The Unvegan

Eating the Desert at Nick’s Coffee Shop

The Unvegan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:30:30 +0000

Hmm what's the ruling on cactus?

For a nice little Sunday brunch, the girlfriend and I headed over to Nick’s Coffee Shop at Pico-Robertson. Coffee shop is kind of a misnomer for this place, since it’s really more of a diner in the S & W vein. The place is pretty small, so there was a bit of a wait, which wasn’t a big deal on the sunny morning. By the time we took our seats, I was hankering for some food. I perused the extensive menu and found an omelet that looked pretty good to me. It was called the Cactus Omelet and the menu described it as being packed with nutrients. This was confusing, but then I saw that the ingredients included Hebrew National Salami and Jack Cheese. It came with a side, so I got myself some grits.

I waited eagerly for the omelet and when it arrived I was shocked by the giant flecks of green in it. Apparently I was an idiot and didn’t realize that the omelet actually had cactus in it. I just thought that cactus was the cutesy name it had been given. Hell, I didn’t even know that cactus was edible unless you were dying in a desert. I contemplated the unvegan-ness of cactus briefly and ultimately decided the stuff was worth a try. I’m still not sure whether or not cactus is a vegetable, but it is not something I would order again.

The salami and cheese part of the omelet, on the other hand, were badass. Unfortunately, these took a backseat to the namesake of the omelet. Despite my distaste for cactus, I would definitely pay another visit to Nick’s. Their grits were awesome and I could tell that I could find some delicious other items on their giant diner menu.

Bacon Beats Sex

The Unvegan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:40:34 +0000

Baconfact!

While on the subject of Canada, it seems that a new report from the Great White North has some interesting insight into the power of delicious meats. According to the study, 43% of Canadians prefer bacon to sex. Is Canadian sex that bad or is bacon that good? I like to think that bacon is just that good.

There are many reasons to explain why bacon is good, and while the report really dives into the science of the thing, I have my own reasons. First off, you can have bacon in public. Second, bacon smells good. The same can’t usually be said for that uhhh other thing. I could go on, but it might get gross and offensive. The point is that while sex is good, bacon is apparently better…at least in Canada. But then again, they would probably choose an ice cold Molson, hockey and curling over sex as well.

Now bacon and sex combined…that’s a million dollar idea.

(via The Montreal Gazette)

A Great Decision at Ana Maria’s

The Unvegan — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:30:08 +0000

Long line=good

While thousands of fools were waiting in the long lines of the LA Street Food Festival to get the same food they could get any night from those Twittering food trucks, my buddy and I made a great decision to head for a different part of downtown LA. This was the Grand Central Market, a glorious collection of restaurant stalls, produce vendors, butchers and more. Almost dead center in this gem of a market was a Mexican place called Ana Maria’s. We took a page out of my Asian handbook and decided that since this place had the longest line, it had to be the best.

A green mess of delicious.

After strolling around the other aisles, we hopped into Ana Maria’s line and got a glimpse of a great looking dish called a gordita. Not at all related to the gordita crunch that fills my stomach and haunts my dreams, this seemed to be a more authentic gordita. This seemingly small food was usually filled with a choice of meat, beans, guacamole, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lettuce and sour cream. That was a whole lot of food to worry about, so to simplify things, I ordered one with just carne asada, beans and guacamole. I paid my $3.50 and waited for the nice man behind the counter to prepare my unvegan gordita.

That is a tasty face.

When it was ready, the thing was just oozing with meaty goodness. $3.50 was a small price to pay for the size of this gordita. I was happy that despite my unvegan order, the thing was still packed as much as a gordita with those vegetable fillers. The guac was kind of viscous, which made my first bite a big green mess. But that first bite sure was delicious. Each bite made the gordita fall apart just a little more, but it was worth it. It came with a fork for a reason.

Meaty innards.

At first, I had ordered the gordita because it seemed small and I would be able to order more food from a different stall, but by the time I was done, my stomach was heavy and there was no room for more. That gordita truly did me in and was certainly the cheapest non-fast food lunch that I have ever had fill me up like that. Ana Maria’s in the Grand Central Market was certainly a great decision with very accommodating workers. i know next time I make it t the Grand Central Market I’m going to want to try something new, but it will be very hard to pass up another stop at Ana Maria’s.

Hal Johnson and Joanne McCleod: Unvegan Heroes

The Unvegan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:59:58 +0000

No ordinary heroes.

So the Olympics are over, but if they have taught us anything, we all know that Canada is a pretty sweet place. I may be partial to the country since I grew up an hour from the border and took advantage of the 19+ drinking age in Ontario. Or I may be partial to the country because I am half Canadian and am enamored by both curling and hockey. Whatever the reason, I’ve now discovered a new reason to love Canada and it is called “Body Break.”

“Body Break” was one of those fun little informational shorts from the ’90s that would appear during after-school programs. It featured two wholesome Canadians named Hal Johnson and Joanne McCleod. As part of encouraging people to live a healthier life, they made meat a central focus.

Check out their video below:

Not that anyone would be foolish enough to skip out on meat in a meal, but they even say, “If you don’t eat meat at lunch, you can combine two servings at dinner.” That’s a good unvegan life to me.

So for being part of Canada’s awesomeness and encouraging meat consumption, Hal Johnson and Joanne McCleod, you are true Unvegan Heroes!

(via The Cheap Seats)

A Shiny Shiny Beacon

The Unvegan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:50:01 +0000

A beacon of hope.

On a cold, wet afternoon, I was hankering for some lunch when I saw a beacon of hope in Culver City. No, not just any beacon, but a restaurant that was actually called Beacon. This name was just so similar to bacon that I had to try it out. Well, also I had heard some pretty good things about the place. The lunchtime crowd was pretty big, but my girlfriend and I still found a table pretty easily. Beacon was an interesting blend of Asian and American fusion, featuring dishes like “black” edamame (which sounds like an even scarier version than regular edamame) and Miso Braised Short Ribs. By far the most confusing part of the menu was figuring out which dishes were salads and which were sandwiches, since they both fell under the header of “Salads and Sandwiches.”

Also falling under the banner of “Salads and Sandwiches” was their Grilled Half-Pound Burger. Now this was an unconfusing dish, and despite some heavier unvegan alternatives, I thought a burger would be a great lunch. It came with carmelized onions, Nueske bacon, gruyere cheese and sweet soy glaze to get that Asian touch. I asked if it came with anything else and the waiter told me it didn’t, so I simply ordered it without the carmelized onions.

When will these waiters learn? When my burger came, I found that it also came with lettuce and tomato. These pests were immediately dispatched to the outer rim of my plate as I cursed the unfortunate creature that decided it was appropriate to mix vegetables with their meat. With those removed, I got to take a look at the real burger. The thing was quite big and far more rotund than any burgers I’ve had in a long time. The bun was incredibly white, but looked like it had a great texture. I bit in and was surprised at how juicy the burger was. The bun had a nice, crisp taste and the bacon was delicious as always. The sweet soy glaze was quite subtle, but a welcome addition to the burger. The biggest issue I had with this burger was the bun itself. Although the bun played a good role in not overwhelming the burger, it was wholly unable to store all the juices coming off of the meat. This made the end of the burger pretty difficult to eat without busting out a fork.

Overall, though, this complaint is pretty small when considering I had eaten a pretty good fusion burger. Often burgers are thrown on menus like this to please people who simply want to eat American food at an ethnic restaurant, but this burger did a great job of keeping with the general atmosphere of Beacon.