Flore in Silver Lake has become one of my favorite lunch spots. It would probably be one of my favorite breakfast spots too if I were ever up that early. I’ve eaten there a bunch of times lately and have been saving ‘em up just for you.
Let’s open with the Avocado and Seitan Salad: a bed of mixed greens with sliced avocado, daikon sprouts, grilled seitan and tomato with tahini dressing. I love this salad and order it often, you can see a previous version of it here. It tends to look a bit different each time but the jist is usually the same, and it’s always tasty. There’s a lot more of the seitan in there than the picture shows, it’s hiding under the sprouts.
Now for my new favorite sandwich, Flore’s Club Sandwich: battered & baked tofu, lettuce, tomato, avocado and daikon sprouts served with eggless mayonnaise on toasted organic sourdough bread. Served with their awesome potato salad. This sandwich is so good, the way they make the tofu is fantastic… it’s chewy & slightly crispy with really good flavor. Their fake tempeh bacon rocks too, adding the perfect touch of meaty smokiness to make this a really hearty meal, made even more so by the buttery fresh avocado. YUM.
The yum doesn’t end there, I’m also giving Flore the distinct honor of being my current favorite veggie burger of the moment. As described: The Flore Burger: Our own black bean burger grilled and served with tomato, sprouts, green leaf lettuce and Thousand Island dressing. I also had them add in the extra avocado and cashew cheese.
This is one outstanding vegan burger. I sometimes worry that bean burgers will tasty too beany… you know, nothing but a mouthful of mashed beans like some of those hippie burgers? Nope, this was no granola hippie shit, this was an action packed powercombo of black beans, brown rice, oats, corn and I don’t know what else they stuffed in there but I can tell you that they worked it. It was solid, thick, fat, delicious AND healthy. I slathered that sucker up with both the cashew cheese and Thousand Island, packed on the avocado slices… then had to figure out how to get that monster into my mouth. I love love love this burger and if I could marry it I totally would. Consider yourselves invited.
And what’s a raving review about a restaurant without the obligatory desert porn?
This precious beauty is a vegan lemon cupcake. Sounds simple but it was anything but… more like smooth and silky and sinful. When you taste vegan treats this good it baffles the mind why people still cook with milk, eggs and butter by choice. It’s so not necessary and exquisite deserts like this are proof. Flore is also now selling the vegan Twinkies (because the vegan Twinkies are taking over the world).
There are a number of both good and bad reviews of Flore floating around out there, the bad stuff mostly having to do with service issues. While some of that stuff is to an extent true, I’ve been lucky to usually get that one excellent waitress who just kicks ass. I don’t know her name but she’s the dark haired gal who’s always there and is often the only openly friendly person working. She more than makes up for some of the restaurants other shortcomings, and their great food wins out over any other minor complaints that hipsters on Yelp like to make about other hipsters.
Oh and they’ve got their own website now so I can send you somewhere other than Yelp or Myspace to check them out:
www.florevegan.com
I want a club sandwich!!!
Oh wow…the pics are amazing. It’s almost like I’m staring into the sandwich!
Yea totally dislike unfriendly grub places. Such a turn off.
Can we please NOT get a side of attitude with my club sandwich. Mmmkay?
that cupcake is FUCKING GORGEOUS! i want it now. i’ve never tried any of flore’s desserts. i think a trip to silver lake may be needed this weekend.
We pretty much stopped going there because of service issues. Something negative always happens when we go there i.e. there was hair in the food, or a worm in the water, or they forgot to put our order in, etc. Maybe it’s time to give them another shot…
Tempeh bacon pizza! Delicious. And I am not easily impressed with vegan restaurants. If only Miranda would bring back the $7 all-you-can-eat Saturday brunch from the Tierra days. We’d roll in there after a long ride and she’d happily stuff us with great food, coffee and oj for a measly 7 bucks.
Flore looks delicious! The seitan salad, the black bean burger, yummy crispy tofu…you are lucky to have found such an awesome lunch spot. The cupcake seems to have made quite the impression on you too! It is always nice when you find that one special thing that is so freaking good it makes you wonder why the whole world hasn’t gone vegan yet.
Lex: Yup, get the club. Then top it off with the BLT! :)
quarrygirl: All the desserts I’ve tried there have been totally delicious. They’ve also often got muffins, cake, cheesecake, etc…
Kevin: OMG… worm in the water? That is so fucking gross! I don’t blame you for no longer going there after something like that. What a drag. Yeah, like I tried to imply in my post, the customer service issues are valid. I don’t know why they run it like that, I guess it’s because they’re always so busy they assume that the customers will still keep coming regardless. I would still recommended trying again just because the food is so good. Look for the nice waitress I mentioned and hopefully she can help give you different experience next time… hopefully one not involving worms!
Matt: I haven’t tried any of their pizzas yet but I’m working my way through to that section of the menu slowly but surely :)
ruby red vegan: You’ll definitely want to add this place to your list for your next L.A. visit!
I’m in N. CA, but if I’m ever down in LA, I will definitely look for this place. Beautiful looking food. I’m going to try to come up with a version of that black bean burger on my own.
I just have to weigh in here because the Tempeh Reuben was not mentioned, and I’m hard-pressed not to tout it’s magical prowess.
I’ll also vouch for the pizzas…they are pretty darn tasty.
Hello your pictures look clear and bright! Nice photos!
I am OBSESSED with flore’s burger and especially when you add that MAGICAL cashew cheese. heaven heaven heaven.
Makes you not miss meat at all. Great photo’s.
Mmmmmm. I’ve had such a hard time finding a really great homemade burger from places, they always end up being gross squish. I wish they delivered to Phoenix. :c)
Um, what? Worm in the water?!?!
I’ve been there once and had the BLT. It was awesome. The husband was called a “funny vegan” because he asked for his tacos without any veggies. Well that’s because he’s not vegan. Ah, it was funny!
We opted for the chocolate cake. To die for…
JennShaggy: Fear not, I would never neglect a tasty vegan reuben! See my post from last year: Flore’s Tempeh Reuben.
Finally came here for a casual (and unexpected) lunch after Intelligentsia – had the BLTA that amazingly tasted like the real deal (and I too love the mounds of fresh, buttery avocado on the sandwich). The carrot-ginger soup was also pretty interesting, I’m fairly sure OJ is added since it had a tartness I wasn’t expecting (not a bad thing – and who couldn’t use a little more Vitamin C during the cold season?)
Bummers that there were no more vegan twinkies by the time I got there; oh well, an excuse to return!