for more info on the secret menu, please see the bottom of this post.***

ever since i ate that life-altering vegan big mac and discovered doomie’s has a secret menu, i have made it my mission to try everything on it. since it’s pretty giant and not actually written down anywhere, it will be tough to track my progress on the secret menu, but i’ll try! i started on sunday with the “buffalo chicken sandwich”.

buffalo chicken sandwich: breaded buffalo chicken nuggets, hot sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and ranch dressing. served with fries. $8.95

oh jeez. i have tried almost every sandwich that doomie’s has to offer on the normal menu, and as far i’m concerned, this beats them all. SO GOOD…

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mendocino farms finally opened up in west hollywood last week, and i wasted no time in getting over there. i hit them up on saturday for lunch, and like every meal i’ve had at mendo, my sandwich was predictably awesome.

Vegan Shawarma: Mediterranean chickpea shawarma, with a bean puree, vegan tzatziki, red onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and shredded romaine on a grilled honey wheat tortilla wrap (vegan tortilla available on request) $9.25

there were 3 vegan sandwiches to choose from: chickpea shawarma, a spicy soyrizo wrap, and an indian dosa. i went with the shwarama (sauce on the side), and loved every bite. just be sure and specify that you want a vegan tortilla, because the wheat ones at mendocino contain honey. super fresh ingredients and a light falafelly shwarama that wasn’t too meaty…

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heads up, angelenos! our favorite local sandwich shop, mendocino farms, is rolling out a new vegan special at all of their locations tomorrow. as you probably know, we here at QG are obsessed with sandwiches, and this one looks incredible. i know i can’t wait to try it.

Vegan Picnic Sandwich: House Marinated Organic Tempeh Bacon with Potato Salad Spread, Vegenaise, Red Onions, Whole Grain Mustard Slaw, Tomatoes, Panini Pressed on Dolce Forno Roll (the bread is vegan!) with a Side of BBQ Sauce. $9.25

i gotta find a way to get downtown or to marina del rey this week—this thing looks way too good to pass up! go support mendocino farms for their always inventive and delicious vegan options.

sandwiches!! we love them, i mean, who doesn’t?! today we’re bringing you our top ten list of vegan sandwiches from around town, in no particular order. enjoy. oh and just to be clear, these are only sandwiches that are actually available right now or regularly at restaurants or food trucks.

the vegan reuben at locali. our favorite reuben in town, and something you need to try before you die…

the vegan reuben: marinated tofu deli slices topped with melted vegan cheese and sauerkraut & smothered with delicious homemade vegan russian dressing! $10.50 full/$5.50 half

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remember that vegan philly cheesesteak special at m cafe that i blogged about recently? well, the restaurant has decided to make it a “fall special,” which means right now it’s available all the time! i took the sandwich for a spin on friday (minus the bell peppers, because i hate them), and it was all kinds of amazing.

philly cheesesteak: thinly-sliced seitan, peppers, mushrooms, and onions then smothered melted “cheese sauce”. $9.95

good god, this is the best philly cheesesteak i’ve ever eaten…

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this week our favorite sandwich shop in town, mendocino farms, has a vegan club on special and it looks scrumptious!

Traditional Vegan Club: House Marinated Organic Vegan Tempeh Bacon with Smashed Avocado, Vegenaise, Pickled Red Onions, Tomatoes, Mixed Greens on Buckwheat. $9.25

we’re already in love with the soyrizo wrap and vegan shawarma at mendo, so we can’t wait to check the club out. let’s see how it stacks up against the current champion of the club club. go give this sandwich a try at any of the mendocino locations and let us know what you think!

PS: someone left a comment on an earlier post calling into question the veganocity of mendocino farms’ bread. i got the official word from the restaurant, and here’s a list of their vegan and non-vegan breads:

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it’s my life’s mission to make it through all the rotating vegan specials at tony’s darts away, and i’m doing a damn good job. i was among the first angelenos to feast on the wheatloaf sliders when they came out in 2010, i’ve sampled the fleeting pickle chips, and i’m no stranger to the marinara “meatball” sub. after all that though, i can say with confidence that the “not so french dip” is my favorite special yet, and surely one of the most delicious vegan sandwiches in all of LA.

not so french dip: thinly sliced seitan on a bun with creamy sauce and vegan au jus.

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every time i eat a new special at tony’s darts away, i feel compelled to tell you immediately…because they never stick around for very long! today tony’s is serving up vegan meatball sandwiches filled with marinara sauce and topped with daiya cheese.

vegan meatball sandwich: vegan meatballs simmered in marinara sauce, served on a warm bun and topped with daiya mozzarella. $8

i ordered one without the cheese, and it was damn delicious. go eat one of these for dinner, who knows how long it will be on the menu.

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the more i eat at native foods, the more i love it. ever since they opened up their new spacious location in culver city, i can’t stay away. they even have a rewards card program, and just last week i got an email saying i’d earned ten bucks worth of free food!

i recently took my omnivorous sister and niece to native foods and they were impressed. seriously, they were shocked that it was vegan. have a look at what we ordered:

chili cheese fries: seasoned potato fries smothered in homemade native chili. topped with native cheese and diced red onions. $5.95

topped with meaty vegan chili and homemade “cheese,” these fries are not to be messed with.

native nachos: homemade corn tortilla chips covered in black beans, native taco meat, native chipotle crema, native cheese, salsa fresca, and guacamole. topped with corn, green onions, and cilantro. $7.95

we couldn’t decide between the chili fries and the nachos, so we got both. best decision ever.

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san francisco seems to be the city of awesome sandwiches. they’ve got fried tofu banh mis at dinosaurs, fake meaty masterpieces at ike’s place, and now i’ve fallen in love with the wheat meat cheesesteaks at jay’s.

mushroom style seitan cheesesteak with vegan mayo, mustard, lettuce and tomato. $8.45

although jay’s cheesesteak isn’t a vegetarian restaurant by any means, they do their vegan sandwiches right with over 10 seitan styles to choose from and a vegenaise option so we don’t have to skip the mayo altogether.

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no trip to san francisco is complete without visiting ike’s place. the small hole in the wall in the castro consistently turns out the best sandwiches i’ve ever eaten. i’m on a mission to try everything on their vegan menu, and now i can officially cross the vegan reuben off the list.

vegan reuben: vegan turkey, homemade poppy seed coleslaw, french dressing, soy cheese. $9.99

this sandwich is no joke. it’s fully loaded, costs just under ten bucks and could easily feed two people.

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starting today and running through the rest of the summer our favorite LA sandwich shop, mendocino farms, is having a vegan sandwich showdown!

the vegan spicy soyrizo is battling it out with the vegan shawarma to see who will get a spot on the permanent mendo menu.

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i love sandwiches. i’ve probably eaten thousands of them in my life…and this may very well be the best.

dinosaurs in san francisco is a somewhat new hole in the wall joint in the castro. the menu is small, and they’ve only got one vegan sandwich…but that one sanwich is guaranteed to blow your mind. let me introduce you to their ridiculously good tofu vietnamese offering…

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lately the vegan restaurant scene in los angeles has been in a constant state of change. pure luck closed down, doomie’s moved from downtown to hollywood, native foods replaced m cafe in culver city, veggie grills are popping up in every part of town at an alarming rate…and with madeleine bistro’s fate looking uncertain at best, for a moment it seemed like we were losing our one meatless fine dining option in the city. enter sage vegan bistro.

the small echo park eatery shares the bottom corner of the jensen rec center on sunset with kindkreme (a raw and dairy-free ice cream parlor) and has been open for a little over 3 months. the menu is ambitious to say the least, with a slew of lunch items (served all day), gourmet dinner fare (served after 5pm), and brunch on the weekends from 9am-4pm. the offerings are pretty creative as well—items such as banh mi spring rolls, almond crusted fried cheese, and white bean french cassoulet all sound incredible.

i’d dined at sage once before, for brunch, and quite enjoyed it…so i was anxious to try them out for dinner. we stopped by over the weekend with our friends jen & jen, and i’m happy to report that our meal was excellent.

polenta galettes topped with sauteed leeks and a raisin date spread.

upon arrival, we were presented with lots of menus! the dinner menu, the lunch menu, and the kindkreme dessert menu…and everything on them was ours for the taking. there was even a “specials” menu written on a chalkboard hanging in the restaurant. we were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of choice, but i think we managed to get at least one thing off every menu.

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if i could only eat one meal out in philadelphia, you can bet your arse it would be a vegan philly cheesesteak. thankfully, JL goes vegan is the same and she’s written us a lovely field report on the coveted sandwich. i really wanna go to philly so bad someday, and when i do, this thing is on my bucket list.

I recently found myself on an Amtrak from New York to Philadelphia to attend a cooking intensive. The great thing about taking a three-day vegan culinary class is that you don’t worry about where to eat — you eat what you cook. I arrived Friday morning, the class was to begin at 2:30, so I had only one meal out. I met up with my friend who lived locally. She knew I wanted a vegan Philly cheesesteak sandwich for lunch and suggested Mi Lah.

This small, vegan restaurant is bright and bustling. As I read the menu I became quickly distracted by the specials of the day (from rice noodles to veggie burritos to mofongo veggie bacon and chorizo to corn masa cakes) and had to snap myself back to my mission: eat a vegan Philly cheesesteak!

But first, the salad…

Mango, avocado and mix green salad with spicy Caribbean lime dressing $6

This was the “small” salad. The portion was generous and the fruit and vegetables were extremely fresh.

Then it was show time.

Mi Lah Cheesesteak with sauteed mushrooms and peppers $8

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