WE LIKE TO EAT VEGAN

Manna, London - Nov. 16th, 2011

2011-12-16T12:50:00.000-08:00

(See our Manna, London post from November 2009 here)
It was our 20th wedding anniversary and we spent it in London, and had our dinner at our favorite London restaurant, Manna.

Twenty years of marriage! (24 together.) Still happy.

This is the "ravioli" (£8=$12) "a crisped ravioli filled with wild mushroom & walnut pâté with fennel cream sauce, sundried tomato pesto & balsamic reduction" I think they should call this an "empanada" because it resembles an empenada more that a ravioli because it's not made out of pasta, but more of a pastry. Regardless, this the BEST thing ever. So good. If you go to Manna you are missing out if you don't try these babies.

This is the "Bangers and Mash" (£14=$21) "organic fennel and pumpkin seed sausages on a bed of parsnip & carrot mas h served with cavalo nero on a red wine, leek & thyme jus" This is their signature dish, and they nail it. I have had this before, and it's great every time.

Deanna got the "Pasta of the day" "cherry tomatoes, courgettes, some kind of soy cream sauce." (We can't remember very well!) She liked it, but we were trying to go a bit lighter since we had come a few days earlier and gorged ourselves to the point of pain.

Yeah, we have 3 photos of this dessert.

Deanna is gushing about this! "The best dessert of our trip!" She says. I must admit it was pretty incredible. Its the "Cranberry & orange cheesecake" (£8=$12) "served with ameretto brittle ice cream and butterscotch sauce." They hand make the ice cream, and the combination of that with the perfectly made cheesecake is bonkers.

If you are vegan and going to London, treat yourself to some fancy vegan food at Manna, you will not regret the choice.

Thanksgiving at Native Foods

2011-12-12T09:45:00.000-08:00

Deanna and I decided that our Thanksgiving dinner would be at Native Foods this year.

I don't think either of us care too much about the meaning of this holiday. We grew up with it, and enjoy the food centered aspect of it, even after going vegan 20+ years ago. We are very thankful for what we have and like the thoughtfulness attitude of the day, but the traditional pilgrims and indians ideas are total BS. And of course today's turkey genocide centered theme is the worst.

So here is the food. Native's vegan Wellington, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, polenta, cranberry sauce, green beans, and not shown: Green leaf salad and a very nice Waldorf Salad.

All of this is presented in an all you can eat buffet style. You can pile your plate up high just like you might at home.

We enjoyed our food very much. The food was great, the atmosphere was festive if not a bit impersonal (compared to being with family, or even having a regular waitress.) And we didn't have to cook! The dessert was not so hot. They had 3 pies, pumpkin, chocolate, and pumpkin cheesecake. The ones we had, cheesecake and chocolate were mushy, and not inspired.

Eating this food did spurn us to make Thanksgiving type food later in the week though.

I would do this again, the food was excellent, and the price is right. But it feels a little weird not being with family or friends, no matter how bad the food might be with them in comparison.

Hangawi Restaurant, New York City

2011-06-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

On recommendation from our good friend Sweet Melissa we tried Hangawi in NYC, A Gourmet Korean restaurant that is also 100% vegan. Everything was super good, but it costs a pretty penny.

Ever wonder what a 15$ salad looks like? Ta-Da! We provide the answers to these pressing questions. This was the "organic mix green salad" (organic fresh herb salad with tomatoes and grapefruits in creamy almond dressing) The dressing was really good, and we loved the salad. It wasn't until we got the bill that we realized how much it was. Was it worth it? Hard to say. For the size it is overpriced. But if we went back here we would surely get it again.

These are the "kabocha pumpkin pancakes with mung beans." (pancakes with shredded kabocha pumpkin and mung beans) These were a hit. Deanna loved them. It comes with a dipping sauce that was very nice. They seemed to be made of potatoes with pumpkin and mung beans mixed in.

This is my sweet little lady Deanna, happy and enjoying our "high-roller" dinner.

Coming in at 25 big ones was this wonderful "organic zen bibimbap." (with organic vegetables, mushrooms and wild mountain greens, served with organic brown rice) What is a bibimbap you ask? It was my first one too, and now I'm hooked. (Well for vegan ones anyway.) Very good. It came with a miso-paste sauce and in a hot stone bowl which kept it sizzling the whole time.

Deanna had the "avocado stone bowl rice."(avocado with variety of vegetables and tofu over rice mixed with miso sauce in stone bowl) weighing in at 20 bucks, this one came with white rice and Deanna wishes she had substituted for brown rice. (Actually I think she just wanted my dish.) We really enjoyed the restaurant and atmosphere. You have to take your shoes off. Also it seems like you have to sit at very low tables and I was fretting because I can't even get into the Indian style position, and I would have had to lay sideways and Jabba the Hut my meal to be comfortable. But luckily there is a secret chamber under the table for your legs to go into. They banged a special gong before signing "Happy Birthday" to some customers. And when you leave your shoes are waiting for you on the steps like eager puppies. A charming, if pocketbook-scorching place for sure. Take someone special.

Gelaromy Gelateria, Rome, Italy

2011-06-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

We visited Gelaromy Gelateria not too far from the Vatican City.

Fairly nondescript, we got the address from Happy Cow.

The word every vegan is searching for, "Soia."

Happy Campers. If you are visiting St. Peters Basilica, or the Vatican Museums, this Gelato shop is a nice walk through a very charming part of Rome. Map It.

Street Restaurant, Los Angeles

2010-12-28T11:42:00.000-08:00

This happened back in June, 2010. Our friend Stacy works at Street, Hot Tamale Susan Feniger's latest restaurant, and we got invited for a special all-vegan multiple-course meal invented just for us. It's always a treat to have a a world renowned chef cook for you, and a complete rarity to have one cooking vegan. Street is not a vegan restaurant, but has many things on the menu that are vegan, and a vegan can have an excellent meal there, no problem. But this menu was concocted just for us!

Here's a peek at our exclusive menu with our names printed on them!

A closer peek.

These are the Mandoo Vegetable Dumplings. Ridiculously good.

The Burmese Melon Salad.

These were the hit hit of the night, Jackfruit Tostadas and Soyrizo Empanadas.

Soba & Satay, green soba noodles with Tofu satay. Yum.

Heirloom Tomatoes with black garlic vinaigrette and Thai basil.

Indian potato & Eggplant Curry. This was so good!

These weren't even on the menu, special Indian savory crepes!

The Nectarine & Strawberry Cobbler. Whoa.

These were some slightly alcoholic, sweet tamarind style drinks that were delightful.

These were called "Kajsa's and Christine's Coco Marshmallow Thing." And they were wolfed up in seconds.

The blessed party who ingested all this sweetness.
Thanks to Stacy and all the people at Street who made this such an amazing culinary evening! Vegans looking for a different place to go in LA can try this place out, and do some celebrity watching while you're there.

Seabirds Truck

2010-12-21T01:31:00.000-08:00

If you are in Orange County and are vegan it is well worth the effort to look up the Seabirds all vegan food truck and see if your paths will cross, or better yet, make sure your paths will cross.

You can find their schedule on their WEBSITE, or via Twitter and Facebook.

It's clean and the people are friendly. As a vegan for a couple of decades now I have never really had too many chances, nor have I had much desire to eat from a food truck. But food trucks have become all the craze as of late, and I kept seeing articles about them, and started to feel like I was missing out on some interesting food. Seabirds fills that void for the vegan who wants to be included.

Deanna got two tacos. One, the Beer Battered Avocado Taco (Topped w/shredded cabbage, red onion and a creamy jalapeno sauce.) and the the other a Jerk Jackfruit Taco (Jerk seasoned jackfruit topped w/onion, cilantro and a green salsa.) She loved them! The avocado taco is amazing. "Anything fried is good." Deanna says.

I got the BBQ jackfruit sliders. What is jackfruit? The seabirds website can clue you in. (Pure Luck restaurant in LA uses this a lot too.) I have to say it tastes real good, different, but good. And it's much healthier than eating highly processed tofu, or fake meats. These are not always on the menu and it was quite a treat to get a few of these into my stomach. Deanna thinks they are very "cute."

We also got some Potato-Jackfruit Taquitos to split. These are freshly made, and basically perfect with the guacamole they come with.

Deanna is a fan of Cute food. We didn't try the Grant Burrito, or the Ashley Burrito, name yet to be decided upon, but it's their "Locals Burrito" (Potatoes, organic beans, organic brown rice, caramelized onions, guacamole and vegan sour cream.) But switch the potatoes for sweet potatoes. They may even call it the "Grashly." Named after the couple who turned us onto the truck.
UPDATE: We finally got the visit Seabirds a second time and tried the "Grashly." The verdict? Along with the stuff mentioned above, yet another tasty reason to keep going back.

Free Soul Caffe, Tustin, CA

2010-10-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

Our friend Ashley B. pointed us to a new vegan place she went to in Tustin called Free Soul Caffe, so we went to check it out. Its a simple place, mainly soups, salads, and sandwiches, but they also have breakfast items and a well stocked dessert case filled with vegan treats. The owner, who was telling us all about the new restaurant, said that almost everything is organic and that they have great coffee. There were a lot of drink options on the menu including granita and boba style things.

Deanna got the Portobello Panini sandwich. It came with a big spinach salad with a nice dressing and candied walnuts. Simple, but very nice and fresh.

I got the Smoked Vegan Ham sandwich. My salad was a mixed greens, with olives and a light dressing. I also have no complaints. I feel like we could make this kind of food at home, but it's nice to know there is a place that will make it for me, and I can get out of the house. And also I never mind supporting a place that is dedicated to making vegan food and using organic ingredients.

Since this place deals in soups as a specialty, we wanted to get some soup as well, but they were sold out of everything but the chili. That's a good sign. So we got the chili. It came with a huge hunk of sliced bread and vegan butter. It was very good and I would like to come back and try some more soup...
...If I'm welcomed back!

Why would I say that you wonder? Well as I was shooting a photo of the menu (above), the same menu you can see online here, the waitress, a young college aged blond girl came up and said, "We don't allow photos." Deanna and I both asked, "Why?" Her answer was that people were trying to steal their recipes. (I can understand the people from Millennium worrying about getting their recipes stolen, but they are not. They publish their menu online and have a cookbook, and I have been inside taking photos on multiple occasions and never been hassled. In fact I have been all over the world taking pictures of food and menus and never been stopped once. Not in New York, Paris, or Berlin.) I wondered in my head why people would want to steal simple vegan sandwich recipes. Bread, vegan ham, vegan mayo, etc. Pretty easy to memorize I would say. Deanna said, "We do a vegan food blog and we wanted to tell people about this place and share some photos, we thought you would like the publicity for your new restaurant." She replied, "Well, no, we can't have people taking photos..." And then added, "Can you delete that." On general principle I was not erasing the photo. I said, "No way. Can you tell the owner to come over here?" The owner was apologetic, but did say that local businesses are trying to steal her recipes. We explained that we were only trying to help bring them business and are slightly offended by the accusation of recipe stealing.
So I don't know where I stand on this place now. I want to support vegan eateries, especially one so close to my house. But I can't get over the people who would hassle a customer over a paranoid idea that their recipes are worth stealing. I wish I could have screamed to the waitress, "Perspectives! This is a soup and sandwich shop in Tustin, CA!" anyway...

Here is the dessert case. The cookies were pretty good. We have yet to eat our peanut butter chocolate cheesecake and our pumpkin pecan ganache torte. I hope they are as good as they sound! UPDATE: We ate them and they are AMAZING!!!!!!
I say check it out, but beware bloggers, you may be hassled for helping them get the word out. I wonder what QuarryGirl would have done?

Cinnaholic, Berkeley, CA

2010-09-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

Guest Food Blogger Stacy Michelson.

Ever thought "I wish there was a vegan equivalent to Cinnabon cinnamon rolls?" Well, guess what? There is! And not only is it better than Cinnabon, you get to customize it, making the PERFECT cinnamon roll for your liking. I'm talking about Cinnaholic in Berkeley, Ca. It's only been open for a little over a month (and i hope it stays open for a LONG time), but it came onto our radar and became a favorite on our recent Food Tour 2010 of the SF Bay area. I can't believe Quarrygirl hasn't reviewed this place yet! I guess we beat her to it!

Cinnaholic is right across the street from the Cal Berkeley campus. It doesn't advertise to be vegan, and most of their clientele doesn't even know (or mind) that it is an all vegan establishment. We walked in and were treated to a line of free samples (if you know me, you know i LOVE free stuff) set up on the counter for us. We tried SO many flavors. They were so cool and didn't even care how many we ate too! They even had freshly baked brownies to try!

The cinnamon rolls were warm and soft and delicious. Being that this place doesn't advertise with giant signs that it's vegan, and being that the cinnamon rolls were better than good, we started to wonder.."is it too good to be true?" But then we saw a lil' vegan sticker on the glass counter. It was real! We were in vegan baked goods heaven!

The menu had so many flavors and combos to choose from. We saw some rolls in the display case that looked awesome, but a tad too sweet for me..maybe i'd do one of those for dessert! There are over 25 flavors of frosting, from butterscotch to coffee, peach to strawberry, making it hard to decide. Ed went first, cos the girls couldn't decide. He got a roll with half maple, half irish cream. YUM!

While Ed slowly sank into a sugar induced food coma outside, us girls continued to taste samples and play around with possible combos. The staff was super helpful and patient.

Deanna ended up getting her fave combo, peanut butter-banana. Lindsay got irish cream, which was SOOO delicious. And i ended up going with the flavor that reminded me of my childhood, orange. My mom used to make those Pillsbury Orange Sweet Rolls, you know those? And let me tell you, this was better than my memory of them. Look how delicious it looks (see first photo on this post)..and how BIG it is! It's half the size of my face!

I think this was the first time all four of us sat together eating and didn't say a word. We inhaled our cinnamon rolls. We were making "mmm" sounds left and right. By the time i finished taking photos, Ed was licking the bottom of the box his roll came in. This place is THAT good!

I started this tradition on the Food Tour 2010 that we'd take a group shot at every place we ate at. This is the group looking REALLY happy to have just experienced Cinnaholic. But as i write this, and talked to Deanna today about it, we are all REALLY sad this place is so far away. See you soon Cinnaholic! You should open a location in LA.

GO!

Portico, Nuoro - Sardinia, Italy

2010-09-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

Ristorante il Portico is THE place to eat if you are vegetarian or vegan and you find yourself in Nuoro, Sardinia. In fact, if you are anywhere near Nuoro while you are on Sardinia, I suggest making the trek to eat dinner here! Of course they specialize in gourmet cuisine including fish and other meat, but the chef spent his years training in Copenhagen and Switzerland among other places, and is completely enlightened about food and the ways to make it creatively. We were so happy to walk into a restaurant and have the waiter and chef know and understand "vegan" and not laugh at us or offer us only spaghetti and tomato sauce. The waiter suggested the chef starter menu and said the chef will make it 100% vegan. We sat back and waited, wondering what would come out!

First let me introduce the people who took such great care of us. On the right is Graziano Ladu, the chef, who on top of being amazingly kind to us, also makes some of the best food we have ever consumed. And on the left, his brother Roberto who spoke great English, and was very patient with us and probably got a kick out of how excited we were about every dish that came out.

When the dishes started coming we devoured them quickly, and before we could even finish one dish, another came out...

We called it the Parade of Food, because it just kept coming and coming. Each dish unique and different, and devoid of any 'fake' veggie food such as seitan, tofu, or tempeh. Just vegetables, and prepared with tender care and with great imagination. Below is a long photo line of the dishes we ate over the week we spent at Portico.

After the first day we realized we hit the jackpot, and came back every night we were in Nuoro until they closed for Holiday, dashing our hopes of eating here for another week. Let the parade begin:

I can't even begin to describe properly what all of this is

Tempura mushrooms.

Toasted bread with artichoke puree.

Eggplant.

Green beans rolled in Sardinian flat-bread.

This dish is called Fregola, and is a Sardinian specialty.

This was INCREDIBLE! Tempura style arugala.

What looks like a cupcake paper is really a hollowed out zucchini.

A pineapple dessert.

roasted radicchio.

Fancy napkin design for Deanna's birthday.

Birthday dinner at Portico, what a treat!

Endive in foil.

Endive revealed.

Yup, sushi.

Never dreamed we'd have vegan sushi on Sardinia.

Ending on a traditional note, Spaghetti with tomato sauce, and it was exquisite.
Check it out when you go the beautiful and wondrous island of Sardinia.

Hans Wurst, Berlin Germany

2010-09-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hans Wurst is one of the best vegan places in Berlin. The atmosphere is very laid back, almost to the point of being off-putting, but if you can get through all that and get some food, you will be converted into a fan.

The funny thing about Hans Wurst is they used one of the graphics I made for my skateboard company Toy Machine as their logo. The first time I went in one of the kids working there recognized me and told me about the logo use. I loved it! Sadly, I just found on their website that they are closing! NO! Well here is to the memories...

The menu while we were there.

This was the Marinated Tempeh with Orange Fennel Curry.

And this was the Quiche.

And the chocolate cake for dessert. so good.
This place will be SORELY missed on our next trip to Berlin!

Dolores Burrito, Berlin Germany

2010-09-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Dolores Burrito was a great find for a Californian in Berlin. I never expected to find a fairly authentic San Francisco style burrito in Germany, especially since Mexican food in Europe is usually abysmal.

If you are in Berlin and have a desire for some legit burritos, seek this place out. We went for lunch every day we could while we were there. It is centrally located, only a few blocks from Alexanderplatz, and the famous Television Tower.

Deanna was getting a side of Lime Tofu, (harder than you may think, it is not "in the system" and the employees seemed to be very rule-driven and reluctant to figure out how to give a customer a side of the stuff.) which is delicious, to put on her tacos.

She's backing the tacos 100%

They serve meat at this place, but offer a 'classic vegan,' and 'Dolores Vegan' burrito.

Outrageous Desserts at Red Bamboo

2010-06-24T19:10:00.000-07:00

The Red Bamboo website. This is a great place to go in NYC to have unpretentious vegan food at a good price. And it's way more than just another Asian-food style vegan joint. They have sandwiches, Italian, Asian, and American style food. There seems to always be a wait around dinner time, and they don't seem to take reservations by phone. At least when I called and asked for one the woman told me "no problem, just come down." But then I had to wait over 30 minutes to get a table and almost got a cab to a place where I could get a table. Anyway, we shot our desserts because they looked crazy.

Oreo Cookie Cheesecake. Man was this over the top. It looks really good, but you can only eat about two bites before you feel sick. It was also on the hard side. Maybe letting it rest a bit outside would work, but it wasn't on the light or fluffy side of life, it was on the dense and heavy side.

Peanut Butter Heaven; Deanna thought the same thing. You can't really eat too much of it without getting immediate diabetes. Too much. The frosting was a bit hard.

Cocoa V, New York

2010-05-18T01:35:00.000-07:00

Cocoa V is a fancy upper-crusty chocolate shop that happens to make all their chocolates vegan. There is wine and vegan cheese too, but we didn't try any of that. We just got a 30+ dollar box of 12 chocolates. (and, guiltily, we went back to get more.)

The cute little box and bow.

The highlights were Salty Caramel, Pretzel Cluster, Chocolate Orange, Chocolate Peanut Butter. It's right across from Blossom Restaurant, and I think they are affiliated in some way. So if you are craving some fancy vegan chocolates, (and you just got your inheritance or won the lottery) get yourself to Cocoa V to sample the decadence.

De Frietketel, Gent, Belgium

2010-04-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

De Frietketel stays open late and serves total junk food with lots of vegan options! Vegan fries, vegan sauces (yes, vegan tartar sauce!, vegan gravy too.) and vegan burgers. Yet again we forgot to shoot the burgers but they basically look like any other veggie burger. It was late and we were starving so by the time we shot this photo of Thomas and Kevin the burgers were history and we were stuffing our faces with fries.

And though we all know what fries look like here's our photo of them. Of course we could have shared one of these massive mounds of fries but didn't.

They also offer vegan meatballs in tomato sauce. Also scarfed before remembering that we have a food blog.

The Evening, Gent, Belgium

2010-04-06T16:10:00.001-07:00

This place is a raw carnivore restuarant that serves traditional Belgian food. We only went there because Thomas Caron made us by scheduling a dinner there with a bunch of friends who are all meat-eaters. He called ahead to the chef who was excited to try and make something specially for some vegans. So I cannot recommend going here at all to a vegan, but here are the photos and descriptions of the food the chef made:

This was a bitter little endive. That is all I can say about it. It was good.

This is a vegetable-stuffed cabbage with a creamy sauce. This was quite nice and above and beyond what we were expecting. They should add this to their menu and possibly attract a few extra euro-bucks from vegans.

The dessert. Deanna says, "I give her a A for effort having never cooked/baked for a vegan before." The topping was great, fresh mangoes and a corn syrup... but the cake itself was too dense and dry. Presentation was sweet, heart shaped with a candle. Very nice touch. We hope she gets inspired to try more vegan or vegetarian cooking!

Lekker Gec, Gent, Belgium

2010-04-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

Quite a name, no? Lekker Gec is yet another great place that we failed miserably to get any photographs from. The one we did get was of a dessert that Deanna loved.

This was a sautéed banana, "with a sweet syrupy sauce that had some lemon juice in it. I don't even know how to describe it." says Deanna. It was accompanied by vegan chocolate ice-cream and nuts. "It sounds simple, but it was splendid!"

Something we spaced on shooting a picture of but should be mentioned is the Panino. Deanna had it two times and loved it each time. The Veggie "Beef" Stew is excellent too. It comes with a traditional Belgian gravy-like sauce made from dark beer. This place is directly across from the main train station in Gent, Sint Pieters. So it is quite easy to find.

Green Way, Gent, Belgium (and Tasty World mention)

2010-04-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Green Way was our second go-to place after "Cucumber Time"
It's only downfall (and the only thing that kept us from going there more) is that you have to be there BEFORE 8:30 or they will turn you away.
We only managed to shoot one photo of food here, we must have been too hungry to remember our food blog and chomped our food too quickly.
First we will list our favorites that we forgot to shoot:
1. the BLT. You have to ask for the vegan option.
The Tempeh is seasoned really nicely, and I'm not sure what the sauce is, but it's pretty tasty.
2. Spaghetti Bolognaise.
A big plate of noodles with a great veggie meat sauce. If you're hungry, get this.
3. We never got it, but our friend Kevin is backing it, the Veggie Burger.

The one photo we did get was the special of the month: The Syrian Wrap.

Sucks for you if you go there now because it probably will not be the monthly special, but this thing was REALLY good - we ate over 8 of them during the month we were in Gent. Here is the description: Wrap with crispy baked spicy seitan, tomato, paprika, red onion and garlic sauce. They forget to mention that the wrap is grilled in a panini machine which makes it epic!
If you are vegan and in Gent, you will find yourself here.

(There is one other place we would like to mention but took no photographs of: Tasty World. This place has smoothies, salads, and veggie burgers. Tasty World was our breakfast (smoothies) and lunch (take-away salads) every single day. (note: they have no vegan salad dressings, buy your own at a local health food store...)

Komkommertijd, Gent, Belgium

2010-03-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

I have been told that this translates to "Cucumber Time."
This place is a 100% vegan, all you can eat buffet. And for us, it's open late, which works for us since we work until about 9 every night.
This is a shot of one of our plates...

They have 8 hot choices, and 8 cold choices every night, plus there is always a vegan dessert waiting at the end of the table. If the food is a hair on the 'hippie' side, the desserts are fully legit, fluffy, and tasty. No hippie-ass 'spelt-buckwheat scones.'
This plate has a vegetable tempura, spring rolls, macaroni salad, rice, and some sort of vegetable curry style dish. Every night there is a curry, pumpkin curry is the best one yet. There is veggie lasagne many nights too. Sometimes the grain is quinoa, sometimes rice. We love this place.

Here is another plate...

And another.

And a view of the 8 hot plates.

And dessert of course! Orange cake with chocolate sprinkles.

Mildred's, London, March 2010

2010-03-13T14:08:00.000-08:00

Deanna had the Special Burger of the Day. She thinks it had sweet potato in it. She enjoyed it immensely.

I had the "Bangers and Mash," a sun-dried tomato sausage with mashed potatoes. Very good. We don't have much to say this time, just some photos of food to show you. (see our past post from Mildreds) It's our go-to place in London. When it is not packed with people it's a great place to go. When it's packed it can be a bit hectic. Go for an early dinner, before the crowd, and save yourself the stress.

Valentine's Day at Madeline's Bistro, Los Angeles

2010-02-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

Madeline's Bistro is the fanciest 100% vegan restaurant in LA, the "Millennium" of So-Cal if you will. We had gone here a bunch of times before, even though it is quite a trek to the dusty LA Valley for us from Orange County. But when Deanna saw Quarry Girl's post about the Madeline's New years Eve menu we missed, we wanted to make up for it by going there on Valentine's day. (And she was hoping to see the newly vegan Ellen Degenerous there too! We did not.) So before they even posted a menu, she made a reservation. She booked it for the earliest possible time because two years ago we booked a V-day table there for 8PM and were not seated until 9:30, a total bummer. We didn't want to make that mistake again, so we went geriatric by eating dinner at 5pm! Anyway, on to the food. They offered a set-menu, no choices allowed, but that was no problem. Each course consisted of two variations on a three ingredient theme.
First Course: (stolen from their menu)
“Beef”-Style Seitan + Rice + Vietnamese Flavors ="

The dish handed to Deanna was a Vietnamese dip (“beef” bao), Bahn chung, and pickled green papaya. We were not so sure what part was the "dip" but we thoroughly enjoyed it. The Vietnamese flavored seitan was very tasty and placed upon rice that had been compressed into tight little patties that no longer resembled rice. We never eat Vietnamese, so this was a new experience for us.

Everyone I know loves Pho, and this was our first time with it. Now we need to find a vegan Pho place in the OC!

Second Course: "Portobella Prosciutto + Asparagus + Citrus ="

“Butter”-poached white asparagus salad, Portobella prosciutto, radish, spring mix, with passion fruit vinaigrette. I liked this plate just a hair better than the other one on this course, but Deanna loved them both equally. I thought this one was light and very refreshing, with a perfect dressing.

Asparagus wrapped in portobella prosciutto, Braised Yukon gold potato, roasted peppers, Meyer lemon confiture. This one had tangy sauce, and the portobello was perfectly cooked, not rubbery at all. The only thing we didn't like were the red peppers in some sort of Dijon-esque sauce, a flavor neither Deanna or I are fond of. And the potatoes were amazing.

Third Course: "Artichoke + Cauliflower + Eggplant ="

Grilled artichoke a la Greque, Cauliflower dolma, roasted eggplant puree, and petite ratatouille. Deanna is not a fan of dolmas in general, and only likes cauliflower in Indian food or in soup, so this one was the stinker of the night for her. I have to say that I think it would have been better if the dolma was heated up, the cold cauliflower just made it feel neglected, even though I know that is how it was supposed to be. The rest of this dish was totally fine.

Panko-crusted eggplant “steak," Artichoke agnolotti, cauliflower puree, and tarragon mousseline. "This one was amazing!" Says Deanna, and told our server, Sergio, that they should include this on the regular menu. You didn't even realize that you were eating eggplant! I think maybe "agnolotti" is fancy for ravioli, and those little suckers were great too.

Fourth Course: "Shiitake + Pistachio + Mustard ="

Pistachio “risotto,” Shiitake mushrooms and their puree, mustard green froth.
Yeah, "froth." This might not look like anything special, or might be enough to put on a cracker and chomp in one bite, but believe us when we say that this was one of the highlights! FYI: Deanna and I meticulously sawed down the middle of every single plate making sure that we each got exactly 50% of the food given to us. The very nice couple next us actually commented on how disciplined we were with our sharing, and said that they just devoured their plates like animals, but we have been married too long, and we know it's best to just share equally. Plus the girl had a see-thru top on and I was getting side-boob all night.

Grilled shiitake mushroom, Mustard spaetzle, pistachio-sunchoke puree, and juniper berry sauce. This one was good, but the risotto overshadowed it. So we actually don't remember it too well. Just that we inhaled it and forgot about it.

Fifth Course: Yep, 5th. "Cheese + Smoke + “Egg” + Magic Dust ="
(Magic Dust? Will I become more like Doug Henning?, or turn into a new-age hippie?)

Smoked cashew cheese soufflé, Shallot marmalade, & olive oil crackers. The chef here does NOT mess around when he is making vegan cheese. You would swear he is slipping you real cheese. Like the guy next to me said, the chef is a food-scientist. This dish was incredible, the marmalade had Deanna cooing about it.

House-made cashew cheese, “Egg” served sunny-side up, baby arugula, portobella bacon, black truffle vinaigrette. Again, how the hell does this guy make a vegan egg? Eggs are gross, and it was sorta creepy even eating this one, but man was it authentic. We tried to figure out what he did, but still have no idea what he used to make that thing. Seriously, astounding. Both dishes nailed it, and should be on the menu ASAP.

Sixth Course: (Dessert, and as Deanna calls it, "The Grand Finale")
"Chocolate + Blood Orange + Ginger="

Chocolate cake with molten center, Blood orange crème anglaise and sorbet, gingersnap “soil” - we think? On this one, the descriptions don't match the photos, but who cares, right? This chocolate "turd" was my best dessert thus far this year, and it will be very hard to top it, although I will be trying for another 10 months. Actually both of these combined are the best.

Blood orange curd, White chocolate “pudding”, candied ginger, & linzer tuile. If "linzer tuile" means cheescake, then that was the best vegan one I've ever had. And that white pudding dipped in chocolate one was hard to split, and in doing so I accidentally cut it wrong and conceded the bigger half to Deanna. Big mistake!

So in conclusion, we had a very romantic night of great food under the guise of some manufactured holiday. I will say that for $125 bucks - each, I was very satisfied, although for that much cash you almost expect to leave busting at the seems. (Like a real American.) And since we ate so early I did get hungry later - but we do stay up late. I think if you are vegan it is well worth saving up the cash and spending it on a truly gastronomic experience, if only once. These sorts of experiences help set the bar for food in your life. It will change the way you see food and approach your eating. And also you will realize that there is no loss of variety in being vegan. You will be enriched for the trouble.

Native Foods, Costa Mesa, CA

2010-01-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

The new Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger. Whoa. From their menu: Our thinly sliced original Seitan, melted cheddar, caramelized onions, crispy tempeh bacon on a bun slathered with BBQ sauce and ranch dressing, lettuce, carrots, onions, and tomato and topped with crunchy battered dill pickles chips. I think it comes with Sweet Potato fries too.
And it only costs $9.95 <---- ouch! Ten bucks. But worth it.
It's almost too much, I suggest thinning out the seitan a bit before you try to smash it down to a size your jaw can fit around. I think that some extra sauce would help better lubricate this burger, but I think that have made a major move in adding this to the menu. A closer look:

And the classic Soul Bowl. Can't go wrong with that.

The Soul Bowl is Southern fried fake Chicken with red beans and jasmine rice, steamed veggies, organic greens, ranch dressing and served with a freshly-made corn bread wedge. The Soul Bowl is fairly unbeatable for a mixture of eating healthy and hearty at the same time. Deanna always requests that they cut her fake chicken up for her, otherwise it comes in two big hunks on skewers and you have to do it yourself, a big hassle. So there's a good tip for you. The also have Lavender Lemonade at the Costa Mesa location, another welcome change! Native Foods is making power moves!

Check Native Foods out! They have a new store in LA.

The SCHUNCK Restaurant 5.0, Heerlen, Netherlands

2009-12-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

The SCHUNCK is a Art Museum. (...and library, music school, theater, concert venue, and general cultural center.) And atop this museum (where Deanna will be showing her photographs next year) is a restaurant. While not vegan at all, the wonderful, witty, and happy chef is willing to whip something special up for you if you let him know...

I thought for a second he brought out cow tongue, but it was a white bean hummus stuffed bell pepper on a warm flour tortilla, over a salad of greens, beets, olives, and sundried tomatoes. There were also fried vegetable spring rolls with a special sweet cilantro dipping sauce. It was pretty... pretty good.

The director of the museum Stijn Huijts shot these with his iPhone!

Vegan Routes, London

2009-11-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: This vegan bus is no longer in operation in this spot in London. And I don't know if it has moved to a new location.

This big red double-decker bus parked within a stones throw from Picadilly Circus had only been open for a few days when we were attracted by the big sign that read, "Vegan Routes." We had seen the bus before it opened a few weeks earlier, and I wondered if it was an actual transit bus that took people to only vegan restaurants. But Deanna had read about it, and knew it was going to be a vegan restaurant.

We went up to see what they had to offer. It was morning for us, and we were on our way to Whole Foods to get ourselves a smoothie, so we were not looking for a full meal. But we did want to try this place out, so we got the broccoli-potato soup.
And on top of that the guy working there thought I was Joaquin Phoenix...

We went upstairs and took a seat. The soup was piping hot, and my tongue was burnt for the rest of the day. From our seat you get a nice view of the sex shops across the street, and had it been later, you can surely dine on some nice vegan food while being entertained by human behavior in relation to these shops.

The soup was not as fancy as we like. A tad on the "hippie-soup" side of things. And we couldn't really sense the potato in it, you would think it would make it thicker and creamier. But it was good for sure, and a fun place to visit. And we need to go back and try the regular food. Great location, I hope these guys stay here for a long time and don't want to drive to another part of town.

Avalon, Gent, Belgium

2009-11-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

Whoa.

Avalon Restaurant. This place is crazy good, and I mean that the dish I got there rivals Millennium in SF, Madeline's Bistro in LA, etc. Not in a fancy expensive pretentious way, but in a "oh my god, this food is so good" way. We came here twice, and so loved our meals that we ordered the exact same thing the second day.

Here is the dish I had, the "Tempeh Reuben"

I will be showing 3 angles of it...

It was literally one of the best dishes I have ever had. Hands down.
Frickin' Quarry Girl should fly to Gent just to taste this thing. I have to say when it arrived at the table I was a bit freaked out because I was expecting a typical Reuben sandwich. But I dug into it and the freshness of the sauerkraut, the lightly toasted and perfectly prepared bread, the immaculate tempeh, and the "Russian dressing" all in combination was an explosion of taste, and 4 days later and I am still gushing about it.

The vegetables and salad the were served with the Reuben were also prepared from fresh local ingredients and changed daily. Seriously, the best Rueben I have ever had.

Deanna says, "Being vegan it's not that often that I come across a vegan quiche. The only ones I can remember were in Canada at Le Commensal, or in Paris at Grand Appetite. Funny thing is I don't ever remember eating a real quiche before I was vegan! But for some reason whenever there is a vegan quiche on the menu, I have to try it. This one was wonderful! The filling was made up of tofu and broccoli with a drizzle of pesto on top. It was basically the perfect meal for a cold wintry day. The veggies on the side were incredible. Potatoes au gratin the first day, and I don't even know what vegetable that was the second day, but the whole meal felt complete and really flavorful!"

Even though we forgot to shoot it, we had amazing soup and sweet chai tea here too! looking forward to going back in March when I will be setting up my exhibition at the S.M.A.K. Museum.

Eat and Two Veg, London

2009-11-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

UPDATE! This place has since closed, and is no longer there.
We went for breakfast one morning to Eat and Two Veg on 50 Marylebone High Street, London.

Basically Deanna and I both got their vegan English Breakfast. Deanna's had some spinach too.

Beans on Toast, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, and some tofu. Simple and delicious.

And a smoothie too!

Manna, London

2009-11-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

(See our 2011 post about Manna here.)
We loved this place! Cute area (near the Museum of Everything) and the place was elegant yet "homey" (read not pretentious.)

We started with the "Manna Mezze" where you select three of their starters or salads.
We chose the 'quinoa & millet croquette'
(a pressed cake of these ancient seasoned grains, served with our beetroot hummus and a salad of rocket and cumin roasted carrot & hazelnut)
the 'mushroom tempura'
(juicy seasonal mushrooms tossed in tamari, cooked in a light gluten-free sesame seed batter with a Japanese pickle accompaniment)
and the 'soup of the day'
(Cauliflower, carrot, and parsnip? with homemade foccacia bread.)
It was incredible! The tempura was amazing, the soup fresh and hot and was best with a dunk of the homemade bread. The croquette was pretty good but our least favorite I suppose. There was a beetroot hummus that was excellent too.

Deanna got the "Sonora Fajita"
(a southwestern delight, tortilla filled with sweet potato & black beans, served with a rich chipotle sauce, Spanish rice, guacamole and mango salsa)
We thought it was more like a chimichanga with the crispy tortilla. Deanna enjoyed very much, the sauce was a tad spicy but she liked it. And they actually had proper guacamole, a rarity outside of California.
On a 1 to 10 scale she gives it an 8.

I (Ed) got the "chef salad"
(a changing seasonal delight, now featuring Jerusalem artichoke, roasted candy beetroot, basil potatoes, raw carrot, avocado, balsamic roasted onions, sun blushed tomatoes, green beans, caper berries, alfalfa sprouts, toasted seeds, mixed leaf salad, served with crispy marinated tofu)
100% awesome. I wanted to eat some greens a have a healthier dinner so I got this. Very good, fresh, and with all sorts of different flavors and textures.
I would give it an 8 too. Respectable.

Deanna liked this so much she made me shoot it twice.

For Dessert we went a bit crazy (as we are prone to do from time to time when there are too many choices) and got 3!
Deanna chose the "chivu's timbale"
(a long time favourite daily special, a chocolate sponge and cheesecake layered combination)
It sounded better on the menu than it was. They don't even mention that the main flavor and taste is blueberry, a point that the menu should for sure explain but fails to. It was perfectly fine until she got a taste of mine, then in comparison hers lost it's lustre. I got the "Chocolate Pots de Creme"
(a decadent rich chocolate custard delight)
Understatement!!!!!!!!! I had to share it with Deanna because she couldn't believe how good it was. It was our best dessert in Europe! A major statement since we try a lot of desserts. Deanna gives it a '10' (the "pudding" from Saf gets a 9)
We also got the "petits fours"
(a plate of truffles, chocolates & small biscuits)
But only tried the lemon cookie, and took the rest home to snack on later.
Overall, we can't wait to go back here. It will no doubt become our jam in London. Reservations recommended, the place was going off.

Saf, London

2009-11-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

Saf is an all vegan and mostly raw restaurant on the fancy side of things (read expensive) in the Shoreditch area of London. (Closest Tube station, Old Street.) I listened to the older couple next to us discuss a certain margarita drink in full detail for over 3 minutes, he ended up getting the one from the menu but asked to make it less sweet and to "snap it up" with some lime. Anyway, Deanna and I, since we don't drink, got the lavender and ginger lemonade.

For starters we got the "Tasting Plate" (Which is a sampler plate of all of their raw starters) It consists of Beetroot ravioli, (Cashew herb ricotta between two thinly sliced beets, celeraic cole slaw salad, balsamic figs, and herb dressing.) Vegetable Maki, (Parsnip rice, organic Umi plum pickle, cucumber, and orange ponzu soy.) Olives and Nuts selection, Cashew Cheese, (One made with sundried tomatoes, chives, tarragon, balsamic virgin olive oil, and rock salt, the other with olives) Raw flax seed crackers, and dolmas, (cured Turkish vine leaves, Cauliflour rice, sultanas, Middle-eastern herbs and raw Tzatziki.)
Deanna usually hates dolmas, but liked these a lot.
The verdict: It was incredible! So many tastes and textures! It was the highlight of the whole meal actually. It makes us wish we had chosen one of the raw food entrees. Spreading the cashew cheese on the flax cracker was amazing, and Saf's signature dish the Beetroot Ravioli was for sure a new and delightful flavor for us.

Deanna chose the "Saf Bowl"
Teriyaki glazed tofu, seasoned crispy kale, wok stirred organic brown rice, and kimchee, tsukemono vegatables (pickled in-house)
Her verdict: It was pretty tasty, the tofu was some of the best we ever had, the rice and the pickled veggies were very enjoyable, but the Kimchee was too spicy for Deanna.

I got "Black truffle risotto"
Organic brown rice, wild mushrooms, cashew cream.
The verdict: I loved it, but wasn't floored by it. It was very good and creamy, no complaints at all.

For dessert I got the "Chocolate ganache torte"
Chocolate ganache torte with pecan crust and rum and date sauce. (and a shard of chocolate stabbed into it with dramatic effect...)
This ruled! Hint of cinnamon and rich chocolatey goodness.

Deanna got the "Warm sticky toffee pudding"
Medjool dates, golden raisin, creamy coconut, and orange frosting.
"Pudding" is not really the right word, or rather not the right word for Americans. When we think pudding we think of a creamy sweet thick sauce type thing that you eat with a spoon. But this pudding was bread. A very pleasant surprise! Sooooo Good! It was a warm dense bread covered in sweet cream and surrounded by thick gooey toffee sauce. The waiters were super nice, and the place was packed with people enjoying themselves in an elegant way. Our meal was about 72 Pounds. We would for sure come back here, and recommend it to friends.

Mildred's, London

2009-11-12T15:23:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of blocks away from the "Times Square" of London, Picadilly Circus, is Mildred's restaurant. It is hip and always busy. The wait-people are usually hectically multi-tasking but pleasant. The tone is loud with both music and conversation over said music, and crowded with people standing around hiding from the rain and waiting for a table. We ran into two friends from back home, Melissa and Ted and went to sample the vegan parts of the menu.
We went on a Thursday night at 7pm, and it was crazy packed. We had to wait 5 minutes, but just after we got a table, I hear them telling people 45 minute waits! The waiter also said to us, "Watch your bags, we've had some snatches lately."

I got Mushroom Porcini, with mashed peas, and chips (aka french fries.) My verdict: I liked it very much. In the photo you see here the food had been mauled by my fork and knife before I realized I should take a photo. I found the peas good mixed with other bites, and the more saucy bits of the phyllo dough with the mushrooms were the best. With some ketchup, the fries were what you would expect.

Sweet Melissa got this dish (we forgot to write the name down) because it had star anise in it. She said she really enjoyed it. The photo looks really tasty.

Ted got this. Again I have no idea what it was called. It had beets, and large cous cous. I think part of it was not vegan. He cleaned his plate, so he either liked it or was really hungry.

Deanna got the Butternut Squash, Butterbean, tomato, and cinnamon stew with polenta sticks. Her verdict: "It was GOOD! It was an interesting combination of flavors with the cinnamon in there. I really liked the appetizer you forgot to shoot, the grilled artichoke with a crostini and a lemon vegan dipping sauce."

Overall, Mildred's is the place to be, and has very centrally located high-end vegan food. Our meal, with 4 mains, 2 starters, and 3 drinks, no desserts was about 62 pounds.

The Country Club in Avalon...

2009-10-25T02:53:00.000-07:00

The best vegan food on the whole island of Catalina is to be found there.

Here we have a changed daily risotto that is always vegan or can be made vegan, and a penne pasta primavera. Both delicious and MUCH better than any other food on the island (for vegans.)

Click here for more info

If you are going there and you are vegan make plans to eat there!