Quick story. On a particularly trying evening I needed my vegan ice cream fix and needed it bad. Problem? It was 10 pm and the Studio City location of Kind Kreme was closed. This specific evening was so trying in fact that any store-bought vegan variety would not do. No, Kind Kreme had to happen and I was willing to go to any lengths to get it. In this case any lengths meant driving 45 minutes to the Echo Park location to arrive  just before closing (10:55 what what) and ordering a 3 scoop raw vegan brownie sundae for one. Let’s just say it was an all time low. Anyways, the point of this story is to let you all know how I discovered Sage Organic Vegan Bistro. Sage shares a space with Kind Kreme, and is a relatively new addition to the more upscale vegan restaurants that have been popping up all over LA. When I realized there was a vegan restaurant inside the Kind Kreme I knew I had to come back to indulge double time. This weekend I finally made it back to Echo Park so I could get my Sage AND Kind Kreme fix all in the same night. Clearly, I showed up earlier than 11 this go around.

Sage Organic Vegan Bistro

1700 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Hours: Mon-Wed 11 am – 10 pm, Thu-Fri 11 am – 11 pm, Sat-Sun 9 am – 4 pm, Sat 5 pm – 11 pm, Sun 5 pm – 10 pm

This bi-level Echo Park eatery is located on an otherwise unexciting block of Sunset. This past Saturday night Sage was popping – my dinner guest and I put our names down and we waited about 15 minutes before we were seated. Not bad for no rezzies on a Saturday night, but for some reason I wasn’t expecting it to be quite as crowded as it was.

Sage, like so many vegan restaurants I have been to lately, is BYOB. So take note if you want to accompany your meal with a bottle.

We were seated upstairs which seemed awesome before we actually sat down – a birds eye view of the restaurant is great right? Wrong – because within 10 minutes we were sweating our faces off to such an intense degree I was using the menu as a fan. Maybe it was the huge party of 20 upstairs next to us or maybe it was the heat of the overwhelmingly bright lights, but mopping up sweat from your face whilst trying to enjoy a meal is not a good look.

View from upstairs - pre shvitz fest '11

The service was pretty bad too. Granted it was super busy, but our waiter constantly forgot about us and at times was even dismissive. Dislike.

Despite profusely sweating and having to practically beg to be waited on, my hopes were high as I have heard amazing things about Sage’s creative and massive menu.  When we finally ordered (which wasn’t even from our waiter mind you, the owner/manager came by and she ended up taking our orders when we commented how good another table’s food looked) we were ravenous.

We started with the Succotash Fritters with Heirloom Fried Tomatoes, which our waiter highly recommended. It sounded so unique and anything fried is obviously delicious, so I was automatically on board.

Succotash fritters and fried heirloom tomato over red pepper remoulade, maple syrup and pistachio chutney

Spoiler alert: this was by far and away my favorite dish of the night. The fritter was crispy and hearty, the fried tomato was obviously insane and the pistachio topping was to die for. The full bite tasted like fried bacon – don’t know why but it was a really really good thing, promsies. 100% must order. So inventive, so flavorful and I ate every last bite. Yum.

For our second app we ordered Sage’s unique take on tater tots.

Handmade zucchini and sweet potato tater tots with chipotle ketchup

Liked these tots. Not as blow your mind amazing as the previous app, but pretty good. Not sure I would order them again in favor of trying some of their other mouthwateringly described starters.

Next up we ordered two entrees to share. The Soul Bowl and the Jack Daniels BBQ Jackfruit. One was pretty good and one was a straight up disaster.

Soul Bowl - roasted sweet potato, black beans, okra, baby corn, garlic polenta, horseradish and deep fried mac and cheese with pickled jalapeño cabbage

The soul bowl was a winner. I loved the sauce it came with and there were a couple amazing components to the dish. First let’s talk about the fried mac n cheese ball in this bowl of joy. Holly deep-fried crispy ball of heaven. This was BANANAS. If I was feeling like a fat kid I would order a full dish of nothing but these balls and be on cloud nine. It was unbelievably amazing. The garlic polenta with horseradish was also super duper yummy. Not so shocking the carbiest things in the bowl were my fav. The rest of the dish was simple but good: steamed veggies and quinoa. I would order this again as it was filling and perfectly balanced between healthy and indulgent. Recommend.

The Jackfruit Sandwich was the meal’s low.

Jack Daniels Barbeque Jackfruit - marinated jackfruit, caramelized onion, baby arugula, garlic aioli, served open-faced and covered in homemade spicy barbecue sauce

The sauce tasted like  sauce. It tasted absolutely nothing like bbq sauce and was way too sweet. The jackfruit was bland and the side salad was barely dressed. Not one thing on the plate was even okay. Huge thumbs down. So huge in fact we were forcing ourselves to take bites when I suggested we send it back. I’m not a huge fan of sending things back I don’t care for but why should we force ourselves to eat something we hated when we enjoyed all of the other dishes. When we asked the waiter if we could return the dish he gave us so much tude I was shocked. I’ve worked at several restaurants before and I know it’s really no inconvenience to the waiter to send back food whatsoever, so I was pretty off put by his aggravated air. He clearly didn’t apologize for the dishes lack of yumminess either. Rude.

We decided to order the brussel sprout appetizer to share since we weren’t crazy hungry at this point but wanted to get one more thing to try.

Brussel sprouts, summer squash and tempeh bacon sautéed in garlic sage butter

This app also came highly recommended by our waiter, but sadly it was just okay. The entire dish tasted so strongly of mustard any other possible flavor notes were overpowered. Meh, it was okay. I wouldn’t get it again though.

Even though post dinner we were stuffed we had to get some Kind Kreme since it was right in front of our faces. Sadly, unlike the Studio City location, this Kind Kreme has no soft-serve machine. Their flavors were also lacking – zero salted caramel, superfoods or any other note worthy flavors I usually get inappropriately excited over.

We settled on a scop of chocolate and a scoop of mocha latte.

Chocolate and Mocah Latte Ice Kreme

Love Kind Kreme but these were not my favorite flavors. I liked the latte better than the boring old chocolate so I guess that’s good. Maybe I was just in a bad mood at this point…

I have to say I was pretty disappointed with my Sage dining experience. I was expecting BIG things and it delivered only a little. If all the dishes on the menu were as good as the succotash app then I would be singing a different tune, but from the impossibly hot table, the rude waiter and the mediocrity of most dishes, Sage left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I would give it another go to try other menu items, just not on a crowded Saturday night. Hope this Kind Kreme stocks up with some better flavors too. Next time….

xoxo

Your Vegan Girlfriend

I’ve been going to Leaf for years. It’s fast, it’s decent and it’s right by my house, so when I don’t feel like cooking/prepping and I want to enjoy a meal-sized salad and/or app I head over to this little vegan and mostly raw restaurant on the Westside. Leaf used to be an all raw restaurant and I loved hitting it up for weird croquette creations over enormous salads, such as their Bombay Burrito. They shuttered for a while but reopened not to long ago, this time serving both raw and cooked items. Nowadays Leaf is okay. It’s good sometimes even, but consistently nothing to write home about. Not the standard of food that I get supah excited about. Despite not loving it there, last week my family and I decided to give it another try. Here’s what went down…

Leaf Organics

11938 W Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066

Hours: Mon-Sun 10 am – 9 pm

Leaf isn’t huge on ambiance. You order at the counter and the waiter/waitress brings you your food. You even self-serve your own water, napkins, and utensils. The staff that takes your order tends to me hit or miss as well. Sometimes super friendly and knowledgable and sometimes seem like you are inconveniencing them, super tudey or worse yet don’t really speak English (thank god that Russian weirdo is gone).

The space is small and if there is more than one customer at a table it can get really loud. This past visit the waitress actually spent a good 20 minutes chatting it up with the dude eating next to us about her struggles as a performance artist and how talented she is. I wanted to slit my wrists. Especially since during her gab fest she failed to notice that my salad was sitting at the counter ready to be served for a good 5 plus minutes. Ugh.

The rawk-n-roll sampler platter is usually a safe bet when you first try Leaf. It features a little but of everything from their app menu, and you know how I love to taste as many things as poss. Even though my family didn’t order it this time around we have enjoyed it in the past. The cali rolls are my favorite part of the platter with the kreme cheeze ranking as a close second.

Raw and Roll Sampler - guac, hummus, cashew kreme cheeze w/ kale or corn chips & spicy california rolls

On my most recent visit I ordered my go-to south of the border salad. Previously, for my main meal, I have been a fan of the kale salad, and when I’m feeling really weird, the “mac and cheese,” which is really just a huge package of kelp noodles smothered in spirulina cashew sauce.  Do NOT get this and expect it to taste anything like regular cheesy noodles, it does not whatsoever and it’s quite the acquired taste. Most people actually don’t care for it at all but I’m weird apparently. My parents decided to try Leaf’s cooked entrees and got the veggie burger sans bun and the cheese steak lavash wrap. After what seemed like a surprisingly long wait considering we were one of two tables, our food arrived.

South of the Border Salad - chili mix of beans, "sour cream", guacamole, pico de gallo, marinated onions, cilantro, mixed greens, tomatoes and sprouts

I loved my salad, loved the dehydrated corn chips it comes with and the abundance of sprouts. It’s a solid order and if you end up at Leaf I highly recommend this. Safe bet, never lets me down.

 

My mom’s veggie burger was probably the worst thing I have ever tasted from leaf. It’s their fusion burger made from soy, that she ordered sans bun, and it was the most bland, boring and dry piece of shit I have ever tasted.

Sad veggie burger not even worth describing cause it was so gnarly

Inedible bad. Send in back bad. Never come here again bad. Clearly, DO NOT GET THIS. Uck I felt so bad for poor mama.

My dad enjoyed his cheeze steak lavash wrap but I had a bite and thought it was nothing special.

Philly Cheeze Stake Lavash - Soy Beef Strips w/ melted vegan cheeze, marin. onions, spicy sour kreme, cashew kreme cheeze, sauerkraut, tomato & spring mix.

My mom ended up eating some too and she also enjoyed it. I think they were both just hungry.  I honestly could make a better version at home with packaged gardein, diaya and an eziekiel wrap. Not into it.

Leaf has new vegan soy free agave free froyo which I almost screamed I was so excited to try. Froyo is my jam. Sadly, like most things at Leaf, it was a huge disappointment.

Chocolate and vanilla soft serve

The vanilla was fair but the chocolate was down right gross. Sweetened with coconut crystals, the texture of this so-called ice cream was grainy and bizarre. Kind Kreme till the day I die.

I’ve previously had the chocolate raspberry pie, which is pretty darn amazing, but also the densest, most filling, and I’m sure not so great for you, indulgence. If you are feeling crazy decadent I would get it, but be prepared to eat a mountain of super heavy rich fudge. A splitsies order fo sho.

Chocolate Raspberry Pie

When I first started coming to Leaf I loved it. Now every time I go back I am more and more disappointed with the quality of the food, service and my overall dining experience. Don’t think I’m going to be returning anytime soon. If you do find yourself at Leaf order the sampler, south of the border salad, and chocolate raspberry pie. And get it to go.

xoxo

Your Vegan Girlfriend

When I read  about Shojin on Quarrygirl’s vegan bucket list it went straight to the top of my “must try” list. Los Angelenos love their sushi period. As a vegan, however, your sushi options are pretty limited. I mean of course you can order an avocado roll or a cucumber roll, but that gets old fast.  The whole sushi experience just hasn’t been the same for me since I stopped eating fish,that was until this Wednesday night when I ate at Shojin. Shojin, an all vegan and organic sushi restaurant in Downtown LA, boasts one of the most inventive menus I have ever seen. Last night my friend Austen (who you might remember from Elf fame) and I dined at Shojin and got to experience vegan sushi at its finest.

Shojin

333 S Alameda St
Ste 310
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Mon-Thu 5:30 pm – 12 am, Fri 5:30 pm – 1 am, Sat 12 pm – 1 am, Sun 12 pm – 10 pm

Located inside of a shopping mall in Little Tokyo, Shojin isn’t exactly convenient (unless you live Downtown I suppose). Park in the mall’s garage and then make your way to the third floor. Shojin is modestly nestled next to other sushi restaurants, karaoke bars and arcades, which could make for a fun rest of your night.

Shojin is definitely upscale. The atmosphere is intimate and mellow and the decor matches the mood.

The menu is epicly huge, maybe 20 pages with full color pictures of every item.

Our waiter was so cute and possibly overly helpful. I told him it was our first time dining there and if he could direct us to their most popular items. He pointed out that the menu was numbered by most popular in each section. Love it! It really made ordering so much easier to see what was ranked 1, 2 and 3. It actually says, “Best 1″ “Best 2″ and so on. Haha! We split a bunch of things so we could try as much as possible.

We started with their sampler appetizer plate, which featured their top 2 most popular appetizers and their most popular sushi roll.

The first thing we tried was the shiitake tempura. Hmmmm how do I put this. I think Austen actually said it best: “The bite I just had tasted like blubber. Like from a dolphin or a whale.” Okay now clearly neither of us have ever tasted blubber before, and hopefully you haven’t either, but this is exactly what I would imagine it to taste like. I just couldn’t get over the consistency. It also was a little greasy. Not down with eating a vegan jellyfish grease bite.

The pumpkin croquette was much better, but not knock your socks off amazing. I’d like to call it a fried yum nugget, smothered in a thick orange “chicken” flavored sauce. They described it as tomato sauce but I tasted no tomato. It was pretty good regardless.

The dynamite roll undoubtedly stole the show. It was unbelievable. Their rendition if spicy tuna was so dead on. No clue how they get it to taste so damn similar, but I was seriously into it. I could eat 4 orders of that and be great.

After the apps we wanted to order a salad. They have ten or so brand new menu items, and one of them was a kale caesar with bbq tempeh. It sounded amazing, as did all of their salads, but after much deliberation  we went with the Tempura Avocado Salad instead. Next time that kale is mine.

This was off the charts amazing. It gets the Vegan GF “stooooopid good” seal of approval. If you’ve never had tempura avocado bites before, it will probably change your life. The salad was crisp, crunchy and perfectly dressed. I would 100 percent order this again. Must get.

After we devoured our salad it was time to get into some rolls. Even though we LOVED the dynamite roll we wanted to try as much as possible, so we ordered three new rolls instead.

This roll SERIOUSLY tasted like the real thing. Again, no clue how they got seitan to taste so much like eel but wowzahs, I’m impressed. Loved the sauce, loved the avocado but the seitan “eel” really made this go to the next level. I liked this roll a lot and would def recommend it. Dynamite is still better but this is damn good.

I guess we should have known since this wasn’t even ranked, but this eggplant roll seriously missed the mark. The eggplant, the main component of the roll, was cold and unimpressive. Def would not order this again. Bummer.

OMFG Sky High where have you been all my life. This was by far and away the BEST ORDER OF THE NIGHT. I had one bite and couldn’t stop saying “winner winner soy-chicken dinner.” This roll wins at life. The perfect blend of crunch, spicy “tuna” and sweet soy sauce. Austen and I agreed this was the best sushi roll we had ever had. This is an absolute MUST ORDER.

They had a bomb looking dessert menu but we were pretty full so we opted out. Next time I am getting after their molten chocolate lava cake though. Before our check came our waiter brought us both fruit plates on the house. So sweet!

All and all Shojin turned out to be pretty killer. I wouldn’t put it on the top of my best vegan restaurant in LA list, but definitely best Japanese, and 100 percent worth checking out. I think I need to  master my orders here and then it could be a contender. I will be back to try.

Let it also be noted they have a full wine, beer and sake list AND they are open to midnight on weekdays and 1 am on the weekends. Crazy.

Vegan sushi lovers untie! Shojin makes cucumber rolls a thing of the past. Check it out.

xoxo

Your Vegan Girlfriend