Good Eats from The East Coast to The West Coast (2 of 2: LA)

Now on to LA (this is part 2 to the previous post, so read that one before reading this one). The one thing I look most forward to other than my family when I visit LA is all the vegan food that the city has to offer. Its got everything from the traditional Chinese vegetarian restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley to the most trendy and cutting-edge vegan cafes clustered on the West Side and around Silverlake. I was more than eager to revisit my favorite eateries.

Los Angeles
Thursday, 7/23, Lunch
Sante - This was my second time at this restaurant. Much has happened to both me and the restaurant since my first visit. I became a vegetarian, and the restaurant got a complete face lift. My first experience was decent, but definitely not worth the second trip, but I went back because this restaurant was actually featured on Kitchen Nightmare, who know, that reality TV show hosted by Gordon Ramsey, who pretty much goes to restaurants and point out every horrific thing there is to it, then transforming it to something equivalent to a 4-star restaurant.

The menu was quite extensive. Although it's not a vegan restaurant, or even a vegetarian restaurant, almost everything on the menu can be made vegan. I went there with my friend and her boyfriend. We all shared the Vegan Nachos, which was pretty good. I would say it was about 80% of the standard of the vegan nachos at Real Food Daily. The nacho was topped with veggie chili, tomatoes, home-made vegan nacho cheese, cilantro, and scallions. For entree, I got the Spinach Enchilada with home-made vegan mozzarella cheese. Although the dish tasted great, the presentation wasn't very appetizing. Everything kind of look like a big glob, without the distinct shape of enchilada wrappers anywhere to be found. My friend had a tostada that she quite enjoyed. Side note, our waiter, who was the son of the owner, was very nice and accommodating. Also, the portions are HUGE! You can easily share an entree between two people.

I will probably come back one day... after I've hit at least 10 other more notable vegan spots in LA.

Thursday, 7/23, Dinner
Pure Luck - One of my top 5 (probably top 3) favorite vegan eateries in LA. Two words: vegan pub. It's got tons of veganized pub food that is just as satisfying as the traditional conterpart without the guilt and the cruetly. Plus, it's got like 8 beers on tap. If that's not vegan heaven, I don't know what is.

I went here with a good friend, and gosh we ate so much it was awesome. We both had a hefeweissen on tap and borsh soup. We shared a plate of half Rosemary French Fries and half Fried Dill Pickle Chips, which was so perfect crunchy and savory that it was perfect with the beer. I got a Torta with sauteed jackfruit "carnitas" with a side of Caesar salad (by the way, I have a slight obsession with Caesar salad, in which I also have to order a vegan Caesar salad whenever I get a chance, and Pure Luck has by far my favorit Caesar salad yet). The best part about the sandwich was the crisp rustic roll that was used as the bun. If you are ever around Melrose, you've got to check this place out, not to mention the gelato place, Scoops, across the street that always has a few vegan flavors.

Friday, 7/24, Lunch
Studio Cafe - Little cafe in Burbank that serves fresh soup, sandwich and salad. I used to go here when I worked at Disney. Nothing significantly notable except their daily vegan soup that is made from scratch everyday. This is probably the only place that you can find good quality vegetarian food with a half-mile radius from Disney.

Cafe Flourish - My new favorite spot in LA. This little cafe just opened a few months ago, and it's gaining more fans and raves than any other vegan eatery in LA. I came here for the first time during my last LA trip, and was totally blown away by the Mi Casadilla that I just had to do a quick drive by to get some on my way home. The quesadilla is filled with mashed cassava root with garlic sauteed kale and fresh salsa, guacamole and vegan sour cream. It is one of the most innovative vegan dishes I've had in awhile. I also couldn't resist getting The Pearl shake that's made of fresh coconut milk, almond butter, and Medjool dates, even if it's a $9 smoothie. $9?? Really?? For a shake?? But honestly, it is worth every penny.

Saturday, 7/25, Lunch
Vegetarian Wok - The kind of vegetarian food that I ate for 10 years before becoming a vegan. Even with all the trendy and fancy vegan cafes, I still always crave the Chinese vegetarian food that I grew up with, and Vegetarian Wok is one of the places that I always go when I visit LA. For those of you who's never had a real vegetarian meal Chinese-style, you're missing out. There is so much more to Chinese food than just stir-fry and imitation meats. I went with my mom, and between the two of us we ordered four dishes. Although delicious in its own right, I keep going back mainly for reminiscing reasons.

Sunday, 7/26, Dinner
Veggie Grill - Another one of my favorites. I almost always try to stop here for dinner right before I get on my flight back to Amherst, and this time I was lucky enough to do just that. I have been here 5 times, have gotten different things every time, and it was deliciously remarkable every single time, including this time. I went with my mom and her friend, who both are Chinese vegetarians and clueless about Western vegan cuisine. I ordered for everyone. I got their daily soup, which was Gumbo, Baja Fiesta salad, Carne Asada burger, Papa's Portobello burger, and Carrot Cake. My mom and her friend were so impressed and satisfied that they completely cleaned their plates down to the last quinoa. I totally can't wait for my next visit.

Looking back, I honestly cannot believe how much I really ate. I mean, I feel like that's all I did, and I am so proud and grateful. This is what I miss about LA, that after eating at over 20 vegan and vegan-friendly places in LA, I still manage to find new spots to check out every time I'm back. Who knows where I will go next?

Good Eats from The East Coast to The West Coast (1 of 2: NYC)

Yeah, I know it's been awhile, but I'll spare you the endless excuses and just jump right into the veggie and potatoes of this entry.

This past weekend I went back to LA to visit my family. It was good timing because I was in NYC for business on Wednesday, and I just went to LA straight from NYC. That was a huge relief going frpm NYC to LA because if I flew from the nearest airport of where I live, I will always have to connect flights somewhere. A 4.5-hour trip always ends up to be around 8 hours. So I was in NYC for the first time since I graduated from the Natural Kitchen Cooking School in May as a Certified Natural Chef, and there was only one thing on my mind when I got there --- EAT!

So this entry is going to be a dish-by-dish outline of my trip in NYC and LA. I have never eaten so much and shopped so much all within a 5-day period. Did I feel guilty for committing gluttony? A little bit. Did I regret it for even a tiny bit? HELL NO! I savored every bite. (When you live in a town with no vegetarian restaurants, going to a vegan cafe is almost as orgasmic as going to a Paul McCartney concert.)

Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera with me on this trip, so I can't show you pictures of what I ate, but I'm going to do my best at explaining everything and hopefully it'll at least get a little salivation out of you.

New York City
Wednesday, 7/22, Lunch
Gobo - The first thing I did when I got off the train in NYC, I headed to Washington Square Park (next to NYU) to look for the Dosa Man. I found out about the Dosa Man from an episode of Delicious TV. Basically, it's this Sri Lanka man that cooks vegan Indian food from a cart in Washington Square Park. I've been wanting to go forever, but I was always only in NYC during the weekends when the Dosa Man doesn't work. This was my first time in NYC on a weekday since I found out about him, so I dashed to the Park with my roller luggage, determined to have the much-appraised vegan Indian food that is both unbelievably delicious and affordable. Of course I didn't find him. I rolled my luggage with me around the entire park and loitered for about 45 minutes. I abandoned my dream figuring it was because it was rainy that day.

Thankfully, my favorite NYC vegan restaurant was only 3 blocks away, so I trekked over to Gobo for some decent vegan lunch. I ordered the pan seared vegetable dumplings and green tea noodle miso soup with soy filé, which, I'm disappointed to say, were unmemorable. The dumplings really didn't have any noticeable vegetables, but only some seemingly soy filling, which wasn't savory at all. The noodle soup had these green fettuccine-like noodles that just didn't seem fitting for a noodle soup. The content of the soup also lacked interesting fresh vegetables, and I don't even want to go into the lackluster broth. All in all, I left with a dissatisfied tummy and a lighter wallet. So much for my favorite vegan restaurant in NYC... (although I have to just mention that Gobo did give me one of my most memorable eating experiences when I went there for the first time and took a bite of the organic king oyster mushroom in sizzling basil black bean sauce; it was nothing short of divine).

Wednesday, 7/22, Dinner
Caravan of Dreams - I've been wanting to go here for awhile, but I always dismissed it thinking that it is too "hippie." Well, I'm really glad that I got over that and finally made me way down there because the food was surprisingly satisfying. I ordered the Goji-Coconut-Almond shake and their Ravioli of the Day, which was mushroom, covered in a light almond creme-pesto-alfredo sauce. The shake was decent (not mind-blowing), but the ravioli was delicious, especially as the meal progressed. I always like some fresh veggies when I eat, so having sauteed garlic kale as part of the ravioli dish was definitely a bonus. All in all, I would not hesitate to visit again, especially with Max next time. Two other bonuses: plenty of raw items on the menu and 3 kinds of organic beer on tap.

Lula's Sweet Apothecary - It is not an overstatement to say that this place is most likely what anyone with a sweet tooth would imagine heaven to be like. This tiny shop is perfectly located only a block from Caravan of Dreams, so I had no excuse not to go (even though I was totally stuffed from the ravioli). Although small, this shop has everything an old-school ice cream parlor should have, from 10 flavors of ice cream to more than 20 toppings, sundae, banana split, whipped cream, and soft serve. The best part? EVERYTHING IS VEGAN!!! Just amazing. I was so overwhelmed by the huge number of selection that I normally don't have that I pretty much just stood there with my eyes wide open for like 5 minutes. Still overwhelmed (and full) I chose to go with a twist of the soft serve which were cake batter flavor and chocolate flavor, served on an old-school cone, of course.

Thursday, 7/23, Dinner
Franchia - The next day right after work and before my flight to LA, I went to Franchia for dinner. It is a vegan Asian fusion place. It is owned by the same people as HanGawi, the super fancy and super expensive vegan Korean restaurant in NYC. I studied the menu before I went to the restaurant so I won't get caught off guard again with an abundance of choices. The menu is quite extensive for such a little tea house. I ordered the Spicy Kimchi Dumplings, the Spicy Shrimp Roll, and the Penang Stir Fried Rice Noodles. The dumplings were delicious, perfectly seasoned and stuffed with fresh kimchi. The sushi roll was interesting simply because I've never had vegan sushi with imitation meat, but once the novelty wore off, it was just really spicy rice with a dime-size vegetarian shrimp. All I can say about the rice noodles was that I was so disappointed by the lack of vegetables that I vowed to never order noodle dishes at these Asian fusion restaurants again. I will definitely go back for the delectable appetizers that this cute tea house offers, but I'll most likely save my appetite for a more satisfying meal somewhere else.

Preview for next entry: I went to at least 4 vegan restaurants and several Chinese vegetarian restaurants in LA. One of the most notable dish --- soy-free vegan quesadilla... ahhh... I'm salivating just thinking about it.