As I continue to fine tune this site, I would like to draw your attention to a couple of features that I've recently added. If you scroll down on the bottom right, you'll find a little box to help you search both the content of this site and also all the sites on my blogroll as well as the sites on their blogrolls. Barbara Jo, I imagine you could find quinoa recipes to your heart's content here. The vegans, they'll eat the quinoa. Once you get a chance to use this new search widget, let me know what you think of it.
Also, there's a list of vegan-friendly restaurants in Los Angeles down there on the right as well. If you run the cursor over the name of the establishment you'll find some basic information: how I rate it, whether it's vegan or vegetarian or vegan-friendly, its address and phone number. If you click on the name you'll be redirected to either my mention of the restaurant on this site or if I have yet to write about it, then some other website where you'll get more information.
Now let's discuss my rating system. I had this huge rubric based on 6 different factors to help me give you an objective picture of local restaurants. But I have at least temporarily abandoned that systematic approach in the name of timeliness. I just wanted to get this list up there. So for now anyway, you get my incredibly subjective ratings. They mean something like this:
*****This place is outstanding in every way.
****I love this place.
***I like it.
**I don't like it.
*I really, really don't like it.
As you can imagine, you won't be seeing many 5s, and you really won't be seeing many 1s or 2s either. If it's someplace I REALLY don't like, I'll probably just leave it off the list. However, there are some vegetarian establishments that I don't feel I can ignore and get points just for being vegetarian, but just, unfortunately, aren't good. Orean in Pasadena comes to mind. Remember, I said this is incredibly subjective. Though I AM right, you're welcome to disagree. On the topic of Orean, apart from simply finding the food incredibly disappointing in the all-important deliciousness category, Hot Knives recently published an expose on the ingredients in their supposed vegan hot dogs. This is why you will see any restaurant that relies on pre-packaged fake meat products listed as vegetarian as opposed to vegan. It seems there is constantly an internet piece blowing the lid off some proclaimed vegan establishment whose fake chicken contains egg whites or whose soy cheese contains casein. (A quick side note on soy cheese: if it melts in that stringy kind of way, yes it is too good to be true, if it melts in that nacho cheese sauce kind of way, it's vegan...will somebody, please, come up with a fabulous cheese alternative? P.S. I haven't tried Sheese. Better than FYH? For now I'm sticking with Avocado when I want something rich in my sandwich, don't try it in mac n' cheese though.)
Back to the subject at hand, my opinion is based on the aforementioned deliciousness factor, the comfort of the establishment, the helpfulness of the staff, the vegan-friendliness, the affordability, and the uniqueness of the restaurant. Any questions?
