This Week of Reviews

So the past week has been quite delicious. Here are a couple reviews.

One of my favorite things these couple of months is this Matcha Iced Green Tea with rice milk from Kawaba Rice Ball. Kawaba Rice Ball sits comfortably on the hip street Melrose near Martel. The restaurant's main focus is onigiri, Japanese rice meals that are similar to sandwiches. Basically it is everything you ever wanted; a small meal that fills you up and makes you feel "cultured". They have meat and vegan options which make it easy to have a small meal with people of every diet. They close at 4 and are completely closed on Wednesdays (I don't get it either).

I generally order the Matcha Green Tea with rice milk. The rice milk is an extra $.75 or so but overall it is well worth it. It sustains its rich matcha taste, but the added rice milk provides it a hint of sweetness. It isn't overbearing, but it does stand out.

This is their address if you want to go

Kawaba Rice Ball

7368 Melrose Ave

Los Angeles, Ca 90036

Speaking of desserts, so far M Cafe de Chaya is making the best ones. I've only had two meals there but I have become a regular of their desserts. Sometimes when Every single time when work or the day becomes hard for me I get a dessert snack to make it better. It is probably not the healthiest thing to do, however you have to find a way to bring your stress down, and sometimes you just need a fucking treat.

Woah, I got a bit angry there. Let's back up.

M Cafe de Chaya has some of the best desserts in Los Angeles, or its the best desserts that I have had so far. They order a lot of their desserts from Babycakes NYC but they also make their own. The picture above is their chocolate tart. I swear to Vishnu this thing tastes like the original. It is creamy, chocolately, and slightly embellished with a slight banana taste. I honestly was really impressed with M Cafe de Chaya. Even though this place can be expensive, their pastries are worth it.

Here is the address.

M Cafe de Chaya

7119 Melrose Ave

Los Angeles, CA, 90046

The last bit was something of my own creation. Since my kitchen is going through some remodeling I've been making easy lunches to go to work with. With three ingredients you can easily make the best salad in the world. 

I'm super excited to have found Follow Your Heart's Miso Ginger Salad dressing. It is honestly the tastiest thing ever. Mixing that with Ceder's Chickpea Salad and a standard Kale salad mix you have a great restaurant esque salad. I love it but there isn't much to say about it. I wing the whole meal.

So that is my week of reviews. 

Fala Bar is a place I'll FALlow (get it? Fala and follow...)

So a couple of weeks ago I ordered food from Fala Bar. 

Fala Bar is a restaurant located near the cross street of Genesee Ave and Melrose. It prides itself in being a healthy vegan fast food restaurant. They reside in a small little building, but they produce big tastes. 

Offering four types of homemade falafels with most of their meals, they make delicious dishes that feel fulfilling and wholesome. Their hummus is rich, but light, and overall you experience fresh healthy food.

When I came to Fala Bar I ordered the Fala Me To Heaven which is a, "choice of 4 falafel balls (choose one flavor), white cabbage, purple cabbage, Israeli salad, hummus, lemon, mixed greens". This meal was so good, and overall it seemed like a good price for $12.50. It was so big that I had to finish it for dinner as well.

I will definitely come back and you should try it out too. 

Going to Massachusetts Tomorrow

So tomorrow I'm going to Massachusetts to see a friend! However, that means I won't be writing for a week. 

So I'm going to be on hiatus for a week.

I'll write a couple a posts on it on my other blog http://woffke.blogspot.com/ and I'll see how vegan accepting it is.

I'll continue my posts May 20th

yay!

LA and Health

First, I find it appropriate to apologize for this week's lack of posts. It had seemed that the previous work week threw me off entirely to the extent I felt slightly depressed. That's the problem with this town, it isn't kind. LA, despite its lovely scenery, will spit you out when given the chance. You cannot let yourself get too down, because it will be too difficult to find a way back up.

So because of this lack of posting, or lack of wanting to post, I found that inspiration was as hard to find as finding a bar that is open past 2 A.M. Nothing was interesting anymore, and life seemed quite dull.

I thought about this issue while I was at the grocery store and then it hit me like a man dressed up as batman at Grauman's Chinese Theater. 

I'll write about health.

While Los Angeles seems to have a new interest on health, that is simply not the case. LA have been married to health for nearly one hundred years. Ever since silent movie actors became a known commodity, health and fitness became a thing to care and think about. We had finally had our own icons, our own golden gods, and being golden gods, silent stars needed to look the part.

Even though the argument against my statement could be that the world, not just Los Angeles, has always cared about fitness, I have to state that Los Angeles has always stressed on health more than any other country or city. Being a city of fame, many are drawn the the magnetized hope that one day they too will be famous. However coming to this city they realize that is why everyone is here, they all want the same dream. These people are prettier, skinnier, and more energetic, so to compete with that beauty, one must change one's health.  

Health is governed by the city through fads. Every new age idea has been recycled similar to the retro fashions that are done today. I was once told that vintage fashion is repeated every 20 years. I am going to make the claim that every 40 years health and fitness trends are repeated as well. Right now you might be drinking a freshly pressed juice, that is a fad, and it was obstructed by us, however it was also a fad in the 1970s. Yoga became cool about 10 years ago, however my neighbor Gypsy Boots, who basically introduced yoga, did so in the late 60s to early 70s. Health, like fashion, go hand in hand, and we're the ones that make it cool again.

Los Angeles needs health and health needs Los Angeles. For every apartment that is built here, two yoga dance studios are built right next to it. We need to be toned and bright because we have the whole world looking at us. We care about how we look because it makes us feel better and happier. The old running joke is that people would REALLY feel better if they just have a hamburger instead of a salad. Let me tell you that we have hamburgers, and they are some of the best in the world. However our hamburgers are clean and fresh, and that's the way we like it. We love our food as much as we love our health.

While we might seem snooty over our fitness regime and food, it is because we forget the rest of the world doesn't have this scrutinized concept leaning over them. Also it is because we have a regime, and as human beings, it's hard to break that. So I want to explain to you that we're sorry about how picky we are. It is just that we've had a lot of years working on how we look and how we feel. We want to live long enough to see how glorious this city is. We want to wake up and know we have enough time to see it end. The beauty of this city is something to astound you, and when you truly see it first hand, you'll do whatever you can to live long enough to see it every day for the rest of your life.

Here Comes The SunCafe, and I Say, It's FANTASTIC.

There is a giddy feeling you get when you find a good restaurant. It's that kind of feeling you get when you have a good secret, something so good that you want to tell others, but you won't.

However, I will. 

I'll tell you about SunCafe. 

See coming back to LA I was a bit disappointed. My favorite vegan restaurant Cafe Gratitude had changed dramatically. What was once a hippy raw vegan restaurant had changed into a new aged vegan restaurant that served, fake meat.

Being a vegan I do not understand the point of fake meat. The point of my transformation into a plant based diet was my renouncement of all animal like products, and to me, fake meat is a animal product. I understand that that it literally isn't meat, but I don't see the point of living in a lie by pretending to eat meat but forsaking animal cruelty at the same time. 

This is where SunCafe comes in.

SunCafe, to me, is a new cafe that focuses more on the raw vegan realm by making its meals out of plant products instead of processed goods. If I am going to have a burger of some sort, I would want it made out of chickpeas instead of soy protein. Raw meals or even plant based meals feel more nature based and real than anything soy could ever come up with.

When I came here I ordered the Sun Burger as well as the kale shake. While the Kale shake is quite big, it is ridiculously delicious. Topped with goji berries, the kale shake tastes like a sweet vanilla shake, but it is enriched with kale and other nutritious goodies. The sun burger was flavorful and tasted like a nice roasted burger. I had the side salad with a sprouted bun on top of the burger, and overall I was very satisfied with this meal.

The best part about eateries like the SunCafe is that it remains vigilant and true to its motos. On its website, the SunCafe, "is a celebration of food". By staying true to organic local ingredients, the SunCafe stays away from cheap fake meat by products to create a delicious meal.

The SunCafe offers a lot to what I want, and I am very thankful for that.

I know you'll enjoy it!

SunCafe

3711 Cahuenga Blvd West, Studio City, CA 91604
* 818-308-7420 *

Baby, Do I Love Those Cakes

Even though I live in the land of perfection, I have a hard time poo pooing things that will make me imperfect. In other words, I love junkfood. I love salty snacks, and I love sweets. I love to gorge myself, and I love to eat. However being a vegan living in any other town, there are times you have to watch what you eat. In LA, you don't have to be so stringent. 

For example, if you want a vegan sweet, there is Babycakes NYC.

Babycakes NYC is the essential hippy bakery that offers, "all-natural, organic and delicious alternatives free from the common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs" (baby). So here you're giving a fantastic lie to tell yourself that the 18th donut is ok because you're eating healthy things. 

Before coming here I was quite hesitant because generally foods that deviate from the original way of cooking tend to taste slightly off. However this problem is DEFINITELY not the case at Babycakes NYC. The food here is addicting, and generally you will come back here and buy more, despite it being a sweet shop. 

The cookie sandwich is my personal favorite because it allows you to lap up frosting without being considered sad and pathetic. You don't have to feel like the 600 pound woman/man because it's made from heathy things. You also have the option to order breakfast foods as well.  

Babycakes NYC is probably one of the best vegan bakeries that I ever ate at. If you want to be devious, or if you simply want a good snack, come here.  

Come visit it!

236 North Larchmont Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90004