The Unvegan

Recent Posts

10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus
Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

El Segundo90245

3/16/2010 El Segundo

Fleming’s for Free

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Is bigger really better?

For a delicious gift, my girlfriend’s parents gave us a gift card to Fleming’s Steakhouse. I’d never never been to Fleming’s, partially because of the price, but also because I had never really heard much about the place. Apparently, though, they have a pretty good reputation for snazzy steaks. For a nice little date, we decided to go get ourselves some red meat at the El Segundo.

I knew that I would be getting some steak, but I wasn’t totally sure which steak I would need. I looked at the menu and found the biggest Filet Mignon they had and knew it had to be mine. This was called the Main Filet Mignon and sounded delicious. The steak came a la carte, so I also got some of their Chipotle Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese. This sounded like a perfectly delicious unvegan combo to me.

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3/1/2010 Mobile

Domo Lomo Arigato (CLOSED)

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Not the fanciest of trucks…

Although it seems like I’ve reviewed just about every truck on the streets of LA, there are still a few waiting for an unvegan visit. Lomo Arigato is no longer one of these. This truck dishes out Peruvian food and although they don’t fuse this with any sort of Japanese food, they still threw the word “arigato” into their name. This confused me, but I couldn’t let the strange name distract me from food. There were only three dishes in their menu and although they all looked pretty good, I decided to order their namesake, the Lomo Saltado.

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2/9/2010 El Segundo

Pizza Express at Deluca Trattoria

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Now even whiter!

Well my real work life (yes, I have to do real work sometimes) has taken me from LA’s South Bay to North Hollywood, but for one of my final lunches in the South Bay (for now), I went to a little Italian place called Deluca Trattoria in El Segundo. They had a great little express lunch menu that I spent a lot of time looking at in order to decide what I wanted. I suppose all this time spent looking at the menu defeated the purpose of an express lunch, but I couldn’t help it. After much deliberation, I decided to order their Pizza Bianca, which came with garlic, oregano and gorgonzola. The lack of meat on this pizza was troubling to me, so I asked to get some chicken on it, and they happily complied.

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1/12/2010 El Segundo

Eating Meaty at Paul Martin’s

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There is nothing short about this rib.

If you’re getting tired of food truck writing, well, you are in luck. Today unvegan is jumping back into the brick and mortar world with a visit to Paul Martin’s American Bistro. Paul Martin’s is exactly the kind of restaurant a lot of Americans are looking for in the new decade. A creation of restaurateur Paul Fleming and Brian Bennett, it isn’t too expensive, but is definitely upscale. Perhaps more important than that is its supposed dedication to serving organic, sustainable and local foods. It’s a great concept that I can get behind, but pretty ineffective unless the food is good. Using my heightened unvegan senses, I checked them out for lunch to see if organic, local and sustainable translates into a good meal.

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12/22/2009 Mobile

A Breakfeast at the Buttermilk Truck (CLOSED)

Hungry workers.
Hungry workers.

EDIT: The truck is no more, but apparently the food can now be found at Willie Jane’s in Venice…

As I sat on my couch in the morning, waiting for my English Muffin to toast, I realized that I didn’t actually have a Newsweek to read. This was very disappointed, so I turned to my iPhone and checked Twitter. Thinking nothing new would be there at such an ungodly hour (8:30), I was just hoping to kill time. But then I saw it. The Buttermilk Truck was already on the streets and serving up breakfast in El Segundo, essentially across the street from where I work. I shot up from my couch, grabbed the English Muffin from the toaster and tossed it back into the fridge, then hit the road to get some breakfast from a truck.

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10/20/2009 El Segundo

Going Orange at Asia House (CLOSED)

Want more orange on your chicken?
Want more orange on your chicken?

For lunch one day, I ordered from a little Asian place called Asia House. They claim to be “Fusion Thai Cuisine,” which in my mind means they are mostly Thai, but threw in some other assorted Asian dishes to please people afraid of food named Pad Kra Pao and Kang Mus Mun. On this day, I chose to be one of those people and ordered the Orange Chicken even though it is by no means an actual Thai dish.

They have a lunch special, which comes with soup, a fried wonton and steamed rice, so I made sure to take advantage of that. The delivery came pretty quickly and also brought some surprises. As a thank you for being awesome, Asia House also brought me some egg rolls and a Thai iced tea. These were great additions to the already cheap lunch I had.

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9/23/2009 El Segundo

Wrapping at The Tavern on Main

Pickles know how to ruin everything...

I had never been to The Tavern on Main for food before, as I had always thought of the place as more of a bar than a restaurant, yet I wasn’t going to turn it down when I found out some people were going.

We sat in a back room, which almost looked like a real restaurant, despite the fact that you still had to go through the bar area to get there.

I deliberated with the menu for quite a long time, since a lot of the burgers and sandwiches looked really good. Ultimately, thought, I decided I needed to add some spice to my meal, so I ordered the Buffalo Chiicken Wrap, which came with bleu cheese, lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing. The lettuce and tomato would not make a good unvegan meal, so I ordered without. The wrap also came with a side order, so I asked for the mac and cheese.

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9/17/2009 El Segundo

Not Quite Sushi at Kaya Sushi

If it weren't for those tomatoes...
If it weren’t for those tomatoes…

When you walk into Kaya Sushi, there is a massive glass waterfall blocking your way. Do not be deterred, though, because you can easily circumvent this waterfall by walking to the left or right. If you make it past, you’ll find yourself in the posh new sushi restaurant in El Segundo.

The place had an apparent brush with Korean as well as Japanese, since the lettering in their logo was distinctly Korean and there were even a few Korean items on the menu. Their sushi roll list was quite extensive, but I managed to find the least sushi-ish dish on the menu for myself.

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9/11/2009 Mobile

The Next Level of Fusion at the Marked5 Truck (CLOSED)

A pleasant surprise
A pleasant surprise

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find that Marked5, one of LA’s multitude of food trucks, was making its way down to El Segundo, just in time for my lunch hour. I looked up Marked5 online real quickly to make sure I knew what I was getting into and saw that their menu consisted of a sort of American and Japanese fusion. They made burgers, but instead of regular buns, they used rice. I had no idea how this would work without the rice falling apart, but I was eager to find out.

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9/2/2009 El Segundo

The Habit I Can Get Used To

Literally out the door.
Literally out the door.

The most exciting food news to hit El Segundo since Chipotle is most certainly The Habit. Taking over the dilapidated former building of the Grand Cafe, The Habit put up signs months ago and began renovations. Just this week they opened for business, and I knew it was time for me to see what The Habit was all about.

When I arrived, the line was coming out the door. I hoped and prayed that the line would move fast and my wish was granted. In only five-ish minutes I was at the counter and ready to order. The menu is pretty basic if you stick to burgers, but they also offer salads and other non-burger sandwiches. On the menu, the burgers are called charburgers, which really leaves the impression that they will be overcooked. I hoped this wouldn’t be true and ordered the BBQ Bacon Char.

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