If you’ve been there before one of the first things you noticed was how tiny the place was. Cute and clean, but very small, with a little market area in the back. The exciting news is that all this has changed! The big counter that took up a lot of the front room has been replaced with a much nicer and smaller unit, opening up a large area of the restaurant for more tables and chairs, it’s a lot less crowded now. Also the market area has been removed, creating even more seating in the back. It’s now a really comfortable space for a sit down meal (it was ok before but this new layout is a big improvement).

More importantly, not only is there now a nice new color menu with pictures, but Kevin is also constantly creating new dishes and re-inventing old ones… for example, he is indeed now serving his very own version of vegan Pho. That’s right folks, you heard it here first! Go try it… tell me how it is, I haven’t had it yet. See all those tantalizing looking dishes up on the wall? Those are just some of the newer dishes added since the menu was printed. The hardest thing about eating at Vinh Loi is deciding what to order!

And decide I eventually did. For this visit I picked the Curry Udon with Chicken.

The chicken, vegan of course, is made from some magical concoction which once began as a soybean. What I can tell you is that it’s unlike any sort of fake meat items you’ve ever tried, tasting both authentic and yet not so real that it’s too real, with flavors that just burst in your mouth of heat and ginger and lemongrass and multitudes of goodness unrecognizable to mere mortals such as myself. There’s no point in thinking of it as a meat substitute, it’s something else entirely. And that’s only the chicken…

The curry covering these perfectly cooked udon noodles is simply not something that my limited culinary vocabulary is able to properly describe or do justice. This is by far one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted. Seriously, there’s no way around it, these noodles are just phenomenal. The flavor starts off for me as a Japanese style curry, but how it takes off from there in it’s entirely own directions is something of legends. This is the curry of the Gods right here. There’s plenty of veggies in there as well, cabbage, carrots, bean sprouts, and as you can see a giant heap of fresh and glorious cilantro. The chilies are too hot for me even though I do like things rather spicy, but if you can take the heat these will rock your socks off.

I’m telling you, this dish kicks all kinds of ass, proving once more that vegan food isn’t all pansy-hippy-granola. There’s at least 30 or more new dishes up on that wall that I haven’t tried yet… what’s a girl to do?! Vinh Loi’s also now got extended hours (open everyday from 9am to 9pm!) and a brand spanking new website as well, so click on over, then drive on out to humble Reseda to get your serious eating on: www.vinhloitofu.com

My advice? Go hungry… go very, very hungry!

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While I’ve been pouring over all the vegan PDX food blogs and compiling quite a list of great ideas, I’d love to hear any last minute, non-obvious suggestions if anyone’s got any “must try” tips for while I’m there. Like, what’s the most amazing vegan thing that I absolutely have to eat while in town? Non-food tips and cool event suggestions welcome as well (not much of a drinker so you don’t need to tell me about your favorite pubs). Please reply in the comments… and thanks in advance! Expect a full report when I return, if I can fit back in the plane.

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One of the upsides of personal calamities is that they tend to make me forget all about being on a diet… which brings me back to breakfast. This is one of the fabulous vegan tofu scrambles at Real Food Daily. I can’t remember the exact name and try as I might I cannot find their breakfast menu online anywhere, but whatever it’s called just know that it’s divine. From what I recall it involved avocado, tomatoes and spinach topped with their yummy cashew cheese sauce which comes in regular or jalepeno. I, being a devotee of spice chose the later. This came served with hemp bread, vegan butter and choice of fruit or hash browns (I already mentioned throwing diets and giving a shit about carbs to the wind, right?).

Here we have yet another scrumdidliumptious breakfast at Real Food Daily, which you might have figured it out by now is one of my favorite places for a delicious and comforting morning meal (not that I would turn down a visit for lunch or dinner either). This time around it was the omelet with avocado, spinach, spicy cashew cheese along with tempeh bacon. Their tempeh bacon is to die for… a perfect texture and smoky flavor that to someone like me who hasn’t eaten bacon in many years, tastes awfully baconish (in a good way). The omelet itself is a thing of beauty… far surpassing anything that would come from an egg. It was crispy on the outside with a well-cooked eggy feel on the inside… both chewy and flaky at the same time. I absolutely loved it and ate up every last crumb of the stuff. I had the hemp toast again but this time opted for fruit instead of potatoes.

As far as I’m concerned, you can’t go wrong with breakfast at Real Food Daily. FYI, I’m talking about the West Hollywood location, I have not been to the one in Santa Monica yet. Despite the not cheap prices (come on, it’s all organic, kosher & rad) and regardless of the occasionally hard-to-find parking and often über-hipster/celebrity patrons, the food at this place truly is good: real, healthy and unpretentious. The next time you’re feeling like crap and are up and mobile before 3pm (on a Sunday… just found out this is the only day they do brunch), head on over there and set yourself up with a plate full of anything on their breakfast/brunch menu and you’re sure to leave feeling a lot more positive about the day ahead of you.

On that note, here’s to moving forward and feeling good. See you all soon with more gastronomic indulgences!

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I’m just stopping in for a quick note to let you all know that I haven’t disappeared and I’m certainly not ignoring you or this blog. This past week has been one of the worst ever for me… first, one of my very best friends ever since Jr. High school was killed in a tragic and senseless accident. Then, just two days later, my beloved kitty had to unexpectedly be put to sleep. She was 14 years old and I’ve raised her as my own baby since she was 3 1/2 weeks old. You can imagine the shock and grief that I am attempting to cope with right now. As they say… “when it rains, it pours”. At this moment I am in the midst of a perfect storm.

I haven’t written this to make you all sad. In fact I’m doing my best to try and focus on the happy memories that I shared with these two beautiful girls and that’s helping me to get through the hardest parts. Mainly I just want you to know that my absence is only temporary (who wants to eat at a time like this, you know?), and that I will be back soon with some new and delicious posts for you, as well as to reply to the many great comments you’ve all been leaving. They are all appreciated as always.

So please do keep on checking in, and for goodness sake don’t unsubscribe from my RSS feed! I’ll be back before you know it to tease and taunt you with more tantalizing food porn and then once again, all of your diets will be in jeopardy.

In the meantime, please go and hug all of your loved ones, both human and animal, and squeeze them so tightly that you make them squeak. Then, hug them some more.

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Apple Pie Couscous Cake (vegan)

1 cup drained silken tofu
1 cup baked apples *
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Earth Balance butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup apple juice
pinch salt
1 cup instant couscous

For frosting:
1 cup raw cashews
1 cup pitted dates
1 cup cream cheese (Tofutti)
1/2 cup light coconut milk

Ok, first things first. I am not a cook. Nor am I a baker or a dessert maker (or a candlestick maker for that matter). I’ve never baked an apple pie before. In fact, I’ve never baked any sort of pie. Or cake. That said, and having already successfully tried my hand at Robin’s no-bake Pumpkin Rum Couscous Cake (minus the rum), I thought I could probably pull off my idea for an apple pie inspired couscous cake for this contest. Here’s what I came up with, along with very helpful suggestions along the way from my mom (someone who actually does know how to cook).

* The first step was to bake the apples. I roughly chopped 3 large green Granny Smith apples and placed them into a baking dish along with 1/2 cup of butter (Earth Balance), 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and 3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon. This was put into a pre-heated 350 degree oven. After 10 minutes I took it out to stir and realized now that the butter was melted that I’d used too much of it (1/4 cup should be more than enough). I wanted the apples and sugar to caramelize and that wasn’t going to happen with all this liquid, so I spooned out quite a bit of the butter, then put it back in for another 30 minutes (stirring every 10).

Next, I made the couscous mix as called for in Robin’s original recipe: In a medium sized sauce pan, combine apple juice, 1/4 cup of brown sugar and pinch of salt, bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and stir in the couscous. Cover and simmer for 2 minutes, then turn off heat and let stand 5 minutes.

While the couscous did it’s thing, I made the tofu mixture. Into the blender went 1 cup silken tofu, 1 cup of the baked apples, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. This was blended until smooth yet still slightly chunk with soft apple pieces.

Once the couscous was ready I transferred it to a large bowl and combined with the tofu and apple mix until well blended. This was then spread into a lightly oiled 9″ spring form pan, pressed in firmly and evenly. The rest of the baked apples were then spread on top of the cake. This was placed into the refrigerator and chilled overnight.

The next day I made the delicious frosting. I was going for a cashew cream sauce that I was going to pour along the top of the cake and have run down the sides, but what I came up with instead was a much thicker sort of topping which ended up even tastier than I’d imagined it would.

Into the food processor first went the cashews and dates, processed until the nuts were chopped and the dates in pieces. I then added in the cream cheese and coconut milk and processed until it reached a creamy, pasty consistency.

I then applied the frosting to the cake while it was still in the spring form pan. I spooned it on around the apples in the center, using my fingers to get it on firmly and evenly. I was afraid that the frosting would pull away when I took the sides off the pan, but thankfully it did not. I was also pleased and relieved that the cake did not fall apart :)

I then decorated the cake with a more cashew nuts and frosting.

The verdict:

It was really good! I was pleasantly surprised that it worked as well as it did. It was actually quite tasty and pretty close to how I’d envisioned it in my mind. Not exactly, but pretty close. I think it could have done with a bit more sugar and cinnamon, and my mom concurred. Mostly I think it’s the idea that’s a winner, if not the execution.

I think this concept of the apple pie couscous cake is a really good one, and in the hands of a real cook who already knows how to bake a mean apple pie… well, that person could adjust the flavors like a pro and probably make something incredible out of this. It sure was fun to try and make it though… and even more fun to eat it!

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This exotic dish, the Silver Noodle Salad was what I had on my most recent visit, and it was delicious. “Glass bean noodles mixed with soy chicken, soy shrimp and chilis in lime juice”. Yum… so good!

Not being a fan of onions I spent a minute picking those away to reveal the goodies underneath. What makes this dish a hit is the fantastic lime dressing. I’ve had some lime based dishes and salads at other Thai places where they’ve either just used straight up lime juice with nothing else (too sour), or they mix it with some herb or spice that I don’t like which gives it the distinct taste of dirty butt. Not that I know what dirty butt tastes like mind you, but I can send you to a few Thai joints where they’ll gladly give you a sample. Thankfully, this dish had no butt flavor whatsoever! I loved the dressing, sour but not too sour, pungent but not too pungent, spicy but not too spicy… ok, you get the idea. Both the soy chicken and soy shrimp are very tasty, though I would have liked a few more pieces of the shrimp. Slimy, slippery glass noodles are always fun to eat, and the greens and veggies were crisp and fresh.

Now let’s go back to the future. This last weekend was my birthday (yay me!). Because dorkiness apparently doesn’t go away once you hit middle age, I managed to take a major nosedive while climbing my steps, landing with all my force and weight on my right knee. Hard…. on concrete. Thankfully I didn’t break any bones, bust my kneecap or cause any permanent damage, but I did for all intents and purpose seriously mess up my knee and ability to walk for a few days. [This did not stop me from attending, eating my way through and hobbling around at Worldfest... to be blogged about soon!] While I was laid up at home with an elevated and ice-packed leg, I called Lotus Vegan up to bring me a delivery. If I’m going to be stuck at home on my birthday, you best believe I’m going to be doing it in style.

Talk about over indulgence! I swear I didn’t eat this all in one sitting. And it was my birthday, so shut up. From left to right: That’s the Hot & Spicy Green Beans (aka Prik King) with tofu and their awesome brown rice. Prik King has always been my favorite Thai dish, and I love how they prepare it here. In the middle is the lovely High Protein Salad and tahini dressing, right top has got the glorious sticky rice & mango, and in the front right we’ve got the quesadilla, made with vegan mozzarella cheese and served on chapatti bread. Their cheese does not contain casein and is very, very melty. It melts to an almost liquid consistency then firms up pretty quickly. Careful when biting into it as the drippy cheese is hot! But don’t let it sit for too long either because the cheese will cool fast. That’s not likely to happen though because it’s so tasty that you’ll want to scarf the whole thing down right away. Unless your name is Scott, in which case, would you pass me your quesadilla please? I will gladly eat it :)

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You’ve still got a few days left to concoct your delicious creations, so hop to it! For more info visit the contest page over on Robin’s Vegan Planet website. Good Luck!

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