Vegetarian restaurants around Downtown LA?

[GujuGeek]

Hello,

I just found this site (it's amazing) and this is my first post. I was wondering if you guys could give me some suggestions of some vegetarian-friendly restaurants around the downtown LA area?

I don't mind veggie meats or vegan restaurants, not too picky. Just want to eat semi-healthy.

Thanks!

[peppermonkey]

I don't really like "vegetarian" restaurants so I end up looking for cuisines that naturally have vegetarian dishes when my SO decides to be buddhist for a month. Italian, Thai, Mexican, and Indian seem to be the best bets though DTLA doesn't have much of these options. Favorites in DTLA would be Rivera, Tiara Cafe, Drago Centro, Bottega Louie, Nickel Diner, Wursktche, Ciudad

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Ciudad
445 S Figueroa St Ste 100, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Nickel Diner
524 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

Drago Centro
525 S. Flower St., Suite 120, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Bottega Louie
700 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90017

[GujuGeek]

All these places look great, I especially can't wait to try the seitan steak at Shojin!

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Shojin
333 S Alameda St Ste 310, Los Angeles, CA 90013

[ipsedixit]

I really like Shojin, but I would avoid any of the setian dishes. While they make the seitan in-house, it just doesn't work well in any of the dishes (i.e. meatballs, steaks, pork cutlets etc.). If you really need that mouthfeel of meat, try some the tempeh dishes. Otherwise, stick with the ramen, salads and sushi rolls.

And whatever you do, do not skip dessert.

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Shojin
333 S Alameda St Ste 310, Los Angeles, CA 90013

[apple7blue]

I don't eat meat so I am not totally sure about this. I think if you take it as seitan rather than some substitute of meat, then you might like something that those who are just looking for a meat replacement don't. I like their seitan, which is what I am basing this on, and I have heard similar arguments before about stuff like seitan, tempeh, etceteras and not just with Shojin but with like Real Food Daily, M Cafe, etceteras. Its an untested hypothesis . . .

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M Cafe De Chaya
7119 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90046

Real Food Daily
514 Santa Monica Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Shojin
333 S Alameda St Ste 310, Los Angeles, CA 90013

M Cafe De Chaya
9343 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232

Real Food Daily
414 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048

M Cafe de Chaya
9433 Brighton Way, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

M Cafe De Chaya
100 Corporate Pointe Ste 265, Culver City, CA 90230

[ipsedixit]

When I pooh-pooh the seitan it's based on the fact that it just does not taste very good, nor the right texture indicative of good setian.

I think, ilke you, it is wrong to compare seitan (or tempah) to the mouthfeel of meat. Don't do it, it's a lose-lose proposition.

[apple7blue]

Who would you, if anyone, recommend their seitan?

[GujuGeek]

Hmm..thanks for the advice. I will probably still have to try the seitan & tempeh once to see if I like it.

[will47]

I agree that the seitan, while housemade, is not the greatest here.

Also agree that the desserts tend to be great here... probably better than many of the savory dishes. This may be the greatest number of times I've agreed with ipsedixit in one thread. :>

Their new ramen is pretty good - a big improvement over the noodle soups they had before, and while it probably won't win any converts among die-hard non-vegetarian ramen fans, it's definitely one of the only places (maybe *the* only place) that I know of where you can get a vegetarian ramen in town.

I am still only lukewarm on Shojin, esp. at their prices, but I do enjoy the occasional visit. Also, their Valentine's day dinner (well one day before) this year was pretty well done (and restaurant Valentine's days experiences are almost universally horrible).

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Shojin
333 S Alameda St Ste 310, Los Angeles, CA 90013

[cls]

How around downtown? Silver Lake and Echo Park are lousy with them.

[farmersmarketfresh]

Highly recommend Elf on Sunset. Hearty, healthy, and affordable veggie & vegan options.

[GujuGeek]

Anywhere near downtown really, I don't mind driving.

[cls]

For Raw you have the new Mooi (I think it's called) on Sunset and Echo Park, and Cru on Sunset and Griffith Park. There's Cafe Flore which is vegan across the street from Cru, as well as Forage with a generally good selection of salads and vegetable dishes. There's a vegan Thai place on Sunset at Berendo that's cheap and pretty good. Bottega Louie makes a great "California Vegetarian" sandwich. In Little Tokyo there are lots of Japanese options that are vegetarian friendly. You could even get one of the vegetarian sausages from Wurstkuche.

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Wurstkuche
800 E 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

Bottega Louie
700 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90017

[GujuGeek]

Wow, thanks for so many! I really appreciate it. Mooi looks like it has some delicious, unique items!

Oh, and I am a huge fan of veggie sausage...so I'm really excited that Wurstkuche has a few different kinds !

[apple7blue]

I second Mooi amongst others given, raw food is unusual though, so you must be venturesome

[apple7blue]

Check out Shojin. I think the food is healthy and its vegetarian friendly. It's in Downtown LA.

Edit: I went to the Chichen Itza website, and one of their vegetarian dishes--admittedly called not so vegetarian has shark, and like half of the other items have eggs. I got my hopes up too. Especially since it's really close to USC, but from USC you can just take the free trams to Union Center and walk to Shojin. That's good advice for non-students because parking is cheaper near USC or free if you park South or West of campus. So far, Shojin seems to be the most convenient and the best vegetarian food in Downtown.

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Shojin
333 S Alameda St Ste 310, Los Angeles, CA 90013

[westsidegal]

shojin

http://www.theshojin.com/

[mollyomormon]

Nickel Diner has some great options:
http://nickeldiner.com/dinner-menu.htm

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Nickel Diner
524 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013

[ipsedixit]

Chichen Itza has a very nice vegetarian menu. http://www.chichenitzarestaurant.com/...

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Chichen Itza
3655 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90007