To Live and Eat in L.A. – A Vegan Food Photo Blog

This video is mostly making fun of vegans, but it’s funny cuz it’s true. Bitch, I’m vegan… gangsta vegan!

Before you eat another bite of food at any Los Angeles vegan restaurants, especially of the Thai variety, you MUST read the investigation just posted over at the quarrygirl.com website, “Operation Pancake”. Even if you don’t live in L.A, you’ve most likely got a vegan or vegetarian restaurant somewhere near you… so this info applies to all places that serve mock meats, fake cheeses and the like.

Using unprecedented testing methods, the Quarrygirl team has blown the lid off the Thai vegan restaurants who claim that all their ingredients are vegan. While not all the Thai places are shady and some passed the testing with flying colors, others failed miserably. While most of us aren’t surprised that a place like Green Leaves has been lying about their ingredients for years (they came out as one of the worst offenders by the way), you’ll be surprised by some of their other findings, including what was found at other, non-Thai vegan restaurants.

What I’ve learned from all of this is that you can’t ever be 100% sure of what’s in your food unless you grew and cooked it yourself. After reading the Operation Pancake article I feel like my best bet at staying vegan and not eating gross things is to simply stop eating all together… this news is too disgusting for words. To read the whole article in all of it’s gory details, click here.

On a very auspicious evening not long ago, a select group of agents gathered under cover of darkness to taste test one of the newest weapons in the vegan arsenal of delicious things- Go Max Go! Candy Bars.

These are no ordinary candy bars you see, they are 100% vegan chocolate bars that imitate some of your favorite “normal” chocolate bars from before you went vegan (Snickers, Milky Way, Almond Joy & 3 Musketeers). “All Go Max Go candy bars are covered in our signature-recipe rice-milk chocolaty coating. Light and lovely, it makes dairy-milk chocolate positively passé.” These promised to be every bit as delicious as the real thing, and we were determined to find out if this was true.

My team of specialists was asked to rate each sample with anywhere from 1 to 5 stars, 5 being best. They were also asked to indicate how close the sample came to the original and write down any notes or comments about what they thought. Identities have been (thinly) veiled for matters of national security.

First we sampled the Jokerz bar. This is the Go Max Go! version of a Snickers.

When your idea of the perfect candy bar is all about peanutty goodness, then we’ve got you covered. If layers of dry roasted peanuts, buttery-tasting caramel, and rich peanut nougat, sweetly wrapped in a delicious chocolaty coating sounds like a little slice of heaven, then smile, the Jokerz bar is for you!

Agent Orange: 4 stars. Awesome – my favorite. More nuts.

Agent Cupcake: Dense & a little bit like marzipan. Caramel is good.

Agent Faker: 3.5 stars. Lots of caramel, doesn’t taste like Snickers, tastes like Power Bar. Needs more nuts but overall good.

Agent Aum: 4 stars. Chocolate layer should be thicker. Can’t taste nougat but caramel flavor is excellent.

Agent of Chaos: Good, very caramelly, sticky, more nuts- but good.

Agent Triple xXx: 4 stars. More roasted nuts- would buy.

Agent MFC: 4 stars. Very caramelly, I love that. Needs more nuts.

The verdict seems to be that this was well enjoyed by all of us and we appreciated the delicious caramel while we longed for more nuts. Well listen close because I’ve got agents on the inside as well as I do on the outside. My sources tell me that:

“The next run of Jokerz should have a better ratio of peanuts to nougat to caramel… this was our first production run and the peanuts weren’t distributed as evenly as they could’ve been. But, it’s been tweaked so it’s all good.” All is good indeed… can’t wait for the next batch!

Next up we continued with our 2nd specimen, the Buccaneer. This is the Go Max Go! version of a 3 Musketeers.

How does a rich, fluffy, chocolaty nougat covered in a creamy chocolaty coating sound right about now? If you can’t answer because desire is consuming you… aye matey, ’tis a Buccaneer bar for you!

Agent Orange: 3 stars. Poor visual but Yum Yum Yum!

Agent Cupcake: I really like this, more dense than traditional nougat… caramel + nougat. The rice milk really stands out in chocolate.

Agent Faker: 4 stars. Taste is good, very rich. Bar is small & flat.

Agent Aum: 2.5 stars. Not tall or fluffy enough. Taste good, but like caramel instead of nougat. Chocolate not prominent.

Agent of Chaos: Tastes like Musketeer flavor but different texture. Ok.

Agent Triple xXx: 2 stars. Fudgy.

Agent MFC: 3 stars. By this point Agent MFC had already begun to slip in & out of a chocolate coma and could only respond with star ratings.

Seems like a mixed bag of ratings for this one. Some of us really dug the nougaty goodness while others got hung up on the texture or appearance.

Let’s move on to the Mahalo. This is the Go Max Go! version of an Almond Joy.

If you crave a gently sweetened coconut candy bar topped with three whole dry roasted almonds and covered in a luscious chocolaty coating… hang loose, the Mahalo bar is for you!

Agent Orange: 5 stars. REALLY good.

Agent Cupcake: Not trying this one :(

Agent Faker: 5 stars. Very good, love the coconut.

Agent Aum: 4.5 stars. Really great coconut flavors & the almond gave a good contrast. My only wish would be a darker chocolate.

Agent of Chaos: PURE AWESOME. No complaints- Amazing.

Agent Triple xXx: 4.5 stars. Maholler! Delicious.

Agent MFC: 5 stars. (at this point our agent’s choco coma had progressed to choco trance)

As you can see, nearly 5 stars across the board- there’s always one in the bunch who doesn’t like coconut, isn’t there? That’s too bad, because those coco-nut bars were FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC. Just like the Almond Joy’s I remember of yore.

Last but not least we had a go at the Twilight bar. This is the Go Max Go version! of a Milky Way.

Now imagine that rich, fluffy, chocolaty nougat topped with a layer of thick, buttery-tasting caramel all wrapped up in our very own creamy, rice-milk chocolaty coating. If this gives you sweet dreams of good taste, then the Twilight bar is for you!

Agent Orange: 4 stars. Very good.

Agent Cupcake: Same aftertaste as Jokerz.

Agent Faker: 3.5 stars. Tastes a lot like Buccaneer, very buttery and caramelly.

Agent Aum: 3 stars. Thickness was good. I like the caramel but the nougat needs to be fluffier. Chocolate layer should be thicker.

Agent of Chaos: Hella good, could be more gooey. Ok.

Agent Triple xXx: 3.5 stars. Would buy.

Agent MFC: 4 stars. (at this point our agent was toast)

Average to high ratings. Around now our team was near it’s limit… the fresh baked white chocolate chip, peanut butter cookies provided by Agent Faker didn’t help matters. One can only consume so much chocolate and sugar in one sitting.

Further investigations are pending.

Now you’ve heard what the panel of experts thought, it’s time you check some of these treats out for yourselves. One of the hardest things for me to give up when I went vegan was my beloved candy bars… and while no one as of yet has provided me with a vegan simulation of my all time favorite, a Twix, I am totally stoked that some of these other favorite flavors can now be re-enjoyed by vegans who miss them, and in turn, make it easier for people to go vegan.

The Go Max Go! website provides you with a handy dandy location finder so you can track down these beauties somewhere near you, or you can mailorder them from a number of the online vegan specialty shops such as Food Fight! or Vegan Essentials. The good news for us L.A. vegans is that soon all the Southern California Whole Foods will begin carrying these as well, starting in August. Many in other parts of the country already carry them or will soon.

Such a great time to be vegan! How can anyone say doing this is hard? The only hard part about it is being able to restrain yourself from non-stop eating of yummy things like vegan candy bars all day.

www.gomaxgofoods.com

Just when you thought you’d heard the last of my birthday for the year, it resurfaces it’s jolly head with another tale of celebratory feasting. I somehow managed to stretch my birthday for all of May, and then a little into June. This time around I was privileged to enjoy a lovely afternoon brunch with the masterminds behind Quarrygirl.com at Inn of the Seventh Ray. You can read their own account of the adventure right over here.

Known as an upscale restaurant that attracts both hippies and new agers alike, Inn of the Seventh Ray is an enchanting break from the norm hidden away in the hills of the Santa Monica mountains, deep in the heart of Topanga Canyon. It lives up to the stereotype while winning you over with it’s charm at the same time.

Inn of the Seventh Ray isn’t a vegetarian restaurant, and they don’t offer too many vegan options on their regular menus; where they shine is with their Sunday vegetarian brunch buffet service. But first the setting.

The restaurant is both quaint and lavish at the same time. It’s set into the curve of a lovely creek, and if you’re lucky like we were, they might seat you right at the waters edge surround by the tranquil stream on one side and a waterfall grotto on the other. A grotto!

Regardless of where you sit, you’ll be surrounded by trees, white canopies and white table cloths- you’ll feel like you walked into some storybook village set somewhere out of time, but with attentive service. At night the place totally transforms with candlelight and white twinkly lights providing most of the illumination… it’s super romantic, the perfect place for those magical moments. I know I sound like a Hallmark card but trust me, this place is special.

Ok now the food. The all-you-can eat brunch buffet comes in a vegetarian version, and it ain’t cheap at $31 a pop. If your aim however is to indulge the hell out of yourself or impress the hell out of someone else, it’s money well spent. The vegetarian options are not all vegan but there is so much that is vegan that it’s not even a concern.

So much of it in fact is vegan that it’s like walking into vegan foodie Disneyland. They’ve got an entire room set up to house the buffet, and everything is clearly marked with bold VEGAN or VEGETARIAN signs so there’s no confusion. When you first walk in it’s like, whoa… look at all this incredible vegan food! I’ve never seen anything like it. Here’s a listing of some what they offer, from the menu:

Gourmet Vegetarian, Vegan and Raw Food Salads: including Watercress Daikon Salad – Corn Cilantro Pearl Pasta Salad – Green Papaya Salad – Asparagus Salad – Cucumber Salad with Non Dairy Feta – Endive Salad with Roasted Walnuts – Oyster Mushroom and Fennel Salad – Corn Asparagus Salad with Rosemary Oil – Pickled Beet Salad – Brussels Sprout Salad with Sun Dried Tomato – Tofu Rice Pasta Salad – Green Bean Salad – Penne Pasta Salad – Marinated Eggplant Salad with Roasted Bell Peppers – Broccoli Salad – Broccoli Almond Quiche – Assorted Pates & Spreads including Yogurt Ollaliberry Wine, Fresh Berry Sauce – Tofu Quiche – Hummus – Cocktail Sauce – Dill Sauce and Caesar Dressing – Tofu and Real Cream Cheese – Pure Maple Syrup – Our Own Granola with Regular or Soy Milk – Organic Seasonal Fruits – Homemade Sweet Breads – Cinnamon Buns – Apple Crisp – Carob Brownies – Hazelnut Torte – Strawberry English Triffle – Traditional Scones and Vegan Scones – Poppyseed Cakes – Apple Persimmon Cake, Assorted Bagels.

The options change according to season and availability, but that’s a pretty good idea of the sort of stuff that was there, and there was more that’s not even listed on the menu.

Above is just some of what I had… I did mention this was all-you-can eat, right?

One thing you’ll notice on my plate that’s not listed on the menu is that thing that looks an awful lot like a piece of chicken. It’s actually vegan duck that had been prepared with rasberries and cherry tomatoes… it was outstanding. Moist and meaty on the inside, while chewy and slighty crispy on the outside. I don’t know if they offer this at every brunch, but it was worth the trip alone just to eat it. I have no idea what real duck tastes like because, hello? GROSS!, but this faux fowl was fantastic.

I mentioned above that they don’t have a lot for vegans to eat at dinner. One thing they do offer on the night menu is a Peking duck version of this stuff, served Moo-shu style. If it’s anything as good as this brunch version, then consider it very good.

Check out the delicious vegan pastries: apple crisp, persimmon cake, quinoa scones, each one delicious. I could have just stood by the pastry table all afternoon and eaten this stuff with my fingers straight from the tray if they’d let me. Or the bagels with vegan cream cheese. Or the fresh fruit bar. Or the homemade granola. You get the idea… vegans get to run wild here. Best part is that as you would expect for the price, most everything is organic, locally grown or sourced, and it’s all very healthy, suitable for people eating raw, gluten free, sugar free, fat free, whatever your kink, you won’t leave this buffet anything short of full, satiated and stoked. For even more money our friends, family or other loved ones who insist on eating things like cute lobsters, crabs, salmon or the lowly misunderstood chicken and it’s ill-begotten eggs, they too can also get their fix.

When you’re done enjoying your meal you can wander around down by the water and see what little visitors mother nature might send your way. We met a friendly lizard and frolicked a bit among the spermy looking pollywogs. They’ve also got a mystical crystal & Enya enhanced bookstore you can explore, while taking in the healing rays of “The Violet Flame”. Or not.

Inn of the Seventh Ray is a wonderful place to visit at least once… go at night for the very special atmosphere (they sometimes offer a ‘vegetarian tasting menu’) or go for Sunday brunch because you want to eat your face off and splurge on some expensive but incredible food out in the beautiful open air.

Inn of the Seventh Ray
128 Old Topanga Canyon Road
Topanga, CA 90290
(310) 455-1311
www.innoftheseventhray.com

Actually, my real birthday isn’t for another week (Sunday May 10th, Mothers Day) but my week long b-day celebration got off to an epic start yesterday.

My fellow Taurus girlfriends and I, VegYogini (May 5th) of Huggerfood and Trina (May 2) of Your Vegan Mom pooled our resources and put together a mega Taurus birthday bash which we dubbed The Taurus Trifecta. We staged it at the fabulously cool & creepy Old Zoo in Griffith Park, invited a few of our closest friends, and had it catered with vegan hot dogs by The Frankenstand and mindblowing cupcakes by Vegan Bake Sale.

A swell and delicious time was had by all… too bad you missed it!

The master of vegan hot dogs sets up his stand in the shadow of the old bear enclosure. Those “toe tags” pictured top left are the cute tickets he designed which were handed out to our guests to redeem for hot dogs.

Those weren’t the only “buns in the oven” at our party :)

All the fixin’s.

My dog: “The Witch” beer brat with spicy brown mustard, fresh cilantro, sauerkraut and sweet relish.

More artistic hot doggery. The one on the left shows the other variety we offered, “The Franken”, a sundried tomato and basil, slighly sweet Italian frank.

Vegan Nachos! Your Vegan Mom made this incredible, slightly spicy cheese sauce. Unbelievable how much this tasted like the real thing. No, it tasted better than the real thing actually. I covered mine in hot jalapenos and took a visit to mouth-burning, cheesy heaven.

Chocolate Mousse Cake. A fantastic surprise from Brittany of Sick of Lettuce. This is a recipe from the Millennium cookbook though I’m willing to bet hers turned out even more beautiful than when they make it! Just look at that thing… truly a work of art.

Happy Birthday to us!

Oreo Cookie cupcakes by Vegan Bake Sale. Wow.

Strawberry Shortcake cupcakes by Vegan Bake Sale. Wow again!

Here’s the Chocolate Mousse cake covered with Brittany’s delicious raspberry goo.

Gigantor Lemon Poppyseed Cupcakes by JennShaggy… another delightful surprise.

Chocolate Chip cookies by VegYogini. Not a huge chocolate chip cookie fan but these might have just changed that for good.

Snickerdoodles by VegYogini. Yum!

What tasty fun! Thank you everyone who showed up, and extra special huge thanks to those who cooked, baked, brought extra tantalizing goodies, helped carry shit, helped to clean shit up, help to lift heavy hot dog carts up & down steep inclines, took pictures, sang us Happy Birthday, brought us awesome presents, or just plain ol’ came out and had a good time with us. Major kudos to Paul, Trina’s husband (Your Vegan Dad?) who not only helped by getting up way too early in the morning to secure the location, but who also did more than a lion’s share worth of transporting, carrying, cleaning, etc… You da man.

We were bummed to hear that Liz of Yo Soy! got into a minor car crash while looking for parking on the way to our party. Her doggie got tossed around in the car and had to be taken to the vet but from what I can tell both she and the dog are ok, thank goodness. Her car got smashed up and we never got to eat the (most certainly delicious) Dandies marshmallow cupcakes she made for us… how awful on all counts! Liz, we are so grateful for the effort you made to be there with us, and feel so bad that you and your sweet dog had to go through any of that. We enjoyed your cupcakes and your company in spirit and we’re so glad that it wasn’t worse. What’s a party without a little bit of drama, eh?

The best part is that I now get to pretend it’s my birthday for the next week and then get to celebrate it for real all over again next weekend. By the time this is over & done with you’ll all be so sick of hearing about my birthday… be glad it only happens once a year!