Veggie Grill
Veggie Grill’s finest fake meat comes from a proprietary blend. The chillin’ chickin’, says the menu, is the restaurant’s own unique veggie protein, something that the place dares you to taste and believe. And in the time that Veggie Grill has spent across from UC Irvine (nearing two years as we crawl towards the [...]

Along with Au Lac’s other tofu-based staples (“beef” with watercress, tofu and bamboo shoots with lemon grass), the Vietnamese plates at Au Lac have driven the place to vegetarian fame. But just recently Au Lac has grown beyond that, adding an entire second menu full of raw vegan eats so good they could easily be [...]

Two menus make Au Lac twice as healthy

PHOTO by RICK POON
It isn’t because of a struggle with the English language. It isn’t a preview of some soylent future, either. No, Au Lac’s so-called “humanese cuisine” is something all its own: It’s a plan for humanity, a proclamation of the restaurant’s dedication to good health and [...]

It’s not exactly culinary subterfuge, but nothing at Vegi Wokery is quite what it seems. That’s because Vegi Wokery specializes in vegetarian and vegan interpretations of classic Chinese dishes, with probably the most unique plate being the vegi-Peking duck. What’s usually a brutally fattening dish (duck skin literally bathed in oil) is completely transformed here, [...]

Falling for Vegi Wokery’s meatless meat

PHOTO by ROSHEILA ROBLES
It’s not exactly culinary subterfuge, but nothing at Vegi Wokery is quite what it seems. That’s because nearly all of the restaurant’s dishes can be snuck inside a pair of quotation marks—the “chicken” isn’t chicken, the “fish” isn’t even from the sea. But it all makes sense [...]

Dining at Zephyr is like hanging out in your cool aunt’s sponge-painted kitchen: the pea-soup green walls are often decorated with eclectic art from local visionaries and the staff seems to care little for time constraints. For those looking to enjoy a hearty meal, there’s the requisite overflowing bowl mixtures, such as the garden tempeh [...]

Surati Farsan points its menu primarily toward the seaside state of Gujarat, one of India’s many culinary epicenters. Gujarati food is regarded as being remarkably clean and simple, with predominantly vegetarian dishes that work wonders with only a few flavors. And that’s what Surati Farsan specializes in. There’s pani puri, fried wheat shells puffed up [...]

Whipped up this simple and filling dish (taken from this recipe on Recipeezaar.com) last night in about 30 minutes, which is a record for this green kitchen gal. Not much to say about it, except that it is very flavorful and leaves your house smelling, well, homey, for hours afterward. Serve over cooked rice or [...]

Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe for the Indian dish Bharta (a smoked eggplant dish similar to baba ghanouj, included in her must-have cookbook World Vegetarian) is no-fail fun for the tummy of anyone you introduce it to. Some history, courtesy of Jaffrey:
“This is a popular village dish. The eggplant is put whole into the hot ashes of [...]

Among the top feelings in the world (for me) at the moment is effing NAILING a recipe. Last night’s Tofu Pot Pie recipe took me about two hours to make, but holy geez! Worth it. For you tofu haters out there, this is the one that will convince you otherwise. Delicious, though I messed up [...]