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

(Update October 20, 2008): Karma Cafe has closed. Bummer. Well, feel free to read on to see what you missed!
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I thought I should leave you with something pretty to look at over the weekend. Feast yer peepers on this beauty…. ladies and germs, I present to you The Money Munch at Karma Cafe in Hollywood.

The ingenious and deceptively simple Monkey Munch consists of strawberries, bananas, almond butter and 100% pure maple syrup on hazelnut-raisin bread. Sure you could make this at home, but do you ever? I happened to be there on a day that they were out of the hazelnut-raisin bread, a slight bummer at first because that sounded so good, but they did have a multigrain flax bread instead which was quite nice, and perfectly toasted. The combination of all the delicious ripe fruit, nutty & thick almond spread and near sickly sweet and dark maple syrup was nothing short of ambrosial… I’m talking food of the gods territory here. Such a simple concept, and yet, an exact science involving equal meaures of breakfast and dessert. Those gorgeous orange slices were the proverbial icing on the cake.

I was alerted to the presence of the Monkey Munch by Ruby Red Vegan in her blog post, “California Does it Better Sometimes“. She had made the amazing discovery while researching vegan places to eat for her visit to Los Angeles. She picked up some great ideas from my humble blog here, so how cool is it that I got turned on to something yummy that’s been here in L.A under my nose this whole time, by someone who doesn’t even live here?

Karma Cafe is a good sized coffee house in the heart of Hollywood at Selma & Cahuenga, otherwise known as the western end of where the Hollywood Farmers Market takes place every Sunday. Ruby Red Vegan also mentions on her blog that Karma Cafe is featured on the MTV show “The Hills”. Sounds awful, right? That part worried me more than a little but thankfully the place didn’t seem very MTV at all. Funky art on the walls and funky freaks on the couches… I felt right at home. I watched all types come and go while I sat at my table and lingered on each delectable bite of my sandwich, while simultaneously rocking along with Janis and her Bobby Mcgee who were blaring from the speakers. If you visit Karma Cafe you’re likely to witness anything from aging tie-dyed Jerry Garcia types that may or may not be homeless, to crusty punks with cell phones on laptops, to clean-cut business folk enjoying a cappuccino on the couch. The adorable tattooed kids behind the counter were super friendly, and excitedly pointed out all of the menu options available to me when I told them I was vegan. More of the menu is vegetarian than not, and most items can be easily made vegan sans cheese. There’s an intriguing sounding artichoke sandwich I’d like to try next time I visit.

Parking in Hollywood is for losers, you know this already, so don’t set yourself up for a big pile of the suck and just take the Metro if you’re anywhere near it (if you’re not, then my condolences). Get off at the Vine station and you’re just a nice Hollywood Blvd. stroll away.

The Karma Cafe website appears to have died a sudden death, so again I’ll pass the buck over to Yelp, where the reviews are always amusing, and should always be taking with a grain of salt, much like mine.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/karma-coffeehouse-los-angeles

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 one is for Celine at havecakewilltravel.com who didn’t enjoy her go with the new Ricera yogurt, which is made from brown rice.

I on the other hand really enjoyed it. I tried the peach variety and paired it up with some strawberries and blueberries. It doesn’t really taste like yogurt, but it’s still got all the good active cultures that a yogurt should have. It’s got a much thicker texture, more like a custard or flan. The flavor was good and did not taste artificial (it’s made from real organic peaches), and was very mild… not overpowering with peachiness. I’ve since also tried the strawberry and I liked that too.

Apparently the company was initially using a non-vegan form of Vitamin D (D3), but after having this brought to their attention, they modified the product to use D2 from non-animal sources instead. From their website: “Ricera is a Vegan product, and contains no casein, dairy, or animal-derived ingredients.” However, the ingredients on their website still list D3, but my guess is they haven’t gotten around to updating their website yet.