Vegan turnovers from Mäni’s on Fairfax….Kinda into these right now….
Except they need to be grazed on throughout the day unless you want to feel like a lead belly.
Go for mixed berry or tropical. Apple you’ll get sick of faster than a heartbroken houseguest.
Adventures with Andrew continued…
After our failed mission to eat our ways through the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market, we went to Huckleberry to pick up some brunch.
Huckleberry is a cafe and bakery in Santa Monica started by husband and wife team Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan (who you might recognize as owners of Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen).
Incidentally, Josh is also the big brother of Gabe, who I accompanied to prom in 11th grade.
Gabe still wrongly accuses me of making out with another guy that night. Good thing he doesn’t read my blog cause um….
here’s prom night:
Really good iced coffee and a latte:
We waited outside for our food and Andrew told me I’m very photogenic. Then he told me that means I present better on camera. Nice.
They now serve beer, wine and mimosas, automatically propelling them into a world of greatness.
They also have a bowl of MY HEAD in the deli case:
We didn’t eat there, even though the place had that perfect Sunday brunch energy–bright and airy with poached egg deliciousness floating around.
When we got out to Andrew’s car, look what was hanging on the mirror of the car parked next to his:
I didn’t even realize it was missing, but I thought it was pretty fucking miraculous I should find it given this story.
We took our food back to his place so we could watch the Lakers fight really hard to lose to the Magic.
Andrew ordered the green eggs and ham:
No, not that one. The one with La Quercia prosciutto, pesto and arugula on an English muffin:
I had the quinoa with spinach, sprouting broccoli and sunny side up eggs, minus the eggs:
Delicious.
They were also super accommodating about removing the eggs and even asked if I wanted other veggies added in to my meal when I told them I was vegan.
Good thing Andrew and I weren’t planning on making out during halftime:
A bold use of garlic, sure, but I can’t say it didn’t make my quinoa taste better than your less garlicky quinoa.
I want to go back and explore the deli case. And I also want to find out who I probably made out with at Gabe’s 11th grade prom. Call the 800 hotline if you have any hot tips.
Sunday was very fruitful. I had plans with Andrew to hit up two westside farmers’ markets to compare their offerings–a showdown of west LA breakfast foods, flowers, juices, and other shit.
Also Andrew heard a rumor there’s a man on the Promenade who will make a bust of you, so naturally we were also planning on doing that.
First we hit up the MarVista Farmers’ Market off of Venice. Good thing we found it despite this misleading sign:
Andrew knew all the vendors cause I’m pretty sure they’re used to him stealing all the cheese sandwiches and housing all the pastries. This gem of a man overheard Andrew praising the muffins and hollered out, “You know ’bout my muffin!”
Andrew? Is this true? Do you know about this man’s muffin?? Do tell.
We started trolling the market for breakfast.
First stop, fresh squeezed OJ.
We bumped into a couple of Andrew’s friends and I bullied them into letting me photograph their veggie and beef/olive empanadas from this place:
We found a vegan vendor who sold things like mac ‘n’ cheese and lasagna but I was more in the mood for a breakfast burrito or something to that effect. Andrew didn’t shy away from sampling the food that was out, much like the food didn’t shy away from not moving itself out of the cup that housed it. Get in the hole, food! Are you too good for your hole?!
Then, while Andrew was stealing samples, I wandered over to these Oaxacans to get some horchata. They had a bunch of other mystical agua frescas that I probably should have tried in the interest of diversity.
Around this time I overheard a mom say to her son, “you need to open up your mouth and put some respect in it.” I don’t know if that’s the new, “I’m gonna wash your mouth out with soap,” but someone needs to tell mommy she sounds like Lil’ Kim.
Next Andrew got some french toast that confusingly looked more like French pancake, but whatevs…
In the interest of fairness in reporting, they only charged him $5 since apparently this was smaller than their normal French toast.
At this point I had some oj, some horchata and a bite of vegan salad in my tummy and I was trying not to act mad about how hungry I was in front of Andrew who is conveniently not vegan and can sample cheese long into the night. Ew.
On to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. You know, the one that’s on Saturdays.
whoops.
So….no showdown this time. Instead we headed to Huckleberry to grab some lunch.
I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow since I’m pretty sure this post combined with the cucumber pic below is enough stimulation for one day.
Yesterday Diana, Sarah, Sook and I lurked at Tavern all afternoon to celebrate Sook’s belated birthday.
We sat inside under a giant skylight. Or was it outside under a giant canopy? Who’s to say?
Either way, apparently some people thought it was really bright in there.
By the way, I was kidding, we were definitely inside and there’s no excuse for wearing your glasses inside at brunch unless your name starts with J. and ends with Lo, in which case it’s still unacceptable, but at least sort of expected.
Service was relaxed but professional. By relaxed I mean slow. Although it’s that kind of place and I’m glad they didn’t rush us. I might have been more glad if I could’ve eaten something else off the menu besides four leaf clovers, but that’s my own fault, isn’t it.
Bread for the table, served with salt and butter:
Diana ordered monkey bread, too. Why do they call it that? Do monkeys like cinnamon?
My salad had fennel, citrus, and green olives. It was perfect. For about 5 minutes. Until I wanted to stab myself in the eye out of hunger. Stupid veganism.
Sarah had the wild mushroom frittata with spinach and, what–goat cheese? Came with potatoes that needed salt.
Diana had the Tavern “benedict” with prosciutto and lemon.
Sook had the smoked fish with toasted rye and what the website says is goat cheese, but what she reported to be whipped cream cheese. I trust our soldier on the front lines.
At this point in the meal, fuck, it started getting really bright. I mean, just look at the ceiling:
According to Sook there is a saying in Korean that says something like, if you make fun of something you will turn into it.
Koreans are a wise people:
After I sexually harassed a teenager baking bread in the front on my way to feed the meter, I reported back to the table that I had scared him with my come hither look. I guess sometimes we don’t look as cute as we think we do. Diana called this my “come hither or I’ll kill you” look. Note to self, adjust friendliness in facial expressions before my next attempt at harassment.
Diana’s come hither look involves props:
Sook’s look is all about not looking:
Sarah’s look was arguably the only one that would attract, not repel, the opposite sex:
For dessert, creamsicle coupe? Seriously, Tavern, update your website. You’re making me look bad.
Sook couldn’t keep her fingers outta this picture if her life depended on it. Fortunately it didn’t, plus it was her birthday so I let her slide.
Great brunch, beautiful spot, silly friends. See you dudes in less than a week, unless you haven’t forgiven me for the come hither part of this post, in which case I’ll just have to use my seductive facial expressions to woo you back. Don’t let it come to that.
Let’s play a game where we name the top three restaurants I visit most. If your lineup looks like this:
1.) M Cafe
2.) M Cafe
3.) M Cafe
or some variation thereof, you win. Your prize is not redeemable in the state where you live.
Last Friday I had the pleasure of joining some of my favorite food homies (Sook and Sarah) and Vanessa from Wagstaff at M Cafe Culver City to talk, eat, and allow me the chance to prove I’ve already eaten everything on the menu.
What’s the big occasion?
We convened to discuss the Beverly Hills location launch of Little M.
Think about it–what’s your one gripe with M Cafe? It’s definitely not the food. It can’t be. But isn’t it just a smidge expensive sometimes?
Well M Cafe in Beverly Hills is debuting a new menu, not so different from the other two locations in terms of food options, but certainly more affordable and great for picking up food on the go.
We started off with some seasonal side salads, including lentils with radicchio, maple roasted veggies, and celery root remoulade.
We also had a variety of sushi (I stuck with the shitake avocado roll) –including spicy tuna, spicy shrimp, and fresh salmon.
Sushi and I had a showdown and I won:
Kinda scary, huh.
Some of the main courses we had:
The Gado Gado Salad–at Melrose it costs $11.45. In BH it’s $10.00
The Big Macro Burger–Melrose: $11.45. BH-$9.75 Both with one choice of side salad.
The Seitan Katsu Bowl, the Teriyaki Bowl with Black Cod and the Bi-Bim Bop (There is some variation of these bowls on the BH menu that runs a few bucks cheaper, especially if you get it sans fish):
The Panino Tuscano:
They have some different sandwich options in Beverly Hills–in general they run under $10 in price, whereas they are closer to $12 at the other locations.
BH also has some a la carte options (amen!) like BBQ Tempeh or Seared Tuna Tataki.
Sook is a hoarder and half way through the meal we discovered she was hanging on to more silverware than was really necessary:
Her bad behavior was rewarded like so:
and particularly like so:
Chocolate cake was a big, moist hit. Sarah hates the word “moist,” which is why I awkwardly injected it into that last sentence–because making your friends uncomfortable is funny.
You know what else is funny?
That after boxing the next morning with my friend Joy I ended up right back at the Melrose location for brekkie. There’s no shame in my game.
Scrambled tofu with tempeh bacon and sweet potato hash with grilled country bread:
Post-boxing knuckle sandwich:
Best blueberry pancakes with organic maple syrup and soy butter with tempeh bacon:
Both of those breakfast dishes are under $10 and were a good way to start the day.
If you are not familiar with macrobiotic cuisine, get with the program, specifically M Cafe’s program. It’s about energy and balance in your food and it makes you feel good when you eat it. Why else would I eat there every day? Besides the fact that it’s basically my office now.
I’m starting this year off right, with the new camera my sister gave me for Christmas. Finally you might be able to see all the tofu you hate me for eating. Here’s a recap of this year so far:
After apparently looking possessed on New Years Eve
Joanna, Brent, and Brent’s brother Bryan invited me to the Laker game.
Bryan went to the game dressed like this:
Once he took his fur snuggie off, he was able maneuver his way to the fridge and leave a path of beverage destruction:
Speaking of path of destruction, it’s funny when the Lakers trick another team into thinking they might win and then steal all the glory in the last 3 seconds. Kobe, you silly!
The next morning my sister and I had breakfast at Newsroom on Robertson, where it took all my willpower not to order my favorite grilled veggie salad at 9am.
She had 4 pancakes disguised as one:
very sneaky:
I had Monja’s tofu scramble with spinach, caramelized onions, and broken vegan sausage bits:
For vegans, I like their lunch options better than their breakfast ones. Mine was really good, but I wasn’t that excited about ordering it.
It left me full until dinner time, which again, I spent with my sister. Duh.
Michelle, Tracy and I went to the Umami Burger at Space 1520 in Hollywood…
I wish I had tried this before I went vegan. Because if you order a veggie burger here it’s just not the same.
Tracy’s Umami Burger doesn’t look that exciting thanks to me not making him cut it in half. But he swears it’s the best burger he’s ever had.
I got a veggie burger, no bun, since the bun isn’t vegan.
My sister did too. She was pissed when it came and it was a basically a mushroom shaped like you know what. Until she ate it and realized it was actually a really good mushroom.
Good thing we also ordered a market salad with almonds and beets that look deceivingly like ahi tuna, onion rings and sweet potato french fries:
The sweet potato fries tasted like tiny, southern, cinnamon-y churros. The onion rings were the mushroom’s redemption song in my sister’s heart and mind.
After dinner we geared up to watch The Story of the US invasion of Iraq Avatar.
I’m not gonna lie, I liked it. But not as much as I love the cinematic spectacle that is my neighbor’s house:
Happy New Year y’all.
I’ve had a few requests for the pumpkin bread recipe that my mom used on Thanksgiving.
The recipe actually comes from The Monastery of the Angels here in Hollywood. You can buy it there for $9 a loaf, but that seems ungodly (forgive me), so here’s the recipe:
You will need these Ingredients:
3 1/2 Cups Flour
3 Cups Sugar
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1 1/2 Teaspoons Salt
4 eggs
1 Cup oil
2/3 Cup water
2 cups pumpkin, cooked & mashed or
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
(1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
walnut halves, for decoration) –we left these out.
You will need to do these steps:
1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.) In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
3.) combine eggs, oil, water, and pumpkin and mix well.
4.) Stir wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
5.) Add chopped walnuts. (optional)
6.) Turn into three greased 8 X 4-inch loaf pans.
7.) Top with a few walnut halves. (optional).
8.) Bake for one hour or until a wood pick inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean.
9.) Cool before removing from the pans.
10.) Eat that shit yo.
P.S. I just realized my mom told me it was vegan but she totally lied. Vegans don’t eat eggs, mom.
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I’m used to eating skillety eggs and omelettes and turkey bacon and real bacon and scrambles and turkey sausage and regular sausage and so on for breakfast…then what am I supposed to eat now that I don’t eat meat? or eggs? (if you are bored to death with my new eating habits, don’t run away just yet. it’ll all be over in 9 days).
I usually eat some variation of this granola, acai, soy milk, berry situation:
Newsroom on Robertson:
Lulu’s on Beverly:
tofu scramble with veggie sausage to mix it up:
and a giant unacceptable pile of acai on top of granola at Mani’s that rendered me unable to eat another meal for an entire day. That does not normally happen in my world.
you hate me? i’m boring?
as Dawn Penn once said–you don’t love me and I know now.