I feel like I’m accidentally on a vegan food tour of Los Angeles… and I’m not complaining. The vegan food in LA is SO good. I’m not vegan, and probably never will be because sushi, but often times I prefer eating at vegan restaurants since I do my best to avoid dairy.
Vegan food can get a bad rap from carnivores, but it’s come a long way even in the past few years. It’s no longer about weird soy imitation meat and instead has become more so about creating delicious veggie based meals with decadent cashew cheeses galore.
My bestie David has been a trooper accompanying me to all the amazing vegan spots below. I think it says a lot when two meat eaters can agree that the food at all these restaurants is seriously amazing. Take my word for it and check out these restaurants in Los Angeles even if you’re not vegan, for the best vegan food in Los Angeles.
Cafe Gratitude
The Vibe: Hippie-dippie mixed with yoga and a touch of hipster. Every dish on the menu is named something positive such as “Awesome” or “Elated”. The restaurant screams California to me with it’s laid back vibe and focus on positive energy.
What I Ordered: I’ve been to Cafe Gratitude twice now and ended up ordering the same thing because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I really love the “Awesome” which is an eggplant panini with cashew cheese goodness. Also awesome is the matcha tea latte, and this is coming from someone that doesn’t love the earthy taste of matcha.
More information: Here
Gracias Madre
The Vibe: A trendy, Mexican restaurant. We went for brunch and ate outside so it reminded me of my secret favorite brunch spot in NYC Dos Caminos.
What I ordered: We split a pumpkin scone to start. After eating said scone, I declared that scones really are the superior breakfast pastry and I stand by that statement. I had the Chilaquiles and David had the plantain french toast. The cashew cheese on the Chilaquiles (pictured above) was AMAZING, but I think I would’ve preferred this dish as an appetizer to share with friends. David’s french toast was so so so good.
More information: Here
Little Pine
The Vibe: A quaint little restaurant in Silver Lake founded by Moby.
What I ordered: Everything. This is only a slight exaggeration. We started with an order of the brussel sprouts and the broccoli arancini. I thought the broccoli arancini was spectacular and I loathe broccoli. It was like a tasty, cheesy patty of happiness. The sprouts were also really good, but the arancini stole the show.
I got the grilled cheese with tomato soup for the main event. The grilled cheese was seriously amazing and the epitome of comfort food. I didn’t love the tomato soup, but I think that’s because everything else was SO good, the bar was set really high. They could have probably used a 0.3hp tomato squeezer to make the soup even better as I felt the tomatoes weren’t mashed properly. Well, I’ve no complaints whatsoever, because everything else was too good. I had a bite of David’s gruyere and pear sandwich, also amazing. We were two very happy lactose intolerant peeps eating our fake cheese sandwiches.
The grand finale was a warm berry cobbler with ice cream. Luckily Silver Lake is an adorable area to walk around, because we were SO full after all that eating.
More information: Here
M Cafe
The Vibe: A trendy juice spot that also happens to sell food. This restaurant isn’t vegan, but instead uses the principles of macrobiotics so nothing has refined sugars, eggs, dairy, red meat or poultry.
Apparently it’s also a celebrity hot spot because we saw Alison Brie, Elizabeth Berkley and Breckin Meyer while we were there.
What I ordered: The Big Macro (aka a veggie burger) with seaweed salad. I got to pick my own side salad and they let me taste test all the options (I also discussed the seaweed salad with Alison Brie during this time because I didn’t realize who it was…) . It was a tough choice between the seaweed salad and the soba salad — both were so good.
More information: Here.
Hugo’s
The Vibe: A bustling, sometimes crowded restaurant that has something for everyone. It’s not a vegan restaurant, but the menu notates which foods an easily be made vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free. Don’t worry, it’s a pretty huge chunk of the menu.
What I ordered: Recently I’ve been ordering the huevos rancheros with eggs and dairy-free cheese, so obviously not vegan. I have had their vegan Tikka Masala plate in the past and it was a dairy-free Indian dream come true.
More information: Here.
Question: What are your favorite vegan restaurants in Los Angeles?
I should be going to LA for work sometime in May – definitely have to hit up some of these places! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! I’m going to L.A in January and this will help!
Enjoy and let me know if you need any other LA recommendations!