Currently viewing the tag: "hearts of palm"
Follow Your Heart, a natural foods market and brand of dairy substitutes, has a cafe offering traditional vegetarian fare in Canoga Park. The natural food store has been around since the 70′s. The shelves are thoroughly stocked with a ton of great products but is welcoming and accessible. The cafe opens bright and early for breakfast so we started our first day in Los Angeles with a hearty one before hitting the beach in record heat.
The Tofu Benedict is much like the Tempeh Reuben, I can’t really resist ordering it if it is on the menu. Their version was a poached tofu and tomato on a homemade English muffin smothered with a Hollandaise sauce and served with a side of potatoes. Though the dish was very substancial, the flavor was a bit lacking.
Behold the entire stock of Follow Your Heart products!
After reading Sage Organic Vegan Bistro‘s menu a while back, I knew it would easily be a prominent highlight of a trip to Los Angeles. It was time. We strolled in during the busy lunch rush to experience their drool-inspiring for reals.
First, something from the fryer. Sage’s mozzarella sticks made from heart of palm with ranch and marinara dipping sauce. Hearts. Of. Palm. Deep-fried. These “mozzarella sticks” are not made with packaged, processed vegan cheese, no. They are tubes of fibrous hearts of palm, batter-dipped and fried to perfection. Let’s look closer.
These were fantastic. Mind-blowing even. Place four of these wonders on a bed or arugula, even better!
The vegan ranch dipping sauce was a great addition. I want to eat more of these.
Sage had already blown my mind before we were even seated, the perfect appetizer sealed the deal. But the main course was yet to come: The Bistro Po’Boy… breaded seitan, organic tomatoes, deep fried cabbage, homemade dill pickles and lettuce on grilled olive rosemary bread with caramelized onion barbecue sauce. Eating this ridiculously delicious sandwich was a sloppy ordeal. And though it was knocking my socks off, perhaps with one too many flavorful additions, I needed to leave room… drumroll…
The beautiful banana split from KindKreme was spectacular. KindKreme, a gourmet/vegan/raw/organic ice creamery has multiple locations in the Los Angeles area, one being inside Sage Vegan Bistro. I love me a fancied up banana split, although I am strictly vanilla when it comes to my ice cream choice. I like vanilla. After hearing my wishes for a traditional split with the standard vanilla, the charming Sage employee allowed me to sample several flavors, helping to construct what would be an amazing ice cream treat.
Banana and ice cream are great together. My scoops–almond butter, Mexican chocolate, and strawberry–were so flavorful. They were topped with salted caramel sauce and chopped almonds. Heaven.
CandyPenny and I finally got around to hitting Dirt Candy in Manhattan’s East Village. With tough weekends under our belt, we needed some delectable eats during our debrief. Unfortunately we didn’t realize that the ambiance of this tiny, loud, upscale restaurant off East 9th street would have us yelling across the table… and dodging air from the bathroom we were seated next to given our reservation-less arrival.
But first, a cupcake from Terri. This was my first appetizer as I killed some time before our dinner. I must go on about the chocolate frosting and how rich it was. Tasted like nostalgic Duncan Hines atop a yellow cake. You go, Terri!
And onward to Dirt Candy. What gorgeous food you have! As we waited and sipped our $9 half-glasses of wine, we drooled over what was coming out of the kitchen. It was kind of difficult not to as our table was practically in the kitchen, in every clank of the dishes.. Sound filled the tiny space aggressively. But the food was innovative and tasty. Here is the run-down:
For my appetizer: CARROT—steamed barbecue carrot buns, cucumber & sesame ginger salad. These gorgeous little buns were dyed with carrot coloring. The innards, barbecue carrot shreds, were very yummy.
And my entree: CUCUMBER—coconut poached tofu, shiso galangal sauce, salsify & hearts of palm. Ain’t she gorgeous? With food this beautiful, it’s a shame, the lighting is orange and dim. In the enhanced light of photoshop (here), I see so much more lovely detail I wasn’t aware of eating!
It was a beautiful entree. But the presentation was slightly better than the taste. Cucumber, by definition, is very watery and light. The sauce and salad needed to deliver a bit more than it did.
And for my dessert BEET—Chocoloate Beet Cake: roasted pear sorbet, beet & pear leather. Although the color of beet drizzled the plate, it didn’t compliment the cake. Oddly, the chocolate cake was kind of in the way since the sorbet and beet sauce tasted nice together.
It was a nice dinner, but unless I was renting out the entire space, I’ll likely not volunteer to be within the conversations of its patrons again.
Julian’s in Providence, Rhode Island has fantastic vegan brunch options. Traveling to another state for veggie dining adds a bit more pressure to the ordering process. There you sit with a long list of delicious-sounding options–sweet ones, savory ones, personal favorites–but you must only have one.
Luckily at Julian’s you can order a half portion of their St. Jamez ‘Benedict’, a tofu benny among the best I have ever had… fried tofu ‘egg’, garlicky spinach, & vegan hollandaise on a soppy saturated piece of Italian bread, and one singular slice of their vegan cinnamon orange French Toast. Both hit the spot perfectly, satiated me fully without being too-too much. Julian’s makes mean vegan versions that illuminate just how lacking New York City is in certain vegan areas.
Like No Udder is the world’s first vegan soft serve truck. The roaming truck offers vanilla, chocolate and vanilla-chocolate twist vegan soft serve with a variety of toppings. The soft serve’s texture is creamy and the color– stark white reminiscent of my childhood fixation: Carvel. I hope Like No Udder adds more toppings. I want to officially request marshmallow sauce and pineapple.
Wildflour is an all-vegan bakery stocked with the works! Sweet and savory scones, cookies, cupcakes, cakes, cinnamon buns, muffins, brownies, bars and breads… the place was a vegan treat heaven! I chose their Red Velvet cupcake.
Besides these gorgeously decorated cupcakes, Wildflour also sells some fantastic sounding juice concoctions like the Avocolada: avocado, coconut water, pineapple, lime and vanilla.
One of the reasons why I was all aboard the Megabus to Providence was Garden Grille. I went their last year and was so impressed by their food. This time was no different. A menu like Garden Grille’s is overwhelming. They have a variety of dishes that appeal to each and every taste bud. For a starter we got the Hearts of Palm cakes with the chickpea chipotle aioli to appease the salty, zesty and wish to dip.
For dinner: the eggplant rollatini: tofu-nut cheese wrapped in tender strips of eggplant on top grilled polenta cakes and a nest of garlicy spinach and drenched in Pomodoro.
For the past two years I have made yearbooks to celebrate the turning of time’s speedometer. Fiddling with Blurb‘s bookmaking software in December, I was forced to meditate on just how much I could fill in a week, a month, a year. In 2009, the me in January was lifetimes away from who I became 11 short months later. As I look through 2010′s pictures, thus far, I will have significantly less material in which to draw wisdom from. My pictures are mostly of food. Perhaps the path of the who and the what and the where behind their macro-views will reveal a bit of discovery; but for now, let’s just look at the food.
I tried VeganDad‘s southern-style BBQ tofu sandwich. It didn’t work out all that great as I am often a bit too scatterbrain to handle multi-tasking in cooking. (This is why I prefer the precision and singular flow of baking.) 
Bone Shakers. I kinda go nuts about this place. I’ve said it at least twenty times before (Okay, 10 times) and I’ll say it again: I love Bone Shakers. Where else can you get a vegan deli “egg” sandwich with cheese and sausage for like $5? Wrapped in waxed paper on a soft roll, it sits on your lap patiently on the BQE merge to the LIE. 
Amy’s. You know her; you kinda dig her line of frozen foods, especially if you’re in a bind. They’re everywhere! Amy makes the best frozen vegan burger, in my humble opinion. And it’s easy to dress ‘em up with fresh accompaniments so it seems a little less like a frozen endeavor.
From Amy’s to Olga’s on Smith. Little did I know there was a nice Kosher sandwich shop on Smith street mere blocks from my job. When a colleague told me she had stumbled into the place and heard it was vegan, I was a bit skeptical. I know about every vegan place in New York City, thank you very much! But it was true. The Kosher sandwich shop has a section of vegan panini and I plan to try each one. Starting with the hearts of palm panini (below)… very yum.
In my Sunday pantry raid, I had to seriously put some currants into action. I threw together some red lentils, chick peas, currants and golden raisins with a heavy douse of tamarind concentrate for a Middle-eastern medley of waste-not. Up next, how to use three tubs of tofu by their expiration date.
Vegan Reporting By Location
