Au Lac in Fountain Valley

Posted by socalvegangal in Orange County, Raw, Veg Restaurant February 3, 2012

I recently went with a group to Au Lac in Fountain Valley. This restaurant is great, because it has a huge menu with Vietnamese style cooked foods and extravagant raw foods. It is also great for people living in Orange County, because it is centralized within the county.

I started off with the BBQ Pork Rolls with rice paper, barbecued soy pork, chive, pickled daikon and carrot, and served with a peanut sauce for dipping. This thing was stuffed with fake pork, so don’t order it if you aren’t into the fake meats. I liked that it was sliced for sharing (I was with a group, after all). I love peanut sauces, and this one did not disappoint (although I do wish they gave a bit more). As for the roll, itself, I liked it, but I actually think I would have liked a tofu-based roll instead. It was too fake-meaty for me.

BBQ Pork Rolls – $4

For my entree, I ordered the Stir-Fried Soy Seafood Noodles with yellow noodle, soy seafood, stir-fried bok choy, snow pea, napa cabbage, and shiitake sauce. The menu declared that the noodles were crispy, but I guess I wasn’t expecting the “bird’s nest” style noodles. Luckily, after sitting in the sauce for awhile, the noodles softened up. I like that this dish is not just vegetables and not just fake meat but a hearty combination of both. I still wish it was a soft, non-fried noodle, but the flavor was still excellent.

Stir Fried Seafood Noodles – $10

Because I was with a large group, we ended up ordering a few desserts and sharing them. All of their desserts are raw and all are perfectly sliced for sharing. Our group went with Choconut X-tasy, Donut Holes, and Rainbow in the Sky. The Choconut x-tasy was my favorite (it’s also the one I always order when at Au Lac). It is described only as pecans and cocoa powder, but I’m sure there is more to it than that. It is served slightly cold and tastes like a kind of creamy ice cream-type dessert. The donut holes were a recommendation by a friend and contain a healthy dose of spirulina, coconut, and macadamia nuts. I personally liked them, but I can see that they might not be for everyone (maybe on the account of the spirulina taste). It’s a doughy ball with a gooey chocolate filling and coated in a very fine coconut sugar. The advice given to me before eating this was to not inhale when putting this ball into your mouth – as the fine coconut sugar will get stuck in your lungs. Lastly, the Rainbow in the Sky might have been my least favorite, but still very good. It contains blueberries, spirulina, jackfruit, raspberries, dates, and pecans. I’m less of a fruity dessert type of person, which is why I liked it least.

Choconut X-tasy (Raw) – $7

Donut Holes (Raw) – $7

Rainbow in the Sky (Raw) – $7

Au Lac is in a small complex with a hodge-podge of businesses. It looks very generic from the outside, but inside they have renovated it to be very sleek. They have gone with a black and red theme with modern porcelain tableware and low lighting. Once inside, it’s a very sexy place to take your date. Some of my group are mostly raw in their personal diets and they raved about the raw menu here. Au Lac also has a large elixir menu to help fix any of your aliments. The parking is very easy and the location is close to the 405 freeway. A definite must for anyone in the Orange County area.

Au Lac

Au Lac
16563 Brookhurst St
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
714-418-0658

Tuesday-Sunday
Lunch 11:33 am – 3:33 pm
Dinner 5:33 pm – 9:33 pm

Hugo’s Restaurant in WeHo

Posted by socalvegangal in Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant, San Fernando Valley, Veg Restaurant January 27, 2012

My favorite thing about Hugo’s Restaurant is the huge selection of vegan options. For an omnivorous restaurant, they certainly cater to vegans. Even a lot of their non-vegan menu items can be made vegan. Another great thing about Hugo’s is their monthly specials. This trip to Hugo’s was no exception.

I was in the mood for pancakes one sunny afternoon in December, but didn’t know where to go. I knew I wasn’t in the mood for any of the pancakes served at the infamous vegan thai places in LA and most other restaurants serving vegan breakfast foods weren’t cooking them this late in the day. Luckily Hugo’s serves breakfast items until 4pm. I ordered a December special: Orange Cranberry Pancakes. This consisted of three fluffy pancakes infused with almond, orange, ginger & cranberries and topped with toasted slivered almonds and organic powdered sugar. Also served with a chunky agave sweetened ginger-orange cranberry compote. I love how nice and thick Hugo’s can make their pancakes without leaving the center of the pancake mushy and uncooked. The pancakes were delicious and very filling. I wasn’t too thrilled with the compote, though. I’m a girl who loves her pancakes covered in maple syrup and I thought the agave in the compote clashed with the flavor of the maple syrup.

Orange Cranberry Pancakes – $11.50

My vegan guy (not into the sweet stuff) got a veggie burger. The Hugo’s veggie burger comes with onion, lettuce, tomato and Vegenaise. It is served with a choice of crispy fries, house made potato chips, house salad or caesar salad. You can also choose three additional toppings. My vegan guy opted for sauteed mushrooms, avocado, and ranch (on the side) and a side of fries. I had a bite and thought it was wonderful (especially to curb the sweetness of my pancakes). My vegan guy thought he’d had better veggie burgers on prior visits to Hugo’s. Maybe there was a new cook? The one thing we both agreed on was the ranch. We thought it was too runny. It barely stayed on the burger. It was definitely more of a dressing for a salad (if that) than a spread for a burger.

Veggie Burger with sauteed mushrooms, avocado, and ranch – $12.50

All in all, though, Hugo’s Restaurant is a must visit for those who don’t mind eating at an omnivorous restaurant. You can check out their monthly specials and recurring items on their menu (vegan and vegan-options are clearly marked). You can choose from their two locations: each with a small parking lot adjacent to the building.

Hugo’s Restaurant West Hollywood
8401 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 654-3993

Hugo’s Restaurant Studio City
12851 Riverside Dr
Studio City, CA 91607
(818) 761-8985

Monday – Friday
^{7:30 AM to 10:00 PM}
Saturday – Sunday
^{8:00 AM to 10:00 PM}

Leaf Cuisine in Culver City

Posted by socalvegangal in Ice Cream, Los Angeles, Raw, Veg Restaurant January 24, 2012

If finding a place that has both raw food and cooked food has been difficult for you, then look no further than Leaf Cuisine in Culver City. This mostly raw restaurant has some cooked food for non-raw-foodists to try. They now have table service, which my vegan guy and I did not know about, so we ordered at their counter instead.

Leaf Cuisine

For an appetizer I got the Cashew Kreme Cheeze with corn chips. I almost loved this dish. I liked the corn chips and I liked the Kreme Cheeze, but I didn’t really like them together. I would have preferred some plain chips. I also would have preferred less herbs in the Kreme Cheeze. I’m a huge fan of raw cheeses made with nuts and I felt that the abundance of herbs took away from wonderful flavor of the nuts. The texture of the cheese was divine, though – smooth and creamy.

Kreme Cheeze with Corn Chips – $6.50

For an entree, I got the Vegan Victory Burger (cooked dish) prepared with a grilled veggie patty and topped with house made mayo, tomato, sprouts & romaine on a sprouted grain bun. I also added vegan cheeze to my burger for an extra $0.99. I loved this veggie patty, but I thought there was too much bun. I wished the patty was thicker (because it was so good!). It came with some sauerkraut and a side salad with a nice house made dressing.

Vegan Victory Burger – $9.99

My vegan guy got the Mushroom Rawsagna prepared with layers of rawcotta, squash noodles, spinach, portobellos and rawmesan. It is also served with some sauerkraut and a side salad with house made dressing. I had a bite and really liked it. Normally raw Italian inspired dishes use a lot of zucchini in place of pasta (which I hate). This dish had none of that. The rawcotta layer was super thick and the texture was very creamy. I’d definitely order this one again.

Mushroom Rawsagna – $12.99

And finally for dessert, I got their frozen soft serve. Let me first explain how excited I was when I heard Leaf Cuisine was offering soft serve. It is so hard trying to find vegan soft serve – which one would think would be a common offering in this warm California climate. Leaf Cuisine offers both vanilla and chocolate flavored raw soft serve. I got half and half topped with their chocolate sauce. I ordered it to be eaten on location, but they packed it to-go anyway. Because it got smashed from the lid of the container, it just looks like one blob of melted ice cream. I think I may have been too excited by this offering and raised my expectations too high. The soft serve was a bit grainy – something I’ve tasted when eating other raw, vegan soft serves. The flavor was nice, though, and the chocolate sauce was delicious. It is still a very nice treat for someone following a raw or whole foods based diet.

Soft Serve – $9.99 for 13 oz. (pictured) or $3.99 for 4 oz.

Leaf Cuisine has a small parking lot and is located at:

11938 W. Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90066
(310) 397 0700

Hours of Operation
Mon – Fri 10 AM to 9 PM
Sat – Sun 11 AM to 9 PM

Vegan Chinese at Happy Family

Posted by socalvegangal in San Gabriel Valley, Veg Restaurant January 20, 2012

One of the best places to get some vegan Chinese food is Happy Family in Monterey Park. This restaurant is not to be confused with the Happy Family chain in Rowland Heights, Costa Mesa, and Loma Linda. Rumor is that these two businesses were once one actual happy family, but parted ways some time ago. I could be wrong. Either way, these businesses have a similar menu, but are not the same company.

My vegan guy and I started off with my favorite – hot and sour soup. I absolutely love this soup, but it’s so hard trying to find one that is tasty and vegan. Luckily, Happy Family has it and it is wonderful. I could eat bowls and bowls of this stuff in one sitting (and have many times). It has a very flavorful broth and is filled with tofu, bamboo, mushrooms, and carrots.

Hot and Sour Soup – $5.95

Next up were the crispy oyster mushrooms. These mushrooms are fried, but not greasy. They are subtly seasoned and are not served with any sauce (you don’t need one). I thought they were very good, but prefer the similar dish at the other Happy Family. The oyster mushrooms at the other Happy Family have a bit more flavor, but I would still recommend ordering it here.

Crispy Oyster Mushrooms – $9.50

Our last dish was the special fungus with deep fried tofu (can you tell we like the fried stuff?). It sounded better than what was served. This was my least favorite. The tofu did not seem deep fried. The soft tofu had a thin layer of fried batter that had gotten mushy from the sauce. As my guy said it, “It’s not very flavorful, but it’s also not flavorless.” I couldn’t have said it better.

Special Fungus with Deep Fried Tofu – $8.95

There are many other dishes at Happy Family that I’ve had and loved. Their menu is huge! They have lots of fake meat items, too. I’d highly recommend making the drive out to Monterey Park – it’s worth it!