Crossroads

Last month Tal Ronnan opened a new plant-based restaurant on Melrose in Los Angeles called Crossroads. The vegan community here has been all a-buzz about this place and for good reason! The husband and I and two of our friends went there for a dinner a couple weeks ago and it did not disappoint. Vegan fine dining - AWESOME!

Since the menu consists of small plates, we pretty much ordered one of everything plus the daily specials. It was a great way to try everything out. Here are all the pics and my thoughts on each dish:

I started with a cocktail: Melrose Mule - vodka, ginger beer, lime, cucumber, mint & banana pepper - YUM!!!

First starter: lentil flatbread w/ leek pate, smoked white bean hummus, & tomato braised banana peppers. The white bean was my favorite, so smokey and delicious. The tomato was also very good. The leek I wasn't impressed with.

Second starter: Flatbread w/ Pistachio kalamata tapenade & spicy roasted cauliflower. Really, really good. Salty, nutty and cooked to perfection.

Third starter: Kale Caesar Salad (special menu item) - I have to say one of THE best salads I have ever had.  Crispy kale, creamy dressing and amazing saltiness from capers. 

Spiced Chickpeas: I could have eaten an entire bowl of these. I love me some spice and these had just the right amount.

Red Quinoa: not my favorite. It wasn't bad, just nothing incredibly special about it.

Cassoulet: Another one that was ok. The lentils were not very flavorful, but the veggies on top were really good!

Artichoke Oysters: I'm still thinking about these, I may just order 5 plates of this dish next time I go. So much flavor and very inventive!

"Crab Cakes": Another dish I would order over & over again. With dishes like this, no one needs to eat real seafood. 

Kale Spanakopita: YUM, YUM, YUM!

Risotto Stuffed Banana Pepper: So...um. This one looks incredibly, um,  manly.  Beyond that, it was my least favorite dish, the risotto was undercooked and the pepper was WAY too spicy.

Gardein Chicken (special menu item): This was actually really really good even though there wasn't anything super special about it.

Tortelloni: another amazing dish. The almond cheese was to die for.

ON TO DESSERT!!

Chocolate Bundt Cake: it had me at chocolate. Holy crap this was good.

Cappuccino Ice Cream w/ Florentine Cookie: also amazing.

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta: pretty damn good, though it would not be my normal dessert choice. 

Cookies & almond milk!!

Overall, an amazing dining experience. SO much good food, the service was attentive and friendly and the atmosphere is chic and upscale. I can't wait to go back!

LA Vegan Crepe

Happy 2013 all! I know I'm a bit late to the game, but 2013 has gotten off to a rough start and I have seriously been neglecting this blog. But - onward and upward! It seems I will have a bit more free time on my hands for the next couple months so I will do my best to post more often.

I want to talk about this cute little restaurant my husband and I discovered yesterday called LA Vegan Crepe. It opened a little over a month ago and we were both happy to find a new place to get a good vegan breakfast.

The place is cute and clean and luckily not too busy for a Sunday morning (though I'm sure that won't last very long once word starts to spread). Service is friendly, though not very speedy, but maybe that's a good thing. Us Americans tend to rush through our meals instead of relaxing and enjoying our experience.

On to the food! I started with a Green Machine juice. Kale, spinach, cucumber and apple. Just what I needed to start the day off right.

For my meal I ordered the tofu scramble with potatoes which was very tasty and just the right proportion to fill me up without making feel like I overate. The husband ordered waffles and I forgot to take a picture, but they were SO good.

Philippe, one of the owners, stopped by our table and spoke with us about where he gets some of their ingredients. Super nice guy. We love supporting local vegan businesses, so I'm sure we will be back often!

Hugo's Tacos

Hugo's Tacos is a taco stand in Studio City that is part of a bigger L.A. group of restaurants that are extremely vegan friendly. The husband and I often go to the Hugo's in West Hollywood for their great vegan breakfasts, but I heard that the taco stand had vegan soft serve, so I had to go.

All the Hugo restaurants have great menus and items are clearly marked if they are vegan or can be veganized. The taco stand menu is fairly simple offering tacos, burritos, nachos, etc. The husband and I opted for soy chorizo taquitos, mixed vegetable tacos, chips & guac.

The tacos were really good, mainly because they had potatoes in them (YUM!). The taquitos were pretty amazing too, crispy and spicy, just what I like! Even though I was pretty stuffed I could not pass up the ice cream and it was so worth it. Just thinking about it right now, I may need to make a trip to Studio City soon!

Bodhi Kosher Thai

I love, love, love Thai food so I was extremely excited to discover Bodhi Thai a few months ago. It is vegetarian (with lots of vegan options) and kosher. The restaurant sits in a tiny little strip mall and parking can can a challenge, but they deliver as well! Vegan items on their menu are clearly marked so it makes ordering easy.

I always get a starter here, usually either the spring rolls or the samosas (can't go wrong with fried food!). The spring rolls are awesome, crispy and filled with veggie goodness. The last time we went, I opted for the samosas. They're good, but a little too small in my opinion. I like my samosas large and packed full of potatoes! But these are tasty for sure.

 

 

My husband is a creature of habit and will always get pad thai. Bodhi's version is good (I stole a bite), but a little on the sweeter side than other pad thai's I've had. The husband seems to like it.

 

I tried something new this time around and went for the Spicy Noodles (pan fried thin rice noodles sauteed in spicy sauce with basil leaves, carrots, onions and bell peppers). I was SO glad I did, this dish was amazing. Perfect amount of spice and large chunk of tofu! So good.

 

Shojin

Shojin is an amazing vegan & macrobiotic Japanese restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. I've been hearing about it for the past year and a half and finally went for my birthday date with my husband the other night. The restaurant is adorable inside, it feels upscale and romantic with small tables and low lighting.

 

I also love the handpainted art they have hanging up on the walls, gives the place a warm and fuzzy feel.

 

On to the food! I have one word: A-FRICKIN-MAZING! I kind of wanted to just stay there all day and eat everything on the menu, but we had to narrow it down to a few things. We started with the stuffed shiitake mushrooms filled with tofu, miso & shiso and served with a sweet soy sauce. This dish was so pretty and the flavors were perfect. So good.

 

We also ordered the pumpkin croquettes as a second starter. Sweet pumpkin and tofu inside a crispy shell topped with tangy tomato sauce...perfect combination of flavors.

 

We ordered two rolls for the main course: The Dragon Roll (shiitake & avocado on the inside with BBQ seitan & more avo on the outside with sweet soy sauce) and the Mother's Soul Roll (green veggies on the inside, shiitake & fried tofu on top with a miso mayo sauce). Both were so so good. I liked the crunch of the veggies in the Mother's Soul, but I think I liked the flavors on the Dragon Roll a little better, the BBQ was a perfect touch.

Dragon Roll

Mother's Soul

About 2 minutes after these plates arrived.....

My husband told the waiter it was my birthday so they brought out a Nutty Chocolate Cake for me with a candle, gave me a Happy Birthday tiara and took a picture for their Facebook page (they love when people choose their restaurant to celebrate - so sweet).

When they came back with the bill they gave me a little handmade card with our picture in it and a CD of the music they play in the restaurant (loungy covers of top 40 songs - AWESOME!) I was even commenting when we first got there how rad the cover songs were!

This is hands down my new favorite restaurant. The staff seems to really care about their patrons and the food is by far the best I've had in a long time. I can't wait to go back!

Vegan in San Francisco

Last weekend I went to visit my best friend in San Francisco. It was great to go back to my old stomping ground and spend some quality time with the woman who has been my friend since the first day we met back in 4th grade at the bus stop.

We had a blast with happy hours, wine tasting, and watching the entire first season of Girls, but in honor of Vegan MoFo I wanted to highlight some of the food I had over the weekend.

On Friday I worked in my company's SF office and one of the assistants was nice enough to walk over to the Ferry Building with me to get a vegan donut from Pebbles Donuts. I opted for the salted caramel and it was delicious! I wish I had taken a picture of it but I forgot. You can check out their donut porn on their website though.

That night after work we went to Off the Grid at Fort Mason which is basically a food truck extravaganza with live music. I know food trucks are necessarily known for being super vegan friendly, but I was SO happy to find a stand that offered a fried tofu vegan taco. I got two of those and they were like heaven in my mouth. I scarfed one down so fast before I realized I should take a picture, so here is the second one before I devoured it as well.

Fried tofu, cabbage & pure awesomeness

The next day we went wine tasting in Healdsburg. We stopped at Agave restaurant before hitting the wineries and I was able to get veggies fajitas free of dairy and it was ok, kinda of bland and not the best thing I had ever eaten, but at least I had a full stomach before embarking on lots of wine!

That night, back in the city, we went to one of my all time favorite restaurants: Gracias Madre. I have missed this restaurant so much since leaving the Bay Area, so I was grateful I could convince the omnis to go.

Cue angels singing...

There were four of us and we decided to order a few different dishes and eat them family style. We started with the Gorditas: potato masa cakes covered with salsa verde, avocado and cashew cream. Once again we torn into these before I had a chance to take a pic, but I was able to make everyone pause for a moment before they were all gone.

Try not to lick your screen.

For our other entrees we got a huge plate of sauteed kale with pumpkin seeds. Still the best kale I have ever had.

All hail kale

The second dish we ordered was the Enchiladas con Mole. I had never had mole before and holy cow, I have been missing out. It's spicy, rich and full of pure win. These are served open faced with the most amazing mushrooms I have ever had and cashew cheese. My mouth is seriously watering just thinking about it!

I MAY have started on the beans before taking this pic...

And lastly we ordered the Platillo de Legumbres which is rice, beans and two sides of your choice. We went for mushrooms and fried plantains. 

So much goodness on one plate

All the food was beyond amazing, I was so sad to leave. I have heard a rumor though that there will be a Gracias Madre in L.A. within the next year. I can't even put into words how happy that would make me!

Overall I had so much fun in SF with my bestie (I really do hate that word) and it was fun subjecting her to some amazing vegan food!

Sage Organic Vegan Bistro

In quirky Echo Park on the ground floor of the historical Jensen's Rec Building sits Sage Organic Vegan Bistro. I've been meaning to try this place for awhile now and finally got around to hitting up their brunch on a beautiful Sunday morning.

The space is cute and bright with tons of windows to give it a nice cheerful atmosphere. I love the pendant lights made of mason jars hanging from the ceiling. You can see one just to the left of the sign in the picture below - too cute! The wait staff was very friendly even when they started to get busy. It seemed like there were a lot of regulars coming through the doors as they were greeted by name. I wanna be that cool!

On to the food! To start, my husband and I shared the TexMex Chimichanga egg rolls made with bell pepper, black beans, corn, onions, cilantro and daiya. It said it comes with a mango chutney, but we got some sort of avocado dipping sauce I believe which was A-MAZING. I started eating it straight up after the egg rolls were gone. The rolls themselves were pretty fricking good as well, so much flavor and the perfect crispy outer shell.

For his meal, the man ordered the BLTA, made with tempeh bacon, which in retrospect I should have advised him against as he really doesn't like tempeh. But I kept my mouth shut and even though he ate most of his meal and said it was ok, I don't think he was super amazed by it. I had a bite and it tasted great to me :)

I was going to go with the tacos because I always lean towards anything related to Mexican food, but decided to be daring and order the Spinach, Avocado & Walnut Sausage Florentine. It was pretty good, I liked the walnut sausage and most of the flavors were savory and delicious, but something in the dish had a little too much salt (or possibly nooch??) for my liking, maybe the hollandaise sauce? I don't eat a lot of salt so I tend to be sensitive to the taste. Overall I was pleased with my dish, but I don't think I would order it again. Next time I will definitely go for the tacos or maybe the sweet potato enchilada. And there will be a next time, because even though neither of us were super impressed with our entrees, I don't think it was the fault of the restaurant or a knock to their quality (because the egg rolls KICKED ASS!). We just ordered wrong for us.

As a nice finish I ordered a scoop of coffee nib Kind Kreme to go. YUM.