You’ve seen & heard me rave on about the alarmingly good food at Vinh Loi Tofu. Vinh Loi is in my opinion not just one of the best vegan restaurants in Los Angeles, but some of the best food, of any kind, anywhere. I’m so not exaggerating. The food that Kevin Tran brings out from that tiny little window in the wall behind him takes flavor and ingenuity to an entirely new level. It doesn’t matter if you’re a hardcore vegan or a guiltless meatlover, the meals being served at Vinh Loi transcend all such labels.

If you’ve been there before one of the first things you noticed was how tiny the place was. Cute and clean, but very small, with a little market area in the back. The exciting news is that all this has changed! The big counter that took up a lot of the front room has been replaced with a much nicer and smaller unit, opening up a large area of the restaurant for more tables and chairs, it’s a lot less crowded now. Also the market area has been removed, creating even more seating in the back. It’s now a really comfortable space for a sit down meal (it was ok before but this new layout is a big improvement).

More importantly, not only is there now a nice new color menu with pictures, but Kevin is also constantly creating new dishes and re-inventing old ones… for example, he is indeed now serving his very own version of vegan Pho. That’s right folks, you heard it here first! Go try it… tell me how it is, I haven’t had it yet. See all those tantalizing looking dishes up on the wall? Those are just some of the newer dishes added since the menu was printed. The hardest thing about eating at Vinh Loi is deciding what to order!

And decide I eventually did. For this visit I picked the Curry Udon with Chicken.

The chicken, vegan of course, is made from some magical concoction which once began as a soybean. What I can tell you is that it’s unlike any sort of fake meat items you’ve ever tried, tasting both authentic and yet not so real that it’s too real, with flavors that just burst in your mouth of heat and ginger and lemongrass and multitudes of goodness unrecognizable to mere mortals such as myself. There’s no point in thinking of it as a meat substitute, it’s something else entirely. And that’s only the chicken…

The curry covering these perfectly cooked udon noodles is simply not something that my limited culinary vocabulary is able to properly describe or do justice. This is by far one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted. Seriously, there’s no way around it, these noodles are just phenomenal. The flavor starts off for me as a Japanese style curry, but how it takes off from there in it’s entirely own directions is something of legends. This is the curry of the Gods right here. There’s plenty of veggies in there as well, cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, and as you can see a giant heap of fresh and glorious cilantro. The chilies are too hot for me even though I do like things rather spicy, but if you can take the heat these will rock your socks off.

I’m telling you, this dish kicks all kinds of ass, proving once more that vegan food isn’t all pansy-hippy-granola. There’s at least 30 or more new dishes up on that wall that I haven’t tried yet… what’s a girl to do?! Vinh Loi’s also now got extended hours (open everyday from 9am to 9pm!) and a brand spanking new website as well, so click on over, then drive on out to humble Reseda to get your serious eating on: www.vinhloitofu.com

My advice? Go hungry… go very, very hungry!

I’m planning a romp through Portland, Oregon next weekend and hope to fit in as much awesome eating as is physically possible while visiting this vegan mecca.

While I’ve been pouring over all the vegan PDX food blogs and compiling quite a list of great ideas, I’d love to hear any last minute, non-obvious suggestions if anyone’s got any “must try” tips for while I’m there. Like, what’s the most amazing vegan thing that I absolutely have to eat while in town? Non-food tips and cool event suggestions welcome as well (not much of a drinker so you don’t need to tell me about your favorite pubs). Please reply in the comments… and thanks in advance! Expect a full report when I return, if I can fit back in the plane.

Update: I’m back!
Thank you ALL for your fine tips and suggestions, many of which were indeed followed, utilized and enjoyed. Stay tuned for a full report on all the massive quantities of delicious food that was consumed in PDX… I think I may have left you all with a shortage :) I’m closing the comments on this post because it’s making me feel guilty that people are still leaving helpful hints now that I’m already back home.

Hello friends! It’s been a long and introspective one month plus since you last heard from me, the time away was much needed. I’d like to thank you all once again for your kind words and thoughts during what was a whopper of an ordeal for me… and I’m so glad you’ve stuck around because I’ve got a ton of food tales and photos to get you caught up on. I have a feeling that some of my groupies out there are at the edge of their seats in anticipation of some drool-worthy vegan food porn, so how about we just dispense with the niceties and get to the heart of the matter? In this particular case, the heart of the matter equals breakfast.

One of the upsides of personal calamities is that they tend to make me forget all about being on a diet… which brings me back to breakfast. This is one of the fabulous vegan tofu scrambles at Real Food Daily. I can’t remember the exact name and try as I might I cannot find their breakfast menu online anywhere, but whatever it’s called just know that it’s divine. From what I recall it involved avocado, tomatoes and spinach topped with their yummy cashew cheese sauce which comes in regular or jalepeno. I, being a devotee of spice chose the later. This came served with hemp bread, vegan butter and choice of fruit or hash browns (I already mentioned throwing diets and giving a shit about carbs to the wind, right?).

Here we have yet another scrumdidliumptious breakfast at Real Food Daily, which you might have figured it out by now is one of my favorite places for a delicious and comforting morning meal (not that I would turn down a visit for lunch or dinner either). This time around it was the omelet with avocado, spinach, spicy cashew cheese along with tempeh bacon. Their tempeh bacon is to die for… a perfect texture and smoky flavor that to someone like me who hasn’t eaten bacon in many years, tastes awfully baconish (in a good way). The omelet itself is a thing of beauty… far surpassing anything that would come from an egg. It was crispy on the outside with a well-cooked eggy feel on the inside… both chewy and flaky at the same time. I absolutely loved it and ate up every last crumb of the stuff. I had the hemp toast again but this time opted for fruit instead of potatoes.

As far as I’m concerned, you can’t go wrong with breakfast at Real Food Daily. FYI, I’m talking about the West Hollywood location, I have not been to the one in Santa Monica yet. Despite the not cheap prices (come on, it’s all organic, kosher & rad) and regardless of the occasionally hard-to-find parking and often über-hipster/celebrity patrons, the food at this place truly is good: real, healthy and unpretentious. The next time you’re feeling like crap and are up and mobile before 3pm (on a Sunday… just found out this is the only day they do brunch), head on over there and set yourself up with a plate full of anything on their breakfast/brunch menu and you’re sure to leave feeling a lot more positive about the day ahead of you.

On that note, here’s to moving forward and feeling good. See you all soon with more gastronomic indulgences!