Chicago Diner, Meat Free Since '83!

A couple of years ago, when Brandon and I first decided to wise up and start doing the whole vegan thing, we went on a mad hunt to find all of the most kick ass vegan places that we could. Since we were in Indianapolis, our choices were pretty limited. We had The Abbey or Three Sisters and that was about it. Never turning down an opportunity for a road trip, we decided that we would make a venture up the great land of Chicago and check out this little place called The Chicago Diner.

The Veggie Diner was established in 1983 and is pretty much an all vegan restaurant. When the owners began to create this little joint their goal was to create a welcoming atmosphere, where one can get a big helping of "comfort food", but without the meat and guilt. They serve breakfast, lunch, and diner, and all items on the menu are things that most Americans are use to. There are things like, The Radical Reuben, BBQ Fib Rib Sandwich, Gyros, Black Bean Burger, Hummus Wraps, Biscuits and Gravy, French Toast, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, and the best of all, the dessert menu. Ranging from Monster (Chocolate Chocolate Chip) cookies and Chai Spice scones, to decadent Cocoa Mousse and Cookies & Cream cakes, Oh! but wait! they also have a nice selection of "milk"shakes using only the best and locally produced, Chicago Soy Dairy (luckily for me I can find the Cookie Dough flavor at my local Whole Foods).

Now at the Diner, I am sucker when it comes to the Black Bean Burger:Homemade burger, melted cheeze, lettuce, tomato, onion & creole mustard on a toasted harvest roll- add avocado with a nice side of ssweeeeett potato fries and you, my friend, will be in heaven too. B usually ops for the BBQ Fib Rib Sandwich: Hand carved seitan “ribs” in BBQ sauce topped with chopped lettuce, onions & tomato slices on a toasted hoagie bun, add some pesto veggies and we usually swap half way through.

(the vegan hot chocolate)

On our last trip up to the Diner, we went to celebrate our 5 year anniversary, so we were not holding back. Not eating a few meals before hand to make sure that we could make our mother's proud by the food we would consume. We started with a new item that they just added to their menu for this fall season, FRIED RAVIOLI !

(the amazing fried ravioli!)

Black bean-cilantro raviolis with Guajillo sauce & sour cream. These Utopian like crunchy raviolis with black bean paste inside paired perfectly with the Guajillo sauce. Score 1 for us. Next I decided to go out on a limb and try another new item, the Shawarma. I couldn't really pronounce it right, but I am sure the guy appreciated my efforts. This new entree was created with hummus, sliced gyro style seasoned seitan, fried cauliflower tossed in tahini sauce (right? you're drooling now aren't you?), on a toasted whole grain ciabatta & spicy harrisa. The weirdest combination I have ever scene on a menu, but it was fantastico too. Brandon stuck with the tried and true fib rib, and splurged with the vegan hot chocolate and soy whip. It was a very satisfying trip to the diner. Funny how seven hours in a car can be worth it when you are eating at this dive.

Rum Raisin? Must be Tofurky Day!

Happy late Tofurky day everyone! As with most vegetarians and vegans, Thanksgiving is usually not one of my favorite "holidays" nor even a day that I wish existed. However, I am always glad to know that there is a day out there that I am able to excuse myself from work and make a full hearted attempt to see how much food my body is capable of holding.

This year was no exception. With my family, my mom is a vegetarian so at least I do have her on my side, and for the rest of them, I believe that they are getting better at accepting my snide remarks and scornful glances at them when they start to talk about the turkey or after picking up their third piece of bird carcass, yet, they are pretty supportive, and so every year there is more and more veg friendly options at the dinner table.


So in my attempt to over load my body, I had a bountiful array of food to chose from. Sweet potatoes, Quorn, veg egg rolls, lo-mien, fried rice,(my aunt if originally from Taiwan so I definitely had the hook-up there!) cranberry sauce, an astounding Humpty Dumpty cake (thanks to my artistic sister), broccoli salad, every fruit and vegetable that was grown in the good ol' Midwest, and of course, my contribution: Vegan Rum Raisin Cupcakes.


Recently, every night before bed, I find myself rereading the cookbook Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Now you know that the book is going to be good when it is named Cookbook Of The Year by VegNews magazine. There had been a handful of recipes that I thought that I wanted to make for this special occasion and so I had my lovely fiance decide for me. Instantly he chose the rum raisin ones. As tempting as it was to make them Red Rum Raisin Cupcakes, I restrained and made it a little more family fun oriented.



This is truly one of the best cookbooks for a vegan that I have seen. All of the recipes are uber easy and fun to make and each one you can make them a little bit more healthy for you if you are trying to have your ass not grow AS fast.

Since I am the biggest procrastinator when it comes to the holidays, I was one of the several people at the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving trying to get my cornstarch and confectioners sugar, along with some artificial rum flavoring. After squeezing my way through the baking goods aisles (so thankful I didn't eat the cakes before hand) I checked out and went home to start bakin'.

Some sifting here, some mixing there, and creating a special big cupcake for Brandon, the babies were finished and ready for some rum glazing.

The glaze turned out really nicely, it was pretty much like butterscotch on top, and that was underneath the rum butter cream frosting! I didn't have any frosting tips on hand so I had to resort to using a plastic bag in order to do the piping, but considering there were no cupcakes left after 10 minutes of them sitting on the table, I felt that they were a success...or maybe they all just thought that they had real rum in them and it was be a less obvious way of getting crunk. (pictures are to come shortly)

Vanilla Bake Shop, Martha's Preference When on the West Coast

A nice black and white photo of a happy couple, smiling. The girl is holding a mod looking cake while wearing a nice matching mod dress. The cake is in color of course. Now, that is a nice opening picture for a cupcake website. Makes me think that if I continue eating these cakes, I too can be a pretty blond girl smiling with Ken. SWEET!

While researching cupcake shops, who better to reference than the queen herself. On Martha's website she listed her favorite places to have a sweet treat, and what the cake was when she got there. Well lucky for me there were lots of places in LA to choose from. Vanilla Bake Shop, was started by Amy and Jeremy Berman, and then named after their favorite flavor (really? vanilla? snore). The cakes are all baked from scratch with a big influence from contemporary design and taste, so atleast that is a little more exciting.

When my mom came into town, I decided now would be a good time to go try out the Santa Monica based bakery. It was also her birthday, so a double whammy as to why we needed to go.

The exterior is very clean and contemporary looking. I really like the feel of the place, well, until I was greeted by an angry teenage girl that I think had been struggling with not eating the cakes herself. When I started to get my camera out to ask if I could take a picture she instantly yelled at me as if I wouldn't have been able to hear her from across the street. I quickly told her the cupcakes of choice so I could get the hell out of there and eat my sugar in the presence of awesome people.

Key Lime: Yellow Butter Cake, Key Lime filling, Creamy Vanilla Frosting, Graham Cracker Crust Crumbles; Meyer Lemon Raspberry: Yellow Butter Cake, Lemon Curd Center, Vanilla Bean Frosting & Raspberries(Martha's Choice); and then the classic Southern Red Velvet: Southern Red Velvet Cake, Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting.



We stood outside to eat these little pieces of art, and by far Martha was right. The raspberry with the lemon was amazing. I loved the tartness of the sweet cake and it was paired so well together with the light coating of sugar crystals on the top. The Key Lime was also incredible (I have a thing for sour things) it tasted like a little cake version of the pie. Then the true test was the red velvet and they nailed it. No box recipe here, nothing but sweetness (and a sea mammal that needed to head further west back towards the water..)

Here's Johnny!

Last winter, Brandon and I went to Boston to visit one of the coolest girls ever. While we were there, we let Raina know that our mission was to seek out one: totally rad vegan joints, and two: breath taking cupcake bakeries. She gladly obliged.
On our second day in Boston, we went down to Newbury Street in search of some Betsy Johnson and Marc Jacobs. Feeling poor and overwhelmed, we knew that it was time for a cupcake break and that there was this "Johnny's Cupcake" not too far from where we were.

The website looked cool, so they must have unique little cakes in there, right? However, I didn't really look at the website too intensely. Fat free? Sugar Free? Cholesterol Free? How did they do that?? Easy. They only make T-Shirts and buttons. No baking going on here, only some shirts still hot from the "oven".

Brandon was a little disappointed, mainly because he was thinking that this was going to be the place where he buys a cupcake and places my ring on top. Awesome fiance right?! Unfortunately that moment had to be postponed till later that day.

Buttons and stickers that had fun colored cupcakes and cross-bones on them? I knew this was going to be a new brand that I would wear proudly. I was so excited that I did invest in a couple little trinkets to take home and show off.

Now, moving out to LA, I was so happy to see that they had made another home for Johnny out on Melrose.
Inside this little gem had a wall that was lined with retro colored "ovens" that would randomly open and close letting a little steam out. Towards the back of the store, where the staff room would be was a ginormous oven, who's doors would open for the staff members to go back to the back. Can they install these in residential projects?

I knew I wanted a shirt that was unique to that location so I found a black shirt that had an old styled oven on the front with "CA" and "LA" printed on the design as well.
Could a tattoo of this cute little icon label be in the works? I would not be surprised.

What Happens When a Child Names a Store?

Your cupcake shop will be called "Yummy". Not that that is such a bad name, it is just well, a name a 5 year old boy would name a cupcake shop if he could, and he did. When owners, Tiffini Soforenko, Brogan Faye and Nik Soforenko decided to open a little store in Burbank they certainly were on the right track to making people happy everyday. For a year they baked only for special events, yet they had so many clients asking if there was an “everyday” location to go to. So they opened Yummy Cupcakes' first retail store on Magnolia in Burbank, California.

Now it is not always a good thing when there is a delicious little cupcake shop on walking distance from the apartment. Since it was a 5 mile trek round trip, I figured two cupcakes per person would be well deserved. Brandon and I headed up towards the northern part of the valley one afternoon and I was instantly greeted by bright pink "curtains"with a big cupcake sign, a baker in the window making the little morsels, and lots and lots of cupcakes paraphernalia.

Yummy's offers various vegan options, they now have 43 flavor combinations on the vegan Full Menu. Everything from offering Red Velvet vegan cupcakes to Arnold Palmer's (yes a cupcake version, not the beverage) every Monday and Friday. Vegan cupcakes are available in two sizes...Classic & Mini, so I was delighted in trying the Chocolate / Chocolate: Chocolate cupcake topped with vegan chocolate buttercream, Monkey Love: Chocolate cupcake frosted with a fresh vegan banana buttercream with walnuts folded in, and Banana Cream Pie : Banana cupcake centered with fresh banana puree, topped with a whipped cream frosting, sprinkled with
graham cracker crumbs.


Eating a pound of sugar while walking in 85 degree heat is not the smartest thing to do, but it was well worth the momentary breakdown.
There were always phone orders coming in and people walking out with dozens of little cakes, so I am not in fear of this company going out of business any time soon, and I definitely was a frequent consumer of these yummy little cupcakes.

California Vegan, Straight to the Point

Down in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd there is a tasty little store appropriately named California Vegan. It is usually one of the first places that pops up when you type in "vegan" onto Yelp or Google Search so it was only a matter of time before we headed down there.

After walking up a little sweat from Hollywood Blvd to Sunset (no one in LA walks), I felt I deserved a good reward.

In every store front there is a rating as to how clean the restaurant is and most every place gets an A, however, this place had about a B-, so we were a little nervous..better just split a sandwich.

Pretty much all of the specialty items were faux meat products, and I am a sucker for some fo' chicken sandwich. So "Chicken" sandwich it was. Topped with tomato, lettuce and Veganaise I was quite pleased, yet anything that you smother with Veganaise is pretty much guaranteed an A+ in my book. The sandwich was also served with a basket of really fresh homemade tasting fries that was in a basket the size of my head. Dear Lord, they know what makes a girl happy! Pour some cookie dough batter on top and I would have gone into my own happy little coma. Since they didn't, though, California Vegan was nothing that I would most likely fight traffic for to eat again. I did enjoy the bright orange boothes- that was a fun experience I suppose.

Not Just for the Birds

Looking for a nice little vegan goody here in LA is not too hard to do with such an abundance of forward thinking bakeries and shops. Finding one that won't leave you stuck in a 2 hour traffic mess is a different story. Luckily for me I learned about a little cake shop down in Silver Lake that had vegan cupcakes everyday of the week.

What use to be an old upholstery shop is now Lark Cake Shop, a cute and very welcoming store front. The shop looks like a vintage furniture store meets a happy little tea cozy. All of the sofas and chairs were mismatching and reminded me of something I would see at a long lost aunts house. The cookie jars were clear glass and over sized to display the plate sized cookies. Each perfectly labeled with an old typewriter font. The cupcakes were displayed in their own case with hand written labels for each perfectly crafted dessert. The cakes were all artistically designed, yet simple and appealing.

Lark carries two types of vegan cupcakes, Vegan Chocolate Orange Cupcake: Vanilla vegan yellow cake with orange pudding filing, topped with orange marmalade and chocolate ganache along with the winner of my heart that day, Boston Banana Vegan Cupcake: Banana cake filled with a slice of banana surrounded by vegan pastry cream topped with vegan white chocolate icing.
Since my heart will probably always be in Boston (yes, the grass is always greener, but I do really love a place with history and well read residents...) I opted for the Boston Banana. When it was served, I was given the delicate morsel on a little old antique plate. Another thing that is totally rad about this place is that they try to minimize their environmental footprint by using only compostable cups, boxes, utensils and straws. Extra points!

The little cake tasted like homemade banana bread, but with a softened, somewhat wet banana inside...I'll leave it at that. The icing tasted like hardened white chocolate. All-in-all very tasty cake, but I could have lived with maybe a softer frosting.