Need help with a good vegan Restaurant on the westside

[VeniceStu]

I'm new to this site and would like some help finding a few good vegan Restaurants in my westside area Venice/Santa Monica. I also wouldn't mind traveling a bit out of the way for a good place. I watched a powerful & intense UTube video from Gary Yourofsky filmed at Georgia Tech and I have been forever changed. I need good Vegan eats and I need them fast, I'm hungry. Any suggestions anyone, thanks in advance.

[wendorte]

If you want over priced Americanized bland food, go to Real Food Daily. If you want a party in your mouth-I can't believe this is vegan may I suggest Stuff I Eat in Inglewood/Hawthorne.

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

Stuff I Eat
114 N Market St, Inglewood, CA 90301

[moniqueyd]

Euphoria Loves Rawvolution on Main St. in Santa Monica http://www.euphorialovesrawvolution.com/ is usually referred to as Euphoria.

Seed Kitchen in Venice http://seedkitchen.com/

Golden Mean Vegan Cafe in Santa Monica http://goldenmeancafe.com/

Planet Raw is vegan/raw http://www.planetraw.com/

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Euphoria Loves Rawvolution
2301 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405

Golden Mean Vegan Cafe
1028 Wilshire Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90401

Main St Cafe
450 Main St, El Segundo, CA 90245

Planet Raw
609 Broadway Ste 101, Santa Monica, CA 90401

[westsidegal]

the burrito bar at the Whole Foods in venice on lincoln blvd, offers tofu and gardein (vegan phoney meat that tastes pretty good) fillings.
the burritos are made to order so you can specify whole wheat tortilla and all the types of fillings you want. the bar in the el segundo location, the last time i looked does not offer this.

also, i believe that vegan pizza is also available at the venice location.

[Servorg]

While not in your geographic area of preference, if you (or anyone else who might come to this thread in the future) are ever over the hill in the SFV I strongly recommend Vinh Loi Tofu in Reseda. Great food, for vegan or even comparing non vegan places.

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Vinh Loi Tofu
18625 Sherman Way Ste 101, Reseda, CA 91335

[westsidegal]

fwiw,
finding vegan restaurants will be much more difficult than finding vegan dishes that are served in non-vegan restaurants.
for instance, my favorite vegan salad, is the TUSCAN SALAD that is served at 26 beach restaurant. i order the salad with an order of grilled tofu on top (they charge extra for this).
Although 26 beach is not a vegan restaurant, this menu item ordered in this particular way is vegan and is delicious.
you will be able to find much more delicious food if you widen your search this way.

[sushigirlie]

I think Euphoria Loves Rawvolution, despite its ridiculous name, has some amazing (albeit very strange) food. It deserves more attention than it gets here. 100% vegan, 100% raw.

Real Food Daily is another good bet. The food ranges from decent to quite good. 100% vegan.

Lemonade isn't vegan--it's not even vegetarian--but there are many vegan selections (which are in front of you when you order). I highly recommend.

China Beach has some good vegan Vietnamese food (at least I think it's vegan--conceivably some of the faux meats have eggs, but I don't think so). The vegetarian ham wrapped in la lot leaves is one of my favorite things to eat in LA. They offer it with a vegetarian "fish sauce."

Mao's Kitchen has solid Chinese food, much of which is vegan, and they strive to accommodate vegan requests. They offer dishes with your choice of tofu--steamed, fried, or smoked.

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Euphoria Loves Rawvolution
2301 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405

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

[wienermobile]

True Food Kitchen is a new restaurant that is opening very soon at The Santa Monica Place Mall. Here is a link to their menu with both vegan and vegetarian dishes:
http://www.truefoodkitchen.com/public/pdfs/fashion-island/TrueFood_NP_Dinner_Web.pdf

More causal a new Veggie Grill has opened in Santa Monica at 2025 Wilshire Blvd and they are completely vegan.
http://www.veggiegrill.com/

Also in Santa Monica is Real Food Daily.
http://www.realfood.com/

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

[westsidegal]

a little farther east, for very good vegan ethiopian food:
rahel on fairfax blvd.

http://www.rahelveggiecuisine.com/

[westsidegal]

i'm sure there are many choices for indian food,
samosa house and samosa house east (both are on washingtons blvd) are vegetarian with some vegan choices.
same story with annapurna and bawarchi (both of these are on venice blvd).

[bulavinaka]

I consider Samosa House's samosas to be a great treat. If they're vegan, then more power to them...

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Samosa House
11510 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA

[bulavinaka]

My vegan sister really likes both Veggie Grill and Real Food Daily. She also likes Native Foods in Westwood. They also recently moved into the spot previously occupied by M de Chaya in Downtown Culver City.

I've heard some great things about Stuff I Eat in Inglewood by an acquaintance who is vegan.

LA Vegan on Centinela in Mar Vista/Del Rey is a regular stop for my sister as well when she is dropping by our home. A fair amount of Thai/Thai-inspired vegan foods, and a fair amount of deep-fried options which seems to hit a certain pang of hunger for vegans.

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LA Vegan
4507 S Centinela Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90066

Stuff I Eat
114 N Market St, Inglewood, CA 90301

[Servorg]

Hey, Bula - I know you get to see a lot more of the local Vegan places than you ordinarily might due to your sister (g). Have you and she tried that somewhat newish (last 4 years or so - which in LA/Restaurant time is actually not so new after all) place "The Vegan Joint" over across the street from Simpang Asia on National?

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Simpang Asia
10433 National Blvd 2, Los Angeles, CA 90034

The Vegan Joint
10438 National Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034

[bulavinaka]

Unfortunately, no. It always slips our minds as a possible choice, and when I drive through the area, palm of hand hits forehead. Will try to remember for the future - thanks.

[ipsedixit]

If True Food is anything like the one in Phoenix (and I'm sure it is), then avoid avoid avoid!

[wienermobile]

It is the same...tell me more.

[ipsedixit]

The food is just bland and tasteless. It's also grossly overpriced.

Let me give you an example. We had ONE bowl of miso soup ... for $6. I'd be ok with that if it was good miso soup, or even decent miso soup. But this one lacked something I just can't put my finger on. Oh, wait, I found it ... it lacked flavor.

The other apps we had -- some sort of dumpling and lettuce cups -- were things you'd find at PF Changs, except at PF Changs it's usually over-flavored. Here, nada. One of us actually asked for ketchup.

The burger we had came on a flax seed bun that was overpowering everything else in the burger. I never knew flax seed could have such a strong anise flavor. Who knew.

[wienermobile]

Thanks for the warning.

[apple7blue]

I think a lot of vegan places rest on the fact they are vegan so some vegans will dine with them. I'd say Native Foods isn't that good either. M Cafe is great as is Real Food Daily.

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

[love2eat]

I love the Buddha Bowl at Native Foods! I love M Cafe but I disagree on RFD being great.

[apple7blue]

I never had the Buddha Bowl at Native Foods. The Native Foods menu has really changed since I last visited. I googled Buddha Bowl to see what a Buddha Bowl at Native Foods looked like. You are actually the 3rd link with your post above. The food I ordered and I took some home--they had these takeout items for meals at home--did not compare to non-vegan places. Although I mostly care about food quality, I also remember service being awkward and really long at Native Foods. I only notice things like that if its especially egregious or the food does not make up for it. I much preferred Village Bakery, or Italian Tomato nearby in Costa Mesa (when they existed--for vegetarian albeit not vegan food--but reiterating my vegan restaurants resting on their vegan laurels). I will try Native Foods again and check out the Buddha bowl.

I did think it was a disappointment that M Cafe in Culver City was replaced with this popular vegan chain restaurant.

What didn't you like about Real Food Daily? Or at least knocked it down from greatness? Wendorte wrote below its over priced Americanized and bland. While I did think it was Americanized and over priced--I don't think being Americanized is bad. I did find some items blandish also--like the desserts. Obviously, they are sweet not just bland.

I will definitely check out Stuff I Eat.

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

Stuff I Eat
114 N Market St, Inglewood, CA 90301

Italian Tomato
21515 Western Ave, Torrance, CA 90501

[apple7blue]

Veggie Grill isn't very good food.