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

It’s safe to say that in recent years Vietnamese food has replaced Thai food as my favorite Asian cuisine. It’s really exciting to see more and more restaurants starting to cater to vegans and vegetarians as Vietnamese cooking grows in popularity. While Vinh Loi Tofu will always remain the reigning champ among all Vietnamese restaurants (no one else even comes close as far as vegan food is concerned), it’s nice to see other places offering animal-free options as well.

We recently visited the newly re-opened Vietnamese Soy Cafe in Silver Lake and enjoyed their limited but satisfying vegan offerings. Today let’s visit another vegan friendly Vietnamese eatery, this time across town in Highland Park- Good Girl Dinette.

Located right around the corner from the vegetarian Mexican restaurant Cinnamon, Good Girl Dinette serves up simple, clean and mostly organic ingredients sourced from local farmers markets, and transforms them into what they refer to as “American diner meets Vietnamese comfort food”. And it’s as good as it sounds! There is enough on the menu to keep both the carnivores and the herbivores happy.

We’ll start at the heart of any decent Vietnamese meal, with a hot bowl of Pho. Pho is a traditional soup usually made with all manner of horror inducing cuts of meat, beefy broth and exotic spices. Luckily for those of us who want the delicious taste of a well-seasoned Pho soup without all the beef juice, Good Girl Dinette makes an all-vegetarian version just for us.

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Apparently there’s this whole panini obsession sweeping the land, hot on the heels of the cupcakes and Pinkberry fads. Everything’s all panini this and panini that, and I totally get it, panini are delicious! Who doesn’t like a toasty grilled, action packed sandwich? The downside for us herbivores is that panini are usually made with meat and cheese. Bummer.

To our rescue comes Press Panini in Studio City, on the same cute stretch of Tijunga Village as Aroma Cafe that I told you about the other day. Press Panini is a walk-up window service joint with tables out front and back. They’ve got an extensive menu filled with many amazing sandwich options, including a vegetarian section.

On this first visit I had tried the Grilled Tofu: grilled tofu, grilled onions, portabella, lettuce, tomato and olive with a raspberry vinaigrette. I requested that they leave off the onions and include roasted bell peppers instead.

It was awesome… just look… you can almost taste it, right? Yeah, this panini had it going on. Everything is made to order and grilled fresh. While it’s not a vegetarian place, they are fully vegetarian and vegan aware. Last I was there the owners girlfriend worked there, and she is a vegan, so they totally get it. They even use a separate grill for the vegetarian panini so you don’t have to worry about your tofu being grilled in meat juice.

Back to the panini, the bread was perfectly crispy (tell them if you don’t want it grilled with margarine), everything inside delicious and grilled nice & hot, with the raspberry vinaigrette tying everything together with a pretty and slightly sweet pink bow. Yum.

My next Press Panini adventure involved the Teriyaki Tofu: grilled tofu, grilled onions, portabella and avocado with teriyaki sauce. Again I got no onions, and again I loved it. The teriyaki sauce was just right, very flavorful but not too salty or overpowering. The nicely melted avocado was not only delicious but also added back in some of the cheesiness that you might be feeling deprived of. Sure, avocado tastes nothing like cheese, but the fattiness of it kind of tricks your palate a little bit. Again I must declare: Yum.

Can you handle more? They’ve also a big selection of salads, some already vegan such as the Grilled Vegetable Salad along with others the come with chicken, which they’ll substitute tofu in for you.

They also serve homemade soups and there’s usually always one available that’s vegan, the Lentil and Bean Soup. Now I’m not a big soup person so I’m not an expert on the topic, however, this was perhaps the best lentil soup I’ve ever had. Really, it was so good… thick and hearty and filling, a meal in and of itself.

You can see I’m digging on Press Panini and I think you will to. There’s parking in the back and you can expect a little wait because it’s all grilled to order, and well worth your time. All the panini are $9 and they’ve also got daily kid sized specials for $5. There’s a bit of whining on Yelp about the price, but the panini are large, delicious and will fill you up. I think it’s worth what you pay for, but then again, I don’t think $9 is too much for an awesome sandwich on a trendy street that no one should expect to be cheap in the first place. I’ll say it again: Yum.

This is also a great option for going out to eat with people who aren’t open to dining at exclusively vegetarian places (aka, my dad). There are plenty of options to make all present very happy.

www.presspanini.com

The cold and rainy weather has got me on a soup kick. A Pho soup kick, specifically. Pho (pronounced ‘fuh?’) is a Vietnamese soup usually made with beef, fish or other kinds of gross fleshy bits, rice noodles, and an amazing broth spiced with cinnamon, star anise, charred ginger, cloves, garlic and usually garnished with green and white onions, cilantro, Thai basil, lime, bean sprouts and some kinda hot sauce or chili on the side. The broth is usually made from meat and bones, so you either need to make your own or seek out restaurants that make it vegetarian, including the broth.

So back to my Pho cravings, I’ve had it already twice in the past couple of days at two different restaurants. Allow me to present my findings.

Pho adventure #1: Blossom Restaurant, Downtown.

Appetizer first please. This is the “Vegetarian Fritters”, which are sweet potatoes, mushrooms and tofu. Served with mint, veggies and a tasty sweet chili type sauce. Very nice, light and not at all greasy.

Ok, now here’s the garnishes mentioned earlier. We have a lovely plate of fresh bean sprouts, basil leaves, some kind of very spicy green chili, and lime wedges. There’s also plenty of Sriracha, soy sauce, hoisin and other condiments over on the side as well to be added as per your liking.

And here’s the pholicious bowl of steaming hot pho, made with tofu, mushrooms, carrots, baby bok choi, cilantro, a ton of rice noodles underneath it all… and lots of green and white onions. I don’t do onions, and there’s like a raging onion party going on in my bowl. No need to panic. The thing is, I appreciate the flavor they give food, I just don’t like the things themselves. So after a serious onion hunt and extraction expedition, my soup was ready to be topped with all the extra goodies, and then was heartily consumed.

The soup was delicious, the ambiance of Blossom smack in the middle of downtown can’t be beat, and it’s only a very short walk from the Pershing Square Metro stop, and everything else.

That was last weekend. Today I woke with another rager for Pho. I still need to try the Vietnamese Soy Cafe in Silver Lake which is all vegetarian, but they keep funky hours, and I was hungry now. A quick search online and then a few phone calls later I tracked down a location right here in the valley serving vegetarian Pho.

Pho adventure #2: “Absolutely PHObulous” in Encino.

Despite the silly name, this place was awesome. First up, vegetarian spring rolls. Delicious, packed with vermicelli, fresh veggies and herbs. The dipping sauce was some sort of peanuty love.

Here’s the photastic pho as it was served. This version comes with tofu, carrots, broccoli and baby bok choy. And yeah, enough onions to feed a small village in Somalia for a year. No problem. I’m a professional. Below is my creation after I’d had my way with it…

I also squirted in a healthy dose of spicy Sriracha this time around (after I took the picture). This pho was great. Very nice to know this place is tasty and doesn’t involve me having to go over (or under) the hill. They have a West Hollywood location as well.

Neither of these two restaurants are all vegetarian, but there are a number of vegetarian and vegan options at both that will more than satisfy.

A recent edition of Vegetarian Times magazine had a vegan recipe for Pho, and I’ve found a few different versions online that look good too. My craving has far from passed so I think I’ll try making up some of my own soon.

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.

Stopping by Vinh Loi Tofu for lunch on a chilly day, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to try out one of their many soups. I couldn’t help but notice their incoming delivery of soybeans at the front door. What makes this a beautiful sight is that Vinh Loi uses only certified non-GMO soybeans. I knew this already (it’s printed on their menu), but seeing the bags stacked up like that at the entrance just made me feel even that much better about having a Vinh Loi addiction. It’s little things like this (well, being dedicated to using only non-GMO foods is not a little thing at all really) that make all the difference.

Of course I had to take a picture, and once I told owner Kevin what a nice thing it was to see that, he got in on the action as well and struck a pose… check out Kevin and his beans!

Now back to the soup, which I know is what you’re really here for. I ordered the #2, “Cari Chay”, which involves: rice noodles in curry broth with soy chicken. Sounds simple but don’t be deceived… this soup is rich, complex and magically delicious. You can’t really see it all in the photo, but there was all kinds of action going on inside the soup. Along with the expected soy chicken there were also some darker faux-meaty bits floating around which I think was the soy-beef. There was also chunks of tofu, carrots and other veggies and the topping of fresh cilantro.

Served on the side were the rice noodles, bean sprouts and lime to put in the soup. The curried soup flavor was thick and pungent and amazing. Not too spicy but not too mild. All the many flavors and spices were soaked up nicely by the noodles. This is one of those two-fisted meals where you’ll want to go at it with a spoon in one hand and chopsticks in the other. You see, we take eating seriously around here. Proper tools are essential.

I took myself on a date to Fatty’s & Co. in Eagle Rock having heard it’s an awesome vegetarian cafe. Good news… it’s true!

I started with their soup of the day, a bean and vegetable soup which was basically a minestrone without noodles, topped with pesto. Very tasty.

My main dish was the Potato Skin Tacos: “Organic potato skins made crisp and filled with fresh edamame, mango, carrots, onions, celery and ground veggie crumbles saute in our south of the border spices. Served with a golden-brown potato-red bell pepper cake with creamy cilantro sauce, Martin’s mildly spicy tomatillo salsa and radish sprouts”.

As you can see the presentation was stunning, and the taste was equally delightful. The taco filling was really good, a meaty texture and good taco flavor but still retaining the crispness and freshness of the vegetables it consisted of. The potato-bell pepper cake was also great, perfectly crispy on the outside and soft and yummy on the inside. The sauce and both salsas brought it all together and made this dish not only delicious but also fun to eat.

And what would a date with oneself be without not having to share dessert with anyone? This was the apple pie with vegan vanilla ice cream. Awesome. And all mine.

I always end up getting my usual favorites when I got to Vin Loi Tofu, so on this visit I opted to try something new. I was very intrigued by the ‘Chao Bao Ngu’ which is a soupy porridge with soy abalone, faux shrimp, shitake mushroom and Chinese donut. Truth be told, it was the unknown thrill of what the Chinese donut might be all about which made up my mind to order this. Sounds like something naughty and forbidden, doesn’t it?

The huge bowl of soup arrived and you can imagine how exciting it was to delve in with a spoon to figure out what all was swimming around in there! The porridge/soup is thick and has an interesting texture similar to really watery oatmeal hot cereal. It’s filled with chopped bits of the fake abalone, shrimp and (real) mushrooms. For those who aren’t too hip to the taste of seafood, don’t worry. I don’t like things that taste fishy either and this soup isn’t that, the flavor is very mild. There’s also a healthy topping of fresh cilantro and crispy onions (they don’t have that gross raw onion flavor, instead they just give a nice crispy, chewy texture to the already very texturized soup). The flavor, consistency and just about everything else about this soup is unlike anything I’ve ever tasted before… which is generally a good thing. It was delicious and the owner (hi Kevin!) told me that it’s the best thing to eat when you’re feeling sick or under the weather… he claims it will take care of whatever ails you.

The soup came served with a large serving of bean sprouts, lime and the most delicious fried bits of dough which apparently are the Chinese donuts. I’m pretty sure that the sprouts and dough were meant to be put into the soup, but the donuts were too good for that and I just ate them straight off the plate with my fingers. The lime juice spritzed into the soup was the perfect finishing touch, consider that lime juice makes just about anything taste that much better. The verdict is: the porridge soup rocked and has now been officially added to my list of Vinh Loi favorites. If you go, definitely give it a try… take a friend and share it because there’s more than enough to feed you both. Since you’ll be sharing, it’ll free you up to order something else and not feel like such a piggy about it. If you’re there with me though, don’t even think about bogarting my donuts.

Here’s a tasty vegan lunch I had a few weeks ago at Real Food Daily in West Hollywood.

I was enticed by the menu and the hot weather to order the soup of the week, “Cool as a Cucumber”, a cold cucumber soup with fresh dill. It was simple, light and refreshing. Plus I got to eat flowers and that’s always cool.

This was the Tofu Wrap which involves “herbed tofu, vegetables and sun-dried tomato pesto in a spinach tortilla”. The presentation was rather sparse with nothing else on the big plate other than the wrap, but aesthetics aside, it was hearty and tasty.