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

When the weather’s hot as hell like it’s been here in Los Angeles the past few days, I enjoy light, cool meals. The thought of eating something hot and heavy when the temperature is in the triple digits just doesn’t do it for me. This plate of raw goodness at Flore in Silverlake however, did.

Talk about light and cool… these raw jicama tacos are not only meat free and dairy free, but they’re also wheat free and gluten free. Did I leave anything out? Oh yes, the part about how very delicious they are!

Julianned seasoned jicama, kale, chopped cilantro, raw sunflower seeds, raw cashew cheese and pico de gallo wrapped in green leaf lettuce and served with lime wedges and dehydrated mango slices.

This was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before, and I loved every last, somewhat sloppy, bite of it. The texture and the seasonings on the jicama mixture was delicious on it’s own, but then you’ve also got the nutty-sweet-creaminess of the cashew cheese underneath, and to add to the multitasking excitement of it all, you can also add a heaping spoonful of the salsa and a generous squirting of lime. The next part of the fun is figuring out how to pick it up and get it in your mouth without looking like a dork and getting food all over yourself, but after a few messy attempts I fell into a good rhythm (and I’m already pretty comfortable with being a dork).

Overall a very tasty raw meal without the pretentiousness and exorbitant prices that I’ve come to associate with raw food. This was raw food that didn’t really need to announce itself as such, instead it was just a refreshingly good plate of food on a ridiculously hot day. Cooked food would have felt like overkill.

Here’s a gander at Flore’s ‘Southwestern Seitan Quesadilla’.

Whole wheat quesadilla of cashew cheese, seasoned seitan, diced tomato and shredded lettuce. Served with pico de gallo and cilantro cream.

Very tasty. The seitan was very meaty in texture and flavor, like a well seasoned Mexican style chicken. Now that Flore has expanded their hours it was not as jammed packed as my previous afternoon visits, I was able to walk right in and get a table, which was nice. By far the best vegan quesadilla I’ve had so far… it was excellent!

I’ve now had two very tasty visits to Flore so it’s about time I tell you about them. Flore is an “organic vegan eatery” featuring a small vegan deli counter as well as a sit down restaurant. It’s all the rage apparently, considering each time I’ve been there it’s been packed to the gills with hipsters. It sits right in the heart of Silverlake’s hipsterville district and has a sort of San Francisco feel to it. Flore is so hip it hurts. Each time I’ve been there it was bustlingly busy but the vibe is pretty laid back. You might need to wait a little bit for a table, but it flies by quick while you people watch (and dog watch).

Y’all know by now that I’m a whore for faux-Reuben sandwiches, so of course that’s what I ordered on my first visit. Flore’s version is made with tempeh, sauerkraut, rye bread and I don’t remember what the yummy creamy stuff was made of, but I can tell you it rocked. Came served with potato salad. This picture doesn’t do it justice, you’ll just need trust me on this one… it’s good.

And would you say no to vegan blueberry cheesecake? I think not. Neither did I. It was delicious and I especially liked the wholesome yet yummy tasting crust.

For my second visit I had the Tu-No Melt. Fresh six-grain bread, tempeh salad and cashew “cheese”. It was great, though I’ll add that it tastes nothing like a real tuna melt, nor does the Reuben taste anything like a Reuben. Not that I really care what they are called, I just want to eat it them.

Here’s the money shot for you tempeh pervs out there. You know who you are.