LA

Guest Post: LA Eatin’ Part Two

/ Kelly / 1 Comment

Here’s the grand finale of S’s enviable trip to California, where he shares more of his attempt to eat his way through LA and nerds out over SPACE!

***

My friend and I returned to her home after our warm-hearted Cafe Gratitude dinner and rich, sugary BabyCakes dessert. We’d bought tickets to a 10:30 showing of The Gatekeepers, a critically acclaimed documentary about the Israeli secret security service. Alas, I was not to remain awake that long, and I bailed for an early jet-lag induced rest.

The next morning we awoke and headed off to Real Food Daily for brunch. My friend’s late Christmas present for me was a copy of the Real Food Daily cookbook, so I was excited to try their selection. I started off with one of my favorite morning beverages, a hot cup of espresso.

Small cup with a frothy espresso and a silver spoon.

Gimme caffeine!

I sipped my beverage while we mulled over the menu. The waitress recommended The Weekender, a make-your-own brunch meal that looked like way too much food–perfect to fill in for my breakfast and lunch. I got the scrambled tofu, which came with onions, tomatoes, and cashew cheese, a side of tempeh bacon, plus hash browns. If that sounds like a lot, it was!

Plate of tofu scramble, ketchup, potatoes, and tempeh bacon.

Scrambled!

The tofu scramble was pretty standard. The cashew cheese on top was unnecessary but delicious, although the promised jalapeno did not deliver much spice. The hash browns were a bit greasy and uncannily square. This was, however, my first experience with tempeh bacon, and it was awesome. How do they get the bacon taste so right? I wanted several more pieces, but I probably couldn’t have eaten them anyway. That’s because I forgot to mention that this meal also included french toast.

Plate with two thick slices of French toast and a bit scoop of vegan butter.

Toast, a la francais.

It was light, fluffly, and delicious, if a bit too chewy. But honestly, I could barely choke it down. This weekend turned into a glut-fest!

My friend left me to my own devices for my remaining two days, and I ate both lunch and dinner at separate Native Foods. Did I mention that I love Native Foods? [Ed. note: I can confirm this.] I didn’t snap any pictures or take notes, as I figured there wasn’t much novelty. But later that day I did take a picture of something that was ONCE IN SPACE!

The space shuttle Endeavour!

THIS HAS BEEN IN SPACE SEVERAL TIMES.

I am a huge science nerd, and seeing the Endeavour was honestly a pretty awe-inspiring experience. I teared up a bit when I first entered the hangar; it’s amazing to think of the incredible ingenuity, courage, and genius of the men and women who built and flew that craft. Space travel is the most astonishing accomplishment in human history, and seeing the massive shuttle in person was a humbling experience.

But I couldn’t stay long; I had to get to Loma Linda for a work trip. I cruised west for an hour or so and checked into my hotel in Riverside, California, right down the street from the beautiful and historic Riverside Inn. I’d stopped for some snacks along the way, but I was going to need nourishment for the whole week, so I decided to get a pizza and store it in my hotel fridge, eating a few pieces a night. I drove about a half hour to Cheezy Pizza in Colton, a bizarre establishment that was the only vegan offering in the area.

Shady-looking row of small storefronts.

Yep, that’s a head shop next door.

This place was really weird. First of all, it was in the middle of nowhere; the only other buildings around seemed to be warehouses. Secondly, it offered a strange combination of pizza and Mexican food (I wish I’d grabbed some “vegan-style” empanadas). And thirdly, I swear the pizza had fennel on it. It was otherwise not bad, but pretty standard Daiya pizza. I got half “pepperoni” and half mushrooms, and it did the job.

My final vegan stop on the trip was at Loving Hut in Upland, which was about a half hour drive. I’ve never been to a Loving Hut before, and I wasn’t disappointed. There was a muted TV playing the Supreme Master with helpful subtitles that covered nearly the entire screen. I ordered the Spicy General Tso’s and was fairly unimpressed.

White plate with a scoop of white rice, a small salad, and a fake meat with sauce. In the background are copies of the New Yorker and The Silmarillion.

New Yorker and Tolkien, no biggie.

I did very much enjoy my dessert, however: an Oreo cheesecake. I also got to watch a very cute baby across the room.

Big slice of cheesecake with a cookie-crumb crust.

Sorry, no baby pictures.

I had a great time in California and I was so glad to be able to sample such diverse vegan offerings. One unexpected benefit of my going vegan has been that I can plan my trips around the places I want to eat, and that strategy worked swimmingly in LA and the Inland Empire. Thanks for reading!

Guest Post: LA Eatin’

/ Kelly / 4 Comments

While I was in Seattle, S was on his own trip in LA. He stayed with a semi-vegan friend for a few days before journeying to Loma Linda for work, and they hit up all the notable vegan joints in LA. I won’t say I’m not envious, but at least S took copious notes so he could share his delicious eats with me (and you)! This is his first installment.

***

I’ve just returned from a magical place. It’s warm all the time there–rarely gets below 60–and it almost never rains. Improbable palm trees stud the roadways. And there is more vegan food than you could eat in a lifetime. It’s not the Garden of Eden–it’s Los Angeles!

I’m the first to claim I love a good snowstorm or a grey, overcast day. But there’s something about the perennial sunshine that just gets your spirits up. I can see how Southern California draws so many dreamers.

I stayed with a friend from high school who, after flirting with veganism for a few months, went full vegan for the month of January and has continued ever since. She made the impressive leap from omnivorism to veganism without the classic stopover in Vegetarianville, and she hasn’t looked back. What follows are write-ups of a few of Los Angeles’ most popular vegan hot-spots, and my own terrible photos. [Ed. note: Not as bad as my low-lighting restaurant snaps!]

Palms!

Our first stop was at the famous Veggie Grille, and it was literally on the way home from the airport. I grabbed the All-American Stack with a side of coleslaw and a strawberry lemonade. The “stack” included three onion rings, grilled “veggie-steak,” and standard burger condiments. I found it disappointing, to be honest; the protein was pretty unremarkable, the onion rings were a bit floppy, and the coleslaw was quite bland. The strawberry lemonade, on the other hand, was delicious; tart and bright with flecks of strawberry seeds. Just the thing for a warm, sunny day!

Stacked.

On the way back to my friend’s apartment we stopped at Sprinkles, a lovely ice cream shop in the heart of Beverly Hills. You don’t understand Beverly Hills until you spot a Bentley double-parking in front of a Ferrari in front of a cupcake ATM, as we saw while standing in line for the single vegan ice cream flavor. The strawberry sorbet was so fresh and creamy that I didn’t mind doubling up on it.

And we stopped by the ATM on the way out to grab vegan red velvet cupcakes, which we watched being dispensed via live video feed. I’m told Honey Boo Boo patronized the very same cupcake ATM. I felt touched by fame. The cupcake was terrific, by the way–moist and rich, with a coconutty icing that worked well with the flavors.

That night we went to Cafe Gratitude in downtown LA. It’s not really a cafe, but a lovely full-service restaurant with warm wooden decor and an array of organic vegan dishes. Ordering at Cafe Gratitude requires you to say something positive about yourself, because all the dishes are inspiring sentences. We started off with the I AM ECSTATIC, and what is more ecstatic than brussels sprouts roasted with Maple Miso sauce? The sprouts were a tad soggy, but the roasted flavor worked well with the touch of maple and the portion was huge. I must say, though, that I still prefer Kelly’s brussels sprouts–and I’m not just saying that!

Ecstatic.

For the main course I declared I AM WARM HEARTED, and when the server returned he confirmed: “You are warm hearted.” As a reward for my compassion I received grilled polenta with mushroom ragout and spinach, drizzled with ricotta cashew cheese and sprinked with brazil nut parmesan and basil. It was absolutely delicious. Rich and savory, with as much decadent ragout as polenta. The cheeses were very, very good, but overkill even for me, and I’ll almost never turn down another savory flavor. The basil and spinach was absolutely essential for leavening this heavy meal.

Warm-hearted.

And though my stomach protested, I couldn’t pass up a stop at the famous BabyCakes, where I bought a double chocolate cookie cake with mint icing. Now, I love Bloom, our local vegan bakery, and I think it can stand up to any of its big-city counterparts. But this cookie sandwich absolutely blew my mind! The chocolate cookies were decadently fudgy, almost brownie-like, and the icing was drawn from the Platonic conception of a mint oreo. I meant to take a photo, honest, but it was so good that I thought of nothing else until all that remained were crumbs in a paper ball.

This ends Part I of LA Eatin’! Stay tuned for the second and final installment, where I visit Real Food Daily, see a thing that was in space (!), and order a meal from the bizarre Cheezy Pizza.

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