Vegan College Tour..More LALALand (sorry Californians)

Well, I missed yesterday and I do apologize but Netflix movies and red wine were calling my name so..I will blog tommorrow even though it is my birthday and we only were committing to 5 days a week.  I was initally going  to dedicate this post to two of our culinary adventures but think I will focus on Shojin because this restaurant won my heart.  I am even willing to sacrifice my child to a far away school simply to know I can eat here again next year.

Artwork by Sarah Mason Williams

This restaurant is located in an unassuming looking shopping mall in Los Angeles's Little Tokyo.  But everything from the artwork, to the gracious and kind hosts and the incredible food make it a must go vegan destination in LA.  This was our splurge meal with Appetizer, Entree and Dessert and nothing disappointed.  My daughter is anti sushi much to my disapointment so our shared appetizer was the Shojin Ravioli with the oddly names Shojin ketchup.  I say oddly named because it has a closer resemblance to a rich plum tomato sauce which perfectly balanced the delicate pasta filled with "cheese" rather than what I think of as ketchup.  My daughter had the Orange Chicken Seitan pictured below:

She is still lamenting the fact that she forgot her leftovers in the refrigerator in our room at the Hilton Checkers.  I had the Seitan Pepper Steak which was both flavorful and tender.  Our entrees came with brown rice and mixed vegetables and were simply wonderful.  For dessert we shared a Strawberry Shortcake which was one of the best desserts I have eaten anywhere.  It consisted of a dense strawberry mousse stacked on a cacao mousse and topped with a creme.  It was a raw dessert and incredibly tasty.  As our server laughingly confessed  "I like sweets."  So we were in heaven.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about this entire experience.  The staff treat you like family or long lost friends.  The food tastes amazing and the atmosphere is surprisingly lovely considering the mall location.  If you have never eaten at Shojin you need to correct that situation right away!

Tommorrow I will wrap up our LA sojourn with a review of Babycakes LA, Veggie Soul and California Vegan.  Toodles.

Vegan College Tour LA Part Two (Hooray for Hollywood!)



When we last saw our heroines they were fearlously embarking upon a subway ride to Hollywood, jet lag and all.  We were highly amused to discover the trains worked on the "honor system".  Having  lived a considerable amount of time in both Boston and NYC the idea of maybe being stopped and asked to show you purchased a ticket seemed quaint and naive.  But pay for our rides we did and shortly we arrived at Hollywood and Vine.  We did the touristy thing with looking for stars on the walk of fame and fitting our hands and feet into the prints at Graumann's Chinese Theatre  (Meryl Streep and I have precisely the same size hands and feet) and touring the Hollywood Museum in the old Max Factor Building.  All of this caused us to gain an appetite so we headed for the nearest local vegan food:  My Vegan House .
Vegan House is one of what I now know to be a plethora of inexpensive vegan thai/casual food type restaurants that are all over LA.  I had a Red Curry with soy chicken, my daughter had blueberry pancakes.  Our food was good, cheap and fast which was just what we were looking for.

Another fun spot we hit while in Hollywood was Caffe Etc.  This not a vegan cafe by any stretch of the imagination but it is a fun little hang out with coffees, salads, sandwiches and deserts many of which are vegan or easily veganizable.   The ice coffee from here kept me going on more than one occasion.  So full and exhausted we headed back to the hotel and a goodnight's sleep.  Tommorrow promised a USC tour and breakfast at Babycakes,LA.