Now for something completely different: here’s a delicious new breakfast special on the menu at Hugo’s, the Mung Bean Fritters.

“Three fritters made with sprouted mung beans blended with zucchini, green pepper, green onion and Chinese 5 spice. Topped with two poached eggs, sauteed leafy greens and an apple-mint drizzle”. I had them substitute the eggs with grilled tofu.

This was a really great dish. Being that they’re called fritters, I was expecting something more… well, fried. I assumed they’d be kind of like potato pancakes (you know, with shredded stuff like latkes) but instead they’re like regular pancakes and they didn’t taste or appear to be fried which is actually a good thing. I’d say they were more like savory griddle cakes. The flavor was delicious, delicately spiced and not too oniony for my taste. The apple-mint drizzle is what made this a real stand-out, being both sweet and minty at the same time, much like an Indian chutney, but with apples. Overall, a perfect breakfast.

This is a very tasty seasonal item currently on the specials menu at Hugo’s in Studio City.

The “Blood Orange Salad” is made with “a blend of Napa cabbage, organic mixed greens, strawberries, slivered fennel, roasted baby beets, blood oranges and California pistachio nuts. Accented with a dressing made from balsamic vinegar and blood orange juice reduction”. It comes with a choice of protein, I had their grilled tofu which is always reliably good.

The salad was great, what with all it’s different flavors going on… it’s got your sweetness coming from the blood oranges, strawberries and beets, and it’s also got the unexpected licorice flavor of the crunchy, raw fennel (and carrots too), and all this is backup by the powerful underhanded punch coming from the balsamic vinegar. It makes for a unique and delightful (and not cheap) combination.

This was the ‘Golden Milk Cereal’ at Hugo’s, and I’ve got to say it’s one of the weirdest taste sensations I’ve had in some time. That’s not saying it wasn’t good mind you, but definitely different.

It’s made with “warm, organic quinoa in a Golden Milk of turmeric, honey and raisins. Served with bananas and strawberries”. They give you a choice of cows milk, soy or rice, I went with the rice. (Note that honey is not vegan so ask them to leave that out if you don’t eat it).

So yeah, it’s pretty weird tasting! You’ve got your sweet, breakfasty flavors coming from the fruit, honey and milk, but then you’ve also got the intense, more savory flavor of turmeric in the middle of it all, turning your sweet breakfast into something more reminiscent of an Indian curry. It’s odd to say the least. I liked it and disliked it at the same. It’s something that would really take some getting used to but which is at the same time quite compelling. The dish is so healthy, which was the main reason I wanted to try it… turmeric is supposed to be an excellent anti-inflammatory among all the other good stuff it does. I’ve recently developed an allergy to Ibuprofen and have been recommended turmeric as a natural alternative, so when I noticed this item on the menu I figured I’d gave it my best shot. I wasn’t able to eat too much of it, but like I said, I’m compelled and intrigued enough by this dish to want to try it again. I don’t know that I’ll ever end up loving it, but I almost feel like this should be approached from more of a nutritional and medicinal point of view, rather than it just being about happy taste buds.

Now that the idea is in my head, I’ll try replicating this at home but start it off with much less turmeric and see if I can build up more of an acquired taste for it. It’s not that I don’t like turmeric, it’s that I’m not used to eating it along with something sweet. It’s one of those cultural things I guess.

This is was a delicious vegan special at Hugo’s, the ‘Egg-free Red Lentil Frittata’.

“Red lentils, fresh vegetables and Indian spices, topped with sauteed garlic leafy greens and a mango chutney mint sauce”. Oh man, this was so good. The frittata was perfectly crispy on the outside and the lentils a great, chewy consistancy on the inside… the Indian spices were just right. The sweet & minty mango chutney along with the tasty greens on top brought everything together. My compliments to the chef. Seriously.

I don’t know it it’s still on the current specials menu but if you get a chance to try this one, I highly recommend you do!

Speaking of Hugo’s menu, they recently re-did the whole thing and it’s very nice. What I like is that many/most of the dishes that I liked the best that came and went from their specials menu have now made it onto the regular menu, for example, the fantastic Kelp Noodle Salad and the Power of Green salad, two of my main faves. They’ve also made it easier to veganize meals by offering vegan cheese options on their casseroles and also indicating which dishes can be made with grilled tofu instead of meat.

Hugo’s rocks for adding this lovely vegan breakfast to their current specials.

“Almond, lemon and lavendar vegan pancakes with agave nectar: Just released from our test kitchen and prepared with all organic ingredients- vegan, sugar free, gluten free, wheat free and dairy free. Topped with almonds and agave lavendar lemon syrup.”

These were so delicious. I mean, come on. Totally indulgent yet uber-healthy at the same time. Thank you Mr. Hugo, wherever and whoever you are.

Another “Create a Plate” at Hugo’s. I stuck with my favorite roasted beets, roasted yams & sweet potatoes and black bean cakes. I also got their new menu addition of leafy greens with garlic and olive oil.

Super filling and super yum. Ate half and had a whole other meal left over for later.

Oh, and guess who was sitting across the way from me while I was eating this lunch. Go ahead, just guess.

Wrong, it was Fabio. I kid you not. It was the funniest thing, sitting there eating next to Fabio of all people, a mere table away. How ridiculous my life is sometimes! Seeing him made me want to laugh out loud. It also made me want to go wash my hair in luxurious shampoo for some reason, an involuntary reaction which from here on out I shall refer to simply as “The Fabio Effect”.

The “Power of Green” salad currently on the Hugo’s specials menu pretty much rocked my world.

Check it out: “Chopped spinach, green chard, broccoli, green beans, asparagus, organic dried cherries and avocado. Served with toasted sunflower seeds and a Matcha green tea honey herb dressing”. I had it with their fantastic grilled tofu. Note that honey is not vegan so if you don’t eat it you’ll want to have this with a different dressing.

The vegetables all had a perfect texture, still crispy but not tough or woody. The star of the salad was the amazing Matcha dressing which was both very flavorful and yet still subtle and light, letting the flavors of the individual vegetables and the tart-sweet cherries to come through.

This was so great, tastier than it looks in the picture actually. I was riding a nice green chlorophyll rush for the rest of the day.

Here’s the tofu scramble at Hugo’s.

I can’t believe that I’ve been dining at Hugo’s all this time and I’d never tried their tofu scramble until recently. It’s really freaking good! “Organic tofu scramble with sweet potato, green onion, tomato, spinach, garlic and mushrooms with ginger-soy sauce”. The tofu was the super firm kind and it nicely picked up the flavor of the sauce, which was delicious. The addition of the sweet potatoes give it a really nice depth, sweetness and texture. Definitely one of my new Hugo’s favorites.

This is the Quinoa-Black Bean Burger at Hugo’s, but instead of having it on a bun I had them do it as a wrap in their spinach tortilla. It was great! The burger is made from quinoa, black beans, breadcrumbs, carrots, onion, almonds, sunflower seeds, basil, pepper and cilantro… it’s really tasty. They also stuff it with Anaheim chiles, guacamole and Sante Fe veganaise, lettuce and tomatoes. They’ll even give you grilled onions should you be so inclined. Served with an organic green salad.

Another fine meal at Hugo’s. I got up the gumption to the try the “Create-A-Plate” which allows you to pick from a nice long list of mostly vegan/vegetarian options.

After much internal debate taking many factors into consideration, I opted for the roasted beets, organic gingered carrots, roasted yams & sweet potatoes and black bean cakes. Ahhh, they were all so good, simply prepared yet full of flavor and all around yum. This huge serving provided me with at least two more meals worth of leftovers. Hugo’s isn’t cheap but they give you a ton of delicious and high quality food.