la madelaine bistro (LA, CA)

what a delightful place to have a nice romantic gourmet vegan french dinner. La madelaine bistro offers organic, vegan exquisite dishes with the best ingredients. The restaurant in L.A, is hidden with its black exterior and the glow of the candle light from the inside, la madelaine offers lunch and dinner and brunch on the weekend. They have a great selection of french and california wines, and the white tablecloth tables are a beautiful settup for a delightful dinner. the appetizers are exquisite the shitake mushrooms potstickers is a great dish to share (shown on the picture) then we've got a delicious artichoke fettucini pasta for one of the main courses, very filling but delicious flavor. Or if you want a home style cooked meal I would suggest the fried chicken style seitan with gravy and mushed potatoes.
Now the desserts I suggest that you get everything in the menu and you share with everyone if you want to experience the best of the best in vegan gourmet sweets. The illustrated picture is the chocolate warm souffle with soy ice cream on the side, is amazingly fluffy and mouth watering, to a perfection, they do have creme brulee (delightful) and sometimes they offer crepes.
the service is not that great although I got to say that the owners and the chef do now how to make it the best possible experience with the best flavors and exquisite gourmet art of French vegan cuisine
I give this restaurant an A-

A-
$$$
Madeleine Bistro
8621 Ventura Blvd. (West of Reseda Blvd.) Tarzana, CA 91356
www.madeleinebistro.com

Jhanjay Vegeterian Thai (Seattle)

This is some place! It is probably the most delicious vegetarian/vegan thai food I've ever had on the pacific northwest, yes, beats Portland's Vege Thai! First of all, the place is really cute and nice. I love the atmosphere, candle lighted with modern metal walls and wooden panels. Second, the service is really good, very friendly and attentive. Third, the food is wonderful. The chefs are just right there cooking up great noodle dishes and curry meals. I can smell the food from the outside. I got the Jhanjay noodle special, and it is vegetables with tofu wrapped with thin rice noodle. So it looks like a bundle of large dumpling with vegetables. Add some chili sauce on top, YUM! I'm also very happy with the dessert. The mango sticky rice is so good. WOW! I'm glad Wayward Cafe was closed and I went here.
The only issue I have with this place is sometimes they close early. Like on Sunday they close at 7pm! ack!

Complimentary Celery & Carrot Sticks

Onion Cake

Phad Ka Prau

Jhanjay Noodles


Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango


A
$$
vegan/vegetarian, Thai, daily 11am - 7pm.
1718 N 45th St. Seattle, WA.
www.jhanjay.com

Belgium Fries (Vancouver, BC)

Poutines! A French Canadian tradition. Veggie gravy with cheese curd on top of fries. If you are vegan, you can get the vegan hot dog or the burger or fries... sadly they don't have vegan cheese curd... which I'm not even sure if such thing exists. If so that would be awesome! Though this is the best place to get poutine of Vancouver. There is no poutine in Portland, Seattle, or even LA. It is after all Canadian!
Poutine


D+
$
vegan friendly, fast food, daily 11am - 8pm.
1885 Commercial Drive. Vancouver, BC. Canada

Foundation Lounge (Vancouver, BC)

FUN! Foundation Lounge FUN! Remember Swingers in LA? Bye and Bye in Portland? Or even... the lower east side in NYC? Yes! Vegan friendly bars! I love it! I love alcohol and I love it when vegan and vegetarian eats are available. This is great! So my boyfriend and I got the nachos (not vegan!), huge, only $8 with guacamole. The peanut sauce with tofu on pasta is vegan, and that's $6.50 Without a doubt there are tons of more pastas and sandwiches that were vegan. But I hear the peanut sauce is the best. This is a perfect place to eat cheap, socialize, hang out after a good concert. The only problem I have is the atmosphere. It is a bit too grungy. There is hardly any lighting, just candle lights... and it feels like a refuge camp. But yeah, the food is good and cheap. AND vegan friendly!
Nacho Chips

Tofu Peanut Sauce Pasta


B-
$
vegan friendly, Mexican, deli, bar, daily 4pm - 2am
1105 Commercial Drive. Vancouver, BC. Canada

Sweet Cherubim Natural Food Stores & Restaurant (Vancouver)

Okay, 99% vegan and 100% vegetarian. EEK! What does that mean? Are there 100 dishes with only one dish that has cheese? What's going on? Anyways, this is what I'm talking about Vancouver... most of the vegan restaurants are either Indian or Chinese. There isn't much to pick from. However, not that Indian or Chinese food doesn't taste good, I love a nice plate of curry but I don't want that to be my only option. So Sweet Cherubim is a natural food store and a restaurant (deli style). So you can shop for some Indian spices and then eat some Indian styled burger... vegan too! The food is alright, kinda expensive, about $8 or $9 for a meal. Though each dish is big. My friend got the Samosa, burger, and the wrap, delicious! According to my friends, who are not vegan or vegetarian.
Spinach Curry (with cheese), vegan meatball, brown rice, Nan cracker

Vegan Burger

Vegan Wrap

Vegan Samosa


C+
$
vegan 99%, Indian, sandwich, daily 10am - 8pm.
1105 Commercial Drive. Vancouver, BC. Canada
www.sweetcherubim.com

Gorilla Raw (Vancouver, BC)

Good morning Vancouver! Gorilla Raw is probably the only raw place in Vancouver. Its pretty cheap too, not expensive. It is located in a window to go stall right in downtown, surrounded by many coffee cafes. Gorilla Raw serves raw drinks, smoothies, food, cookies, and cakes. The Raw Burger is really tasty. According to my boyfriend it taste a lot like foie gras. I just thought it tasted really good. It had a lot of pickled squash slices, onion, tomatoes, and the patty is made of sprouted grain and some other spices that I don't know. There is no dough bread but cabbage. The Raw Falafel is made of sprouted grains and raw nuts. The cashew cream and the cilantro cream adds some texture to the whole thing. The salsa on top is another nice touch to the texture and flavor. This is probably the best vegan eat in Vancouver. Sadly, most of the vegan and vegetarian restaurants in Vancouver is either a Chinese take out or an Indian restaurant. There aren't many non-asian or creative vegan cuisine, compare to Portland or New York City. But Gorilla Raw is a gem in Vancity.

Raw Burger

Raw Falafel


B-
$
vegan 100%, sandwich, daily noon - 6pm.
101-422 Richards Street. Vancouver, BC. Canada

Chaco Canyon Cafe (Seattle)

Chaco is tugged away in the University District near the University of Washington. It is also surrounded by many vegan friendly restaurants. We decided to stop by Chaco Canyon Cafe for a quick bite on our trip to Vancouver, BC. Chaco Canyon is a cute little cafe with all vegan and raw food. They have a wide selection of soup, dessert, and sandwiches. The grilled vegan cheese and veggie chili is quite spicy. The vegan cheese is obviously store bought. The tunaless melt sandwich is toasted with alfafa bean sprouts, tomatoes, vegan cheese spices, cucumbers, and this mock tuna salad. It didn't taste that good. I've never had mock tuna salad, and I wonder if it is always so greasy. Most of their sandwiches are about $8 or more. I think that's a bit expensive for such small sandwich alone, without any drink or chips or even a pickle. Kinda lame.

Grilled Vegan Cheese and Veggie Chili


Tunaless Melt Sandwich


C
$
vegan 100%, sandwich, daily 7am - 9pm.
4757 12th Ave NE. Seattle, WA.
www.chacocanyoncafe.com