What should I order?

I love eating (big surprise, huh?), and that includes eating out. When you are a vegetarian this can be a little tricky sometimes. Obviously when I’m choosing where to go it’s a veg friendly place, but often I end up going out with co-workers or other circumstances when I don’t choose the place. It usually goes like this: scan menu looking for items that do not involve dead animals, choose one of the 1 to 3 options in that category. When I am at an exclusively veg restaurant it takes me forever to decide what to order because suddenly the whole menu is available to me. It’s a nice feeling. So, Kleo posted today asking about our favorite local veg places to eat out, these are mine:

Real Food Daily
I’ve been to the Santa Monica location a few times. The burger is great, it’s a huge patty of grainy beany goodness, the soups I’ve had were all very good, all their dressings and sauces are amazing. The menu has a nice range of different cuisines from Asian influenced to American style comfort food. It’s a little on the spendy side, and when I requested ice for my iced tea I was told they don’t have ice in the restaurant (?) so that’s weird, but I’ve never had any food there that wasn’t delicious so I recommend it.

Native Foods
Westwood isn’t exactly my neighborhood so I don’t get to Native Foods as often as I’d like, but this place might even be my favorite of all time. They have everything, appetizers, burgers and sandwiches, salads, soups, bowls, pizza, tacos, and it’s all awesome and a darn good value to boot. The Mad Cowboy bowl and the Moby Dick sandwich are a couple of standouts in my mind. If there were one of these anywhere near my office I would be much fatter than I am.

California Vegan
Too bad I’m never there for lunch because the lunch specials are a great bargain at this place. I usually get a curry dish or the cowboy steak. The Vege Chicken Nuggets are not to be missed. I don’t know how they do it, but they are the best fake chicken nuggets I have ever tasted. I suggest BBQ sauce for dipping.

Venus of Venice
I’ve only been there once, and come to think of it I don’t know why I haven’t been back! It’s not far from my place but it’s also not en route to anyplace I go regularly so I guess it kind of slipped my mind. This is a fun and quirky little place. The interior décor is eclectic as it comes, everything looks like it was pulled from grandma’s attic or a thrift shop, plenty of stuff to peruse on the walls while you wait for your food. Our server was southern and sweet as pie. She was also dressed a bit eccentrically with a sequined costume, but in the context of the place it seemed to make sense. The sandwich and salad I had was very tasty, and the mint iced tea was so good and refreshing. Oh, and I remember the sweet potato fries were also great, but really when have you had sweet potato fries that you did not love? I must make a mental note to hit this place up for a weekend lunch sometime soon.

Bharat Bazaar
This is the Indian grocery I go to for spices and naan and the like. They also have a few tables and chairs set up and a little vegetarian food bar. As I mentioned in a previous post on my last visit they were kind enough to let me sample everything on the steam table and I was wowed! The chickpeas, the spinach, soy “meat balls”, everything was so amazing. I will be back there for a full meal in the near future.

What about your favorite places to dine out?