Farmer and Cook in Ojai

Posted by socalvegangal in Dessert, Omnivorous Restaurant, Veg Restaurant, Ventura County and tagged with bakery, dessert, mexican, ojai, restaurant, vegan, vegan cheese February 28, 2016

Last time my vegan guy and I were in Ojai, the one vegan joint (Hip Vegan) was closed for some reason (were they on vacation? I can’t remember). We decided to make our way on over to the Farmer and Cook market, where they have a cafe on site. While not entirely vegan, they did have enough vegan options to satisfy our hunger.

Burrito

I love burritos. I especially love it when they contain vegan deliciousness such as cashew cheese. Also included in the Farmer and Cook Burrito was beans, rice, and veggies. Yum. Thank you, omnivorous restaurant, for making the extra cheesy effort for us vegans.

Veggie Burger

My vegan guy went with the Veggie Burger. As you can see, it was served on bread slices and not a bun. Not a huge deal, but made it…well… less burger tasting (you know what I mean!). All-in-all this was just a satisfactory sandwich (not burger!), but still well appreciated in the slim vegan pickings of Ojai.

OJ and Lemonade

Fresh Orange Juice and local Ojai Lavender Lemonade helped wash everything down.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake

And let’s not forget about dessert. I got the Chocolate Raspberry Cake. That’s four whole layers of cake mixed with a fudgy chocolate frosting and raspberry jam. It was a little bit dry towards the edges (something one can expect from a refrigerated bakery case), but I’d definitely indulge again should I be in the area in the future.

Farmer and Cook

Bakery Case

Inside Seating

Outdoor Seating

Next time I’m in Ojai, I definitely want to check out Hip Vegan. But if you have time for a meal at Farmer and Cook, make it happen.

Located at:

339 W El Roblar St
Ojai, CA 93023
805-640-9608

Daily 11am – 8:30pm

More Vegan Eats from Mu in Redlands

Posted by socalvegangal in Inland Empire, Omnivorous Restaurant and tagged with redlands, restaurant, thai, vegan February 20, 2016

I went back to one of my favorite restaurants in Redlands. Last time I went to Mu, I went with friends and got one dish for myself. This time I went with my parents, and we got a few items to share.

Tom Ka Soup

I love their simple Tom Ka Soup. This coconut milk-based soup doesn’t skimp on tofu and veggies. It comes in a large bowl for sharing that stays hot from a flame underneath the bowl. It’s perfect, because you’ll want seconds.

Pad Thai

As one friend once put it, “Pad Thai is like the gateway drug to Thai food.” My first experience with Thai food was indeed Pad Thai, and Mu makes a delicious version of it. Just make sure to ask for it without egg and fish sauce.

Pad See Ew

While Pad Thai has a bit of sweet to it, Pad See Ew is less so. I love the chewy-but-soft-but-firm texture of the wide flat rice noodles that go into this dish. Top it with all that tofu and I’m sold. Like the Pad Thai, make sure to omit the egg and fish sauce.

Indian Yellow Curry

Lastly, my parents and I got the Indian Yellow Curry. It’s made with tofu, potatoes, onions, and coconut milk and was a delightful dish to round out the meal.

If you are ever in Redlands, I’d suggest checking out Mu. They also have a martini bar connected with an extensive selection of adult beverages.

Mu is located at:
309 W State St
Redlands, CA 92373

Monday – Friday: 11am – 2:30pm and 5pm – 10pm
Saturday: 5pm – 10pm
Sunday: 5pm – 9pm

Pub Food Made Vegan in LA

Posted by socalvegangal in Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant and tagged with bar, brewery, los angeles, pub, restaurant, vegan February 25, 2013

I had heard such great things about the food at the Pub at Golden Road Brewing. The menu lists a ton of vegan options – and some of these options are very creative. I was super excited to try it. My vegan guy and I headed all the way over to the north-east side of Los Angeles to get some grub.

The Fritters ($4) were my favorite. Fried wild mushroom risotto with a vegan pimento cheese? Yum! I love risotto on its own and had no idea that a crispy outer layer could make it a whole other thing. Well done, Golden Road, well done.

Fritters

And the Pretzel ($7) was one thing that I read such nice things about prior to coming. It was good, I’ll give them that, but I think it was covered in what would be the average person’s daily recommended intake of sodium. Yikes! Too much salt for me. It was like ocean in my mouth. I had to rub some of it off with my fingers just so I could eat it. I wonder if one can order it lightly salted? It came with spicy mustard and some more pimento cheese. Still, the sauce was not enough to cover the flavor of all that salt!

Pretzel

I appreciate the eclectic menu, which included some international dishes – like the Bahn Mi ($7). The deep fried tofu was a little bland (I wish they marinated it in something more flavorful), but the pickled veggies were nice. The sriracha mayo was way too spicy for me. I’ve said this before, but I’m a weakling when it comes to spiciness. Because the tofu was kind of bland, most of the flavor came from the sriracha. I wouldn’t get this again.

Bahn Mi

The Quinoa Burger ($9) is handmade and deep fried. It’s served with lettuce, tomato, onion and a remoulade sauce. To me, this burger was just so-so. I liked the fried part of the patty, but the inside was just too mushy to be put on a bun. It reminded me of a giant potato croquette. The flavor was there, but I just wish they added some texture to the patty.

Quinoa Burger

And for dessert, they actually had a vegan option! It was a mini Gingersnap Cheesecake ($5). Again, while I appreciate the effort, this cheesecake was just too chewy. Maybe it was accidental and the baker just baked it too long, but I didn’t like it. The strawberries were pretty tart (it wasn’t strawberry season) as well. I think I’ll stick to baking my own vegan cheesecakes.

Cheesecake

I bet this place would be great to hang out with friend while sipping on some of their handcrafted beers. It’s a nice place and I am disappointed I didn’t like their food that much. There are a few more menu items I’d like to taste some day and maybe I’ll come back to give them another try.

The Pub at Golden Road

5410 West San Fernando Rd
Los Angeles, CA 90039
213-373-4677

Wednesday – Saturday 11am – 2am
Sunday – Tuesday 11am – midnight

Dim Sum at Susan Feniger’s Street

Posted by socalvegangal in Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant and tagged with dim sum, hollywood, restaurant, vegan February 17, 2013

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! I may be a week late, but I still wanted to give you a re-cap on some amazing dim sum I had for the occasion. It’s been a crazy week here in SoCal Vegan land. This past week, I have moved to a new place and started a new job. But the plus to all this craziness is that I get to see my vegan guy everyday now! And it’s a good thing I keep him around, because he was the one who told me about a special Chinese New Year Dim Sum Brunch at Susan Feniger’s STREET.

We got a big group of friends together and ordered some of each of the menu items. All of them were vegan, except the donuts (but could be made vegan).

Dim Sum Menu

The first in our marathon of eats was the Cantonese Style Radish Cakes. These were one of my favorites (as well as my vegan guy’s). Great tasting and lightly crispy on the edges.

Radish Cakes

The Sesame Fritters were filled with a red bean paste that kind of made these sweet. I think I would have preffered these fritters filled with something more savory, because the outer layer was quite tasty.

Sesame Fritters

The Mushroom Shu Mai were another one of my favorites (and among a lot of people according to STREET’s facebook page). These had a bit of spice in the filling and were on top of a spicy mustard sauce. It definitely had that burst of fire running up your nasal passage, but subsided quickly.

Mushroom Shu Mai

The Vegetable Potstickers were also good. These were filled with yams and were sort of sweet, but went well with the crispy wrapper.

Potstickers

I liked the Jackfruit Bao, but I would have liked a lot more jackfruit. We split this bun into pieces to share and everyone got a lot of dough and a tiny bit of jackfruit. The jackfruit was well seasoned, but I just really wanted more of it.

Jackfruit Bao

The Mung Bean Crepes were nice. Splitting this dish was hard, so I didn’t get much crepe part. But the tofu scramble topping was simple, flavorful, and good on its own.

Mung Bean Crepes

The Fried Rice was (by far) my number one favorite of the savory dishes. I love fried rice dishes and this one had an intense amount of flavor covering the slightly sticky rice. It seemed like the ingredients weren’t too uncommon – I need to learn to make something like this.

Fried Rice

And my favorite of the sweet dishes (and, well, of ALL the dishes) was the Youtaio Donuts. According to my vegan guy, these weren’t like the youtaio donuts he’s used to (those are not served sugared). As for me, I’m glad they were served with soymilk and sugar crystals for dipping. The fried dough was amazing – fluffy and not too greasy. The sugar made it seem like I was eating a real fried donut at a state fair. Yum! This is really what I need to learn to make on my own (forget the fried rice!).

Youtaio Donut

Sadly, the Coconut Tapioca Pearls with Shanghai Fruit were the big bummer of the night. In fact, this dish was the only one that was barely eaten by the table (we devoured all the others). I didn’t mind the tapioca texture – which a lot of the people at our table were against- it was just that the flavor was not to my liking. It must have been the Shanghai fruit. Not sure what that is, but I guess I don’t like it in my tapioca.

Coconut Tapioca

The Rice Batter Pancake was another one of the less-liked dishes at our table. To me, the pancake had a funny flavor – kind of like there was too much leavening. The sweet black sesame and almond syrups were delish, though. I’d like to order some of that to dip more donuts in.

Rice Batter Pancake

I hope they do this again – and before the next Chinese New Year! They need to make it a monthly event, right? I say let’s all badger them until they do it. Ready? Go.

Downtown LA’s Vegan Pizza

Posted by socalvegangal in Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant, Pizza and tagged with downtown los angeles, DTLA, pizza, vegan, vegan cheese February 6, 2013

I’m actually cleansing as I write this post and have been craving pizza for about a week and a half. So this pizza picture is killing me! I remember it like it was yesterday. Hot, cheesy, sweet, and full of bread… I think my stomach just growled.

But really. Purgatory Pizza is so out of the way for me. It’s this tiny shop in a random part of downtown. One day, I just so happen to be on that side of town with some vegan friends. I was determined to get it. Luckily, my friends were up for a slice of the good stuff. The pizza here reminds me of that greasy stuff you would get as a school kid after a game of soccer or little league. The slice was thin, but the width was massive. Oh the memories! We opted for the very grown-up BBQ Chicken Pizza. This large pizza set us back $20, but was delicious.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

BBQ Chicken pizzas are one of my favorite varieties. Sometimes it’s nice to have a sauce other than ordinary tomato. And look at those nice hearty chunks of Gardein chicken and pineapple.

Pizza Slice

Purgatory Pizza has free delivery for orders over $15, but I’m not sure how far they will travel. If you live in downtown, you should definitely give them a ring to find out if they will come to you. And for everyone else – their address is:

1326 East 1st Street

Los Angeles, CA 90033

323-262-5310

Monday – Friday 11:30am – 11pm

Saturday and Sunday 12pm – 11pm

Casa Maya in Mentone

Posted by socalvegangal in Inland Empire, Omnivorous Restaurant and tagged with Mentone, mexican, redlands, restaurant, vegan February 2, 2013

I know, I know. I said I was back and then I disappeared again. I promise this time I will be more consistent with my posts. I honestly have a whole bunch of draft posts of things I’ve eaten the past few months ready to be finalized and brought to you. Please forgive me.

My parent’s neighbor recently gave me a great recommendation for food in the area where they live. I actually was quite surprised I hadn’t heard of Casa Maya before. I grew up in the area and had spent a lot of my childhood as a vegetarian. This Mexican restaurant gets its unique cuisine from the Yucatan region and has a special vegetarian menu.

I went to visit my family and my mom and I decided to grab some lunch here. We ordered two dishes and split them. Our first dish was the Veggie Panuchos ($11.95). What is a Veggie Panucho? I had to read the menu to find out: corn tortillas stuffed with black beans, topped with marinated onion, cabbage, xnipec, and fresh guacamole. It came with a side of beans and potatoes. Wow – was this thing good. I was hesitant about the marinated onions (the pink stuff in the picture), because… really… pink onions? But they were great and (I think) essential to the dish. And the sides! Oh the sides! Insanely good.

Veggie Panuchos

The second dish was just as good as the first! The Potato and Avocado Empanadas ($11.95) were amazing. How can you go wrong with dough filled with avocado and potatoes and then fried? Again, I was hesitant about one component of this dish, but it wasn’t the onions this time. The cream of balsamic vinegar was not too vinegary and enhanced the flavor of the empanadas (Phew! because I don’t like strong vinegar flavors). And more beans and potatoes! I need me some more of this.

Empanadas

There are a few other items on their vegetarian menu – a few don’t look too easily veganized. It doesn’t matter, though, the two dishes we got were satisfying enough.

Casa Maya Menu

1839 Mentone Blvd
Mentone, CA 92359
909-794-7458

Vegan Grilled Cheese at Heywood

Posted by socalvegangal in Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant October 31, 2012

Today is the last day of Vegan MoFo. I don’t think I reached the 20 post suggestion this month, but I wanted to close out the month with a quick taste of Heywood Grilled Cheese Shoppe in Silverlake. This place serves (can you guess it?) everything grilled cheese. And luckily for vegans, they even have an option for us!

Their Vegan Grilled Cheese comes with a side salad and tomato soup. In the beginning, they did not have a vegan tomato soup option, but now they do. Score! I got my sandwich on Country White with tomatoes. I thought it was decent. For an $11 sandwich, I think this might be reserved for when I’m in Silverlake and craving a grilled cheese. Otherwise, I think I’ll make it myself. The salad was just a salad – nothing too special, and the tomato soup was not to my liking. It tasted to sour for me – like the tomatoes used in this soup were not ripe enough. But hey, I’m glad they have something for us! And they are open very late on Fridays and Saturdays. It’s always great to have a vegan option at such a late hour.

Grilled Cheese

3337 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 667-1522

Sunday thru Thursday: 11am – 10pm
Friday & Saturday: 11am – 3am

Vegan Deliciousness at Evo Kitchen

Posted by socalvegangal in Dessert, Gluten Free, Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant, Pizza October 25, 2012

Vegan MoFo Day 25:

I’m here to tell you that there’s an upscale (yet casual) pizza place in West Hollywood that is serving up delicious vegan eats. This used to be the location of a Pizza Fusion (which also had some vegan eats), but is now Evo Kitchen. They have a bunch of vegan options, including three of my favorite items combined into one: bread, Daiya, and garlic. Evo’s Garlic Cheese Bread ($4.99) is basic but good. The marinara is the perfect compliment.

Garlic Cheese Bread

They also have gross meat mini burgers, but you can substitute to make them vegan. The Mini BBQ Burgers ($6.99) are made vegan with portobello mushrooms and Daiya cheese and weren’t my favorite. I liked the concept, but the execution wasn’t the best. I think the smaller pieces of mushroom made these hard to eat (the mushrooms kept falling out). The BBQ sauce was great, though – that’s why I got the next item…

Mini BBQ Burgers

My favorite item here was the BBQ Chicken Wrap ($9.99). You’ve got nice chunks of vegan chicken covered in that wonderful BBQ sauce and wrapped in a nice, soft tortilla. Yumsters!

BBQ Chicken Wrap

And, like I said before, they create pizzas here. My vegan guy and I had to try one, so we created our own and got a Vegan Chicken and Mushroom Pizza. I liked everything about it, except the chicken. I thought the chunks were too big – next time I think I’ll just leave the pizza with veggies only.

Mushroom and Chicken Pizza

And for dessert, we (well, mainly I) got a Vegan, Gluten-Free Brownie a la mode ($6.99). I liked this brownie. It was one that sticks to your mouth, but the flavor was good and they were great about warming it up.

Brownie a la Mode

We parked at a meter on the street, but then noticed that there was a sign indicating that they have a parking lot for the restaurant behind the building. This makes it so much more convenient.

7950 W Sunset Blvd #104
West Hollywood, CA 90046
323-375-3390

Sunday – Thursday 11am-10pm
Friday & Saturday 11am-11pm

Vegan Mac and Cheese Showdown Recap

Posted by socalvegangal in Gluten Free, Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant, Veg Restaurant October 16, 2012

Vegan MoFo Day 16! We’re already half way through this fabulous month!

This past Saturday I was one of the lucky 100 people that got to taste test (and vote on) five different mac and cheeses from local LA restaurants. Get ready to be jealous, because I’m about to recap this showdown.

The first Mac and Cheese is from Hugo’s Restaurant and happened to be my favorite from the event (and the #1 pick of the judges). I had had their mac and cheese when it was a special at the restaurant and didn’t really like it – I thought it was a lot of crap with a little bit of mac and cheese. At the competition, however, it was mac and cheese with a little bit of crap in it. The Hugo’s team serving up this deliciousness described the dish as their homemade noodles with a sunflower and nut (cashew?) cheese mixed with peas and mushrooms and topped with crispy onions. I absolutely loved their cheese sauce. It must be the sunflower part. I thought it tasted very similar to the mac and cheese at Sugar Plum in Sacramento (which also uses sunflower cheese). You can get this at their restaurant – just hope that they prepare it with more parts mac and cheese than the stuff they mix in it.

Hugo’s

My second favorite was hard to choose. I thought it was a toss up between Doomie’s and M Cafe. Doomie’s was definitely the most like a traditional mac and cheese from your childhood. It was a creamier version of the kind you can get in their restaurant (and is currently on their secret menu). I definitely like it better than the one they have been serving on the menu. The thicker consistency makes a big difference. My one problem was that I was tasting a certain flavor. As described in a previous post on the Mac and Cheese by Daniel’s Choice sold at Follow Your Heart, it had this flavor that reminded me of having mac and cheese as a child with gross hot dog juices. Did Doomie’s add some kind of roasted red pepper? It tasted like it and I wasn’t a fan. That’s my own weird thing, though. The people didn’t think there was anything weird about it – Doomie’s came in second place in the People’s Choice prize.

Doomie’s

My other second favorite was the Mac and Cheese from M Cafe. To be honest, it didn’t really taste like mac and cheese – more like a pasta with creamy white sauce. It was really good, though. It was gluten free noodles with a cashew cheese and mixed with sun dried tomatoes and asparagus and topped with arugula. I thought the sun dried tomatoes were a little overpowering and would have preferred just the noodles with sauce.

M Cafe

Coming in at third place for me was the #1 pick for People’s Choice and #2 pick from the Judges. A Mac and Cheese from SunCafe. Described as gluten free noodles with pecan garlic cheese and nacho cheese. I liked it, but something about it just didn’t sit right in my throat. One of the flavors was just overpowering and I kept having to drink some water to wash it off the back of my throat. Is that weird? I guess so, since everyone else seemed to love it.

SunCafe

And my least favorite was from Southern Fried Vegan. It looked like there was Daiya in it, but it didn’t really taste like it. I’m not really sure how to describe the flavor. Honestly, I didn’t get the comforting mac and cheese flavor out of it.

Southern Fried Vegan

Here’s hoping they do this again next year and bring on more vendors! Although, the portions were big for sampling (I’m not complaining!) and I’m not sure how much more mac and cheese I could have eaten.

Vegan at zPizza

Posted by socalvegangal in Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant, Orange County, Pizza October 9, 2012

Vegan MoFo Day 9:

Daiya vegan cheese has really revolutionized vegan pizza. I remember when vegan pizza was just a mythical creature in childhood fables. Now, vegan pizza can be found all over the place. On a recent trip to Tennessee, it seemed vegan pizza was our only vegan option. Progress, I tell you.

zPizza is a national pizza chain that is helping spread the gospel of vegan pizza. They have a pizza called the Berkeley that is full of veggies and fake meat. I never was a fan of real meat on my pizza, so I tend to just stick to veggies – which is what my vegan guy and I did on our last trip to zPizza. We got a vegan Mushroom and Olive Pizza. The crust is a one-size fits all kind of crust: not to thick and not too thin. I like it.

Mushroom and Olive Pizza

But my vegan guy likes the fake meat, so he got a Hawaiian Pizza to eat the next day. They put a good amount of hearty-sized bits of the fake meat and look at all the pineapple. Fruit on a pizza is a great way to get your 5-a-day!

Hawaiian Pizza

Check their website to see where your local zPizza might be.

So Cal Vegan Gal

Category Archives: Omnivorous Restaurant