I recently let you all know about the new vegan Thai restaurant that just opened up here in North Hollywood, Lotus Vegan. I’ll refer you back to that post for the info and lively comments (New vegan Thai food in NoHo: Lotus Vegan)… for now I’m really just in the mood to talk about food.

This exotic dish, the Silver Noodle Salad was what I had on my most recent visit, and it was delicious. “Glass bean noodles mixed with soy chicken, soy shrimp and chilis in lime juice”. Yum… so good!

Not being a fan of onions I spent a minute picking those away to reveal the goodies underneath. What makes this dish a hit is the fantastic lime dressing. I’ve had some lime based dishes and salads at other Thai places where they’ve either just used straight up lime juice with nothing else (too sour), or they mix it with some herb or spice that I don’t like which gives it the distinct taste of dirty butt. Not that I know what dirty butt tastes like mind you, but I can send you to a few Thai joints where they’ll gladly give you a sample. Thankfully, this dish had no butt flavor whatsoever! I loved the dressing, sour but not too sour, pungent but not too pungent, spicy but not too spicy… ok, you get the idea. Both the soy chicken and soy shrimp are very tasty, though I would have liked a few more pieces of the shrimp. Slimy, slippery glass noodles are always fun to eat, and the greens and veggies were crisp and fresh.

Now let’s go back to the future. This last weekend was my birthday (yay me!). Because dorkiness apparently doesn’t go away once you hit middle age, I managed to take a major nosedive while climbing my steps, landing with all my force and weight on my right knee. Hard…. on concrete. Thankfully I didn’t break any bones, bust my kneecap or cause any permanent damage, but I did for all intents and purpose seriously mess up my knee and ability to walk for a few days. [This did not stop me from attending, eating my way through and hobbling around at Worldfest... to be blogged about soon!] While I was laid up at home with an elevated and ice-packed leg, I called Lotus Vegan up to bring me a delivery. If I’m going to be stuck at home on my birthday, you best believe I’m going to be doing it in style.

Talk about over indulgence! I swear I didn’t eat this all in one sitting. And it was my birthday, so shut up. From left to right: That’s the Hot & Spicy Green Beans (aka Prik King) with tofu and their awesome brown rice. Prik King has always been my favorite Thai dish, and I love how they prepare it here. In the middle is the lovely High Protein Salad and tahini dressing, right top has got the glorious sticky rice & mango, and in the front right we’ve got the quesadilla, made with vegan mozzarella cheese and served on chapatti bread. Their cheese does not contain casein and is very, very melty. It melts to an almost liquid consistency then firms up pretty quickly. Careful when biting into it as the drippy cheese is hot! But don’t let it sit for too long either because the cheese will cool fast. That’s not likely to happen though because it’s so tasty that you’ll want to scarf the whole thing down right away. Unless your name is Scott, in which case, would you pass me your quesadilla please? I will gladly eat it :)

For those of you who just can’t get enough scrumptious vegan Thai food, there’s now a new place in town to get your fix: Lotus Vegan in North Hollywood.

Brought to you by one of the delightful ladies from Vegan Express in Studio City, Lotus Vegan has just opened it’s doors on Vineland Ave., a few doors down from the pirate shop (there used to be a Thai restaurant in this same location).

Their menu includes much the same fare you’ll find at Vegan Express and some of the other vegan Thai joints in town, with a few newer items I haven’t noticed at the other places. They also told me they plan to offer specialties of the house on a rotating basis.

On my first visit I tried the Orange Chicken plate, which comes with rice, spring roll and a side salad. The faux-chicken was delicious, perfectly crispy on the outside with a sinfully sweet and just slightly spicy orange glaze. This is totally the sort of thing I could order over and over again if it wasn’t so fattening. Thankfully they’ve got a large menu with many other delicious and less calorie intensive choices, including a number of great salads and vegetable dishes. They’re also aiming to use only organic produce and products whenever possible.

Another delicious item they’re serving is the traditional Mango and Sticky Rice. The rice is the most amazing consistency of sticky-meets-chewy-meets-awesome, and I was told it’s made with the chef’s special vegan coconut cream. The mango was perfectly ripe and the whole combination was in a word, heavenly. They’ve also got a refrigerator case full of those yummy No Udder mini-cakes in case the mango isn’t enough dessert for you.

I spoke to the host regarding some of the issues and speculations regarding the fake meats and cheeses served at some of the other Thai vegan restaurants and how some of them claim to be vegan while their food contains hidden dairy. He told me that the cook herself is a vegan and he assured me that they are 100% committed to serving only truly vegan food. Right on!

The space is tiny and cute, not fancy but nicely decorated… a fine option for an quick, inexpensive lunch or a more leisurely dinner. Even though you’re eating out at a restaurant, the place has an intimate, homey feel and you know that your food is being cooked fresh and with love, made just for you… the next best thing to homecooked. I like that they’ve got a seating area out front which will be great during the hot summer months… and I also like the fact that they’ll deliver.

Vegan Lotus is just getting up and running, so pay them a visit, stuff your face full of flavor, then come back here and tell me all about it in the comments. For more info visit their website (which really doesn’t have much info on it yet but most likely will soon): www.lotusvegan.com