The Unvegan

Featured Reviews

Merging Cultures at Chino Bandido
Back to Asia with Taiwan Food Express
A Big Ass Burger at Roaring Fork
Damn Near Perfection at Tokyo Fried Chicken

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11/25/2009 Las Vegas

Steaking Out at Rare 120 Degrees (CLOSED)

Pretzel bread? More like pretzel heaven.

Another fine restaurant I went to in Las Vegas was called Rare 120 Degrees. This restaurant was off the strip at the Hard Rock Cafe, but was a perfect place to stop before seeing Santana there. We had a reservation and got in instantly. It was a good thing we had that reservation, too, because no more than fifteen minutes later, the place got packed. Before I even saw the menu, I heard classic 80s music and one of the greatest movies of all time, Better Off Dead, starring John Cusack, was projected onto one of the walls. I knew I had come to a great place.

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11/23/2009 Mobile

Finishing Up at Frysmith (CLOSED)

Want some fries with your chili?
Want some fries with your chili?

Last week, I brought you an interview with Frysmith, the newest food truck to roll out in LA. Although they were opening Friday, I didn’t think there was any chance I could make it, due to a previous commitment. At the end of a long Friday night, I decided to check Twitter to see if there were any taco trucks to be found. I was pretty sure that Frysmith had already wrapped up, but I was still in need of some mobile foodery. As I checked Twitter, though, I found that Frysmith was still at the Brig in Abbot Kinney, so I rushed over to see if I could make it in time.

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11/19/2009 Las Vegas

Rejecting Bobby Flay’s Style at Mesa Grill

Why oh why lettuce?
Why oh why lettuce?

As a break from watching horse racing and football at the Caesar’s Palace Casino in Las Vegas, we walked right next to the sports book and into the Mesa Grill. The place is pretty well-known for being Bobby Flay’s restaurant and I guess Bobby Flay is some sort of a big deal because of his Iron Chef work and such, but I still get him confused with Michael Flatley of Riverdance fame. Confusion or no, I had heard great things about the Mesa Burger and zoned in on that when I got my menu.

I was actually a little disappointed by the list of toppings. Horseradish mustard sounded like a bad vegetable concoction, while grilled Vidalia onions made it sound even worse. The redeeming quality of the burger was the double cheddar cheese, so I still ordered the burger with the cheese on it. I told the waiter that I was ordering my burger strangely and he replied that it wasn’t strange at all. This friendliness in an anti-unvegan world showed me that even unvegans are welcomed with open arms in Las Vegas. I ordered the burger cooked medium and he told me they served a very liberal medium, meaning my burger would be quite pink. This was just fine by me.

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11/18/2009 West Hollywood

Not Quite the Best of Mediterranean (CLOSED)

The best of what’s around?

It was a night for delivery and looking through LAbite, we found a good-looking Mediterranean place to order from it was called Best of Mediterranean (BOM), which is quite a boast to be put in a name, even for a place in West Hollywood. Obviously a place by that name had to be checked out. I was too hungry for a schwarma sandwich, so I ordered the chicken schwarma dinner plate. This came with hummos, tabouli, rice and garlic sauce. Knowing that tabouli is some strange mix of greens, I tried to order without it, but the website wouldn’t allow me. This was a big fail on the part of both LAbite and BOM, because many other restaurants allow you to customize dishes. Unfortunately, I knew that vegetables would be dying for my sake that night and wouldn’t even have the pleasure of being digested.

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11/17/2009

Getting All Cubic with Sweet Square

Mmm squares of sweetness.
Mmm squares of sweetness.

The ladies of Sweet Square in Culver City contacted me recently because they wanted to give me a sampling of their dessert bars. I’m more of an expert on the savory end of the food spectrum, but never one to turn down free food, I obliged and we set up a date for them to hand-deliver them. In the interim, I checked out their site and saw a bunch of sweets that looked pretty good, but the best-looking one of all was their “Makin’ Bacon” Bar. I have made it well-known throughout this blog that I am not one of the proponents of the bacon craze that is sweeping the nation. Let there be no doubt that I love bacon, but I am constantly baffled by the notion that bacon has become the ultimate topping. Nonetheless, bacon in a dessert bar is intriguing, and I looked forward to the moment that meat would hit my taste buds in dessert form.

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11/16/2009 Lawndale

Growing My Wing Palette at Wingstop

A little bone, a little no bone.
A little bone, a little no bone.

Not too many places in the world are endorsed by a star as big as Troy Aikman, well at least not too many buffalo wings places. Wingstop, however, has Aikman, which is why the last time I was hungry for wings, I decided to listen to the Hall of Famer and check it out.

The closest Wingstop to me is in Lawndale, so I took the drive to the little strip mall and was tempted to just hop into Chuck E. Cheese and abandon the wings. Luckily, my friend put me back on the right path.

The interior was done up in a sort aviation-esque theme, which I think alluded to the fact that wings are both on chickens and airplanes. I saw that they had a pretty cool-looking combo, which included 10 wings (with or without bones), fries and a drink for under 10 bucks.

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11/13/2009 Culver City

Sweet and Fiery with Panda Express

A little rice with my meat?
A little rice with my meat?

For the longest time I have avoided stepping into the Panda Express across the parking lot from my local grocer. It’s not so much that I disagree with the existence of Panda Express or think I’m too high and mighty to lower myself to the level of Chinese fast food. No, the real reason is that I just feel like there are some better Chinese restaurants around that serve food just as fast. Nonetheless, every time I would walk by, the strong scent of glazed Asian-ness would be quite enticing. Finally, I gave in to that noxious perfume and took a plunge into Panda Express.

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11/12/2009 Mobile

More First Fridays with the Flying Pig (CLOSED)

Who wouldn't eat from a bright pink truck?
Who wouldn’t eat from a bright pink truck?

EDIT: While the truck is grounded for good, the Flying Pig has spawned some brick and mortar that may or may not be anything like the truck.

For my second course on First Fridays in Abbot Kinney, I headed out to one of LA’s newest food trucks, the Flying Pig. When I first read about this Mexican-French fusion truck, I wasn’t too amazed by what I read. Fusing Mexican food with Asian is one thing, but to try to fuse it with French as well seemed like a strange niche that I didn’t need to explore. Lo and behold, my opinion changed when I saw the truck and the happy customers outside of it.

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11/11/2009 Mobile

First Fridays with the South Philly Experience

Seems like it would be hard to drive with that sign...
Seems like it would be hard to drive with that sign…

Sometimes, following LA’s food trucks on Twitter can be a difficult process. If you don’t have a Twitter account or a smartphone, then it gets even harder (seriously, not having Twitter or a smartphone is soooo 2008). Luckily for those who fight the future of technology, there is a little event on the first Friday of every month on Abbot Kinney in Venice creatively called First Fridays. These nights are the best opportunity to experience LA’s food truck culture.

One truck I’ve been trying to find for a while happened to be there. It’s called South Philly Experience (SPE) and dishes out Philly Cheese Steaks, plus a couple other random East Coast faves like Tastykakes. The menu was as basic as you’d expect from a food truck, offering a couple varieties of sandwiches, but I only wanted the original. I ordered as specified on the menu, “witout” onions and “wit” Cheez Wiz, as I’ve heard the Wiz is Philly’s top choice for cheese steaks.

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