Vegan Tour of L.A.

Hi everyone! I am Godzyfan and I would like to thank Vegan In Salem for letting me take over her blog this week to tell you about how I ate my way through L.A.! It was amazing to see vegan restaurants on nearly every corner and even in places that weren’t vegan, most had at least one or more vegan options.

My first stop off the plane was the legendary Pink’s! A hotdog joint you ask? Yes and they even had a vegan hotdog there called the Baja veggie dog! It was topped with their own homemade guacamole, fresh tomatoes and onions. Even the non-vegans loved it!

For dinner, one of the locals took me to his favorite vegan place, Native Foods Cafe. We started off with chicken fingers (best I’ve had anywhere!) and sweet potato taquitos – fantastic! 

My entree was the special of the day, the bacon cheeseburger with fries. It was good and I loved the bacon especially but the burger part was more like shaved “turkey” rather than a burger and was a little too sloppy for me. My friends got the meatball pizza and a tofu curry and vegetable dish and since we were all trying each other meals, I can tell you those were both delish! My favorite part was dessert – a peanut butter parfait! Take that DQ! 

Another discovery by my local friends (who are omnis but happen to love vegan food) was Rahel Ethiopian Vegan Restaurant. This was quite a treat as I have never had Ethiopian food before and it was quite an experience since you eat it with your hands! First, they bring you water to wash your hands. Then they bring you a giant pancake-like thing (it was more like a pancake than bread but not sweet) and it is covered with several globs of food! There were dishes made of lentils, chickpeas, potatoes & corn, green beans, kale all on top of the pancake. Then they give you a basket of smaller pancakes and you tear a piece off and use it to pinch the food on the large pancake! Every single dish on there was wonderful! 

Lunch one afternoon was at California Vegan, a Thai place that looked like it used to be a diner. The first thing I needed to order was Thai iced tea! I’m always sad I can’t order it in a regular Thai place because it’s made with milk and most places don’t have soy. I got a lunch special of the orange chicken which came with miso soup, a spring roll, and brown rice. The orange chicken was truly amazing and my friend wished he had ordered it! The spring roll was not the best but I didn’t care after having the orange chicken!! I wanted to order their tiramisu for dessert but they were out, sadly. Still, a great meal! 

We decided on Thai again for dinner at a rock n’roll restaurant called Toi! The inside was decorated with vinyl records and movie posters and was very happening since Joe Jonas was sitting at the table next to us! This was not an all-vegan restaurant but had many vegan options. I ordered a dish with eggplant, pumpkin, tofu and mushrooms with brown rice that was more like black rice! It was very good and a fun environment. (That is not me in the photo by the way.)

Sunday morning is a day for brunch so we headed to a vegan place that I read about called Flore. This was certainly my favorite meal of the entire trip as I had chicken and waffles!! I remember on a previous trip to L.A. that they were all about chicken and waffles out there, which I used to think was a strange combo. But I can tell you from experience that it was simply AMAZING! It was probably the best fake chicken I have ever had and it was served with a great homemade gravy, next to a banana waffle and a side of tempeh bacon. I also indulged in a chocolate croissant! My friend ordered the sausage biscuits and gravy which, if possible, was slightly better than my dish! I give this place 5 stars! 

My last all-vegan excursion was to a place called Sage that we heard about because the place next door to Flore posted their menu! I ordered the mac n’ cheese and a side of potato salad. While I liked but the mac n’ cheese, it was covered in caramelized onions which I don’t remember seeing in the description and I am not a big fan of onions. (Oddly enough, I did like them on the Pink’s hotdog!) My friends ordered the Caribbean jerky burger which was great and a falafel and quinoa dish that was fantastic! We ended with an amazing dessert of the brownie sundae with ice cream from Kind Kreme which is a part of Sage. The flavors we chose were chocolate caramel and salted caramel latte and they were to die for! 

On the way to the airport, we stopped at Hamburger Mary’s for dinner (I guess the omnis couldn’t take it anymore lol!) but lo and behold, they had a vegan burger for me! I also had a hard-core vegan waiter who proceeded to tell me what was and wasn’t vegan on their menu so that was helpful! I also had a delicious mojito! I didn’t take any pics here as my camera was packed away in my bag but the place was a funky gay bar and I would love to go there on karaoke night!

Thanks for checking out my vegan adventures in L.A. and I highly recommend it to visiting vegans. There were SO many places I didn’t get to that I need to go back! Thanks again to VeganInSalem, and please follow me on Twitter @godzyfan if you want to hear more of my chatter!

Review: Kaze Shabu Shabu!

Sorry for the delay in posting folks, my life has been crazy busy the last couple of months! I hope you all are well, and are ready for a review!


Our girls have been yelling at us for over a year to try out Kaze Shabu Shabu in Chinatown, and on Sunday we finally went! Shabu-shabu is a Japanese dish prepared nabemono style. They let you choose your flavor broth, type of noodle (or rice), and for us vegans, you get a huge plate of fresh veggies, tofu, and dumplings to add in! This was so much fun! And we made a MESS! We first selected the Szechuan Spicy...yeah that didn't work out. I thought my gf was going to choke it was so hot! So, consider yourself warned. Luckily the manager noticed our discomfort, and he quickly asked if he could change the broth for us..we happily agreed to have the Japanese Curry...NOM! I swear, I ate probably 10 bowls alone of just broth lol! For the veggies, you get several types of mushrooms, spinach, tofu, corn, tomatoes, veggie dumplings, and the broth already comes with onion and carrot. Very yummy, and if you share like we did, it's only around $8 a person! Try it out next time you're in the area, we were very pleased!  P.S.  They also have AMAZING smoothies! :-)

Look for another post next week sometime, I will have a special "guest blogger" freshly home from a trip to Los Angeles! :-)

The Pulse Cafe-Somerville, MA

So I had heard about how great The Pulse Cafe was in Somerville, but it took me the better part of a year to get there and try it.  It was the best vegan meal I have ever had out!  Three words: Vegan Diner Food.  AMAZING!  We came in, grabbed the last table since it was dinner rush, and we're promptly greeted by a very friendly waiter.  We knew right away that the first thing we wanted to order was the Buffalo Tofu Bites, as we had seen reviews that they were to die for.  No disappointment there!  And also they came with this blue cheese style dressing..and it tasted like the real thing...very disturbing yet amazing!  After many Google searches of trying to determine just how they did it (I guess I could have just asked...), I found out you can make it with miso and fermented tofu...I NEED to recreate this at home asap!  The tofu bites were crispy and so satisfying!  And my fun didn't end there....

 Next up we ordered the Chili Cheeze Fries, covered in bean chili and cashew "cheese" sauce...another winner!

For my main course, I ordered the Country Fried Seitan, which comes with home fries and kale.  It was really yummy, and my only complaint is I think that it would be better served with mashed potatoes.  Still totally comforting though.

My gf had the Soft Shell Tacos, which also had the cashew cheese on top, she was very pleased!

The kids had Curried Lentils, and the Mexican NG (tofu scramble) and they loved every bite.

For dessert, we tried the ice cream sandwich:  Coconut vanilla ice cream smothered in between two oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  Nuff said...NOM!  We also had the Chocolate Lava cake..also NOM!

This will definitely be our new favorite dining spot..as I need to sample everything on their menu.  You should go check it out, SO GOOD!

Vegan Paella

We went out recently to a local restaurant that offered a vegetarian paella. It was amazing, so I decided I had to make one of my own! I used chickpeas instead of the traditional meat & seafood. You could easily sub any type of bean or some cubed extra firm tofu if you wish. This meal was so creamy and satisfying that it will now be one of our staple recipes. I hope you give it a try!


Vegan Paella:
2 tbsp olive oil

3 tsp garlic, minced

1/2 Vidalia onion, diced

1/2 c white wine (dry)

1 cup rice (I used Basmati)

3 c vegetable broth (I used Trader Joe's low sodium)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 c asparagus tips

1 c mushrooms, diced

1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

3 tsp cumin

2 tsp Spanish paprika

1/4 tsp saffron threads, soaked in 1/2 c boiling water for 5 minutes.

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the onion & garlic, and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook until toasty, about 2 minutes. Add the wine, stir until absorbed. Add 1 cup of the broth and lower the heat to medium. Keep stirring every couple of minutes until it's absorbed. Add your veggies (all except the chickpeas) and another cup of broth and stir until absorbed. Add spices and chickpeas and continue cooking and adding more broth until it's all absorbed and the rice is creamy. Taste for seasoning and add salt & pepper if desired. Plate and enjoy!

Vegan McGriddle=Heaven in my belly!

I have embraced the gym. It's good for me. I feel better afterwards. It keeps me sane (well, most of the time). But the best part to me is that it makes me really appreciate breakfast! Seriously. Every Sunday I have been doing back to back Yoga followed by Zumba. 120 minutes of stretching, sweating, and working hard towards a new & improved me. It's awesome! But what's even more awesome is the breakfast sammie I came up with last Sunday. All I have to say is that McDonald's ain't got nothin' on me! Welcome to a vegan McGriddle of sorts...

So, to start I made the maple glazed tofu from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook. I also cooked up some veggie sausage links, and I baked some hashbrown patties. I nestled the hashbrowns gently onto a lightly toasted cinnamon crunch bagel. I cut the sausage links in half and put those on top of the hashbrowns. When the tofu was done, I topped the pieces with a slice of soy cheese and placed those on top of the sausage. I kid you not, it was heaven on a plate.

*Disclaimer: I wouldn't recommend having this every weekend, but if ever you have one of those killer gym sessions, or run a marathon or something..this is definitely worth every single calorie! :-)

Tofu Sticks Rock!

I just had to share on of my favorite tofu recipes! We have been having this at least once a week for the past few weeks, and it's a winner. I got this method from a friend on sparkpeople.com, Renee, so thanks Renee you rock!

Drain a block of extra firm tofu. Cut it into strips. Put a tablespoon of tamari (or soy sauce) in one bowl, and mix a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast with your spices of choice in another (I used garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and Old Bay). Dip each piece of tofu in the tamari on both sides, and then into the yeast/spice mixture on both sides. Then pan fry until browned, flipping when needed. Voila! An amazing and fast dinner! Try it this weekend! :-)
 

Tofu Sticks with red skinned mashed potatoes, simple "poultry" gravy, and steamed Brussels! :-)