Plant-Based Eating LA Style #2

Hi guys! If you read yesterday’s post on Plant-Based Eating LA Style then you know I got to check out lots of delicious plant-based restaurants in the LA area. The food was incredible and I was so happy to have so many plant-based options. Here’s the rest of my LA plant-based food tour:

On night two in LA my dad and I checked out Cafe Gratitude in Venice. Cafe Gratitude is 100% plant-based. The restaurant has a nice little tradition where every night they propose a question for their guests to discuss over dinner. Our question was, “How do you serve your community?” I thought it was a cute concept and I enjoyed discussing our answers!

We started off with an appetizer of guacamole with housemade flaxseed crackers and buckwheat crackers. The flaxseed crackers were so delicious! I wish I knew what was in them. Who knew flaxseed crackers could be so good?

Then we had this delicious vegan caesar salad called the “dazzling” on their menu. All the menu items at Cafe Gratitude have cool names like the satisfied, the bonita, the gentle, the cozy, the comforted, etc. They all describe how the food makes you feel 🙂 ! The salad came with avocado, Brazil nut parmesan and capers tossed with vegan caesar dressing. Both my dad and I were big fans of this salad.

For my entrée I ordered Cafe Gratitude’s macro bowl. My friend Ali turned me onto macro bowls last time I was in NYC. Who would have known that the combination of such simple foods could taste SO good. This macro bowl had sea vegetables, braised garnet yams, adzuki beans, sautéed kale, housemade kimchi, sea whip, black sesame seed gomasio, brown rice, quinoa and garlic-tahini sauce.

The next day for breakfast we stopped at Le Pain Quotidien in Brentwood. LPQ is one of my favorite spots when I’m in NYC (they have tons of locations there too), so I knew I would get a great meal at their west coast locations as well. The food is healthy, organic and they have lots of plant-based options. I started off with an iced tea. Iced teas are my favorite summer drink and I miss them in the winter (it’s way too cold to order them where I am!). I was happy to have my first iced tea in months.

I ordered the organic omega-3 berry boost oatmeal. It’s made with steel cut oats, mixed berries, flaxseed oil and whole flaxseeds. It was so so so good! My new favorite breakfast dish. Can’t wait to have it again next time I’m by an LPQ.

In Beverly Hills we checked out Sprinkles Cupcakes. Sprinkles Cupcakes have been my favorite cupcakes for years. When I went to grad school in Chicago I had Sprinkles way too much! And then when they got their Cupcake ATM and I had access to cupcakes 24/7 I really had a problem. 😉 So I was beyond thrilled a few months ago when I heard Sprinkles will now be making vegan cupcakes. The people working at the Beverly Hills store were so nice and so helpful! They both told me that they themselves aren’t vegan but that the vegan red velvet cupcake is their absolute favorite cupcake at Sprinkles! The icing is made with coconut milk instead of dairy milk and I think that is part of why it is so delicious. Just has a slight coconut flavor. It was divine!

We also checked out Real Food Daily in Santa Monica. Another 100% plant-based restaurant. I loved their kale ‘n’ cuke lemonade!

My dad and I split these delicious nachos aka “not-chos.” They are made with melted cashew cheese, black beans, pico de gallo, tofu sour cream and guacamole.

Finally for out last meal we checked out Veggie Grill. Veggie Grill is an organic health food chain restaurant on the west coast. It is also 100% plant-based. Can you believe there were so many completely plant-based restaurants??? I had a vegan caesar with a side of vegan mac-n-cheese which is made with quinoa pasta, cashew cheese sauce and bread crumbs. The mac-n-cheese was killer! I loved it!

We also tried the sweet potato fries that come with a chipotle ranch dipping sauce and the buffalo chickin’ wrap. The “chickin” was made of organic non-GMO soybeans, wheat and peas. Even my dad agreed they tasted exactly like chicken! We were very impressed.

Well now that I finished writing this I’m famished! Wish I had access to these places right now. If you guys are in the LA area check out these fab restaurants!

xo,

Tedi