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

I had been hearing about the great vegetarian Mexican food being served at Cinnamon in Highland Park for a while now, so I figured it was high time to gather up some of my homegirls and go check it out for ourselves. I’d read some mixed reviews and none of us had been there before, so we really didn’t know what to expect. I’m so glad we took this adventure upon ourselves because the food was fantastic.

For starters I had the “Jumping Shrimp Cocktail”, the shrimp of course was made of soy. Loved it. I’ve got a thing for the texture that this type of firm and chewy soy shrimp has, and there were both whole pieces and smaller chunks mixed in with the yummy cocktail sauce. It doesn’t taste fishy, or even really much like shrimp, but that’s probably a good thing. The sauce was both sweet & spicy, accented with lime & cilantro. You could tell it had just been made fresh.

You’ll notice in the background there that I also got a soymilk horchata, a traditional milk and cinnamon drink that one doesn’t often (ever?) find vegan. It was heavenly, and it took all I had to resist ordering another after finishing the first.

For my main dish I had to try the vegetarian “Chicken Mole” as it’s one of their specialties. This came in the form of delicious little fake drumsticks that had been cooked in their incredible mole sauce. I must admit this was my first time ever tasting mole so I have nothing to compare it to, but I thought this was outstanding. The flavor was slightly smoky but also rather sweet and heavy on the cinnamon. My friends tried it and mentioned that the cinnamon and sweetness was a bit overpowering, but I really liked it just as it was. The dish came served with rice and beans, both of which were very good, and pleasantly lard free.

The food was delicious all around. Even the salsa that came with the corn chips to start us off was lovely. The place was clean, the food came fast and the service was friendly. The one issue we did have was that our waiter (who I think is one of the owners) didn’t understand the difference between vegetarian and vegan. The menu and website state that they are “vegan-friendly”, however the menu doesn’t specify whether the meat and cheese substitutes are vegan or only vegetarian, and no one working there seemed to know, or understand the question. It was frustrating for us to try to explain what the difference was to him between vegan and vegetarian, he was unfamiliar with the words casein and whey. I feel that if you’ve got the word “vegan” printed on your menu, everyone who works there should know what it means, and should know about the basic ingredients in the food being served. Imagine going to a kosher restaurant but neither the wait staff or the cook knows for sure if the food had been prepared kosher or not. That said, waiter/owner man was very sweet and attempted to be accommodating, but the whole vegan vs. vegetarian thing is a matter that they’re going to have to iron out if they want the strict vegans to embrace them en masse.

That said, if you’re a vegetarian who’s willing to turn a blind eye to a little bit of mystery surrounding the nature of your soylent green once in a while, allow me to recommend a visit to Highland Park for some fine, traditional Mexican food at Cinnamon. For that matter, bring your meat eating friends with you as the food here is so good that anyone should be able to find something they’ll enjoy regardless of their dietary inclinations. Other menu items include vegetarian steak fajitas, soy chorizo with potatoes, flautas, tamales, carnitas… and I count 8 salads on the menu (including exotic delicacies like cactus and hearts of palm), breakfast and fresh squeezed juices… something for everyone. Go hungry, leave full and happy!

These are the vegan “shrimp & chicken” rolls at Vinh Loi Tofu. I’m not sure what exactly is in the dipping sauce, but I can tell you it’s damn good (especially when mixed with the chili paste!), as are the rolls of course. Along with the fake meaty bits, they are stuffed full of rice noodles, cilantro and other green leafy veggies.

This will be my last post for a few days as I’m heading back up north to the Bay Area for the holiday weekend. Rest assured there will be plenty of fantastic food from the exotic lands of Oakland and San Francisco to share with you upon my return. Have a great Memorial Day and long weekend!

Took a friend from out of town to check out the Thai food goodness at Vegan Plate.

I had the mint leaves with the soy-shrimp. “Stir-fried mint leaves, fresh chili, garlic, onion and bell peppers”… so good. I think it was in a light soy-sauce base, tasty and not too salty (as soy-saucy things tend to be). You’re probably thinking: “But Foodeater, we thought you hated onions!”. Too true observant reader… yet as any true onion hater will tell you, we actually prefer large chunks of onions in our food like these seen here… they’re much easier to eat around or pick out when they’re big like this, rather than when they are small and sneaky. I do enjoy the flavor that cooked onions offer to a dish, it’s the actual onion itself I cannot abide. Big pieces like this make my job easy.

My buddy ordered the orange flavored soy-chicken. I generally don’t take pictures of what other people are eating, but not only was this totally beautiful and deserving of a photo, but I also tried some of it, therefore deeming it worthy of a spot on my blog. I wouldn’t dare order a giant plate of fried stuff like this for myself, but boy was I ready to encourage my friend to order it so that I could get a taste!

The batter was super crispy and sweet, reminding me of a donut or funnel cakes… made even sweeter by the syrupy, almost candy like sauce. Sounds kind of weird huh, all that sweetness paired with the meaty flavor of fake chicken… but man alive, did it ever work! This was the tastiest orange chicken I’ve ever had by far, vegetarian or otherwise, not to mention the prettiest.

Shirataki noodles are made from konnyaku root and tofu. They have little to no calories, carbs, sodium or cholesterol. Unfortunately they don’t have much flavor either and the consistency was a bit rubbery. Can’t say that I loved them. The fake shrimp on the other hand is really good… you wouldn’t be fooled into thinking they’re real, but they do make a tasty substitute. I put it all together with steamed broccoli and the sweet chili sauce that came packaged with the shrimp.