loving hut is the fastest growing international vegan chain restaurant, and they recently opened up a location near los angeles in alhambra. i checked it out over the weekend with my husband and we were both blown away by the excellence of the food, the size of the portions, and the friendliness of the staff. the best i can describe loving hut’s cuisine is as asian-inspired fast food with lots of fried selections, burgers, burritos and sandwiches as well as vegetable stir frys, spring rolls and noodle bowls. the place is very affordable and everything we tried was super tasty.

golden nuggets: deep fried breaded soy protein. $5.95

we started with the golden nuggets, which were basically huge chunks of seitan coated in bread crumbs and fried. they weren’t overly oily, and the coating was surprisingly light. the seitan was extra thick and wheat-meaty, and i gotta say these were quite possibly the best vegan nuggets i’ve ever had. they didn’t mess around with that fake “chicken” taste that most nuggets do, these just had a really excellent seitan flavor. not to mention the tangy mayo-style dipping sauce they came with, which was incredible!

aulac special salad: shredded cabbage with soy chicken tossed with mint and special sauce. $6.95

my husband ordered the aulac special salad, which was a massive mound of cabbage covered in mock meat strips. the chickeny strips were delicious, and the shredded cabbage was crisp and fresh. definitely a win if you are looking for a really satisfying, yet healthy salad.

teriyaki sub: grilled sauteed soy protein on a sandwich. $6.95

i ordered the teriyaki sub, a sandwich roll covered in vegan mayo and piled high with grilled soy meat, onions and tomatoes. this thing was so tasty—the fake steak was thick, juicy, and cooked in the most delicious teriyaki sauce. what a fucking great sandwich.

the food isn’t the only good thing about loving hut; the service is quick and attentive, there is ample parking, the restaurant is clean and spacious, and everything is very well-priced. we had such a pleasant experience there, i know i would be a regular if i lived in alhambra.

one last thing. apparently, loving hut is affiliated with the “supreme master”, and i’m not even sure exactly what that means, but it has stirred up quite the conversation. they did have supreme master television playing in the restaurant, which is basically a non-stop stream of cheezily produced pro-vegan programming. while some people accuse the organization of being “cultish”, it seemed harmless enough to me, and loving hut served up damn good vegan food, so i don’t really care about any of that other noise.

go check out loving hut asap. there are tons of locations, so hopefully you live close enough to one to make the trip. and get the golden nuggets!

Loving Hut
621 W. Main St.
Alhambra, CA 91801
Tel: 1-626-289-2684
Fax: 1-775-628-8037
Open Tue – Sun (11:00 am – 9:00 pm)

UPDATE #3: mendocino farms has gone out of their way to take the non-vegan items off the menu, and start offering an absolutely vegan shwarma. i ate it today and it was delicious. mendocino farms really handled this situation well, and fixed everything the very day they were notified that they were using non-vegan ingredients. i highly suggest you get over to mendocino and get the shwarma before may is over! (orignial updates and post below)

UPDATE #2: apparently mendocino farms has a replacement for the soy cutlet and will be making a new vegan shwarma starting today. from the store manager:

I just spoke with Chef Judy and she told me that we will no longer be
using the soycutlet effective today.
For the vegan shwarma, she has made a vegan fallafel in house that is
definitely vegan. So that will remain our secret sandwich of the month.
Thanks again for your feedback and please let me know if you have any
other questions.
All the Best,
Lenny

this guy really seems to care, so the non-vegan ingredients could have been an honest mistake. they seem to have fixed it, so go eat that shwarma! just make sure you confirm it’s falafel in there, and not eggy soy cutlets! (orginal update and post below)

UPDATE: the “vegan” shwarma at this place isn’t vegan at all! one of our readers who goes by “jaydawg” went to mendocino today, and left the following comment:

WARNING: THIS SANDWICH IS NOT VEGAN!!!!!
Okay, so I went to Mendocino Farms today specifically to try the Vegan Shawarma. I hate the be the bearer of bad news, but sadly this is NOT VEGAN!!!. When we got there, my wife asked what were the most popular vegan dishes and they suggested the Not BLT Melt and Ron’s Vegan Baked Soy Cutlet Club, as well as the Spicy Soyrizo and Black Bean Wrap and the “Secret” Vegan Shawarma. She asked what type of bacon they use for the BLT and they told us it was Morningstar Farms. I thanked them and informed them that most Morningstar products use egg whites and/or dairy. We decided to order two of the Vegan Shawarmas, but didn’t think to ask about the “shawarma” that they used. About halfway through the devouring process (all things considered, it is still an amazing wrap), I began to wonder if the “shawarma (which appeared to be a breaded cutlet) was in fact vegan. When I was done, I went back and confirmed that the “shawarma” was the same “herbed breaded vegan cutlet” that they use in the Ron’s Vegan Baked Soy Cutlet Club. I asked what brand they use and they again told me Morningstar. I asked to see the ingredients label and they were kind enough to bring me the box….and there it was in black and white: nonfat dry milk and egg whites (http://www.morningstarfarms.com/product_detail.aspx?family=365&id=12353). I showed the young lady that this was definitely NOT vegan and she looked absolutely bewildered. She circled the offending ingredients and assured me that she would speak with their chef.

That totally sucks, because other than the fact that it’s not vegan, the (non) Vegan Shawarma is one bad-ass wrap…on par with the Buffalo Chicken Wrap at Cafe Muse and the Baja Burrito at Pure Luck. It’s a sad day.

after following up with mendocino about their NON-VEGAN sandwich being advertised as vegan, i received this email:

We do apologize about the soy cutlet issue. The other brand we were sourcing discontinued their product. They have been selling this soy cutlet from morningstar to us as a substitution for our “vegan” option. Unfortunately your friend is correct and our soy cutlet does have egg white in it. Which doesn’t make it vegan at all. We have addressed this issue and will be taking it off the menu.
We are working on more vegan options but for now you should stick to the soyrizo which is always a winner.

Thank you very much,
Lenny Fejeran
Store Manager
213.620.1114

looks like for now, you can’t trust mendocino farms. they have “vegan” options on their menu, that are clearly NOT vegan. i’d steer clear until they do their research. it’s really sad, because the shwarma was great…and not even because of the fake meat, but because of the vegetables and the dressing. original post below. if you do decide to eat at mendocino, make sure you know exactly what you are ordering.

usually when i visit downtown los angeles on a weekday, it’s for a pretty un-fun reason, but i manage to take advantage of the unique cuisine that city has to offer. well today was no different, so when i found myself having to travel to the grand/wilshire area, i naturally rewarded myself by grabbing a sandwich from mendocino farms. i’ve written about mendocino farms before, and the very vegan-friendly and uber-high-quality to-go shop is high on my list of places to eat in that area. however today was different…today mendocino farms was beyond exceptional. today they sold me without a doubt the best fucking sandwich i’ve ever had…and i really like sandwiches!

vegan shwarma: mediterranean soy shwarma with merquez lentil and white bean puree, vegan tzatziki, red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and shredded romaine on grilled tortilla wrap $9.25

turns out i caught mendocino at an extremely lucky moment, because right now during may of 2009, they are offering the vegan shwarma as their “secret sandwich of the month.” you see, mendocino is such a cool fun-loving place that they rotate secret sandwiches for the hell of it, and you can only find out about the secret sandwich by visiting the shop or subscribing to their email newsletter.

it was LAist.com’s blog post about the amazing vegan shwarma that first alerted me to mendocino farms, which was followed by much praise for the sandwich by my fellow los angeles vegan bloggers jennshaggy and foodeater. however, the shwarma being a rotating secret sandwich, i thought i may never get the chance to try it. well i sure as fuck lucked out, my loyal readers, because today the coveted shwarma was in the house and i got to finally eat what i have often heard so many others rave about.

all i can say is that the shwarma surpassed all the glowing reviews in pure awesomeness and seriously cemented itself in my mind as the sandwich of my dreams. the soy meat was juicy and succulent, the bean puree was thick and substantial, and the tzatziki was ridiculously creamy and oozing with dill and lemon flavors. all these fine ingredients were mixed in with the freshest vegetables and sandwiched in a perfectly-grilled tortilla wrap. SERIOUSLY DUDE. THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING SANDWICH IN THE WORLD. it is a CRIME that this will be gone next month, and it is a CRIME that mendocino is only open on weekdays. ugh!

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over here at quarrygirl.com, we have been fans of sante la brea for a long time. the large elegant restaurant offers 3 separate menus of world cuisine, and every item can be veganized with soy meat and/or tofu cheese. i am a huge fan of their breakfast selections, salads, thai food, and desserts, and have never eaten one thing at sante and been disappointed.

however, on my last 3 visits to sante, the wait to get food after ordering has been a little much. my husband and i went there over the weekend and ordered a salad and tofu rancheros, which took 40 minutes to arrive at our table. it’s strange because the wait was so frustrating, and i worked myself up into quite a state, but when my food was finally in front of me, it was so fucking good i nearly forgot about all the hassle.

house salad with tofu: romaine, tomato, cucumber, shredded carrot, hummus, red quinoa, brown rice and wheat pita. choice of dressing: tahini, balsamic, cilantro lime, or citrus vinaigrette. $9

sante offers a great selection of salads, and even the simple house salad with tofu is out-of-the-park exceptional. the least exciting salad at sante comes with loads of vegetables, a mound of hummus, fluffy quinoa, rice and pita…plus your choice of several rich or light vegan dressings. it’s all beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. definitely a steal for 9 bucks.

vegan huevos rancheros. $8

the breakfast items at sante are similarly impressive. the vegan tofu rancheros come with fluffy scrambled tofu mixed with broccoli and carrots covered in chunky salsa with a generous helping of black beans, grilled breakfast potatoes, and soft corn tortillas. one of the best breakfasts in town.

when it comes right down to it, i can’t fault the food or value at sante la brea AT ALL. the place is downright outstanding. the only thing i have to complain about is the long ass wait…and it’s a damn valid complaint! i recommend calling way in advance and getting your food to go, or dining at sante when you have a lot of time on your hands. maybe throw back a bottle of wine while waiting, or spend sometime chatting with a large group of friends. don’t visit if you are in a rush. i know i’ll be back regardless…i can’t keep myself away from the excellent food.

sante la brea
345 N La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 857-0412

i’ve got some good news for y’all los angeles vegans: cafe muse in hollywood is now offering soy cheese! woo! if you’ve never been to cafe muse before, you should definitely check it out. the modest little coffee shop/restaurant serves up an almost entirely vegetarian menu and has loads of vegan offerings. they help you identify the vegan items on the menu by putting a little star * next to all the stuff that contains dairy. well now, vegans can eat most of the starred menu items as well, by substituting vegan soy cheese for normal cheese. that’s right…the pizza, quesadilla, nachos and chili cheese fries are no longer off limits!

i celebrated yesterday by hitting up cafe muse and ordering a vegan grilled cheese sandwich. they use follow your heart for the vegan cheese, and as you can see they don’t have the melting technique quite down yet. while the grilled cheese sandwich was decent and i appreciated the fact it had both mozzarella and cheddar inside it, the fake cheese was just a little clumpy for my taste. i wish cafe muse would start carrying teese from chicago soy dairy, because i’m pretty sure that’s the best vegan cheese that’s readily available here in los angeles. oh well.

not your mama's grilled cheese (vegan-style): made with two types of vegan soy cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. $7.95

despite being called a grilled cheese sandwich, which sounds really decadent, this meal was pretty light and healthy-tasting. there wasn’t much cheese on the sandwich, and the whole thing tasted toasted…not grilled in a butter substitute or anything like that. it came stuffed with little sun dried tomatoes which gave it a slightly sweet and tasty flavor. i was expecting the sandwich to be much more unhealthy, so i got it with a side salad instead of sweet potato fries. all together, it was a pretty good meal….albeit expensive at 8 bucks.

i don’t think i will order this sandwich again, although i definitely want to test drive the vegan cheese on the nachos and pizza. i will let you know how that turns out. in the mean time, if you want a healthy meal that will not disappoint, grab one of cafe muse’s make your own salads. for under ten bucks you can get a f-ing HUGE bowl of salad with any fixins you desire. my favorite combo is the grilled garlic-soy tofu with vegan ranch, although they also offer four varieties of soy chicken as well. you can’t go wrong.

make your own healthy salad with tomatoes, mushroms, onions and added tofu. $9.50

so check out cafe muse if you haven’t already, and support their decision to carry vegan cheese. maybe it will be more melty on the other menu items.

cafe muse
6547 Santa Monica Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90038
323-464-6873

222 veggie vegan is a 100% vegan restaurant in west kensington, a rather nice area of london. they offer a daily lunchtime all-you-can-eat buffet for just £7.50, and an a la carte dinner menu every evening. i’ve never been to the lunch buffet, but have been in the past a couple of times for dinner and have overall been pretty pleased with the place. our last visit, however, left a lot to be desired.

we hit up 222 veggie vegan on a monday evening at around 6pm, and although the place wasn’t that busy, it took us forever to be noticed by the waitress. the entire place was being taken care of by just one server, and she seemed pretty flustered and miserable. when we finally got her attention, we ordered everything at once. an appetizer, two main dishes, and one side dish.

bean and tofu pancake: black eye bean and tofu pate wrapped in a wholemeal pancake, topped with tomato chunks and vegan cream sauce.

the appetizer arrived almost immediately and was definitely the highlight of the meal. the bean and tofu pancake didn’t taste like a pancake at all, more like rolled up and fried tofu scramble with a delicious sauce and a vegan sour-cream-type condiment. it was really beautifully presented and tasted great; we thought we were in for an awesome meal.

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for vegans who find themselves in london on the hunt for a quick meal, i highly recommend popping into one of the many itsu shops located around the city. itsu offers japanese-style light fare including sushi, soups and salads that as they say on their website is “full of goodness & won’t make you fat.”

while the menu at itsu has a lot of icky fish on it, they do have some great vegan options that are a welcome break from all the heavy chips and curry i’m used to consuming while in the uk. we always make sure to hit up itsu at least once when in london for their delicious dumpling soup…we even like it so much, we figured out how to make it at home here in los angeles.

itsu dynamite vegetable dumplings with miso broth. £4.95

when ordering the dumpling soup off the menu, be sure to specify that you want it with miso broth. the miso broth is vegan, while some of the other soups at itsu contain bonito (fish). although you can’t see them in the picture, the vegetable dumpling soup comes packed with fresh vegetables including spinach, mushrooms and bean sprouts, all atop a big pile of fat udon noodles and stacked with plump and juicy vegetable dumplings and crunchy seeds. everything that’s shoved into this soup is fresh and amazing, my only tip would be to eat the dumplings first because if they get too soggy they start to disintegrate. this stuff is so bloody yummy, it will have you wondering why you haven’t been eating it every day for years. seriously, so simple and so good.

in addition to a really stellar vegan soup option (don’t forget to specify that you want vegan miso broth!), itsu offers a damn good salad.

hip & healthy: avocado, itsu salad, tenderstem broccoli, itsu rice with chives, soy pumpkin seeds, beetroot angel hair and shallot dressing. £4.25

the hip and healthy is packed delicate leaves, perfectly prepared vegetables, hearty seeds and even fluffy white rice. it’s seriously a produce lover’s dream…all so fresh and tasty. while the vegetable dumpling soup with miso broth is by far the best thing i’ve ever tried at itsu, the hip and healthy salad is a perfect choice if you don’t want to stagger out with half a gallon of liquid in your belly.

to sum it up, itsu is a great choice if you are looking for a nourishing and tasty vegan meal in london. it’s one of our regular uk haunts, and i always feel energized and guilt-free, even after eating a ton. the japanese have got the healthy and simple food down. eating this food will make you feel so good, you won’t even miss the fried and greasy chips or oil-filled indian food.

one thing to look out for, if you are eating in and not getting your food to go…be sure to hit up one of itsu’s SHOP locations, not one of the RESTAURANTS. the shops are quick with a vegan-friendly menu and have cute little booths to eat at. the restaurants are larger and offer a mainly fish menu, with the soups and salads only available for takeaway. basically don’t bother with the restaurants. check out the itsu website for all the shop locations…they are seriously scattered all over london. the pix in this post are all from the piccadilly shop. address and hours below.

so hit up itsu! because as they say, “you can eat lots without guilt, sorrow, and pain”! woo!

itsu
167 Piccadilly
London W1J 9EG
T: 020 7495 4048
F: 020 7495 4645
Mon to Fri: 10am – 8pm
Sat & Sun: 12pm – 5pm

located just down the street from all the hustle and bustle that is the melrose m cafe, there’s a much less crowded unassuming macrobiotic restaurant called inka. the natural foods restaurant is almost entirely vegan, except for some seafood options, and the food is prepared entirely with healthy and organic ingredients. while the cuisine is light and simple, it isn’t lacking in taste, and is provides a welcome rest from processed and artificially flavored food.

i took a trip to inaka recently with fellow vegan food blogger/vegan chef/vegan baker jennshaggy, and we both enjoyed our meals tremendously.

yakisoba noodles sauteed garden vegetables with soba or udon noodles. $13

we ordered a few dishes, and naturally ended up sharing everything. jennshaggy went with the yakisoba noodles, with the choice of udon rather than soba. i’m used to udon noodles being thick and round, like the stuff i get in packages at the supermarket and put into soups, but these noodles were much more wide and flat. they tasted slightly fried and a little oily, but still very light at the same time. the vegetables which included carrots, celery and broccoli were crispy and perfectly cooked. the only thing this dish could have used in my opinion is a huge bottle of sriracha sauce, but hey, i use that stuff like ketchup. overall very tasty.

hijiki (sea vegetables) salad: hijiki seaweed over green salad. $7

we also got the hijiki salad, which was basically a mixed green salad piled high with the dark sea vegetables. everything was extremely light and tender, and incredibly fresh. the salad had little to no dressing, so the sea vegetable taste was very prominent. i think this salad ended up being the best thing at the table, just because it had a pure and unique vegetable taste.

wok fry vegetables lightly sauteed fresh garden vegetables cooked with sesame oil, onions, broccoli, nappa cabbage, sprouts, carrots. served with bowl of brown rice. plus tofu. $15

i ordered the wok fry vegetables and added tofu to them for an additional 2 bucks. while this dish was delicious, i can’t really say it was worth $15. sure, everything was well prepared and the vegetables were crunchy and flavorful..but the tofu was a bit soft and boring. i dunno, it tasted like something i could make at home. next time i hit up inaka, i will opt for something with loads of exotic vegetables, you know, macrobiotic-sounding things i can’t pronounce rather than onions and napa cabbage. however, if you are looking for a simple and mild stir-fry…this dish is your man.

overall, i thought inaka was pretty decent. jennshaggy, an extreme foodie was very impressed with the place, and that goes a long way. while some of the food at inaka is a bit boring and arguably overpriced, they make up for that with simple dishes containing delicious vegetables. stuff like the hijiki salad stands far above meals i’ve gotten at other restaurants. i guess it just depends what you order.

i will be back to inaka again very soon to partake in some fine macrobiotic vegan cuisine. try this place out next time you can’t get a seat at the crazy-popular m cafe…at least at inaka you can relax and have a quiet meal.

inaka
131 S La Brea Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 936-9353
hours: tues-fri
lunch 12:00 noon to 2:30 p.m.
dinner 6:00 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.
sat 5:30 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.
sun 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Closed Monday

Last autumn we spent a nice, long veganific weekend in Manhattan. Despite our penchant for fine dining on that trip, we saved the best for last and paid another visit to Maoz at its Union Square location. Located right in the heart of Sunday-farmers-market-urban-chic on the cusp of Chelsea and Greenwich Village, and a few blocks north of Soho, Maoz is very well located for a lot of foot traffic. And, with the Union Square Park literally over the street there’s somewhere pleasant to eat your food – weather permitting.

Of course, on our recent London trip, we had to re-visit the Maoz location on Old Compton Street in Old Soho (where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola). This outlet is sandwiched (no pun intended) right in between an adult book store (of the most racy kind!) and an exotic lingerie shop – of equally (of not more) raciness, but to be expected in Soho. It’s just seconds away from Piccadilly Circus, Carnaby Street and the West End Theater District, but as there’s no picturesque park outside I’m glad it has some inside seating — unlike the Manhattan outlet.

maoz in london

I can report that the food experience is almost entirely the same in London as it is in Manhattan. Omnivores tell me that they enjoy ordering a Big Mac in different cities around the world as they taste the same. With Maoz (already crowned as a potential MacDonald’s of vegetarian food) the same holds true.

maoz falafel sandwich with hummus and unlimited salad bar. ...before going back for more toppings!

The premise is pretty straightforward: you get a warm, fresh pita pocket, and they put hummus, falafel or both into it. From there you can help yourself to an array of incredible vegetables – from the exotic (curried cauliflower) to the mundane (shredded carrots) as many times as you like (that’s another advantage of the London location – you can go back and grab more toppings without walking back into the store and feeling like a thief!). You can add on a range of condiments (mostly vegan) including spicy sauces, tahini, vinegars etc. for a truly healthy and personalized treat.

maoz refillable salad bar

Maoz is a great invention indeed, I’m glad they have outlets centrally located in two of my favorite cities, and it’s funny that I used to chill in London during the eary 80s, right in Soho, and then a few years later I spent a lot of time in Manhattan in the late 80s, right in the Gamercy Park/Union Square district. Of course, there were no Maoz there then. Bummer.

If you plough your way through the world’s MOST FUCKING ANNOYING WEBSITE EVER to find the locations, you’ll see that more are planned to open in the near future. Sadly nothing obvious on the West Coast or in LA, but I live in hope as there’s a franchise application on the site! Hopefully somebody will drop a few bucks to open an outlet in LA. I was thinking Westwood, 3rd St. in Santa Monica or even The Grove would be great locations.

maoz vegetarian
43 Old Compton St
London, W1D 6HG, United Kingdom
+44 20 78511586

I discovered my love of vegetables as a toddler ‘helping’ my grandfather plant and dig potatoes, carrots and green beans in his small suburban garden. Although he passed away when I was only two years of age, his passion for growing things, and glee when he held vegetables he was responsible for producing was an early part of my subsequent vegetarian commitment, and reinforced my transition into the Vegan world some years later.

For me, it’s therefore very fitting that the one of the UK’s few entirely vegetarian pubs should be called The Gardener’s Arms, and my love of the great institution that is the English Pub is no secret! So, imagine how pleased I was on a recent trip home to be able to visit The Gardener’s Arms, and I enjoyed absolutely wonderful vegan pub food like never before.

the gardener's arms in oxford

Now, vegan dining in the UK is fairly ubiquitous — there are lots and lots of great vegan, or vegan-friendly restaurants to frequent (usually before or after a visit to a pub). With The Gardener’s Arms, though, you get the entire experience all rolled into one. On a basic level, The Gardener’s Arms is a traditional English Pub, complete with fireplaces, friendly bar staff, comfortable couches and even a house dog that had its very own chair to sit on!

However, the menu is entirely vegetarian and most dishes either come vegan or can be prepared vegan upon request. The menu is an interesting intersection of traditional pub fayre – burgers, sausages, chips (fries for you Americans), pies and vegetables – and exotic stuff like Thai curry, Tapas and Flatbread Calzone.

Well, after a long day of driving in the rain we were completely famished so were ready to pig out and drink up. The restaurant part of the pub is officially called “The Garden”, but it’s fully integrated into the pub so you can order everything from the bar.

In the usual style, we started off with a couple of choice ales, before ordering a combination of traditional pub food and a couple of dishes from the more eclectic side of the menu. I almost had to pinch myself when I inquired if the food contained dairy or egg – I got a kinda snooty “of course, your food is entirely vegan”, which to me is always a good sign. Indignation over an accusation of dairy/egg content is one great litmus test of how serious a place about catering for vegans.

Anyway, on to the food. We started with Garlic Flatbread and a Side Salad with Pita. Well, OMG! The Garlic Flatbread was crispy on the outside (clearly griddled with some form of vegan butter), but creamy on the inside, just like it is supposed to be. We ate it so quickly, but I can still remember the taste and texture: Perfectly garlicky, crunchy and gooey. I think it’s the best garlic bread I’ve eaten since becoming vegan.

garlic flatbread. £2.90

The Side Salad deserves little mention, because it was exactly what you’d expect: crunchy, fresh salad with olives and pita bread.

side salad (with sliced wholemeal pitta) £3.95

Moving on to the main dishes, my burger and fries were awesome. Served in a floury bap with all the trimmings, it wasn’t fancy or anything — in fact, its simplicity and “back to basics” approach (as you can see in the picture) were its defining characteristics. Yeah, it had fries too, and they were surprisingly clean tasting — clearly because they were never fried in the same oil as chicken, fish and god knows what in that contamination tank called a “deep fat fryer”.

burger: 2 vegan patties served in a flour bap with toppings and sauces of your choice on a basket of fries. £7.50

Our other main dish was the Flat Bread Vegetable Calzone. The bad news is that is looked like a repeat of the Garlic Flatbread – I mean, it was a doppelganger for our appetizer visually, but tasted quite different. It had, like, a million vegetables in it with that similar creamy sauce as the Garlic Flatbread, but the end result was a completely different type of taste. Even though it didn’t claim to have any kind of vegan cheese inside, it had a most cheesy kind of texture, something that’s rare for us vegans.

flat bread calzone. £7.95

For most visitors to the UK, The Gardener’s Arms is off the beaten track on the outskirts of Oxford, some 60 miles outside London. If you find yourself with a spare day in London, Oxford makes a nice day trip (the train journey is about an hour), and it really is a beautiful town with lots to see and do. If you’re looking for a bit of Old England, with great vegan food you might not find better than The Gardener’s Arms.

Map of the pub after the jump.

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sante la brea, one of our favorite vegan-friendly spots in town, has recently undergone a complete make-over. not only has it added a brand spankin new vegan thai menu in addition to its own, but it has brought on a new chef, george tigre, who has come up with even more vegan options to impress the los angeles herbivore community. my friend and i hit up sante today for lunch and we seriously felt like guests in tigre’s own personal dining room. the food alone is enough to make me want to return to sante, but the level of service and the all-around experience makes me want to go back asap!

first off, the straight up food we ordered was absolutely incredible. i chose from the traditional sante menu, while my friend opted for some thai food from the vegan mama-z menu.

vegan mushu: unchicken, mushroom, cabbage and carrots in flatbread. $7

my meal of vegan mushu was perfect. soy chicken bits well marinated and chopped with the finest of vegetables, all rolled tightly into fresh flat bread and garnished with an excellent salad. i highly recommend it.

on a vegan thai note, my friend ordered the papaya salad and chicken satay.

chicken satay: served with peanut sauce and cucumber. $6

papaya: green papaya, carrot, green beans, tomato, lime juice, chili and peanut. $8

i tried a taste of the papaya salad and it was in-fucking-sane. my pal is a huge connoisseur of vegan thai food, and she said that this was by far some of the best.

it appears that sante truly has become two great restaurants under one roof. you’ve got the incredible healthy sante fare, almost all of which can be veganized…as well as a whole vegan thai menu, that trumps most other vegan thai places in town. but wait, i haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.

the new chef tigre came over to our table, and during our chat he learned that we had missed out on the vegan-friendly “preview nights” that sante has been holding to promote its new menu. he then insisted on bringing us some complimentary samples, after all, that is the same kind of treatment we would have received on a preview night, had we actually attended. so there we were, two vegans faced with tons of free awesome food. even though it was more than we could handle, it was all so delicious that we couldn’t say no.

tigre started off the samples with an amazing bowl filled with pate and chips for dipping. consisting of roasted pumpkin seeds, walnuts and mushrooms, this was a total delicacy.

following the pate, the chef stocked our table with some premium sushi. organic brown rice, avocado and red bell peppers are what these little rolls were all about.

if you know anything about me and what i eat, you probably know i bloody detest bell peppers. seriously, the hatred for them is so intense, i took one look at these rolls and nearly bolted. however, i decided for the sake of adventure to pick around the bell peppers and try the roll anyways. even though i left some sliced b-pepps discarded on the plate and the chef probably thought i was being completely rude, i actually quite enjoyed this sushi. the brown rice was a bit odd and “healthy” tasting, but the dish overall was very delicious and satisfying.

but it wasn’t just food that chef tigre showered us with. he also provided us with a sante green drink. an awesome elixir that intersected at taste and health. so fucking refreshing!

sante green aid: alkaline water, agave nectar, lime juice & chlorophyll

this juice was completely addictive and tasted just like gorilla life. i give it two thumbs way up, and couldn’t believe when the chef himself kept returning to our table to refill it. talk about service, i’ve never seen anything like it.

lastly, as we were on our way out, chef tigre ran to the table and offered us some dessert options. i was already in a hurry to get back to the office, but we just couldn’t decline, so he brought us two very special parfaits.

blueberry banana cheese cake parfait and almond peanut butter cookie crumble parfait

these parfaits were CRAZY AWESOME WOWOWOWOW SUPERB. although we were too full to finish them, i can tell you each one was spectacular; i really suggest you try them both. my favorite was the almond peanut butter cookie crumble one, though. tons of either chocolate or carob with creamy insides and crunchy layers combined; i’ve never had anything quite like it. next time you go to sante, be sure to request the tigre desserts; they will blow your freakin’ sox off.

parfait perfection from sante.

overall, i gotta say that sante la brea was a home run. my friend and i got amazing food off of two totally separate menus, plus a very generous sampling of food from the new and talented sante chef tigre. VEGANS: hit up this place as soon as possible. order the pate, the sushi, the desserts and ANY of the easily veganized items on the huge menu. you won’t be sorry. and just drop the fact that you are vegan looking for some good food; i promise you will be treated like royalty.

oh, and be sure to add sante la brea on facebook. that way you can be updated on all the deals and kick ass events this place has to offer. sooner of later, i’m sure i’ll see you there!

if you are a vegan in los angeles, you may already be aware of the depressing fact that doomie’s home cookin’ (one of our favorite restaurants ever) has closed its doors. they are currently looking for a new place to set up shop, but for now doomie’s is no more. you still have one last chance to eat doomie’s food though, you can head over to silver lake tomorrow and pay ten bucks for an epic all-you-can-eat vegan feast.

2 flavors of doomie's vegan mac n cheese!

doomie’s is throwing two parties this weekend, both all-you-can-eat buffets to get rid of their perishable food, and to remind the vegan community what a kick ass restaurant they were. i attended the shindig today in south gate, and it was fucking amazing. i implore you to go check them out on the eastside tomorrow, this could be your last chance to eat the genius vegan food that is doomie’s.

doomie's home cookin', squatting in the m-vision graphics warehouse in south gate.

we drove all the way from hollywood to get our doomie’s fix and arrived in south gate at around 3:30pm. by the time we got there, the place was already buzzin’ with vegan hipsters carrying patch-covered backpacks and strange old hippie types with animal rights slogans printed on their t-shirts. there was a box for payment, ten bucks a head, sitting on the table and everyone was on the honor system to kick down some cash and hopefully a donation towards the reopening fund. doomie was standing behind a long table, cooking dish after dish, adding more and more food to the buffet table as people lined up pile their plates high with vegan goodness.

the doomie crew serving it up!

hungry vegans!

everything on the table was flat-out delicious, and even as we were leaving, doomie was cooking up more recipes. i looked around the warehouse and almost everyone was holding an empty plate, patting their stuffed bellies, and still eyeing up the trays of food. people who had never tried doomie’s found a reason to be depressed like the rest of us; the food is just so fucking good, and it’s a shame it won’t be available anymore.

spicy gumbo, herbed macaroni and cheese, delicious pot roast

the husband and i tried to sample a bit of everything, and i think we left about ten pounds heavier. pictured above are the spicy seafood gumbo, a new type of herbed mac n cheese, as well as a hearty pot roast. all of it was very tasty, but the pot roast was out of this world. seriously, the fake meat was all thick and succulent, the gravy was rich and salty, and the vegetables were chunky and and soft. pot roast may sound kind of standard or boring, but this was some of the best food i’ve ever eaten. and i’ve eaten a lot of food, man!

i also finally got to try doomie’s standard mac n cheese, and OMFG i LOVED it!

mac n cheese with salad.

this was some of the best vegan mac i’ve ever had. this could take the pepsi challenge with any other vegan mac n cheese shit, any day of the fuckin’ week. what the hell does doomie put in his cheese sauce? it was so thick and creamy, and tasted like REAL cheese in a really creepy and exciting way. i could have eaten like 5 helpings…but with all that food there, i had pace myself. the salad was also damn good.

doomie's burger, piled high with bacon and slathered with cheese.

in between cooking amazing mac n cheese and quite possibly the best pot roast ever, doomie was taking special burger orders as well. the husband and i split a cheesy bacon burger and it was INSANE. they had chili burgers as well, but we skipped those because of the mess factor. regardless, our burger was awesome—from the perfectly grilled patty, to the crispy rashers of bacon, to the runny cheese sauce. i am so glad we got to try it. the crowd was super pleased as well, everyone i saw with burgers shoved in their mouths were chewing and smiling at the same time.

frito pie! fritos smothered with chili and cheese.

lastly, we helped ourselves to a serving of frito pie. it was basically chili cheese nachos with fritos instead of tortilla chips. talk about guilty pleasure. i don’t even want to think of what went into this dish…all i know is that it didn’t contain any dead animal body parts, and it tasted incredible. again, the cheese sauce was killer…it tasted just like that sketchy but tasty runny stuff that comes out of a pump and covers nachos at the movie theater or the baseball stadium. sinfully authentic vegan food. i love it.

that’s it. i tried, but i couldn’t eat anymore. as we were leaving, doomie was well into cooking some mashed potatoes and asked someone, “hey, where are the pie crusts?” we took that as our cue to run for the door. dude, too much good food! and whatever the heck involved mashed potatoes and pie crusts, well, i’m sure that was great too.

so go, go, go, GO to silver lake tomorrow and eat what doomie has to offer. who knows, this may be your last chance. i can tell you, you will definitely get your ten bucks worth and probably eat some of the best vegan food you’ve ever tried. go there, eat lots, and tip well. you and doomie both deserve it.

R.I.P. DOOMIE’S HOME COOKIN’ (at least for now). let’s hope doomie’s reopens again very soon. here’s to arguably the best restaurant ever to serve up affordable and tasty vegan food in los angeles. it’s an outright crime that they were only open for 3 short months.

for all of you who want to reminisce, click here. and here.

UPDATE 1/23/11: apparently, now the wagamama soba noodles now contain egg…even though they are still listed on the vegan section of the website. according to UK vegans, now you’ve gotta order the below dishes with udon or rice noodles, NOT SOBA NOODLES in order for them to be vegan. this might vary by location, so please let your waiter or waitress know that you are vegan when ordering to avoid any mix-ups!

on our recent trip to england, we were completely overwhelmed by all the vegan options london had to offer. there were so many vegetarian restaurants, way too many to try, and even the chain restaurants and pubs had animal-free offerings. on our first day there, i received an email from a london reader named paul, who’d read about our trip and had a list of places for us to check out. at the top of his list was wagamama.

if you’ve been to london, you’ve probably seen several wagamama restaurants, the pan-asian inspired chain noodle bars are on practically every corner. i was so stoked to read paul’s email and learn that they had plenty of vegan dishes on the menu. our first two nights were spent in a lovely pub in richmond, which happened to be just a 15 minute walk away from a wagamama location. kismet! i went to their website, and found they even have a whole list of everything on the menu that’s suitable for vegans. score!

we pored over the vegan online menu, decided what to order and headed out for a wagamama feast. we started with the raw salad, which was excellent.

raw salad: a combination of mixed asian leaves, thin cut mooli, carrot, spring and red onions. garnished with fried shallots and served with wagamama house dressing. £2.90

while the raw salad was simple and cheap, it was probably the best thing about our dinner. seriously, so so so so so good. everything was just super fresh and went really well together. plain ingredients can taste amazing when very well prepared.

next we got the saien soba, which was decent. i would probably try something different next time…i mean, it was pretty good but didn’t wow me.

saien soba: wholewheat noodles in a vegetable soup topped with stir-fried courgettes, asparagus, fried tofu, red onion, leeks, shiitake and portobello mushrooms, mangetout, beansprouts and garlic. seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and garnished with sliced spring onion. £7.50

this dish was pretty salty, and a little bland, but all the fresh vegetables and delicious tofu made up for it. it did taste a little like something i could make at home, though.

lastly, we ordered the yasai chilli men. very spicy and very delicious.

yasai chilli men: stir-fried courgettes, white and portobello mushrooms, mangetout, green and red peppers and fried tofu in a sauce made from chillies, ginger, garlic, onion, tomatoes, lemongrass and sweet red peppers. served with wholewheat noodles. £7.50

the yasai chilli men was awesome. the sauce was tomatoey and sweet, kind of like pasta sauce…and it was all very hot. i got it without the peppers, and it was still covered in tons of vegetables. there were so many different flavors going on in this dish, and they all went together so well. nam nam nam.

so, if you are ever in london and need a no-brainer vegan dinner, wagamama is a great place to hit up. no matter where you are, you are probably very close to a wagamama, so it makes for a great emergency meal. be sure to check out all their vegan options online, or ask your server. the staff seemed pretty knowledgeable about vegan stuff when we were there.

the food is decent, the prices aren’t high, and the service is quick. thanks to reader paul for the tip! i know i will be back at wagamama again in no time.

Do you remember the scene in Wizard of Oz where the wizard is exposed behind the curtain, and he turns out to be just some boring middle-aged man of ill repute? Well, that’s what we existentialists call a “revelation”, and BOY did I get one of those last weekend in Pure Luck. I didn’t just see behind the red curtain by the cash register, I got a glimpse behind the IRON CURTAIN into cold-war era Soviet Russia. Okay, I know you just want to hear about potato pals and how awesome the freakin’ jackfruit is, but bear with me on this.

The RED Era of Pure Luck!

Any vegan living in LA will confirm that Pure Luck is probably the best vegan restaurant in town, has some of the nicest staff and offers an innovative Mexi/Californian-style menu that can satisfy even the most hard boiled carnivore. The same vegans will also tell you that the quality of the food is about as predictable as the middle-east peace process, and you never quite know what you’re going to get when you order something off the menu.

I usually stick to the staple Fresh Noodle Salad, but even that simple dish (with, like four ingredients) has arrived in multiple different forms in the year or so I’ve been going there. Sometimes it’s all noodles with spinach sprinkled on top, other times it’s a 5lb bag of spinach with nary a noodle in site. Sometimes there is so much tofu I can’t handle the protein overload and other times there’s not enough tofu to feed a vegan mouse. The other dishes suffer the same fate of inconsistency, yet we vegans are so grateful to have Pure Luck around we just complain to each other yet rarely to the staff.

Well, this weekend, I was served with an inedible Fresh Noodle Salad. Not only were the noodles hard and crunchy, but the spinach was brown at the edges and the whole thing was swimming in a sea of salty water. There were five pieces of overcooked tofu, no tortilla crunchies and the toasted peanuts had seen neither hide nor hare of a toaster, let alone any form of heat.

Pure Luck Fresh Noodle Salad on a bad day.

Sadly, I had to send it back and decided to order the Pure Luck Spring rolls instead. I SWEAR they scooped out the crap in my salad bowl, wrapped it in a tortilla with a smirk on their faces, dumped the salty water on top and re-served it to me, as the rolls were no better. See below for a comparison between a good and bad day. Please note that on the bad day, the spring rolls were soggy, with the dip TIPPED INTO into them and flowing out, and barely any tofu. On the good day, however, there was tons of tofu and the spring rolls were fresh, the leaves weren’t wilted, and the sauce was served on the side. Night and day, I tell you.

Pure Luck spring rolls, for better and for worse.

Coincidentally, a friend, who visited later the same afternoon, ordered the Burrito, which happened to be “95% rice” and fell apart when she tried to eat it. She’s decided to start visiting Pure Luck less often, as she’s “fed up getting crappy food, when it used to be so good.”. And, she’s the SECOND person I know who won’t order the Burrito again for the exact same reason, both served months apart.

When I questioned our wonderfully efficient and polite server about the consistency of the food I got the most stunning revelation: “Well, because we share all the tips, the owner likes us to do different jobs here. One day I might be waiting tables, the next washing dishes and then I might be in the kitchen preparing food. I guess some of us are better than others at different things”. No shit, Sherlock.

I mean, Pure Luck, SERIOUSLY. You have a business with paying customers, not some ideological experiment with socialist capitalism. I’ve never run a restaurant, but I know that not everybody can cook food, just as not everybody is good at dealing with people. Pure Luck needs to get a sensible rotation of kitchen staff to consistently prepare quality food as well as serve your customers with accountability.

I know about 10 vegans who don’t go to Pure Luck as often as they would, for fear of being disappointed with a dish that’s not up to the standards they are used to. Indeed, just this last Saturday, Twitter was going crazy with people who were going to Pure Luck and complaining about the food.

Pure Luck: you can do better. Your restaurant is quieter than it used to be, and the only consistency we’ve seen is higher prices and smaller portions. We loyal customers will vote with our feet and go elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong, you are still the best vegan restaurant in town by far, but gone are my regular weekend dinner gatherings at Pure Luck with friends, shrunk now to once or twice a month…and we all remark on the inconsistency of the food. Comping a food item (has happened several times in my circle of friends) means we both lose. Your revenue goes down, and the customer doesn’t get what they ordered.

Pure Luck should deliver reasonable consistency with its food, that’s all we are asking. Our salads/tacos/burritos/whatever should be very similar every time we order them, and we shouldn’t be afraid to speak up and send stuff back to the kitchen that’s below par, even if we have waited 40 minutes for it to arrive.

UPDATE 4/25/2011: DON’T EAT AT SWINGER’S. they put lard in “vegan” items.

UPDATED POST: the cinnamon rolls featured in this post were originally supplied by dee’s bakery and donuts, but after learning about the conditions of her kitchen and non-vegan ingredients, swingers has discontinued their dee’s bakery products.

swingers diner on beverly has been a regular haunt of ours for a long time, especially on weekends for breakfast. the smart-ass and ironic pseudo-50s-style diner has a whole lotta attitude (their slogan is “ass, cash, or grass, nobody eats for free”), plus a huge menu with more vegan options than i could ever possibly try. mr. meaner and i usually both order the vegan burrito, but we’ve posted about that before and decided to branch on our past visit and try some new stuff.

we hit up swingers for breakfast on sunday, and the first thing i noticed as i walked in the door was a huge tray of plump cinnamon rolls sitting on the counter. the waitress saw me scoping them and called out to me, “you should really try one of our rolls! they are absolutely delicious and they’re VEGAN.” that sealed it. it’s pretty rare i see a random mouth-watering dessert and find out i can eat it…that pleasure is typically reserved for omnivores. i ordered one and savored every bite regretted it later after seeing the kitchen it was made in.

vegan cinnamon roll from swingers

the cinnamon roll turned out to be from dee’s bakery, and i can’t stress to you how un-vegan this tasted. (probably because it wasn’t) argh.

gratuitous frosting close up

after murdering an entire sinful, frosting-filled bun, we opted for some healthy entrees: the vegan cobb and the tofu saute.

vegan cobb: sauteed tofu, soy cheese, avocado, sweet corn, tomatoes, crispy onions, and carrots with organic mixed baby greens tossed in tahini-dill dressing. $10.95

the vegan cobb was amazing. the cheese tasted like tofutti slices (which i love) and the sauteed tofu was perfectly seasoned. plus it came with mounds of vegetables and really fresh avocado. awesome all the way around. for a big meal salad, you could do a lot worse.

the tofu saute was also quite tasty, and had a certain asian flare to it.

tofu saute: tofu, sauteed quinoa, broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms, carrots, red cabbage, garlic and ginger with a squeeze of fresh orange, served with a swingers salad. $9.25

these little mounds of tofu were perfectly seasoned and came with a whole ton of crispy vegetables. it definitely tasted light and healthy; the ideal contrast to all the warm frosting floating around inside my belly.

with so much great vegan stuff on the menu, there is no reason not to give swingers a try. ok, for some folks it may be a little bit arrogant and cooler-than-thou in an annoying hipster sort of way…but, don’t worry, it’s way too far west to take itself very seriously. if this place were in los feliz i may be intimidated, but it’s two locations are in weho and santa monica, and the servers are a lot more cooky than they are snotty.

and whether you are looking for some hard core vegan junk food, late night munchies, healthy salads or overwhelming desserts…swingers has it all. plus, it’s a place you can take your meat-lovin’ friends and find something on the menu for everyone.

so head over there fast. and if you are lucky enough to get a hot vegan cinnamon roll, fucking do it.

swingers
8020 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 653-5858

recently, i found myself in the valley and decided to check out sherman oaks’ all-salad restaurant, the dressing room. unfortunately, i was rather unimpressed.

the dressing room offers tons of special salads, but the real draw for me was the create-your-own option. you get to choose the toppings for your salad and watch it made fresh, right before your eyes. i was so eager to check this place out—their website boasts that they offer 64 toppings and 16 styles of protein. oh boy! i was imagining all kinds of deliciousness. when i got there though, i realized the toppings were pretty basic and nothing to get excited about. carrots, onions, olives, blah blah blah. no hummus or tabouli or anything to get me worked up. the protein choices for us vegans consisted of tofu, and tofu only….cold, grilled or blackened. i opted for grilled, which i was told is cooked on a separate part of the grill. yay.

create your own salad with arugula, spinach, chick peas, mushrooms, red onion, snap peas, tomatoes and grilled tofu. $9.20

while my salad wasn’t bad, it was definitely uninspired. as i said, the toppings were kind of meh, and $9.20 was way too much to pay for this thing. the salad was huge, but it was mostly leaves—i think i got maybe 3 mushrooms total in the whole thing. i even overheard other customers complaining about their lack of toppings and one even went up to the counter to request some more. considering greens are the cheapest thing for the restaurant to provide, it’s lame that they give you so many in such and expensive salad. the tofu was also pretty bland; i poured half a bottle of hot sauce on my plate before it had any kind of flavor.

while my salad was pretty blah, at least the dressing room provided a nice place in which to eat it. the restaurant has a pleasant interior with brightly colored walls and big lamps that look almost pinkberry-esque. i think they should work on their interior design a little less, and focus more on their salads.

to be fair, my experience at the dressing room may not be the norm. i’ve read great things about it on very reputable sources like to live and eat in la and on yelp. so maybe i got them on a bad day or something. i just know i won’t be back. the place is way too expensive and the toppings don’t do it for me. for that much money i could get a huge salad at whole foods filled with all kinds of exciting stuff from the build- your-own salad bar. ah well, it was worth a shot!