The Unvegan

9/15/2009 Rants and Raves

Meat: It’s Good for the Baby Boomers

A new study out of Japan brings good news to all those Baby Boomers hitting their middle-ages and wondering how to eat for the second half of their lives. According to the study, “eating meat at least every two days during middle age may help maintain independent daily activities when older.”

This is good news for anyone hoping to delay their entrance into nursing homes or for their children who would have to shoulder the responsibility of dependent parents if they didn’t go straight for the nursing home.

It’s bad news, though, if you are a vegan or vegetarian. The study also found that eating fish and eggs, as so many vegetarians do, had no positive effect on later independent functions.

Baby Boomers Dependence Japan Meat Middle-Aged Nursing Home Studies

9/15/2009 Reviews Los Angeles

Getting My Goat at Ambala Dhaba (CLOSED)

Finding ourselves in Westwood without any idea where to eat, my roommates and I walked into Ambala Dhaba. None of us had looked the place up online, nor had it been recommended, but we were feeling risky.

A look at the menu revealed a whole lot of vegetarian dishes, but also some meaty Indian dishes I had never heard of and was excited to try. Tucked under the glass on the table was their beer special, Bell beer from Uganda for only $3 a glass. I wasn’t sure why Ugandan beer had found itself at an Indian restaurant, but it would definitely be something new for me.

Ambala Dhaba Curry Goat Indian Los Angeles Meat Restaurants Westwood

9/14/2009 Reviews Hermosa Beach

A Wine Cellar Dinner at Bottle Inn

For a restaurant called the Bottle Inn, you would expect them to have a great selection of wines. What you wouldn’t expect, however, is for their wine cellar to become a dining room. Nonetheless, if you have a big enough group, that is where they seat you. It’s almost like a tease to should you all the amazing wines you could be drinking, yet it’s still pretty damn cool. Although the wine was quite distracting, I was able to take my mind off of it long enough to read the menu.

Everything on the menu looked amazing and it took me a long time to decide, but in the end it had to be the Gnocchi al Pesto. While waiting, we drank some fine Napa wine and stared at the stack of Opus wine that was probably worth more than my life.

Bottle Inn California Cellar Gnocchi Italian Los Angeles Opus Pasta Restaurants Wine

9/11/2009 Reviews Mobile

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

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.

Burgers Curry El Segundo Food Trucks Hamburgers Japanese Los Angeles Marked5 Meat Mobile

9/10/2009 Heroes and Villains

Blake Shelton: Unvegan Hero

I love that song. Not that it really has anything to do with this post, aside from being Blake Shelton. Based on the song and the inherent sappiness of it, you would never imagine Shelton to be a big time Unvegan Hero, yet here he is. Recently Shelton has engaged in a battle against PETA, and it has been fought with the most modern of all technologies: Twitter.

According to the blogosphere, Shelton has ruffled numerous feathers at the PETA camp with his witty responses to PETA twitters.

Blake Shelton Country PETA Twitter

9/10/2009 Reviews Manhattan Beach

Going Halfsies on Burgers at Hennessey’s Tavern

On Tuesdays, Hennessey’s Tavern in Manhattan Beach offers a great special: Two-for-one burgers. As I was running late for dinner on one of these lovely Tuesday nights, I asked my girlfriend to place an order for a Western Burger with cheese. The Western Burger comes with BBQ sauce and bacon. Since she knows my dietary restrictions, I assumed I didn’t need to specify that it should come without vegetables. When I arrived, it looked like she paid no heed to my needs. On my plate, along with my burger, was a pickle, lettuce, tomato and onions. I quickly checked to make sure no pickle juice had seeped its way into my bun. Lucky for my girlfriend, it had not.

Bacon Bar Food Bars Burgers California Hamburgers Hennessey's Los Angeles Manhattan Beach Meat Restaurants Taverns

9/9/2009 Rants and Raves

Poorly Made by PETA

Here’s a look at PETA’s most recently banned ad, featuring the lovely Pamela Anderson. Apparently it was supposed to be shown in airports, but they decided it was too sexy for that. I actually just think the video is very poorly made. Not that I’m pro fur or anything. If you’re gonna kill an animal, it should be for the food and not for the natural Gore-Tex.

Fur Leather Pamela Anderson PETA Sexy

9/9/2009 Reviews Los Angeles

The Ultimate Shawarma at Sunnin Cafe (RELOCATED)

In the quest to finally find some good schwarma in LA, I made my way to a little Lebanese place called Sunnin Cafe. I have fond memories of delicious Lebanese food back in Michigan, so I hoped that this place would be at least a little awesome. Getting there was a little confusing, though, as it appeared as though there were two Sunnins, right across the street from each other. On further inspection, it looked like the larger of the two is unopened and the small place will be moving in there soon.

The inside of the little cafe gave the appearance of a generic diner. There were seats

at a counter and no more than ten small tables. The big difference, though, was the strong smell of the Middle East and the rotating spool of meat where a deep-fryer might typically belong. I also loved that they made no effort to hide the fact that the cooks were Hispanic. It’s a pretty widely known fact that kitchens of ethnic restaurants all over LA are filled with Hispanics, despite the fact that waiters and such fit into the ethnicity. It was refreshing to see that Sunnin didn’t hide that aspect of their business.

We ordered some “hommos” (love the spelling) to start things off.

Chicken Hummus Lebanese Los Angeles Meat Mediterranean Middle-Eastern Restaurants Schwarma Shawarma Westwood

9/8/2009 Recipes

Hitting the Big Time with Country Bob’s All-Purpose Sauce

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Country Bob’s, Inc., a little company looking to get the word out on their sauce, Country Bob’s All-Purpose Sauce. They loved my blog (obviously) and wanted to send me some free sauce to write about. Being a shameless sell-out, I jumped at the offer.

I researched the company a bit (ie. checked the website) and found that Country Bob gave a whole lot of credit for his success to God. Hey, if athletes can do it, why not sauce-makers? I also found on the website that Christ himself had risen through the ranks of Country Bob’s to become CEO. I’m not sure if he usurped the title from Country Bob himself, but Bob seemed to have no problem putting “Christ is our CEO” on the website.

Love the presence of Christ. In my mouth.

After about a week, my package of sauces came in the mail. I decided a Labor Day BBQ would be the perfect chance to test out the sauce and to get a range of opinions, specifically from my Jewish friends. To complete the holy trinity of monotheistic religions present at the meal, I picked up some Halal ground beef to make burger patties.

BBQ Christ Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce Food Free Halal Jewish Labor Day Meat

9/7/2009 Reviews Culver City

A Couple Rolls at Sushi Mashiko

Despite my not being the biggest fan of sushi, I found myself at Sushi Mashiko in Culver City one night to once again eat some raw fish. Sushi Mashiko was in a very nondescript location in a strip mall without any real sign. I only found it when I looked inside each store front and saw a small sign with the word “Sushi” on it. The place was supposed to be really great, so instead of ordering some sort of chicken or noodle dish, I decided I may as well test out their sushi.

After a long look at the menu sushi menu, I decided on two decent-looking rolls: softshell crab and tuna avocado. Since I would be the only one partaking in my personal sushi, I ordered mine uncut so I could turn the sushi into finger food.

Crabs Culver City Los Angeles Restaurants Seafood Sushi Sushi Mashiko Tuna

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