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

It’s hard to argue that we’re not spoiled foodies here in Los Angeles. What, with all the fresh local produce and overabundance of exceptional vegan & vegetarian restaurants, we’ve really got nothing to complain about. Still, sometimes you just want to be able to walk into to any ol’ place and order something off the menu without having to worry about what secret ingredients are lurking within. It’s getting easier to do just that these days as more “regular” restaurants are expanding their menus to include not only vegetarian but also entirely vegan options. Johnny Rockets, the 50’s style burger joint is one such place. Known for their jukeboxes, milkshakes and all-beef grilled patties, Johnny Rockets has taken a step in the right direction and added an all vegan burger option to their menu.

Here we have what Johnny Rockets has dubbed “The Streamliner”: the original meatless Boca® burger with grilled onions, fresh lettuce, ripe tomato, pickle & mustard. I ordered mine without the onions, natch. I inquired as to if they also offered soy-cheese, which they do not, but which they really should. I mean if you’re gonna come this far, why only come part of the way?

This burger was darn good! As mentioned, they use the Boca burger which is made from soy and is entirely vegan. I don’t recall ever trying a Boca burger before and I really liked it. It had a smokey, charbroiled flavor to it which I don’t think came from the grill itself but was actually part of the burger seasonings. The buns are also vegan. I did not order fries but you’ll be happy to know that their fries are also totally vegan, cooked entirely in vegetable oil, not beef tallow. Sadly, they do not have any vegan shakes. Yet.

My verdict: very tasty. Certainly not the greatest burger I’ve ever had in my life, but definitely enjoyable… and added with the fact that I was able to eat it while at a place as ridiculously normal, corporate and contrived as Johnny Rockets while listening to Leslie Gore cry about her party on the jukebox, well, it was pretty special. My only complaint is the color of the pattie… kind of beige and homely looking. A darker color would make it look more appetizing. I’m not big on additives and unnecessary ingredients being put into my food, but on the other hand, this is already a processed, pre-packaged, frozen convenience food, not an organic, locally grown, pristine salad… so I don’t think that adding a bit of “caramel coloring” to make it look a little bit more appealing would hurt. Are you listening Boca people? Your burger is mighty tasty, but it’s also butt ugly.

Giving credit where credit is due, I learned about the Streamliner burger at Johnny Rockets via Lane at the excellent VeganBits blog when he wrote about it back in May, though I only now got around to trying it. I was so hungry when I sat down at the Johnny Rockets counter to try this burger that I forgot to pay attention to whether they used a separate grill or not to keep my innocent soy burger away from the bloody meat juice on the main grill. Thankfully Lane was paying close attention on his visit and confirms in his post that indeed, his eagle eye noticed that the burgers truly were cooked on separate grills from their meat & cheese counterparts.

The Johnny Rockets website also assures us that:

“Please be aware that we designate a special area of the grill on which to cook only the Boca Burger and we do everything in our power to keep the area free from other materials. We also have special color-coded turners and tongs which help to keep cross-contamination to a minimum.”

It seems like they’re making a real effort to be vegetarian-friendly, well… as vegetarian-friendly as you can get while still being a meat peddler that proudly boasts of serving 13 million beef hamburgers to your guest each year. Oh the irony.

Johnny Rockets has locations just about everywhere in the USA other than the Midwest Western Middle of the country (and Portland for some reason), so if you’re anywhere other than those areas, you’ll probably be able to find a location just by throwing a rock in any heavily foot-trafficked direction. I ate at the Encino spot on Ventura Blvd., though for the full experience you might want to visit their original Melrose location, that is if you can find yourself a seat between the hoards of Japanese tourists and hairy bikers.
www.johnnyrockets.com

P.S. You might also want to know that Boca burgers are owned by Kraft Foods.

Which of the following statements are true?
1.) Kraft is EVIL
2.) Kraft is owned by Philip Morris tobacco
3.) Kraft uses Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) in most of their products.
If you picked “All of the Above” you would be correct.

Some of the Boca burgers are made with organic (and therefore non-GMO ingredients), though I cannot confirm which exact Boca product Johnny Rockets is using. The menu says it’s the “100% Soy Boca Burger”, but that’s not an actual name of any Boca product. Boca lists two vegan burgers on their website, the “Original Vegan” which is not organic, and the “Vegan made with Organic Soy”, which is. Beats me which one J.R’s is feeding us. So, if after eating this burger you turn into a mutant and/or start to sprout purple soybean monsters with teeth from out yer ears, don’t come cryin’ to me.

The wait is over. Sarah Kramer’s brand spanking new vegan cookbook is now available! Here’s the description:

Vegan A-Go-Go!: A Cookbook & Survival Manual for Vegans on the Road
By Sarah Kramer

Sarah Kramer is a vegan superstar; she was named “The World’s Coolest Vegan” by Herbivore Magazine, and her first three cookbooks have sold a combined total of over two hundred thousand copies. Vegan Go-Go! represents a change of pace for Sarah: it is a cookbook and more for vegan travelers, many of whom are daunted by the idea of going on the road and being able to locate and/or prepare the kind of nutritious animal-free meals they enjoy at home. The new book includes 150 recipes, many of them new, and others that have been adapted from her earlier books. All of the recipes are easy to prepare with a minimum of ingredients and are guaranteed to deliver energy, nutrition, and great flavor. The rest of the book contains information and advice pertinent to vegan travelers, from how to deconstruct a restaurant menu to what food items are best suited to carry around in your luggage or handbag. There’s even a section on “How to Say I Am Vegan’” in numerous languages. The book is also designed with the traveler in mind: it is small enough to slip into one’s pocket or purse, yet has a reinforced cover to ensure durability under the harshest conditions. Full of Sarah’s high-energy wit and verve, Vegan Go-Go! makes life for vegan travelers a lot less stressful and a lot more fun.
For more info or to order, CLICK HERE

Sarah Kramer is the author or co-author of three previous bestselling vegan cookbooks, How It All Vegan, The Garden of Vegan, La Dolce Vegan.

(Update: Both these specials are now over. Aren’t you sorry you missed ‘em?)

There are currently two great vegan meals on the “Specials” menu at Hugo’s Restaurant. I don’t want to wait any longer to share them with you because soon enough they’ll be gone. If you want to try these, and yes… you do want to try these… you’ll need to head on over to Hugo’s quick like a bunny.

This first interesting dish is the Red Lentil Veggie Patties: “an outstanding combination of organic red lentils, sweet potatoes, diced fresh summer vegetables, herbs and Indian spices. Served with mango chutney relish, black forbidden rice and sauteed leafy greens”. Outstanding was their adjective straight from the menu, but I heartily agree, these lentil patties were delicious. The Indian flavors were full and fragrant yet didn’t overpower the great flavors of the vegetables and lentils. The crispy outside and soft inside were just lovely, and the mango chutney kicked ass. It tasted slightly pickled, so it was both sweet and zingy at the same time. And yes, in case you’re wondering, zingy is indeed in the dictionary.

The black forbidden rice was good, though I’m more inclined to the black sticky rice at Lotus Vegan, for which I as of yet have found no equal. The leafy greens were very tasty too, lots of garlic going on in there, just the way I like it. Overall an excellent meal.

On a subsequent visit I was far too intrigued to pass on the Very Green Enchiladas: “green corn tortillas filled with wilted leafy greens and garlic. Covered with a roasted poblano chili sauce and toasted pumpkin seeds. Served with green spanish rice and green zucchini”. It would also usually come with Cotija cheese, which they state right on the menu they’ll do without to make it vegan.

These enchiladas were outstanding! I was concerned that 1.) this would be kind of boring without cheese, and 2.) that the garlic would be too overwhelming. These concerns quickly melted away as I eagerly shoveled in my first bite. So good! The poblano chili sauce was amazing, full bodied and not too spicy. The enchiladas themselves were excellent, the greens and garlic perfectly seasoned and surprisingly filling. Both the zucchini and the spanish rice made for great accompanists in this very green orchestra. If you only try one new dish in the next few days or weeks, consider making it this one.

Now, a minor word of warning. Two words really: green poo.

You read me right. Now I know this is food blog so the last thing you want to read about are bodily functions. The thing is, how are you to trust that I’m telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, unless I told you the entire story, from start to finish so to speak? In the spirit of full disclosure, I’d like to save you an awkward moment of surprise after you eat this meal: my morning constitutional one day after eating the Very Green Enchilada plate was Very Green Poo… bright green poo the likes of which I’ve never seen before, neither from a baby nor an elephant. A quick run down over the past 24 hours worth of food immediately led me right to the culprit: it was the green enchiladas, in the kitchen, with a fork. All I’m saying is, forewarned is forearmed. Don’t fear the green!
www.hugosrestaurant.com

(Both of these are on the current specials at both Hugo’s locations, though all the stuff featured on this blog (so far) refers to the Hugo’s in Studio City -call if you’re going specifically for either of these items, because I don’t know how often the menu changes.)

(Update October 20, 2008): Sadly I’ve been informed by a reliable source that Karma Cafe has closed. I haven’t seen it with my own eyes but considering that their website looks to be officially dead I’m leaning towards this being true. Bummer. Well, feel free to read on to see what you missed!
——–

I thought I should leave you with something pretty to look at over the weekend. Feast yer peepers on this beauty…. ladies and germs, I present to you The Money Munch at Karma Cafe in Hollywood.

The ingenious and deceptively simple Monkey Munch consists of strawberries, bananas, almond butter and 100% pure maple syrup on hazelnut-raisin bread. Sure you could make this at home, but do you ever? I happened to be there on a day that they were out of the hazelnut-raisin bread, a slight bummer at first because that sounded so good, but they did have a multigrain flax bread instead which was quite nice, and perfectly toasted. The combination of all the delicious ripe fruit, nutty & thick almond spread and near sickly sweet and dark maple syrup was nothing short of ambrosial… I’m talking food of the gods territory here. Such a simple concept, and yet, an exact science involving equal meaures of breakfast and dessert. Those gorgeous orange slices were the proverbial icing on the cake.

I was alerted to the presence of the Monkey Munch by Ruby Red Vegan in her blog post, “California Does it Better Sometimes“. She had made the amazing discovery while researching vegan places to eat for her visit to Los Angeles. She picked up some great ideas from my humble blog here, so how cool is it that I got turned on to something yummy that’s been here in L.A under my nose this whole time, by someone who doesn’t even live here?

Karma Cafe is a good sized coffee house in the heart of Hollywood at Selma & Cahuenga, otherwise known as the western end of where the Hollywood Farmers Market takes place every Sunday. Ruby Red Vegan also mentions on her blog that Karma Cafe is featured on the MTV show “The Hills”. Sounds awful, right? That part worried me more than a little but thankfully the place didn’t seem very MTV at all. Funky art on the walls and funky freaks on the couches… I felt right at home. I watched all types come and go while I sat at my table and lingered on each delectable bite of my sandwich, while simultaneously rocking along with Janis and her Bobby Mcgee who were blaring from the speakers. If you visit Karma Cafe you’re likely to witness anything from aging tie-dyed Jerry Garcia types that may or may not be homeless, to crusty punks with cell phones on laptops, to clean-cut business folk enjoying a cappuccino on the couch. The adorable tattooed kids behind the counter were super friendly, and excitedly pointed out all of the menu options available to me when I told them I was vegan. More of the menu is vegetarian than not, and most items can be easily made vegan sans cheese. There’s an intriguing sounding artichoke sandwich I’d like to try next time I visit.

Parking in Hollywood is for losers, you know this already, so don’t set yourself up for a big pile of the suck and just take the Metro if you’re anywhere near it (if you’re not, then my condolences). Get off at the Vine station and you’re just a nice Hollywood Blvd. stroll away.

The Karma Cafe website appears to have died a sudden death, so again I’ll pass the buck over to Yelp, where the reviews are always amusing, and should always be taking with a grain of salt, much like mine.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/karma-coffeehouse-los-angeles

I was never big into giant meaty sandwiches even when I still ate flesh. There’s just something about a bunch of thinly sliced, dripping pink meat smothered in oil and onions that’s always been repulsive to me. Pastrami sandwiches, Reubens, Roast Beef and Philly Cheesesteaks were just never the stuff my foodie dreams were made off… not the real versions of them anyway.

Now, we’ve already discussed just how much I love me a good faux Reuben sandwich, but how about some other variety of previously disgusting cuisine made lovable? That’s where The Vegan Spot in Silver Lake comes to the rescue with their remarkable all-vegan Philly Cheesesteak.

I’d previously read some good reviews of this place over at the Your Vegan Mom and Quarrygirl blogs and I couldn’t wait to try it out for myself. The Vegan Spot was started by one of the women who also opened Flore right up the street, so I figured it had to be good. And good it was!

Alright, so I’ve never had a real Philly Cheesesteak and the one time I visited Philidelphia I got dumped and had a miserable time. What I can tell you about this sandwich though, without having anything to compare it to, was that it was fantastic! They make their own meaty stuffing and cheese sauce there, and while I have no idea what they’re doing back there in that kitchen, it’s nothing short of pure vegan genius. The meat I believe is some sort of seitan concoction, thinly sliced and to me reminiscent in flavor and texture to a Greek style gyro. It tastes and feels incredibly realistic… real enough to fool my meat-loving dad into thinking it’s the real thing, and real enough to probably freak-out the vegetarians out there who can’t hang with faux-meats. Me, I love the faux… so I say bring it.

The cheese sauce was some of the best pretend cheese I’ve had anywhere. It was supposed to be like cheddar, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t have that sharp note to it that cheddar is known for. I could tell it had mustard in it, and most likely (totally guessing here) it had nutritional yeast as well. Amazing how they got the flavor and texture so close. Would a bonafide real-cheese eating connoisseur think it was real cheddar cheese? No, mostly likely not, but they probably wouldn’t consider that crap that’s kept in heated buckets at the local 7-11 for nachos to be real cheese either, and apparently it is. Unless someone went in there with a “I’m going to hate everything vegan just because it’s vegan” stick up their butt (you know the type), they’d be hard pressed not to admit this stuff is the bomb.

Here’s a close-up so that those of you out in the middle of nowhere can partake in the fantasy, imagining yourselves about to bite into this miracle of decadent indulgence smothered in cruelty-free melted delight…

The sandwich came served on a thick and fresh French roll along with an equally fresh side salad. It would normally also come with grilled onions, but… ewwwwww.

I absolutely loved this beast of a meal and can’t wait to go back and try everything else on The Vegan Spot menu. Los Angeles has been all abuzz about the vegan Twinkies that they serve as well, created by the lovely JennShaggy. The only problem is that they are so good and so popular that they’re selling out faster than the poor girl can bake them! Every time I’ve been there in search of a Twinkie they were out, but I sure hope the stars will align for me one of these days so that I’ll end up there at the right time and get to try one.

They don’t seem to have a website yet so I have no choice but to point you to the very mixed reviews over at Yelp:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-vegan-spot-los-angeles.

The reviews range from those who fanatically love the place to those who judge it based on the fact that they don’t like being served by hipsters and/or hippies or who’d rather complain about the murals on the walls than talk about the actual food. Whatever… don’t go into the heart of the most hipsterfied neighborhood in town if you’ve got a problem with “hip” people serving you, problem solved. The food was awesome, the place was clean and the people working there were all friendly and helpful… what more do you need? Try the place out and make up your own mind, I’m willing to bet you’ll leave happy and stuffed. If you do manage to snag a couple of Twinkies while you’re there, please save one for me!

Apparently there’s this whole panini obsession sweeping the land, hot on the heels of the cupcakes and Pinkberry fads. Everything’s all panini this and panini that, and I totally get it, panini are delicious! Who doesn’t like a toasty grilled, action packed sandwich? The downside for us herbivores is that panini are usually made with meat and cheese. Bummer.

To our rescue comes Press Panini in Studio City, on the same cute stretch of Tijunga Village as Aroma Cafe that I told you about the other day. Press Panini is a walk-up window service joint with tables out front and back. They’ve got an extensive menu filled with many amazing sandwich options, including a vegetarian section.

On this first visit I had tried the Grilled Tofu: grilled tofu, grilled onions, portabella, lettuce, tomato and olive with a raspberry vinaigrette. I requested that they leave off the onions and include roasted bell peppers instead.

It was awesome… just look… you can almost taste it, right? Yeah, this panini had it going on. Everything is made to order and grilled fresh. While it’s not a vegetarian place, they are fully vegetarian and vegan aware. Last I was there the owners girlfriend worked there, and she is a vegan, so they totally get it. They even use a separate grill for the vegetarian panini so you don’t have to worry about your tofu being grilled in meat juice.

Back to the panini, the bread was perfectly crispy (tell them if you don’t want it grilled with margarine), everything inside delicious and grilled nice & hot, with the raspberry vinaigrette tying everything together with a pretty and slightly sweet pink bow. Yum.

My next Press Panini adventure involved the Teriyaki Tofu: grilled tofu, grilled onions, portabella and avocado with teriyaki sauce. Again I got no onions, and again I loved it. The teriyaki sauce was just right, very flavorful but not too salty or overpowering. The nicely melted avocado was not only delicious but also added back in some of the cheesiness that you might be feeling deprived of. Sure, avocado tastes nothing like cheese, but the fattiness of it kind of tricks your palate a little bit. Again I must declare: Yum.

Can you handle more? They’ve also a big selection of salads, some already vegan such as the Grilled Vegetable Salad along with others the come with chicken, which they’ll substitute tofu in for you.

They also serve homemade soups and there’s usually always one available that’s vegan, the Lentil and Bean Soup. Now I’m not a big soup person so I’m not an expert on the topic, however, this was perhaps the best lentil soup I’ve ever had. Really, it was so good… thick and hearty and filling, a meal in and of itself.

You can see I’m digging on Press Panini and I think you will to. There’s parking in the back and you can expect a little wait because it’s all grilled to order, and well worth your time. All the panini are $9 and they’ve also got daily kid sized specials for $5. There’s a bit of whining on Yelp about the price, but the panini are large, delicious and will fill you up. I think it’s worth what you pay for, but then again, I don’t think $9 is too much for an awesome sandwich on a trendy street that no one should expect to be cheap in the first place. I’ll say it again: Yum.

This is also a great option for going out to eat with people who aren’t open to dining at exclusively vegetarian places (aka, my dad). There are plenty of options to make all present very happy.

www.presspanini.com

I promise that my food blog will not turn into an animal blog. However this story I just came across about live pigs which have been tattooed with Louis Vuitton logos as art so sickens me that I just had to bring it to the attention of sympathetic eyes and ears.

So, the Laist.com pointed me to the Shanghaiist.com, reporting about these pigs to be on exhibition at the Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair. Shanghaidaily.com says:

“The tattooed pigs, two of them with Louis Vuitton logos, will form part of an exhibit titled “Art Farm” by 43-year-old Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye. Delvoye had tattooed the designs on the animals when they were piglets and tracked the “canvases” as they grew.

The stage is now set for these unique exhibits in Shanghai. A large pigsty will be set up at the fountain square of Shanghai Exhibition Center, where the eight pigs will be put up for display.

Delvoye brought the pigs from Europe and has kept them in a farm near Beijing. They were displayed at a Beijing art show, triggering widespread concern and controversy. The live pigs will not be sold now since they are “artistic works,” but their skin could be auctioned at a high price after the pigs’ death.”

Eastday.com is reporting that the show has been canceled. I’m sure this atrocity exhibit will soon find itself another home though, and more morons will go stand in line and pay money to go see it. What is it about people that brings them enjoyment from watching animals either deliberately hurt like these pigs, or humiliated and pushed to extremes as in circuses, any “sport” involving animals (horse and dog racing, rodeos, etc…), or jerks like the other “artist” in Spain who put a stray starving dog on display as art. It turned out later to be hoax, but only to the extent that the dog had supposedly been fed and cared for during the exhibit, but no less messed up in that once the show was over, the poor dog was simply discarded back out onto the streets where they had nabbed him from in the first place. Or Banksy and the elephant in the room. When did it become fun to make animals suffer? Or at best, bore them to death?

It’s all so gross. Our species has such a bizarre and disturbing obsession with subjugating animals for fun and profit. It goes so much farther than the food issue. I can understand why it’s so difficult for people as a whole to not grasp or accept the concept of vegetarianism. That’s one thing… but hurting, mutilating and forcing animals to do ridiculous things while people stand around and watch (or gamble)… I just don’t understand. I don’t want to ever understand.

Thank you for listening. Rant over, more food soon.

It’s true, I have a guilty pleasure. Well, truth be told I’ve got a few guilty pleasures but in this particular instance I’m talking about Aroma Cafe (aka Aroma Coffee & Tea Company) in Studio City, not to be confused with the Aroma Bakery Cafe which is a completely unrelated chain of Israeli restaurants (though I like some of their food too). Their names are far too similar, and while they’ve both got their own charm, they’re about as different as night & day.

Aroma Cafe is located in a converted home on Tujunga Avenue, nestled right in the middle of a block of cute shops and restaurants. You can tell this little neighborhood is just chomping at the bit to be as chic and trendy as Hancock Park’s Larchmont Village, but it’s not quite there yet (even though they’re now calling this block “Tujunga Village”). Still, it’s a charming little place to visit, especially if you have money and are one of those people who loves to be seen and be a part of the who’s who. I am not one of those people at all, in fact I am the opposite of those people… and yet, I keep coming back to this cute strip because it really does have a sort of irresistible draw.

As you might imagine, for me the draw is food. Aroma is not a vegetarian restaurant and they’ve actually got very few vegan options. The ones they do have though are right on.

This is the Wild Rice and Tofu Salad: Wild rice, marinated tofu, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and sliced avocado on a bed of mixed greens with lemon-herb vinaigrette. The portion size is huge, the tofu flavor is yummy and the dressing is delicious. I don’t even usually like wild rice, but it really works here to have it mixed in with the salad. I guess rice in salads is something that happens but I’d never put two and two together before trying this… and I really like the idea, as well as the results.

Now before I go on, a word about the photo and why it looks a bit washed out by the sun. That brings me to the other draw of Aroma Cafe, they’ve got a lovely garden which stretches all the away around the house, providing plenty of comfortable outdoor seating in a lush, patio environment. It’s a really nice space where you can forget for a little while that you’re in a huge city. There’s something about being in there that makes me slow down a little bit and just relax. Sometimes it gets really busy and it can take a while to find a nice spot (avoid this place at the height of lunchtime), but once you finally do get to park it you can hang out for as long as you like, get your ice-tea refilled and kick back for a while. I don’t have a garden of my own, so it’s nice to escape the house now and again and have a tasty lunch in someone else’s backyard. Hence, my sunny, shadowy tofu salad as pictured above (the shade was not cooperating with me that day).

This one is the Tofu Rice Bowl: sauteed wild rice, marinated tofu, broccoli, scallions, serrano chilies and roasted bell peppers. Same rice and tofu as the salad but it makes a much heartier meal here in a bowl with the extra veggies, and gets a really good flavor from whatever herbs and seasonings they use and especially the nice and spicy chilies. The serving they brought me was huge, I didn’t even make it through half of the bowl and I got about two and half more servings out of my leftovers back at home. The food here is in no way cheap, but the portions sizes are all gigantic and well prepared (I noticed a woman with a taco salad much larger than her head), so you’re paying for that as well as for the atmosphere of the joint to go with it.

Here’s the Mediterranean Plate: Hummus and tabouli served with Greek salad and whole grain pita bread. A beautiful presentation… the hummus was delicious, the pita fresh and warm. The salad I requested without feta cheese or onions and I was happy to see they got it right. The dressing was a balsamic sorta thing which I liked. My only complaint is that the tabouli was rather dry… it tasted like they’d put in the bulgur, parsley, tomatoes, etc… but forgot to add the lemon and oil, or just didn’t put in enough. Being of Middle Eastern descent I don’t usually expect American places like this to get Israeli or Arabic food exactly right anyways, so I can’t say that I was totally surprised that it wasn’t all too authentic. I can tell you though that the hummus was very good (I could have done with less oil), and that’s a standard by which most all Israeli’s will judge a meal. If the hummus is weak, forget about it… but if the hummus passes muster than other more minor sins can be forgiven. That’s how I felt about the tabouli.

The scene at Aroma is a real trip. The place seems to be a draw for people in the entertainment industry (duh, I guess that’s why it’s called Studio City), from famous celebs having a cappuccino with their directors, to wannabe out-of-work actors who sit around there all day rehearsing scenes for roles they’ll never get. Then you’ve got your laptop contingency of middle aged dudes who set up with their computers and sit there all day pretending to be busy with very important things, when really you just know they’ve got nothing better to do. Those guys seem to have an air of desperation about them that always makes me want to sit on the far other side of the place. There’s also lots of mom types with their kids in strollers, the Valley’s young & beautiful types with their dogs (I’ve encountered a number of Paris Hilton clones here), business meeting guys with their briefcases and official looking ties, to people like myself who aren’t any of those but who just like a nice and healthy lunch outdoors once in a while. I like to just chill out there for bit with my giant salad, a good book, and some good old fashion eavesdropping… I always seem to overhear the most interesting (and insignificant) conversations here.

The restaurant is also home to a small independent bookstore located in the back called Portrait of a Bookstore. Despite its teeny, tiny layout it’s actually pretty action packed with a “hand-picked selection of books of all genres, from bestsellers to the most obscure and unusual titles”. They’ve also got a nice selection of cards, jewelry and cute gift items that your mom will just love.

So yeah, I really dig this place but I do consider it a guilty pleasure in that it’s not the sort of thing I’d normally go for. The Hollywood acting scene is something that usually makes me want to barf, my almost uncontrollable reaction to seeing people with scripts in their hands acting out their little scenes with themselves is to roll my eyes and make a “gag me with a spoon” gesture. Hanging out with pretentious models and fly-by-night celebrities is not really my cup of tea. That said, it’s so stereotypically Los Angeles at this place that I can’t resist putting myself right into the thick of it sometimes. I’m so unimpressed and non-responsive to chicks that try their darndest to look like exact replicas of Hayden Panettiere (the actress who plays Claire on the TV show Heroes) that that sort of thing just goes totally under my radar*. People like that are just background noise in my opinion, while tasty rice and giant slabs of tofu are the sort of things that grab my attention and keep me coming back for more.

www.aromacoffeeandtea.com
www.portraitofabookstore.com

* I’m actually a total liar. I do get excited about certain celebrities now and again. The other day I had a lovely lunch at Flore with Your Vegan Mom and we happened to be sitting right next to Zachary Quinto, the guy who plays Sylar on Heroes. Gone was my cool “I’ve been in Hollywood all my life and don’t even see you even though you’re super famous” demeanor… I was transformed instantly into a geeky fangirl who couldn’t stop staring or giggling. Still, there’s a big difference between seeing an actual star whos work you respect and seeing the people who hang out at cafes in the Valley pretending to look like them. I’m talking to you fake Claire.