Your Vegan Mom

The Vegan Spot

*****The Vegan Spot is closed.  This location now houses Flore Cafe.*****

Last week, in the midst of my aforementioned funk, the stars aligned - Paul came home early, my best gal was available for dinner, and it was one of those perfect golden summer afternoons.  With Paul on kid patrol, I had time for a quick crappy movie before the gal got off work, and she agreed to meet me at the new vegan sandwich shop in Silver Lake.

Now, you know how I feel about a good sandwich right?  It's not as if this has never come up.  So when I say that the apex of vegan sandwich making is being reached right here in our own city, you'll believe me.  Served on big hearty rolls that are crisp on the outside, warm and soft on the inside, and jam- packed with thinly sliced seitan, made in house, and smothered in cashew cheese and grilled onions, the beef and cheddar is one serious sandwich.  And the philly cheese steak may be even better.  I'm going back for the reuben and the turkey dinner sandwich, and I'm awfully anxious to try the nachos and the quesadilla because these vegans can sure make some oozy, melty cheese.

The Vegan Spot has only been open for a couple months so they haven't quite worked out all the kinks: one day the cole slaw was just barely okay, with a very honest domineering cabbage flavor, but on our next visit it was perfect - fresh and crisp, punctuated with finely shredded carrot and nicely dressed. Paul enjoyed the chicken caesar salad; I found it a bit dull. 

But really I feel like I'm looking for something to complain about, because I want you to understand that it's new, it's not completely perfect yet, so get your expectations into the realm of the reasonable and just go.  Have a sandwich.  I'm sure I'll see you there.  I love this place.  

    

The Vegan Spot

3206 W. Sunset Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90026 

(323) 667 - 0116

I am really digging Veggie Grill's big ol' hearty meal salads. As I've mentioned before, the kids meals are pretty great too.

Blue Hen

Last Saturday (after the boy had his first nap in a week) we wearily shut the door on the stacks of boxes, furniture littered with laundry, and general detritus of a tired family, and drove to Eagle Rock to spend the weekend with our best pals.  We ate out for every meal, took strolls, not walks, but lazy occasionally shod strolls.  We made stuff.  The boy slept a lot. We cavalierly stayed up late and talked, and then, the next day?  We all took naps.  Such a great weekend.

I love Eagle Rock.  It has such a homey, old California kind of feel with its wide tree-lined streets and sturdy old bungalows.  And?  There's the food.

All in shoes this time, we sauntered up the street to Blue Hen for dinner on Saturday night.  This cozy little Vietnamese cafe fits in perfectly in this neighborhood.  It's almost like a clean and stylish extension of your own house, with perhaps more of a Vietnamese bent.

The food is good.  It is made with care from quality ingredients.  They use predominately locally grown organic produce.  The simple menu is not all vegan, or even vegetarian for that matter, which makes it a good crowd pleaser for mixed company, but the herbivores have a lot of choices.  The menu is very clearly written, giving you options to sub tofu and vegetarian sauces in most dishes.  I love knowing that my tofu won't be cooked in chicken broth or fish sauce. 

After our sweaty two block stroll, our cool bubbly lime tonics were a welcome refresher and perfect companion to the appetizers.  The spring rolls were nicely done -  stuffed with tofu and rice noodles, shredded carrot and spinach, with a rich, sweet-spicy peanut sauce to dip.  But the crispy, almost mahogany, gloriously deep-fried imperial rolls were special.  They were stuffed with a flavorful blend of tofu and cabbagey sort of vege that is spiced with a blend of warm flavors - star anise, cloves?  They come with lettuce leaves and shredded carrot to snuggle them in before you dip in the light sweet soy broth.

The main dishes come with a scoop of organic brown or jasmine rice and lightly sauteed asian greens with a hint of sesame oil.  Paul and I swapped bites of Mama Luu's Tofu and the Home-style Curry, but I was wishing that I had that first one all to myself.  Along with the rice and greens, it consists of crispy squares of fried tofu drizzled in a slightly sweet sauce loaded with scallions.  The curry was good - spicy, heaped with carrots and potatoes and tofu, but it was no Mama Luu.    

I can tell you nothing of the desserts.  I didn't notice anything calling out to the vegans from the chalk board of daily offerings, but by then the boy was ready for bed and my best pals had watermelon a'chillin' and a front porch meant for sittin'  Man, I missed those guys.  

       

Spiral DIner, Dallas, TX

So we went to Dallas last weekend and got the boy's sleep schedule all jacked up.  The happy result being that it's 7:45 AM, I'm on my second cup of coffee, and the boy's still sleeping.  We'll see how long this lasts, but it's pretty lovely at the moment.  

Even though we were there for a very important graduation, we made time for lunch at Spiral Diner, a trip to the Dallas Farmers Market, and a whirlwind shopping spree through Whole Foods.

Spiral Diner was good.  Apart from the sheer radicalness of being a haven of veganess in the eastern half of Texas, what I appreciated most about the place was the thoughtful kids menu and the brownie.  

Lunch was pretty crazy.  As the boy and his parents were already fairly sleep deprived by this point in the weekend, the meal was more of a frantic juggling act to keep the kid entertained than a leisurely, savor-our- food-and-then-write-about-it kind of repast.  We had a couple good sandwiches, some potato salad that was too heavy on the dill, and brought home a smorgasbord of desserts.  

They were delicious.  By the time we got home, the blueberry pie and strawberry cupcake weren't much to look at, and the chocolate mint cookie milk shake was gone, but the brownie was perfect.  This is the fudgie brownie that I have been trying to make my entire vegan life.  To be honest, I didn't think it was possible.  But the brilliant bakers at Spiral Diner have proved me wrong.  Oh, thank you.

And they're willing to share their secrets with you on June 16th from 7 to 9!  If you're going to be anywhere near Dallas, sign up for their baking class right now because that's really soon.  It's 40 bucks.  They need your money to hold your spot.  I for one, am never putting a toddler in a car again, not even for the perfect brownie, so I won't be there, but maybe you can hook a girl up with a recipe. 

Johnny's Pizza House

My mom is in town from L.A. this week. As we debated where to go for my birthday lunch last Friday, she was saying something along the lines of "Straw Hat Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese! Those were the only places we went to when you guys were little." Which is funny because that is exactly the opposite of how I remember it. I'm sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle and our opposing memories are pretty easy to understand when you visit the neighborhood pizza joint as an adult. That place is awful.

As we approached Johnny's Pizza House, a small child was quickly scaling the pole out front, no doubt high on corn syrup and bleached flour. Entering the restaurant, the first thing I noticed was a preteen dressed as some kind of slightly thread-bare giant stuffed animal strutting her stuff and working the tables. Somehow undaunted, I made my way to the counter and placed our order for a medium bell pepper and onion pizza, no cheese. I was impressed, both by the counter guy's nonplussed acceptance of my order and the fact that it actually came without cheese.

The pizza was fine, not bad even. The crust was not too thick, kind of pleasantly puffy with a crisp exterior. The sauce was slightly over seasoned, but not terribly so, a bit on the sweet and pasty side, but not bad. The peppers and onions worked - as my only non-canned vegetable option, they provided a bit of crunchy freshness to contrast with that pillowy dough and sweet sauce.

I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to eat here, but in the company of the sticky-fingered, tends-to-wail set - which I generally am - I could see (shudder) coming back. Desmond was so in awe of all the running around that he mostly just sat and chilled, which was a fabulous novelty. And as I scooped my little dining companion out of the booth and did my best to clean up the smattering of cracker crumbs left behind on the seat, the floor, the table, I realized just how well we fit in here. It seems that, for at least the next decade or so, this is my kind of place.

Thanks for all you've put up with Mom.