I told you The Valley was rad. It just got that much radder with the opening of yet another all-vegan establishment, this time on the far west end of Woodland Hills. Juice Ladies, an organic, vegan sandwich/salad/juice & smoothie shop is located on Ventura Blvd., way out past Topanga Canyon, just off the 101 Schoup exit. Now everyone from Chatsworth to Canoga Park to Tarzana and into the no-mans land beyond has tasty & healthy vegan goodness practically right at their doorsteps.
The shop livens up an otherwise forgettable strip mall which is anchored by Starbucks (what strip mall isn’t?). They don’t have a lot of seating inside but there’s plenty of it outside under umbrellas. The foods they offer are a fresh and exciting alternative in this part of town where vegetarian & vegan options are few in between (aka, it’s a nice change of pace from Follow Your Heart). They offer a variety of excellent sounding salad and sandwich options, as well as a giant list of juices and smoothies, ranging from yummy berry, chocolate and coconut drinks to green drinks to some pretty hardcore immunity boosting drinks involving stuff like garlic and onions. Ewww!
Let us banish the thought of drinks with onions in them and move on to the stuff I did like…
First I tried the Nori Rollup, because how could I possibly not? Grated jicama, pine nuts, garlic, purple cabbage, red bell pepper, miso, hummus, nori sheet (I love garlic when not in the form of a drink). They use the jicama instead of rice… how clever is that? Not only clever, but also cool and delicious. The pine nut paste stuff was awesome and I scarfed these beauties down in no time flat.
The nice thing is that since you’re not eating a huge helping of white rice, these rolls don’t make you feel over stuffed like when you eat too much sushi. I loved the avocado in there too, which isn’t listed on the menu, but now I don’t remember if I asked for it as an add-on or if it somehow just found it’s way on in there. If you’re a hater, tell the waiter.
I also took their Caprese Sandwich for a spin. Vegan mozzarella cheese, spinach basil pesto, tomato, basil leaves. I didn’t ask what the vegan cheese was but I’m pretty sure it was Follow Your Heart. Their pesto is great… heavy on both the basil and the garlic. As soon as I had my first bite I knew I’d have stinky breath for the rest of the day, but it was totally worth it. Served with their tasty vegan cole slaw it made for a very pleasant meal.
This was probably one of their more simpler sandwiches, they’ve got a bunch more that I’m looking forward to trying, the highlights of which are: a Quinoa Veggie Burger, Un-Tuna Salad Sandwich, Cafe Flora French Dip Sandwich (made with portobello mushrooms), Vegan Bacon Avocado Wrap and more.
As far as beverages go, you might have already guessed I didn’t go in for any of the 5th level vegan salads-in-a-cup kinda juices, but instead I went for something that sounded decadent and luscious, the Chocolate Almond Shake: Coconut water, almond butter, dates, cocoa powder. I really liked the combo of almond and dates, you really can’t go wrong with that. The cocoa flavor was a bit strong and on the bitter side for me, but not bad either… I did drink it all up but would have liked it a little bit sweeter. To be honest I’m spoiled at this point by the incredible cashew-based vegan shakes at SunPower Cafe, a tough act to follow.
Juicy Ladies seem to be off to a fine start and I hope they do well. Give them a try if you’re in the area, it’s even worth the drive if you time it right to avoid the worst of the traffic. Their business was brisk during my weekday afternoon visit and they’d only been open a short while, a good sign. Check ‘em out and let me know what you think.
Juicy Ladies
22423 Ventura Blvd.
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
818-716-0800
www.juicyladies.com
i want those sushi rolls right f-ing now!
im starving
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
if someone had told me i’d be making repeat trips to the valley..during the summer…i would have said they were nuts. your posts keep sending me there….this place looks awesome too, can’t wait to try it- thanks!! :) :) :)
The menu looks really good! I can tell it was lovingly created (typos and all ;)). I’m a bit chagrined that most of the by-the-pound salads contains onions or scallions or chives and most of their sandwiches list those horrors, as well, but alas, there are still onion-free items on the menu that I can’t wait to try! I agree that onions in juice (or in anything, for that matter) sounds awful, but there are so many juice combos that sound great! I’ll head over there as soon as I can. Thanks for the review. :)
hummus in sushi?! now that’s interesting…
you should definitely submit some of your photos to www.donteatthatyet.com. it’s a visual restaurant review site with a template similar to that of tastespotting
Yeah, the Valley is totally charming the pants off me lately!! And I totally want to hit Juicy Ladies soon– partly for the tasty-looking food, but mostly because that is the best name I’ve ever heard in my life!! There have got to be good people behind it!
yummmy!! I’m going to be honest, I am so far from being a vegan, you would find it horrific. But your passion for good food makes me read your blog. Vegan or not, good food is good food, and I appreciate the effort and commitment to your ideals. So keep up the great work!