The Evening, Gent, Belgium

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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.