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Akasha is our last stop before jumping on the red-eye to Philly. Erik recommended this place as high-grade organic cuisine. Indeed, what you're seeing were the best sweet potato fries I've ever tried. Perfectly crisp, sweet, and salted. I'm just a bit bummed I picked the wrong item on the menu. The Thai curry noodle tasted nothing like a curry and the tofu was a bit pungent. It was originally listed with salmon and I asked them to veganize it. My mistake. The noodles were very bland, and I learned since salmon is very strong and it's often served with something very light.
The others in our party loved their dinners: the organic turkey burger and market vegetable stack. I wish we weren't in such a mad dash to the airport because they also offered a few vegan desserts. Next time...
I miss you already L.A.!
We're looking for birthday sweets one late evening and returned to RFD in Santa Monica to see what else is available. It's slim pickings before closing time, but we found happiness with the Fauxstess Cupcake and Brownie Bowl.
The Fauxstess looked like the real thing. Pretty good imitation. My only reservations was that the cake was a bit dry and there wasn't much cream to be found. Again, maybe if we had one freshly prepared...
I loved the Brownie Bowl. I had no idea the scoops of ice cream would be so gigantic. We tried the carrot cake (recommended by waiter) which was weird and definitely didn't go with the brownie. It was sort of spicy and the consistency of the ice cream (made from rice and hemp milk) was grainy. The other ice cream flavor was mint chocolate chip which was excellent. It was refreshingly minty and creamy. We also ordered a scoop of chocolate ice cream, but it was left out. Seeing how large the scoops were, we're glad they did.
The brownie was perfectly moist and fudgy and I would say made the Brownie Bowl the best vegan dessert we had in L.A.
My favorite Mexican food joint of all time is...<drum roll>...Taco Loco! Laguna Beach has plenty of vegetarian options, but hangs you dry when you're vegan. Taco Loco saves the day with their scrumptious blackened tofu and mushroom tacos, burgers, and salads. (They offer lots of fresh seafood as well.)
For $2.50, I ordered a blackened portabella soft taco with blue corn tortilla, a heaping mound of fresh guacamole and spicy sauce. I don't know how they make it, but it's cheap and good.
The salad you see is a half-order at $5.50. Over a bed of tortilla chips are layers of crispy romaine and blackened cubes of grilled tofu and mushroom. Again, topped with generous amounts of gauc and spicy sauce.
Fresh, light, healthy and fills my tummy. I could eat this stuff every day and never get bored.
I haven't seen my freshman year roomie, Gretchen, in years. I love reuniting with Smithies because 1) they don't age (!) 2) we always pick up where we left off and 3) they're like the sisters I never had.
Gretchen has been living in LA since we graduated from Smith and she is a walking, breathing embodiment of being healthy. She likes to dine on salads for dinner and that's what you see here from the M Cafe de Chaya.
M Cafe is a macrobiotic place that is mostly vegan with a few seafood options. I wasn't feeling terribly hungry this evening, so I went for a small plate of organic brown rice sushi which was excellent, but expensive. One is topped with hijiki seaweed (a bit too fishy for me), the other has marinated shiitake which I loved, and the rolls are made with avocado and more shiitake. The sushi was delish, but at $2.50 per piece...yikes! We're talking vegan here.
For dessert we went for the most appetizing options which were the Tiramisu and chocolate layered fudge cake. The Tiramisu was pretty damn close, but the cake was crumbly and failed to melt in your mouth like the real thing. The creamy portion tasted a bit too much like soy milk and left more to be desired. The creamy filling and frosting of the chocolate cake was right on. Nothing vegan about it, but the cake was a bit dry. Maybe if it was eaten the day it was prepared it would've tasted fresher.
Overall, this place had a great menu, but what you end up getting for the price leaves you feeling hungry and broke.
I couldn't wait to hit up Real Food Daily, also remembered as my favorite veg spot in Los Angeles. It's been several years since I've visited, and my have things changed.
First, the prices have noticeably gone up. I remembered this place being under $10 a plate, but now most everything is above. Secondly, the food isn't as satisfying or amazing as remembered. Maybe my tastes have changed...
What you see here is the THE CLUB TRIPLE DECKER sandwich made with a seitan chicken cutlet, tempeh bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato on sourdough. The seitan tasted like bland nothingness and didn't add much to the sandwich. The tempeh bacon was made in-house, so it tasted much better than Fakin' Bacon and more like a lightly baked chip. I would've preferred a whole-grain bread over sourdough. Overall the sandwich was unsatisfying, and this used to be my favorite item on the menu. Shockingly, the salad was more filling than the sandwich. You know how I don't care for salads, but the peanut dressing was ever so light and creamy. I wish I could replicate the dressing at home. Price: $13.75
The other plate we ordered was the BASIC FOUR where you choose a protein, grain and vegetables. We went for grilled tofu, a quinoa and millet combo, and collard greens and a mixture of the veg of the day (butternut squash, brussel sprouts, etc.) This tasted as boring as it sounds. The grilled tofu had no seasoning and the vegetables were simply steamed or broiled. I suppose that's what the dressing is for, we chose the wasabi vinaigrette which wasn't enough to salvage the above. Price: $11.95
Last, but not least was dessert. We tried the three best on the menu: layered chocolate fudge cake, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie. All desserts are sweetened with maple syrup, and baked with whole wheat or unbleached white flour.
The chocolate layered cake tasted like the real thing. You could not tell it was vegan. The cake was fluffy and moist and the cream and chocolate ganache were perfectly rich and sweet. But, for $7.95 I won't be ordering that again.
The pecan pie was the table's favorite, but I couldn't tell what the mushy filling was made of so it was slightly off-putting. Price: $4.50
The pumpkin pie was most disppointing; it was overtly spicy (too much ginger) and the crust was bland. Price: $4.50
Despite the mediocre fare and high prices, the place was packed on a Monday afternoon.
After attending our friend's debaucherous wedding in Acapulco, I was looking forward to a good vegan meal in the City of Angels. Our gracious host, Erik, picks me up in his Prius and whisks me away to Merkato. I've had Ethiopian in D.C. and West Philly before and neither made me want to return for seconds, but this place was different.
We grabbed the spongy Teff and started scooping up the deliciousness. For a trio of vegans, this 20"+ platter was good and plenty. What you see remaining are collard greens, red lentils, ground chickpeas, cabbage with potatoes and carrots, and tomato salad. Merkato changed my feelings about Ethiopian fare. Each of these dishes had a distinct flavor, and the bread was slightly sweet which balanced the curries well. For the first time, everything didn't taste like pungent vinegar.
Thanks for changing my mind about Ethiopian, Merkato!
