To Live and Eat in L.A.

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.

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.

I’m only now getting around to sharing my bay area food stories with you nearly a month after the fact, but as they say, good things come to those who wait. So without further adieu…

My first stop was Neecha Thai which recently opened in the Grand Lake district of Oakland. They are not an exclusively vegetarian restaurant but they have a plethora of vegetarian/vegan choices. For starters we had their incredible corn cakes. Think of these as an edible orgy of crispy, slightly chewy corn and lime love. Fantastic. [Update: Probably made with egg]

As I’d just stepped off a plane I opted for a lighter meal and went with their salad. Sadly I can’t recall it’s name or all of what was in it, but I do remember it involved apples, crispy yams and a very tasty, citrus dressing.

The next day we got to catch up with the folks vending vegan soul food at the Lake Merritt farmers market. Wow… this was so awesome! My plate consisted of spicy greens, stickily-sweet amazing yams and finger-lickin’ good BBQ tofu. They also had a great potato salad as well as a lentil dish. Now that’s some good eating right there.

Next came a special treat as we learned that Herbivore had just opened in their new Berkeley location on Shattuck. Of course I had to go!

First came our appetizer of soft tacos: “two soft taco shells with beans, guacamole, vegan sour cream and salsa”. Yum!

My entree was the Lemongrass Noodles: “Char-broiled vegetables garnished with fresh cilantro and crushed peanuts in a lemongrass-ginger dressing over rice noodles with tofu”. It was delicious with the strong and pungent flavor of the lemongrass and the spiciness of the ginger. Berkeley just got even that much cooler.

I’d heard tell that the vegan brunch at Fellini (also in Berkeley) is something else. I can now attest to the fact that these rumours are all true, it was excellent. I had the tofu scramble with vegan sausage, which came with grilled potatoes & vegan sour cream, wheat biscuit, jam and vegan butter.

Yet another breakfast spread, this time on another visit back to Herbivore.

I tell you, I can’t get enough of their blueberry cornbread. It’s the best thing on earth!

I had already starting moving stuff around on the plate before remembering to take a picture, which is why it looks a bit of a mess. Anyhow, this was their Southwestern style tofu scramble which comes with potatoes, black beans, guacamole, vegan sour cream and spicy cornbread. All of it rocked. Talk about being in multi-flavored cornbread heaven! I actually only tasted some of this savory-spicy version, which was great, but at that point I’d really had my fill and needed to go catch my plane.

Here’s to another delicious time well spent eating and cavorting up north. I highly recommend it.

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!

I don’t know how long it’s been since I’ve had pancakes, and these were a perfect re-introduction.

This action packed ensemble is the “The Weekender” brunch plate at Real Food Daily. “Scrambled tofu with onions, tomatoes and cashew-cheddar cheese, two pancakes or french toast (my pancakes were made with blueberries), tempeh bacon & home fries or fruit”. The pancakes are made with almond meal and contain no gluten, wheat or soy. All organic, all fantastic.

Above is the corn-grain bread, served with shredded raw carrots and beets.

My eating frenzy this weekend while in San Francisco began appropriately enough at Herbivore, a vegan restaurant with two locations… I visited the one in the Mission district on Valencia. I think it’s safe to say that this place is any vegetarians dream eatery, with an extensive and affordable selection of items ranging from American style burgers and sandwiches, to Asian noodle and curry dishes, through to Middle Eastern and Italian style fare. Seriously, they’ve got anything you could possibly want.

I ordered the shawarma wrap which is made with grilled seitan, seasoned onions (and I didn’t even hate them), tomatoes, hummus, hot sauce, pickles and tahini, and served with a green salad. For a bit extra they’ll also stuff it full of potatoes and eggplant. Who was I to say no to that?

It was so totally yummy! I can’t really say that it tasted anything like real shawarma, but that hardly seemed to matter considering just how delicious it was on it’s own merit. As you can see, it’s gigantic and could easily feed two or three people. And no, I didn’t share.

On my second visit to Herbivore I got their veggie shish kabob. This was basically grilled tofu and vegetables on skewers (corn, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms) served over brown rice and with two different sauces (lemon-garlic & peanut orange-miso). Simple yet delicious.

And how could I pass up dessert? We’re talking a vegan carrot cake the size of a small island in the Pacific. Truly delicious, and so big that even with four of us digging into it, there was nearly a third of it left over when we were all stuffed. How is it that some people still think that vegan food is boring?

Last but certainly not least, I had breakfast at Herbivore on my last day there. I got the scrambled tofu with with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes (and a lot of garlic) with house potatoes.

As you see it comes with yummy whole grain toast, but I passed that up in favor of a sideorder of the blueberry cornbread. Words really cannot convey how amazing this bread is…cornbread has always been one of my favorite foods on earth, and the addition of delicious blueberries along with vegan buttery spread just took it over the top. All this along with the double soy-latte that I ordered had me in a sufficent enough breakfast food coma just in time for my flight back home to L.A.