepy) way possible…
Tags: chicago, field report, quick bites -
January 23rd, 2011LA restaurants, yard house
today’s quick bite comes to us from friend and quarrygirl reader patricia, who is also a bad-ass vegan certified massage therapist and yoga instructor (check her out!).
there has been a lot of talk in the vegan community about the new availability of gardein (an awesome vegan meat substitute) at yard house (our favorite chain of beer bars). here patricia addresses our concerns about cross-contamination, and explains why yard house doesn’t specifically classify any of their menu items as “vegan”. check it:
do you guys remember a while back when yard house was testing gardein in their restaurants? well, unlike Chipotle, it is now offered on their printed menu under a separate “vegetarian” section. i’ve been to yard house a lot and i always order the same amazing “chop salad” (without bacon) at the pasadena location. the salad has no lettuce but it’s a bunch of chopped delicious veggies: avocado, celery, corn, onions cucumber, and tomato. last night no one felt like driving so we took the metro to the downtown location which is about a four block walk from the 7th street station. the place was especially packed thanks to the clipper game that was happening literally next door. so i contribute the busyness, in part, to why i ended up with my usual chopped salad accidentally served with a few scraps of bacon. we were sitting at the bar and just so happens when i got the bartender’s attention to show him my salad the manager was standing right next to him. they were both very apologetic and i asked if i could order something different. i didn’t want to spend my time picking through plate of vegetables looking for bacon bits.
so round two brought me the “veggie fried chicken strips” served with fries and i asked for it without the (non-vegan) sauce. here’s where the veganocity of yard house gets questionable. the manager explained to me that the fries are cooked in a separate fryer and although the “chicken” strips’ ingredients were vegan that they are fried in the same oil as chicken. well, clearly i’d prefer everything cooked separately but this time i just said “fuck it”…
Tags: gardein, quick bites -
December 30th, 2010garage pizza, LA restaurants
new vegan pizza options keep popping up in LA, silver lake seems to be the mecca for cruelty-free pie. the latest joint to offer a vegan option clearly on their menu is garage pizza. we’ve got a quick bite review from vegan pizza extraordinaire jon, who recently helped organize a popular vegan tour of NYC by scott’s pizza tours. check out what he has to say…
Overall: okay. They use daiya, but not very well.
Tags: pizza, quick bites, silverlake -
December 29th, 2010LA restaurants, xiv
time for another quick and no-nonsense reader review from D (our correspondent who wrote about the RFD thanksgiving meal last month). this time he writes about one of the best places in los angeles to get a fancy (and i mean FANCY) vegan experience, XIV restaurant. we have reviewed their vegan tasting courses a couple times on this blog, and we’re sad to report that while they still have plenty of vegan options, the default meatless tasting menu is now vegetarian instead of vegan. đ D checked out the new menu recently with some friend, and here are his thoughts…
Last year we went once or twice to XIV for some of our “special occasions” because they had an entirely separate vegan tasting / a-la-carte menu (with a wine pairing option to boot!). And it was a hip fancy Hollywood spot, so it felt like we were hip or cool or some bullshit like that.
Tags: fancy, field report, quick bites, xiv
We were invited there last week with some carnist peeps. Here’s my 2 cents… -
December 28th, 2010bay area, more restaurants (not LA), san francisco
today’s quick bite comes to us from greg kanimian who recently visited fancy pants restaurant masa’s in san francisco. this isn’t a vegan restaurant by any means, but the chef accepted the challenge of making greg a 4 course animal-free dinner, and apparently it was awesome. here goes:
I don’t remember exactly what each course was since I didn’t have a menu to read off of. I was just told what I was eating as it was given to me.
Tags: fancy, quick bites, san francisco, sf -
December 26th, 2010other
I have to be honest: It was one of THOSE kinda days. Well, I’m not the world’s most physical guy, but I can lift a box or two. Add to that, I had nothing to do on Christmas Eve Eve, so I was very happy to rock it on down to Orange County in a friend’s truck to help load some chairs, on the promise of “grabbing a beer or two” on the way back.
Listen – If offered, ALWAYS help your friends get stuff from far afield, as you’ll have a designated driver (they don’t see it that way, but you sure as heck fire should) and if you’re extra lucky they’ll want to pick up the tab pretty much anywhere you go. After all, time and muscles (even my puny ones) = money. Or beer at least. And maybe even vegan food too. Read on….
Tags: beer, food truck, orange county, quick bites, sushi -
December 19th, 2010more restaurants (not LA)
hey everyone! this quick bite comes to us from quarrygirl reader anderson who is visiting southern california on vacation and recently hit up cheezy pizza in colton. i’ve never been to colton, but apparently it’s in the san bernadino valley and about an hour away from los angeles. after seeing these pictures, i think i NEED TO GO THERE SOON! OMG. check out the crazy pizza, jalapeno calzones and garlic bread below…along with mini reviews for each item!
Tags: colton, daiya, pizza, quick bites -
December 12th, 2010hard times pizza co, LA restaurants
UPDATE 12/21: we have found that hard times pizza uses follow your heart as their vegan cheese. also, we tried it and it was AWESOME.
it’s time for another quick bite! this one comes to us from trishells, who recently hit up hard times in silverlake. the pizzeria has recently started serving vegan pizza, and according to some tweeps, it’s available by the SLICE. whoa. we aren’t sure what vegan cheese they are using, but people who have eaten it are saying it seems like the new teese. we are gonna try to get to the bottom of the cheese brand issue and report back. as we know, it’s a pretty important thing to find out. meanwhile, here’s trishells’ review!
my new favorite pizza is at Hard Times! on a lazy saturday night i ordered vegan pizza for pick up with garlic, jalapenos, mushrooms, and olives…
Tags: pizza, quick bites, silverlake -
December 3rd, 2010bay area, more restaurants (not LA), san francisco
the quick bite series continues! this one comes to us from tettes, who recently hit up gracias madre in san francisco. as of recently we are HUGE FANS OF GRACIAS MADRE….so we were super excited to receive tettes’ glowing review. here goes:
I visited San Francisco during the Thanksgiving holiday, and I went to Gracias Madre twice.
Here are a couple of pics of food items that Quarrygirl didn’t order, including a butternut squash tamale smothered in mole sauce, a butternut squash quesadilla and one of the best items I’ve ever eaten: roasted brussel sprouts in a cashew cheese sauce baked with garlic breadcrumbs on top. OMG!!!
This place is beyond amazing. Perhaps the best vegan place I’ve ever visited!
Tags: bay area, field report, quick bites, san francisco, sf -
December 2nd, 2010airports, more restaurants (not LA), NYC
Resigned to an nine hour journey from Manhattan to Hollywood with nothing but a bag or two of potato chips to eat, I could not believe my luck when I stumbled upon an entire section of Vegan prepared foods at the busy Balducci’s Deli, right outside the United gates at JFK’s insanely busy Terminal 7.
I opted for the two vegan dishes: Vegan Udon Noodles, and Vegan Shanghai Dumpling, with a side of Chick Pea Salad (sic). Right away I was astonished at the sheer weight of this food. There were easily three portions per package, and with two packages and the side salad I lugged at least seven servings of food back to my table!
Tags: airports, new york, NYC, quick bites -
December 1st, 2010more restaurants (not LA), NYC
hey everyone, we have a new segment on the blog called quick bites! basically if you are ever dining out anywhere and you eat an epic vegan meal (good or bad), snap a pic (with your cell or whateves) and email it to me here…and it may end up on the blog. no promises, but it’s a possibility. if you could send a little description as well, that’ll score points. the first quickbite comes to us from none other than mr. meaner, who is traveling in NYC and hit up one of our favorite spots, franchia, for dinner. here are his quick bites (i am paraphrasing!):
Tags: korean, manhattan, NYC, quick bites