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

‘California’

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.

Read More

9/22/2009 Santa Barbara

On the Water at Brophy Bros.

unvegan brophy bros.
Very bro-like

Walking into Brophy Bros. in Santa Barbara, based on the name, I expected some sort of frat house with waiters walking around with sweaters tied around their shoulders and referring to everyone as “Bro,” “Brah,” and “Brosef.” Instead, I found a seafood restaurant. Not sure which I would have preferred, as I seem to be finding myself at seafood places quite often lately, and I am not enjoying the pattern. Nonetheless, I rapidly found the most unhealthy dish on the menu, Fish ‘n’ Chips.

Read More

9/18/2009 Santa Barbara

Getting Cheesy at Mad Dogs (CLOSED)

Nothing green here.
Nothing green here.

After a long day of drinking in Santa Barbara, I stumbled upon a little hole in the wall joint called Mad Dogs. Hot dogs were their specialty, which was perfect for me to soak up the remains of the day.

They had a variety of hot dog choices to please anyone, and I decided to do a little custom thing. I ordered a bacon and cheese dog with a side of cheese fries. Apparently I am not afraid of destroying my arteries in one sitting.

Read More

9/14/2009 Hermosa Beach

A Wine Cellar Dinner at Bottle Inn

Little green lumps of happiness
Little green lumps of happiness

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.

Read More

9/10/2009 Manhattan Beach

Going Halfsies on Burgers at Hennessey’s Tavern

I was ashamed to eat near vegetables.
I was ashamed to eat near vegetables.

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.

Read More

8/14/2009 Los Angeles

Pizza the Hollywood Way at Village Pizzeria

It's like half of my pizza is dead.
It’s like half of my pizza is dead.

Village Pizzeria in Hollywood is LA’s version of New York pizza. Located on Larchmont Street, it isn’t really a Hollywood-style place at all, which is pretty comforting to someone like me who doesn’t work in the entertainment industry. To test the place out, I went with a friend of mine.

Since we were unable to compromise on a pizza that we both liked, we decided to go halfsies. I got my half in the pepperoni style, while she agreed to the pepperonis, but also ordered a disturbing fungus called mushrooms. Unnecessarily worried, I also ordered some garlic rolls in the expectation that the pizza wouldn’t be enough food for me.

Read More

8/13/2009 Los Angeles

Food for the Soul at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles

A morning delight.
A morning delight.

I’d been waiting for a very long time to finally make my trip to Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles. It took the right combination of alcohol and lack of sleep from the night before to finally propel me to the location in Mid City.

My buddy and I walked in around noon and there was a short wait before we took our seats. The menu was loaded with so many varieties of chicken and waffles, without a vegetable to be found, that I really couldn’t figure out what to order. I decided to wait until the waitress arrived to make sure I ordered the right thing. Unfortunately, service wasn’t exactly the strong suit of Roscoe’s. I didn’t mind though, I wasn’t there for service, just for chicken and waffles. Finally the waitress came and told us to get combo #1, which was 1/4 fried chicken and two waffles. We happily complied.

Read More

8/11/2009 El Segundo

A Lunch Deal at Z Pizza

Love the paper.
Love the paper.

A coworker of mine was raving about the amazing-ness of Z Pizza in El Segundo, so I went to check it out with another coworker of mine.

The first thing I wondered was how they came up with the name “Z Pizza.” When I heard it the first time, I imagined a group of German immigrants sitting around a dingy New York pizza joint. One of the immigrants is clearly in charge, albeit with a strong accent, and asks the rest of the table, “Vhat vould you like on zi pizza?” Thus, a restaurant name is born.

Read More

8/10/2009 Los Angeles

Finally, Some Indian Food at Gate of India

This vindaloo is making me thirsty.
This vindaloo is making me thirsty.

Ok, yes I know I sort of reviewed some Indian food last week from Tara’s, but that was really Himalayan. So when I went to Gate of India in Hollywood, it was essentially my first time getting some full-on Indian food since moving to LA.

A buddy of mine took me to the place because it was the best Indian he had yet found in LA. Although he is Jewish, I took his work for it. Gate of India isn’t exactly what you would imagine for a place in Hollywood. It’s in a nondescript little row of shops on a street corner. The interior conveys a sense of a banquet hall more than an ethnic restaurant, but fortunately the prices weren’t so painful, with just about everything on the menu coming in under 10 bucks.

According to my research, somewhere between 20-40% of the population of India are vegetarian. This would be enough to frighten away many meat eaters from Indian restaurants, but not me. That means the majority is still of the meat-eating persuasion. The menu at Gate of India reflected this, because while a majority of the food was meat-laden, there was still a pretty extensive vegetarian section.

Read More

8/7/2009 South Lake Tahoe

Simply Good Burgers at Big Daddy’s Burgers

It's just too pretty.
It’s just so simply right.

Sometimes it’s best to keep things simple. As Henry David Thoreau once said, “Simplify, Simplify, Simplify.” Quite often, restaurants fail to recognize this necessity by throwing in vegetable garnishings or trying to turn a burger into a gourmet meal. Big Daddy’s Burgers in Lake Tahoe, however, wouldn’t dream of crossing this line. They only make burgers, hot dogs and fries. It’s a menu so simple that it makes In-N-Out Burger’s menu look like a novel.

Read More

Previous Page
Next Page