I love dinner parties – usually hosting them at my home and inviting my closest friends. Aside from the fact that it’s great-tasting, quality food that satisfies the palette, we typically eat and drink whatever we like and there is rarely a theme to what is being served.
At my most recent gathering, we decided to focus on vegetarian meals, serving mostly plant-based food. It seems that everyone in LA, whether a carnivore, a pescatarian or a herbivore, has had the pleasure to feast on some of the amazing vegan and vegetarian dining that seems to be cropping up on every corner of the city.
But which ones are the best? Here are some that I recommend:
1. Crossroads Kitchen: This is the belle of the ball when it comes to vegan food in L.A. Tal Ronnen is a world renowned vegan chef who can make a 100% plant-based Bolognese taste as authentic as a the real thing made at The Chateau Marmont.
2. Gracias Madre: If you love good atmosphere, Mexican food and tasty margaritas, Gracias Madre is the place. And if you’re a cheese lover but can’t stomach lactose – their non-dairy cheese looks and tastes so much like the real thing, it even fooled Adrienne.
3. Plant Food and Wine: Matthew Kenney’s new hot spot in Venice serves up locally sourced organic foods and delicious wines. The communal back patio is always packed with beach goers looking to ditch the meat for a leaner lunch option.
4. Real Food Daily: Their Santa Monica location closed but the West Hollywood location has thrived since the 90′s, regularly serving Hollywood hipsters their favorite vegan milkshakes and cashew cheese nachos.
5. Little Pine: A Silver Lake vegan restaurant owned by Moby, a well known animal rights activist. This one serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in an attempt to sway meat eaters to consume all three meals strictly plant-based.
6. Monty’s Good Burger: It was just a matter of time before someone’s lightbulb lit up and they decided to open a plant-based version of In N’ Out. Located in K-town, Monty’s is a fast food, vegan burger stand serving up the famous Impossible burger – which (almost) tastes like the real thing.
That is just my short list of vegan cuisine around LA and you don’t have to be a hippie to enjoy them. There are many more around town, so please let us know what some of your favorites are!
Also, for dinner party music, click here for my Spotify Picks for the month of August.