Quick Bite at Sushi Laguna

Posted by socalvegangal in Omnivorous Restaurant, Orange County September 10, 2012

Most of us know that vegans can eat the basic vegetable roll at sushi restaurants. Something I didn’t know for a long time was that some miso soups contained a fish broth (yuck!) Now I diligently ask if the miso soup is vegetarian at all sushi places. One place I know is ok for vegans is Sushi Laguna in Laguna Beach. This is my favorite omnivorous sushi restaurant and I’ll tell you why (did you honestly think I wouldn’t?).

They have the vegetarian Miso Soup that I love.

Miso Soup

And they always have the creamiest Avocado Rolls ever! They are seriously some of the best avocado rolls I’ve had. Really, it’s a boring post, but it’s true. And the rolls aren’t too expensive either. They used to be $4.50, but I think they might be $4.75 now. I’ve been to places that charge $8 for some crappy roll, so I think Sushi Laguna is a deal.

Avocado Rolls

231 Ocean Ave
Laguna Beach, CA 92651

(949) 376-8786

Monday – Thursday: 11:30 am-2 pm & 5:30 pm-10 pm
Friday: 11:30 am-2:30 pm & 5:00 pm-11 pm
Saturday: 12 pm-11 pm
Sunday: 12 pm-9 pm

I am Addicted to Chili Addiction

Posted by socalvegangal in Gluten Free, Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant September 8, 2012

It has recently been announced that Chili Addiction will now be called The Addiction Bistro. Whatever the name, I love this place. It is an omnivorous restaurant with a large vegan menu (seen here).

I had never tried their Truffle Fries ($5), but decided to get them. I love their fries, but I wasn’t getting a lot of truffle flavor in these. I think the bottom fries ended up with most of that flavor.

Truffle Fries

I always get a Chili Cheese Dog ($5.95) when I come to Chili Addiction – er… The Addiction Bistro. They always have two vegan chilis to choose from, with two different spiciness levels. I got a soyrizo-based chili on my dog, which was good, but I think I like the bean based chilis better. I also wish they were able to melt the vegan cheese a bit more, but they end up topping the chili with cheese right before serving.

Chili Cheese Dog

My other favorite is the Chili Cheese Fries ($6). This time I got it with a bean based chili. I love this chili! This one had a bunch of garbanzo beans – yum! I can never find any recipes for chili like this. Most chilis I see are the kind full of tomatoes. I just want a nice beany chili – is that so hard to ask? If anyone knows of any good recipes with limited or no tomatoes that are full of beans, please let me know.

Chili Cheese Fries

On another visit to The Addiction Bistro, my vegan guy and I tried their Chili Cheese Nachos ($8). They make their own tortilla chips, but I actually wasn’t such a fan of them. It was nice to try, but I think I’ll stick with the chili cheese fries.

Chili Cheese Nachos

408 North La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA
323-203-1793

Tuesday – Sunday: 12pm – 9pm
Closed Mondays

Being Vegan in Rancho Cucamonga

Posted by socalvegangal in Inland Empire, Packaged Food, Veg Restaurant September 6, 2012

I think I’ve said in every post from the Inland Empire that it is more difficult to be vegan here. I sort of take that back, because of places like Bright Star in Rancho Cucamonga. This all-vegan thai place is very similar to the vegan thai places all around LA (I never knew burgers and pancakes were such a Thai staple). But, in addition to the burgers and pancakes, they do have more traditional Thai dishes.

I got a lot of food (and shared most with my family). My first appetizer was the Shrimp Batter: deep fried soy shrimp and vegetable tempura with sweet plum sauce. I normally don’t get tempura at Japanese restaurants, but this had a thicker batter and was quite good. Sweet sauces are my thing (I’m not a salty soy sauce girl) and this one was delicious.

Shrimp Batter

Another fried appetizer was next – the Fried Chicken. This one also came with that delicious sweet plum sauce. I liked this dish – simple, greasy comfort food.

Fried Chicken Appetizer

My favorite appetizer was the Chicken Satay. This dish comes with a sauce that is the best sauce of all time: the peanut sauce. Really – what can’t creamy peanuts go with?? If you aren’t into fake meats, they have this dish with tofu instead of chicken.

Chicken Satay

Although tempted for more peanut sauce, I didn’t get the Pad Thai and instead went with Pad See Ew. Really, there’s nothing “ew” about it! (sorry, bad pun). Thick rice noodles are coated in a lovely, light brown sauce and tossed with two of my favorite veggies. It’s great the next day, too!!

Pad See Ew

My least favorite thing I ordered here was the Teriyaki Chicken. I was expecting chunks of chicken marinated and coated in teriyaki sauce. This was just some grilled chicken with a teriyaki dipping sauce. Not as flavorful as I had hoped.

Teriyaki Chicken

But the Orange Tofu was a lovely dish. They have it with chicken, but I had already ordered so much chicken. The tofu was lightly fried, making it not so heavy. And of course I’m going to like that sweet, orange sauce.

Orange Tofu

And if all the sweet sauces didn’t satisfy that sugar craving, I wanted a small dessert. They have a few more traditional desserts, but that Pancake just sounded too appetizing for me to pass up. This pancake was nice, a little dense, and maybe not the best vegan pancake ever – but it will sure make those pancake cravings go away.

Pancake

And to make Rancho Cucamonga even more vegan friendly, I stopped by Viva la Vegan – a moderately sized all-vegan grocery store. This place has lots of vegan products to offer. You can get all kinds of things here: from organic produce to frozen foods to fresh foods prepared by local vegan vendors. It’s kind of out of the way from me, but I sure would like to come here more often.

Viva La Vegan Grocery

I didn’t get much (any perishable foods would have spoiled by the time I got home hours later), but I did get some stuff I can’t easily find in my local health foods store. (Seriously – Chocolate Inspirations products are delicious!)

Viva La Vegan Goodies

Bright Star
9819 Foothill Blvd Unit F
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730
909-980-9797

Monday – Sunday: 11 am-10 pm

Viva la Vegan
9456 Roberds St
Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91701
909-941-4495

Monday – Sunday: 10 am-8 pm

Native Foods – 1, Big Ag – 0

Posted by socalvegangal in Los Angeles, Orange County, Veg Restaurant September 4, 2012

I have this friend that was once a vegetarian for many years and is no longer. Doesn’t it make you so sad when you see a vegetarian/vegan turn back to the dark side? I mean, you’ve seen them thrive on a veg diet, watch them eat delicious veg food, and then ultimately go back to eating meat. Why? I don’t know – but it breaks a little piece of my heart.

So back to this friend. Whenever I have a visit with him, we always go to a vegan restaurant. He knows veg food is good, so why shouldn’t we eat it when he comes to town? In honor of his latest visit, we went to Native Foods. I think most vegetarians in California know about this place. They are popping up everywhere these days. And, since the founder has stepped aside, the new owners have expanded to even more places out of state (Oregon, Illinois, Colorado…). It’s a very exciting time for Native Foods.

The menu is quite large at Native Foods and it keeps changing (which can be good or bad, depending on if your favorites get removed or not). I once had an amazing burger one week, and the next week it was gone. One menu item that never seems to go away is the Native Chicken Wings ($6.95). And there is good reason these don’t go away – they are really delicious. They are lightly fried and not too heavy. The ranch dressing that they come with is also super good.

Chicken Wings

The Saigon Roll ($5.95) was once a special, but came back as a smaller appetizer version. No matter what the size, I love this roll. It is prepared with lemongrass tofu, pickled daikon, carrot, brown rice, cucumber, cilantro, and basil. And my favorite part about it is the peanut sauce. I love peanut sauce! This is also a good dish for omnivores that like tofu and are weirded out by the fake meats (like some former co-workers of mine).

Saigon Roll

My friend got the Portobello and Sausage Burger ($9.95) with a side of sweet potato fries. This burger is prepared with grilled portobello, homemade seitan, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, salsa, pumpkin seed pesto, and mayo. I think he liked the burger. I remember his one comment was that it was very garlicy. I’ve tried this before and thought the seitan was rather chewy.

Portobello Mushroom and Sausage Burger

I went with the Twister Wrap ($9.95): greens, avocado, salsa, chipotle sauce and your choice of crispy or grilled chicken. I really like their chicken and I love wraps, so this one is a no-brainer. It’s good. I went with the regular fries as my side, since I’m not a huge fan of their sweet potato fries (I think Veggie Grill’s are better).

Twister Wrap

And how could we not complete this fabulous meat-free meal without my favorite Native Foods dessert?? The Peanut Butter Parfait ($2.95) always hits the spot. Creamy and full of delicious goodies – I wish I knew the recipe!

Peanut Butter Parfait

So maybe the meal didn’t turn my friend back to forgoing the dead animals, but at least this one meal didn’t need to kill anything. Now I need to work on the other 1,094 meals this year.

Sandwiches from Locali in LA

Posted by socalvegangal in Breakfast Options, Los Angeles, Omnivorous Restaurant September 1, 2012

Locali is a cute little shop that sells packaged foods, eco home products, and freshly prepared sandwiches. They have a lot of meat sandwiches, but most can be made vegan.

The two most famous vegan sandwiches here are their Baaadasss Breakfast Sandwich ($5.99) and their Reuben. The Baaadasss Sandwich is made with vegan sausage, vegan cheese, chipotle sauce, and maple syrup on an english muffin. It’s very sweet and salty. I think I might have liked it with just Vegenaise instead of the chipotle sauce, because it was a bit spicy for me. Otherwise, this was a very good breakfast sandwich.

Badass Breakfast Sandwich

The Reuben ($10.50 full/$5.99 half) is made with tofu deli slices, vegan cheese, sauerkraut, and vegan russian dressing on rye. I can see why this is one of the favorite sandwiches. It’s very juicy and that dressing is wonderful.

Reuben

And one item that is not on their menu, but was special when I was there is the Hot Mama Pastrama. It came with Pastrami seitan, Daiya, and spicy homemade giardiniera. The seitan was very good – the only thing I liked about it. The veggies (aka giardiniera) were too chunky for me and didn’t have the best flavor.

Pastrami

I do like Locali’s sandwiches. The one thing that was grossing me out, though, was the fact that when I was there, there was only one guy on duty. He had to deal with customers, ring them up on the cash register, and prepare the sandwiches. Luckily when I was there he only paused to ring up people paying with credit cards (a bit cleaner than cash), but there just wasn’t that awareness of washing hands after handling non-food items that I would hope there should be. I know Locali is trying to be eco-friendly and constantly washing your hands makes for a lot of wasted paper towels, but I think a lot of us can agree that we don’t want dirty hands preparing our food. This won’t deter me from coming back, though. And, in fact, there will be a Vegan Hot Dog Fest this Labor Day weekend that I hope to go to. And you should, too, because it’s supporting ARME – Animal Rescue, Media & Education.

5825 Franklin Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323-466-1360

Open Daily 8am-10pm

ROAD TRIP: Vegan Goodness in Sacramento

Posted by socalvegangal in Central & Northern California, Dessert, Gluten Free, Veg Restaurant August 30, 2012

Let me begin this post by saying that there will be VEGAN DONUTS today! And not just one place will have them. Is your mouth watering yet? Good.

Now let me explain how I got to the first set of vegan donuts in Sacramento. As you may recall, I had just witnessed the beautiful wedding ceremony of my cousin with my mom and sister. On our return trip to Southern California, we stopped in Sacramento for the night (it’s a very charming city, by the way). Because my sister was craving pasta we just had to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory. I like the Old Spaghetti Factory, but when I’m in a new place, I want to try something I’ve never had before. One can get Old Spaghetti Factory any ol’ day in Southern California. There are quite a few vegan options here and most Old Spaghetti Factories have renovated old train stations to make it a very lovely dining experience. I didn’t snap any photos, because there are lots of resources already out there for vegan dining at the Old Spaghetti Factory. See lists here and here.

Ok, ok, “When are we getting to the vegan donuts?!!” you ask.

After dinner, we stopped by the Sacramento Whole Foods to get dessert – and that’s where I spotted them waiting for me in the bakery section. These gems are the creation of Posh Bakery – a wholesale only bakery in the Sacramento area. The donuts were good. It was late at night and they had been sitting all day, so they got to be a little dry – I still ate them, though. The Blueberry Donut was my favorite. It held its moisture the best, whereas the Chocolate-Nut Donut and Sugar Donut didn’t. I also got a Whole Foods Chocolate Cupcake which was actually pretty disgusting, so don’t get it.

Whole Foods Cupcake and Posh Bakery Donuts

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ROAD TRIP: Vegan in Mammoth Lakes, CA (plus bonus cookie link!!)

Posted by socalvegangal in Breakfast Options, Central & Northern California, Dessert, Dessert Shop, Gluten Free, Ice Cream, Omnivorous Restaurant August 27, 2012

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll probably have remembered I just went on a road trip to Oklahoma City for my cousin’s wedding. Well, my mom and I (and a sister) were at it again and went on a road trip to Lake Tahoe for another cousin’s wedding. Lake Tahoe is not too far from Southern California, but we wanted to make it a mini vacation, so we decided to have a few stops along the way.

Mammoth Lakes is a hot spot for skiing (so I’ve been told), but also is a great place for summer outdoor fun. We weren’t there too long, but I did have a chance to notice plenty of bike and hike paths around the town. And since Mammoth is full of nature loving individuals, it didn’t surprise me that there were a few spots for vegan food.

Our first stop was a place to get some snacks. Sierra Sundance Whole Foods is an awesome little health foods market. They had a great selection of vegan foods for snacking or preparing a meal in that cabin you’ve rented. Being in a small car with three women, we weren’t thinking “healthy snacks,” so we stocked up on some comforting sugary sweets. They even carried a local company’s vegan cookie!

Sierra Sundance Whole Foods Goodies

Speaking of that local cookie company – we passed Mimi’s Cookie Bar’s storefront on our way to our hotel and had to stop to see what other vegan selections they had.

Mimi’s Cookie Bar

This cookie bar is really cute and they have both non-vegan and vegan goodies. We got some of their daily vegan cookies and their one and only vegan ice cream. The Mocha Almond Fudge Cookie (I believe was gluten free) was a bit dry, but had a good flavor. The Coconut-Lime Ice Cream was just ok – sort of gummy. The Apple-Cinnamon Cookies (from Sierra Sundance) were also getting a bit dry from sitting on the shelf, but would be fantastic fresh. And the Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies were some of the best cookies I’ve ever had (gluten free or not)!! We went back and got more of these cookies.

****Seriously, you have to try these cookies – and lucky for you, they are running a deal on Fab.com that allows you to do just that! But hurry – this deal is only on for another 6 days!! Go get them. Now.****

Mocha Almond Fudge, GF PB Chocolate Chip, Coconut-Lime Ice Cream

And finally, on our way out of Mammoth the next day, we stopped to get a breakfast burrito at Stellar Brew & Deli.

Stellar Brew

The Breakfast Burrito ($5.50) was full of carrots, potatoes, bell pepper, and vegan sausage. I thought it was a bit spicy, but good. I also had wished they used some tofu and no bell peppers (yuck!). It did give me that wholesome breakfast feeling so I could face the day of driving.

Breakfast Burrito

Stay tuned for more from my vegan road trip, including stops in Ridgecrest, Lake Tahoe, and Sacramento!

Another Lukewarm Review of 118 Degrees

Posted by socalvegangal in Orange County, Raw, Veg Restaurant August 25, 2012

You may recall that I was not too impressed with 118 Degrees from my last post about my meal here. I have to say, that the feeling was the same on another trip to the restaurant. I went because of another Groupon. This time, my mom bought the deal, because the last time I went here with her, we loved their Miso Soup and she wanted to try more.

First we got the Topaz Pizza ($13): decadent pistachio pesto with tomatoes, herbed Italian squash on sprouted grain crust. Served with warm sun dried tomato topping, chopped olives, and basil. To be honest, we got this dish, because it had “warm” in the description. It was edible (obviously), but neither of us really liked it.

Topaz Pizza

The Sweet Corn Tamales were sold out, so we got the Spicy Almond Cheese Empanada with Spicy Vegetables and Avocado Lime Sauce ($15). While not as good as the tamales, these were tastier than the pizza.

Empanadas

For our first dessert, we got the Drunken Fruit ($9): fruit in agave champagne sauce on top of vanilla creme. This dessert was so much better than the desserts I got with my vegan guy on my last visit. It probably has to do with the fact that this dessert focuses on livening up fresh fruit (something I enjoy raw). The mangoes were perfectly ripe, very sweet, and paired beautifully with the agave champagne.

Drunken Fruit

The second dessert we got was the Fruit Fondue ($9): fruit with chocolate and vanilla dipping sauces. This was also very good. The fruit was nice and ripe and the dipping sauces were sweet and creamy. Our dessert was brought with the vanilla dipping sauce and also a berry dipping sauce even though it stated it was coming with a chocolate sauce. We asked what happened and they ended up bringing out the chocolate sauce, too. Score for the bonus sauce!

Fruit Fondue

Chocolate Sauce for Fruit Fondue

Now that all the Groupons have been redeemed, I have learned that the warm food at 118 Degrees is better than the raw and the fruit desserts are the only ones worth ordering.

Check it out for yourself.

2981 Bristol Suite B5
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
714-754-0718

Monday – Saturday 9am – 10pm
Sundays 10am – 9pm
Brunch on Sunday 10am – 3pm

More from Bulan Thai Vegetarian

Posted by socalvegangal in Los Angeles, Veg Restaurant August 15, 2012

Back when it was colder, my vegan guy and I went to Bulan Thai Vegetarian. While it was still tasty, I think the food we order was not as good as what we had ordered before.

I wanted to try the appetizer of Seaweed Rolls ($8): deep fried nori sheet stuffed with tofu, glass noodles, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms and served with a sweet and sour sauce. When they say these are deep fried, they weren’t joking. I think they might have been too fried for me. The filling and sauce were mighty tasty, but I think I’ll stick with the Summer Rolls.

Seaweed Rolls

My vegan guy got the Rad Nah ($9): crispy vermicelli noodles topped with broccoli, shiitakes, and protein choice in gravy. He ordered this with tofu. I had a bite and thought it was good, but would choose pad thai or pad see ew instead.

Rad Nah

Because it was a colder day, I was craving a warm soup. They have a new soup item: Thai Style Pho. You’ll see it displayed at your table. I definitely prefer Vietnamese Pho places better, but this soup was still pretty good – especially since vegan Vietnamese pho is hard to come by in the central LA area (don’t you hate going to a Pho place and finding out their vegetable Pho is made with meat broth?! Yuck.).

Thai Style Pho

Go to one of these locations – just don’t order these items. (Sorry Bulan! I still love you.)

7168 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323-857-1882

4114 Santa Monica Blvd
Silver Lake, CA 90029
323-913-1488

Kyotofu Brownies from NYC

Posted by socalvegangal in Dessert, Dessert Shop, New York, Omnivorous Restaurant August 12, 2012

Kyotofu in New York City is a Japanese inspired cafe with a large bakery menu. I haven’t been here before, but I know it is not a vegan place. Their menu lists what is vegan and what is not, though. I can’t speak for their savory items, but I can speak about their vegan brownies.

I received a box full of individually wrapped brownies from Kyotofu in the mail. I thought the presentation was adorable. A fancy brown box with pink accents is my kind of style. But what did the brownies taste like?…

…Not good. Even though they were individually wrapped and marked with a “best buy” date a week later, they were very dry. The flavor was also a super deep chocolate – not my kind of brownie. It could have been better had they just been moist. I could get over the flavor by warming them up and serving them a la mode, but I couldn’t get over the texture. I hope they are better fresh from the store.

Brownies

Even though these brownies left a bad taste in my mouth, I still might try Kyotofu’s other items if I should ever be in NYC (I hear they have soft serve!).

So Cal Vegan Gal

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