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

‘Sandwiches’

9/2/2011 Malibu

Plundering Paradise Cove

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Frequented by humans and seagulls alike.

The coastal land of Malibu is populated by celebrities attempting to avoid the real world and regular people who want to avoid the crowds of LA’s more local beaches. It’s also sparsely populated by restaurants that want nothing more than to serve a subpar meal while providing a breathtaking view. Or at least that’s how it usually goes – a great view = decent food. Hoping to avoid that trend, the Danto family brought back memories of high school and college by taking me, their son’s greatest friend of all time, to lunch. The Danto clan had chosen Paradise Cove and I was excited to find out what they had to offer.

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7/13/2011 Saint Paul

Apparently, I was Thinking Arby’s

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Is this what I was thinking?

Arby’s has always been kind of a fringe fast food chain. You can find it all over the country, but it isn’t exactly on every corner. Perhaps this is the reason it has taken me so long to review them. Or perhaps the reason is because I once heard their meat begins its life as a liquid. Whatever the case, a golden opportunity to chow down on some potentially formerly liquid meat presented itself at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

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6/27/2011 Mobile

Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls on Tires (CLOSED)

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One if by sea, two if by truck.

When Great Balls on Tires first debuted last year, I was concerned that such a name for a meatball truck was a bit of a gimmick. Yet, now that GBOT has lasted through the middle of this year, I felt it was time I tried them out. When I walked up to the truck to see what they had to offer, I found there were only a few sets of balls to choose from. Yet, more than one of these balls looked attractive to me. Unfortunately, all balls came in sets of two, so I had to limit myself to only one ball type.

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6/21/2011 Los Angeles

Living Large at Larchmont Wine & Cheese

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Sandwichy bliss.

The little area known as Larchmont in the middle of Los Angeles is LA’s version of Main Street America. Populated mostly by mom and pop shops, it features a few chains and also its fair share of shuttered establishments. In the middle of this strip of Americana resides Larchmont Village Wine, Spirits & Cheese. Though the place certainly has its fair share of wines, spirits and cheeses, the main draw is the sandwiches. The long, yet swiftly moving line is a testament to these sandwiches. They offer only seven select sandwiches and not one of them is extravagant.

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6/14/2011 Los Angeles

Melting at Marmalade Cafe

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Toasty

Sure, brunch is a good “meal,” but sometimes even if the clock hasn’t struck noon you need a good hearty lunch. That’s just what happened to me when I headed to Marmalade Cafe at The Grove. I skipped right over the omelets and waffles and jumped to the sandwiches. I even skipped over the burgers since I had tackled one at Ford’s Filling Station the night before. Fortunately there was a meaty unvegan sandwich on the menu that was right up my alley.

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5/13/2011 Los Angeles

When in Bella Roma…

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Look how thick that cheese is.

About a five minute walk from the apartment of my special lady friend at Pico-Robertson is a restaurant called Cafe Bella Roma. In the five years that she has lived there, she has never set foot in said restaurant, and since she is leaving the location next month, I was able to convince her to check it out. So if it sucked she could be like, “Good thing I’m getting out of here,” but if it was awesome she could be like, “That’s worth returning to my old stomping grounds for.” Which one would it be?

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4/5/2011 Burbank

Vague and Tasty Meats at Pinocchio’s

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Look at that meat.

Long before there was a Disney movie called Pinocchio, there was a classic Italian story featuring that classic wooden toy. Pinocchio’s (no relation) in Burbank is much more about those Italian roots than it is about the Disney story. And although that Disney classic has stood the test of time, there is one thing it certainly cannot do – feed you. That’s where Pinocchio’s comes in.

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3/30/2011 Los Angeles

Home is Where the Slop is

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Sure, I’ll eat your commie pancakes.

Over in the land of Silver Lake on LA’s east side, my sister, girlfriend and family friend converged upon a restaurant called Home. The place looked nothing like my home and the menu items barely had some items I’ve ever seen at home, so I assumed the name was derived from some sort of Silver Lake hipster irony. We sat outside on a relatively cold Saturday for LA and I watched as the workers fumbled helplessly to try to keep the heat lamps lit while the women tried desperately to keep warm. It was unintentionally entertaining, to say the least, and I hoped the food would at least be half as good as said entertainment.

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3/16/2011 Anaheim

The Monte Cristo of Cafe Orleans

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These fries are frites.

On another fantastic trip to Disneyland, this one filled with wheelchairs and electric scooters from scooter sleuth rather than roller coasters, we ended up at Cafe Orleans for lunch. More upscale than your average Disneyland restaurant, Cafe Orleans is located in the heart of New Orleans Square, not far from Pirates of the Caribbean. Serving up French-influenced food, they had a good-looking menu with a couple unvegan options.

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3/3/2011 Cave Creek

Feeling Perturbed at Bad Donkey (CLOSED)

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Stop being such a putrid chicken.

For a little lunch pickup in Cave Creek, Arizona, just north of Scottsdale, I was told we would be ordering from a local sandwich shop called Bad Donkey (not to be confused with Bikkuri Donkey). Although actual donkey was no where to be found on the menu, it seemed they had come up with some very creative names to make up for the lack of donkey. Their veggie sub was called Grass on a Roll and their Reuben was creatively called Reuben Worth Choosen (yes, choosen and not choosin’).

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