When I told my vegan buddy Stromile that I was going to come out to LA for a trip, he said “We should grab some vegan food sometime.”  However, by the time that I did go out there, he was observing some religious holiday, so he couldn’t eat out (I won’t say what holiday, because it’ll date when I actually went to LA).  While he couldn’t eat with me, he did give me a load of good food recommendations.  Most of the recommendations were places that were vegetarian/vegan friendly.  He told me to check out Real Food Daily because it was a great place to celeb watch.  And I had been in LA for a few days and hadn’t seen a single celebrity (I’m not counting a guy that looked like Colin Farrell that drove past me in a vintage Land Rover).  So, Real Food Daily I went!

Real Food Daily is a vegan restaurant that is committed to the vegan lifestyle and promoting healthy eating, balance with nature, and all that other crap that you thought died out with the hippie. Don’t believe me? Instead of salt or pepper, they have “sesame seeds” for seasoning!  This is the kind of thing that makes people hate Californians.

The first thing I noticed when looking through the menu was that everything was ridiculously expensive.  I had such sticker shock that I didn’t have any idea what to order.  The waitress recommended the RFD burger and the Supreme Burrito with ranchero sauce on the side.  I am not a fan of tempeh (which the burger was made from), so I ordered the burrito with ranchero sauce on the side and taco mix included.  I think the burrito would have been tastier without the taco mix, as the taco mix was either tempeh or some dried-out meat substitute which tasted awful.  I was intrigued by the concept of cashew cheese, but I could barely taste it with all the other flavors that were happening.  The burrito overall was actually quite underwhelming, though filling.  I have had much tastier burritos that had no fake meat or fake cheese, and were much cheaper.

Even though I was pretty full from the burrito and all that sesame seed seasoning, the waitress conned me into getting German Chocolate Cake.  Admittedly it wasn’t a hard feat to accomplish, as it’s a lethal equation: Cute Waitress + My Gluttony = Ordering Cake.  Despite being $7, I found it very underwhelming.  One of my favorite parts of German Chocolate Cake is the coconut, and you would think that vegan recipes would include a lot of coconut, but I could barely taste it!  The cake was very heavy, and the cake to icing ratio was scant, which was disappointing, because that was what the waitress recommended also.

It is possible that the waitress’ recommendations for me were just terrible, but I did not really like the food at Real Food Daily.  I think it’s great and all to cater to vegans and emphasize local food, but I would argue that all that fake meat and processed fake cheese cannot be good for you.  If you’re going to be a vegan restaurant, I would much rather have simple natural food (like just vegetables, beans, etc.) with the odd tofu or seitan dish, rather than being completely fake food with the odd natural dish.  I suppose that is the great irony of Real Food Daily, it’s pretty fake, and not very good.  And the worst part of it all (not my bill for $22!) was that I didn’t even see a celebrity.  Next time I’ll just dine at the Ivy.  I’ll give RFD three cheese sandwiches, as they cater to vegans and celiacs, but serve substandard food.

Real Food Daily
414 North La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048 
(310) 289-9910

Despite many of my previous protestations, I finally decided to make a trip out to sunny Southern California and check out Los Angeles.  I have some friends that live here that I haven’t seen in a while, and I found a really cheap JetBlue flight, so I thought I would take the plunge and visit LA before it fell into the Pacific Ocean (I seriously believe this is going to happen in my lifetime).  When I asked people in Boston who have been to LA for food recommendations, one of the most trusted people I know suggested I go to Griddle Cafe in Hollywood.  When I saw on the website that they had red velvet pancakes, I knew this had to be the first place I went to in LA. 

As I walked down Sunset Boulevard, I felt eerily pleased to be amongst the bastions of entertainment, such as the Directors Guild, the Laugh Factory, Trader Joe’s.  For some reason I was under the impression that Griddle Cafe was not a very popular place, however, upon my arrival at 10 AM (on a Tuesday morning!) there was a line of about 15 people waiting to get in.  Fortunately, the service is very speedy and they make a big effort to rush you in and out.  Unfortunately, because of this I didn’t really have time to get a good photo of my meal. 

I ordered the “Kicking and Screaming” breakfast tacos, as there are two things I expected out of a diner in LA: good eggs and great mexican food.  The tacos were scrambled eggs, pico de gallo, avocado, monterey jack cheese, with a chipotle cream sauce and served with refried beans.  The refried beans did not have lard in them (according to the waiter).  I really liked these tacos, though the refried beans didn’t really seem to fit in the dish.  I think it would work without it, but it was nice to get some beans to complement the tacos.

I ordered the tacos because I was not really feeling like eating something sweet this morning, but I did want to try their french toast.  Their pancakes were five slabs of 8” diameter pancakes and they were far more food than I was ready to eat.  So, I ordered a half order of french toast to go with the tacos.  The french toast was really tasty, and while the tacos were just faintly spicy (perked up with some Cholula sauce I added), the toast’s sweetness really felt good after the tacos.

Griddle Cafe is a really cool place, though they constantly rush you and the model/actor waiters definitely had a some attitude.  The food portions are suitable for even the most ravenous Midwesterner, and after eating this meal, I really didn’t feel like eating for several hours.  On the down side, while there are few vegetarian options, there are no obvious vegan options.  If I were to judge everything altogether, I’d have to give Griddle Cafe four and a half cheese sandwiches.  It’s definitely one of the best diners I’ve ever been to, despite the fact that everybody else has jumped on this bandwagon.

Griddle Cafe
7916 West Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90046-3304 
(323) 874-0377