To Live and Eat in L.A. – A Vegan Food Photo Blog

Here’s a delicious bowl of hot tofu soup at Vegan Express. The broth is fantastic… full of flavor, crunchy veggies and heavy on the garlic. Don’t let the simplicity of it’s appearance fool you, this is good stuff I tell you.

I wasn’t planning on posting anything here today, but I’m using this soup entry as an excuse to brag about the fact that while I was eating it, none other than Forrest Whitaker walked in to the place to have his own meal. Hell yeah, ‘Ghost Dog’ in the flesh! I recall reading about how he was among the ranks of well-known celebrity vegetarians, so here’s proof that it’s totally true. Well, I don’t actually have any proof because I only photographed my soup and not him (where, oh where are my priorities?), so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

I’ve neglected you. It’s been a difficult time. And during such difficult times, what makes things better (for a short while at least) than comfort foods? Nothing. Diet taboos to the wind, I needed a new drug. I needed something delicious.

Thankfully it’s only a short drive to Vegan Express, and also thankfully, they make the most incredible vegan pancakes and fried fake-chicken you’ve ever not yet tasted.

This is their “Chicken & Pancake” breakfast (breakfast served all day). The chicken of course is not real, it’s made of soy with a kamut, low-gluten batter, then fried to crisp, golden perfection. That’s right, I said fried, not a word I use often, or take lightly for that matter. Drastic times call for drastic measures.

This fake chicken is amazing, as good as it gets. Better even. The batter is thick and a tad sweet with a slight donuty flavor, which is just perfect with the very realistic tasting chicken. It’s normally served with the regular pancake, but they were happy to indulge my request to have it with the “Tropical Pancakes” instead, which have fresh bananas and blueberries cooked right into them. So fluffy and thick and amazing. The plate comes with Earth Balance vegan buttery spread, maple syrup and a whole lot of sticky, carb-coma inducing, who-gives-a-crap-about-carlories-at-a-time-like-this kind of yum.

The next time you need a good eat-your-heart-out because your eyes are too tired to cry anymore sort of pig out, you now know where to go, and exactly what to order.

I’ve got some backpeddling to do here, more updates for you just as soon as I can get these photos processed.

Here’s another fine example of a completely vegan breakfast. This is the “Cowgirl Pancake Breakfast” at Vegan Express. “Pancakes, tofu scramble topped with soy baco bits and vegan cheese”. I had them substitute the regular pancakes for the “Tropical Pancakes”, made with bananas and blueberries. Served with maple syrup and vegan butter spread. The tofu was very thick, almost bread like… more like a tasty loaf than a scramble. The pancakes were… well just look at them, you don’t need me to tell you they were delicious, you just know.

All that and a vegan Thai iced tea too!

Almost too pretty too eat. But just almost…

“Romaine lettuce, carrots, shredded beets, alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, celery, avocado, cucumber and sunflower seeds”. I also had them add grilled tofu, and had it with the tahini dressing. Who could ask for a more perfect lunch?

This is the ‘Hot Spicy Green Beans’, aka, Prik King, at Vegan Express. What’s great about Vegan Express is that they serve both really good American style food like burgers, sandwiches, wraps and salads along with real Thai food… made by real Thai people.

The Prik King was excellent, made with tofu, red peppers, Kaffir lime leaves and served with a heaping portion of brown rice. The flavor was just right, nice and spicy… the absence of traditional fish sauce was not missed one bit.