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 in Ridgecrest (aka: the middle of nowhere)

Posted by socalvegangal in Central & Northern California August 31, 2012

Ridgecrest? Where’s that? It’s in the middle of the desert north of the Lancaster/Palmdale area. Chances are, it won’t be your destination, but you might pass through one day. Minus being in the middle of nowhere, it actually is a pretty quaint town.

My mom, sister, and I stopped for lunch to visit a relative on our road trip. Ridgecrest doesn’t have a lot to offer vegans, but we can still find things at certain types of restaurants (Asian being fairly easy for vegans). Miso Sushi seemed like a great place for us to find at least an avocado roll, but we actually found quite a bit more.

We all opted for the special that includes your choice of 2 items ($12.95) or 3 items ($14.95) from a list of foods (they have a vegetarian section). Our first item was the Tofu-Avocado Salad which was so good! The tofu was so perfectly fried. I asked the waitress if any of these items used any egg or dairy and she tried to ask the chefs in back. While she was pretty sure there was no egg used, she said the chefs only spoke Spanish so there was a chance there was a mis-communication. From what I’ve seen in other Japanese restaurants, I don’t see a lot of egg being used on the tempura-style tofu, so I took my chances. If you’re more conservative in your vegan eating, you might want to learn some Spanish before ordering this.

Tofu-Avocado Salad

The second item was some Agedashi Tofu. Again, I asked about the egg in the batter around the tofu, but didn’t ask about the sauce (dumb, dumb). I didn’t even think to ask if there was anything in it, but have read Japanese restaurants might make it with fish dashi. If it is, you can always just opt to use soy sauce. I wouldn’t order this one again, though, so the sauce is no longer my concern. I thought the batter was a little gummy (not like the tofu in the salad).

Agedashi Tofu

And our third item was an Avocado Roll. This is your standard roll, but was really good. I love it when the avocado is so soft and creamy! Yum!

Avocado Roll

My sister didn’t want the avocado roll and instead got the Seaweed Salad. I didn’t try this, but she said she liked it.

Seaweed Salad

For lunch, this was a lot of food (even for dinner!). If passing through Ridgecrest, definitely hit up Miso Sushi. “But I’m staying in Southern California and never going to these random places!!” Well, this is the last post in the mini-road trip series. Thanks for reading! I’ll get back to local stuff in the next post.

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 Tahoe/Reno

Posted by socalvegangal in Central & Northern California, Nevada August 28, 2012

Welcome back to my mini road trip to Lake Tahoe for my cousin’s wedding. What can a vegan get around Lake Tahoe? I didn’t see much, but might have missed some things.

Besides wedding food, my mom, sister, and I only ate one meal in South Lake Tahoe. We went to Sprouts Natural Foods Cafe. All in all, I liked Sprouts. My sister wasn’t that hungry, so she got some Chips, Salsa, and Guacamole and a side of Beans. Their guacamole was really good. The chips, salsa, and beans were just that – tasty, but not much to say.

Chips and Salsa

Beans

My mom and I both got the same thing: their Couscous and Hummus Burrito ($6.95). It came with soup or salad, so we got it with their soup of the day – Tomato Florentine. I thought this soup was delicious! One of the best tomato soups I’ve had. As for the burrito, I got it without cucumbers and loved it. Basically, it’s just a burrito with couscous and hummus (hence the name). They topped it with this tahini spread, which I didn’t like and scraped off. Otherwise, I think I might make this at home – seems easy enough. I also wanted to try their Tempeh Burger, but found out they switched out their tempeh for some generic non-vegan Gardenburger – bummer.

Couscous & Hummus Burrito

After a few hours of sightseeing, we went to our hotel in Reno (Tahoe has limited nice hotel availability- sorry Motel 6, I’m a snob). Reno may be a larger city, but that doesn’t mean there is vegan food aplenty! The one place that seemed to cater most to vegans was the vegetarian restaurant Pneumatic Diner. I have to say, this was one of the weirdest restaurant spaces I have ever seen. It certainly wasn’t ADA compliant, because you had to enter and go up a strange set of stairs, then around the corner to the entrance. If you accidentally went down the wrong hallway, I think you would have ended up at the doorstep of someone’s apartment. So weird.

Pneumatic Diner

Upon looking at the menu, it seemed to be very egg and cheese based – not good for vegans. My mom went with the Oatmeal and it came out watery and bland (just look at how disgusting it looks in the picture!). She ended up adding a ton of sugar and cinnamon to make it more palatable.

Oatmeal

I found out that they can substitute a vegan base in their scrambled eggs, so I got a Vegan Scramble with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Cheese. The base turned out to be potatoes (c’mon, where’s the tofu?!) and their vegan cheese turned out to be a large scoop of nutritional yeast. While I wouldn’t go here and order this again, it was a decent breakfast in a not so vegan-friendly town.

Vegan Scramble

And of course I had to try their dessert. They had some pie and some cookies. I went with a Cranberry Pear Pie that was way to tart and still needed to bake the peaches a bit more (in my opinion).

Cranberry Peach Pie

Oh and we also got a Falafel Sandwich to-go for my sister who was chilling at the hotel. She ate it later that day and told me it was good (I suggest going with this sandwich should you venture to this diner).

Falafel Sandwich

The next morning, we didn’t head out to Pneumatic Diner again and instead went to grab some snacks at Whole Foods. I love supporting local businesses, but if you’re a vegan looking for good food in Reno – just hit up the Whole Foods. The Blueberry Muffin was a tasty morning treat, as were the two chicken salads we got: Tarragon Chicken Salad and Sonoma Chicken Salad. These were delicious and prepared with the newest fake meat – Beyond Meat. Beyond Meat is only available at Whole foods in the Pacific Northwest and in NorCal, but I wished they supplied the SoCal locations! So good! My mom enjoyed a Vegan Coffee drink by Dr. Chao Foods. And I also enjoyed an afternoon snack of Whole Foods Spring Rolls and an Apple Streusel Pie by Sweet Earth.

Whole Foods Reno Goodies

Phew! For an area that doesn’t have a lot to offer vegans, that was a lot to say! If you know of other places with good vegan food in this area, please comment below. If any travelers stumble upon this blog post, I hope my review (and your comments) help! Good luck.

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

Great Risotto from a Box?

Posted by socalvegangal in Inland Empire, Packaged Food August 19, 2012

Risotto is that rice dish that takes forever to prepare. One has to stand at the stove and gradually add in broth to the cooking rice. And if you’re vegan, don’t even think it’s that easy to find a place to make you risotto free of cream, cheese, or meat broth. I think I’ve only found one place in my life that was willing to modify their risotto recipe to accommodate my vegan diet – and this was in not-at-all-nearby Oakland. Luckily, there is a product in a box that makes making risotto a little bit easier.

Caley & Cobb is a small business offering gourmet foods such as risotto mixes, spices, and spreads. These products aren’t meant to be vegan, but a few of their products actually are. I love the Mushroom Risotto, because it tastes so good and is pretty easy to make. It comes with a rice packet and and a spice packet. Just saute the rice in some olive oil and butter (Earth Balance) and add the spice packet and some vegetable stock. Keep adding the stock a bit at a time until the rice is fully cooked. Easy peasy. I topped mine with some Parma Vegan Parmasean Cheese and ate it up.

Caley & Cobb Artisan Mushroom Risotto with Parma

Mushroom Risotto with Vegan Parmesan

Where can one find this product? You can order by phone at 909-794-4415, but I always buy mine inside Gerrards Market at 705 West Cypress Avenue, Redlands, CA.

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!).