Dinnertime at Real Food Daily

Posted by socalvegangal in Dessert, Gluten Free, Los Angeles, San Gabriel Valley, Veg Restaurant October 4, 2012

My last two posts from Real Food Daily have been about their brunch items. Because it is one of the few places to get vegan breakfast foods, my vegan guy and I come here a lot in the (late) mornings. Very rarely do we actually come here for dinner, but sometimes we do.

In my pre-blog days, I tried numerous lunch/dinner menu items here that I did not document. I am a big fan of their sandwich menu, including their Reuben ($11.75): tempeh, tofu cheese spread, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing on sourdough rye bread. I got it with a side Caesar Salad (really good!!). This reuben is full of sauerkraut and is so juicy. It doesn’t make you feel heavy after eating it, either.

Reuben

Another great item is their Mexico City Tacos ($15.95): two crispy tacos, red chili beans, tempeh, vegetables, smoky chipotle cheese, avocado, jicama slaw, and Fiesta rice. This is one item off their specials menu. I am a big fan of mexican inspired dishes and this had all the components of a tasty south of the border meal. Two things I loved were the creamy beans and cheese. One thing I wasn’t that into was the jicama slaw – not a big fan of jicama.

Tacos

And again with the dessert! I have terrible willpower when it comes to dessert. A few other tables around my vegan guy and me ordered a Cookie a la Mode, so I did too. The thought of a warmed chocolate chip cookie with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream sounded so wonderful and decadent. Unfortunately, the cookie was not warmed and wasn’t particularly good at room temperature, either (I think it was gluten free). I did like the ice cream.

Cookie a la Mode

Vegan Divas Sent to Your Door

Posted by socalvegangal in Dessert Shop, Gluten Free, Mail Order October 3, 2012

Day 3 of Vegan MoFo:

A while back I got a sample of products from Vegan Divas in New York City. I was curious if a freshly baked product can make its way to the west coast and still taste good. Did it? Read on.

Assorted Goods

I got three different Baked Doughnuts – I’m a huge Homer Simpson and was really excited about the doughnuts. The Toasted Coconut was very moist, but I thought it had an aftertaste – maybe the baking soda? The Chocolate Iced was also moist – although not as moist as the coconut – and had a nice flavor. Last, the Cinnamon Sugar was kind of plain for my taste. Not too much to it. The quest for an awesome donut I can get in SoCal (or mailed to me) continues…

Doughnuts: Chocolate Iced, Toasted Coconut, Cinnamon Sugar

I liked the other goodies better than the doughnuts. First were some Chocolate Chip Cookies made with spelt flour. At first glance, these looked thin and crispy. I was pleasantly surprised to find that these were thin and soft. They had a very nice flavor and had just the right amount of chocolate chips. Spelt products have really taken a turn for the better.

Another goody was the gluten free Macaroons. I normally don’t like macaroons, because every one I’ve had has been wet and full of long strands of coconut (ew). This one reminded me more of a cookie. The chewier texture was a delightful surprise – score for the coconut!

Lastly, I tried the Spelt Brownie. This is a stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth kind of brownie. Luckily, it wasn’t a bitter tasting brownie, but still wasn’t my favorite. I’ve had some better vegan brownies, but I also would not be disappointed had I ordered this for dessert at a restaurant.

Clockwise: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Spelt Brownie, Macaroon

You can order these goodies and more at their website. Some items are only available for delivery in Manhattan, though.

More Great Food From Follow Your Heart

Posted by socalvegangal in Breakfast Options, San Fernando Valley, Veg Restaurant October 2, 2012

Day 2 of Vegan MoFo!!

I try to eat at a lot of vegan-friendly places, but sometimes a girl just wants a good vegan breakfast! That is why I went again to Follow Your Heart in Canoga Park. I wish there were more vegan breakfast joints in LA and Orange County. But, then again, I do love Follow Your Heart.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t too in love with my breakfast choice. I got the Tofu Eggwich ($6.95): scrambled tofu patty, tomato, avocado, “pastrami” wheatmeat, and Vegenaise on an english muffin. You also get a choice of potatoes or fruit. As you can see, I went with the potatoes – so good! I don’t know what they did to them, but they were delicious. The tofu patty on the sandwich was not that delicious. I thought it was going to be a slab of marinated tofu, but this one was smushed up tofu with some kind of thickening/binding flour or starch and spices. I didn’t really like the flavor.

Tofu Eggwich

I wasn’t sure how big that tofu sandwich was going to be, so I got a side of Cornbread ($2.50). This sure was a hearty slice of cornbread. I’m a snob when it comes to cornbread – I like it fluffy and on the sweet side. Hearty cornbreads just don’t do it for me. They asked if I’d like honey with it, but since I don’t eat honey, I declined. It would have been better with some kind of sweetener – jam or agave/maple syrup, though.

Cornbread

My vegan guy didn’t care for breakfast foods and went straight to lunch. He got the Reuben ($10.75): thinly sliced wheatmeat, cheese, sauerkraut, mustard, and Vegenaise, on rye. I’d like to tell you how good or bad it was, but I actually don’t remember what he thought (and neither does he). Oops.

Reuben

To see more great stuff from Follow Your Heart, see my previous posts here and here.

Honee Review and Bonus Recipe!

Posted by socalvegangal in Packaged Food, Recipes October 1, 2012

Today is the first day of Vegan MoFo! Happy Vegan Month of Food everyone!! In honor of this great month, I will be posting my first recipe to this blog. Not many more will follow, but I will bring you some of my favorite tasty recipes every so often. And check out the official Vegan MoFo blogroll to see some awesome blogs talking about how amazing vegan food can be.

Anyway.

A new product has come on to the markets replacing honey. Now, I know some vegans eat honey, so this is a non-issue. But I used to love honey and now I don’t eat it anymore. I was super excited to try this Bee Free Honee made from apples. Apples? Really? I had read reviews raving about how this product tastes “just like honey!!” They claimed it doesn’t even taste like apples.

I beg to differ. The syrup was good, but it did not taste like honey. In fact, it tasted just like a sweet apple syrup. Hmmm – now what was I going to do with the bottles I had bought in excitement for a product supposed to taste exactly like honey? I didn’t like the taste of it in my traditional uses for honey (mainly with peanut butter and bananas), so I sought out recipes for this product.

Bee Free Honee

Keep Reading for Recipe

Shhh – there’s vegan food at The Secret Spot

Posted by socalvegangal in Breakfast Options, Omnivorous Restaurant, Orange County September 22, 2012

I wish The Secret Spot was… well… a little more secret. It’s this tiny cafe in Huntington Beach that is run by a bunch of youngins and some older surfer dude that is very welcoming to the customers. However, like a lot of the reviews say, it takes awhile to get your food. When I went, there was a longish line that moved very, very slowly. I expected it, so no biggie. I had gone once on a winter’s night and it was A LOT faster.

It was a weekend morning and I wanted something I don’t normally have, so my vegan guy and I decided to go here. I saw on their board that they now had vegan pancakes, so I knew what I was getting. It was a good thing, too, because their menu is a little confusing for vegans. I wish they had a “can be prepared vegan” icon next to those items that are veganize-able.

The story of the Vegan Pancakes goes like this. They looked good, came with syrup and some vegan butter, so I was excited. I poured the syrup onto the pancakes and saw that the consistency was not like maple syrup (or even agave nectar) – was it honey?!! I was worried that I had just ruined my vegan pancakes with a non-vegan product (well, not vegan for me). I asked and the chef said that the syrup was vegan. She went to get the container and presented me with a giant bottle of corn syrup- corn syrup?!! Gross! Who puts corn syrup on their pancakes? I don’t, and will certainly not in the future, as well. I mean, the pancakes were decent, but that corn syrup was just not good. The side of potatoes was not good, either. It was full of bell peppers (yuck).

Vegan Pancake with Fruit

My vegan guy went with another menu item that we deciphered to be vegan – their Western Garden Nut Wrap. It’s made with their vegan meat substitute and grilled with organic greens, tomato, avocado and homemade BBQ sauce in a spinach tortilla. I thought this dish was decent, although I don’t think my vegan guy was too enthusiastic about it.

Western Garden Nut Wrap

And I also saw they had vegan desserts. I wanted to try their Vegan Hostess cake, but was sorry I did. This was just a not-very-good tasting chocolate cupcake with a small scribble of vanilla frosting on top. Hello?! Hostess is supposed to have that chocolate ganache topping. Not good, guys, not good.

Hostess Cake

If you want to go to The Secret Spot, I recommend going at an off hour. You’ll have plenty of questions, and they’ll be able to help you best when there aren’t a lot of customers waiting in line. Good luck!

3801Warner Ave
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
562-592-4494

Monday: 8 am-9 pm
Saturday: 8 am-9 pm
Sunday:8 am-7 pm

Breakfast at Mother’s Market

Posted by socalvegangal in Breakfast Options, Gluten Free, Omnivorous Restaurant, Orange County September 20, 2012

Mother’s Market is an awesome place. Not only is it a great grocery store filled with vegan food, but some locations have a sit down restaurant (available at Brea, Costa Mesa, Laguna Woods, Irvine, and Huntington Beach). It’s one of the few places in Orange County to get a vegan breakfast – and it’s a good one, too! The menu is entirely vegetarian (with one tuna dish) and most things can be made vegan if they aren’t already.

The newest member to the vegan breakfast menu are their Gluten Free Pancakes ($9.95). They come with a healthy side of fruit. These pancakes are really good. Most people think gluten free foods are gross (and I agree a lot are), but not these pancakes. They didn’t even taste gluten free. I hope they don’t take these off the menu.

GF Pancakes

My vegan guy got the Ma’s Breakfast Melt ($8.95): two slices of toasted sourdough stuffed with tofu, avocado slices, vegan cheese, tomatoes and choice of “fakin’ bacon” or ”Gimme Lean” veggie sausage. It’s served with your choice of herb roasted potatoes or organic brown rice. I think my vegan guy thought it was too tofu-y, but I love that type of stuff. I had a bite and thought it was delicious.

Ma’s Breakfast Melt

Mother’s also serves lunch and dinner – and they have an incredible selection of juice, smoothies, and shakes. I’ll have to post some of my favorites from those menus sometime!

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

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

Keep Reading

So Cal Vegan Gal

Category Archives: By Food Type:

Dinnertime at Real Food Daily

Vegan Divas Sent to Your Door

More Great Food From Follow Your Heart

Honee Review and Bonus Recipe!

Shhh – there’s vegan food at The Secret Spot

Breakfast at Mother’s Market

I am Addicted to Chili Addiction

Being Vegan in Rancho Cucamonga

Sandwiches from Locali in LA

ROAD TRIP: Vegan Goodness in Sacramento