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Cafe Flourish

Meatless on the Miracle Mile
5406 Wilshire Blvd. (west of La Brea)
Phone: 323-939-3932 | map | website

Carol Elaine is a longtime friend of ours--since high school, and we shan't mention how long ago that was--and also a pretty mean wordsmith. Today we are graced with a review. Thankfully, it did not occur to her to ask for compensation. - Dave & Bianca

Café Flourish is a new kid on the Mid-Wilshire block and a much welcome one to Los Angeles vegans and vegetarians. Sure, you can't swing a toy stuffed cat without hitting a vegan Thai restaurant, but not only do even vegetarians get tired of Thai food, some of the restaurants are a little questionable in their veganness.*

The restaurant is a small space with four very cozy tables inside and two long benches outside, encouraging conversation with your neighbor without forcing it on them. It's clean yet warm in design, with the exception of a rather odd moss wall hanging against one small wall, but don't let that, or the crunchy-hippy food names and order makers put you off.** This is vegan comfort food that omnivores will love.

Truth is, when my boyfriend Lee and I go, we each always get the same thing: I crave the BLTA and he's got the hots for the vegan reuben. Mind you, everything looks absolutely scrumptious (one of these days I'm going to have to try the SMac 'N" Cheese), but when you've got perfection in a sandwich, it's hard to cheat on it for a BBQ pizza.

The BLTA is smoky tempeh bacon, roma tomatoes, red leaf lettuce and avocado with a spicy vegannaise on half-toasted white bread. Sounds absurdly simple, but the top notch ingredients take the sandwich from average to, "Ohwowohwowohwow, that's so damned good!"

Okay, so no one who's ever had bacon is going to be fooled into thinking that the crunchy stuff inside is bacon, but it doesn't have to taste like bacon to be good. And this stuff is good. The tempeh is deep in flavor and crispy in texture, its taste marrying well with the bright roma tomatoes, the liquid crunch of the red leaf lettuce and the creamy, rich avocadoes. The spicy vegannaise gives just a touch of heat - a perfect accompaniment.

But the bread brings it all together. My bread preference tends to fall along hearty grain breads and robust ryes and sourdoughs, but using half-toasted white bread is a stroke of brilliance. The toasted inside keeps the sandwich from devolving into a soggy mess, while the soft outside provides a nice texture contrast for your mouth and doesn't overwhelm the subtle balance inside as heartier bread might. Delicate, filling and just a tad zesty, this is a sandwich you could take home to meet mama.

Lee's got a thing for the vegan reuben, which I've enjoyed, but wasn't as won over as he was. I love rye bread and sauerkraut, but those flavors were too subtle for what should be a full bodied sandwich, I felt the avocado competed with the dressing and the texture of the tempeh here didn't quite work for me. Don't get me wrong, it's still a damned good sandwich. But I won't be giving up my BLTA any time soon.

As for sides, I haven't tried anything besides the quinoa tabbouleh. The fantastically fresh ingredients just leap on your tongue and do a happy little flavor dance. Quinoa is hard to cook well, but Café Flourish has got it down. Combine that with finely chopped pine nuts, parsley, green onions, tiny currants and a light fresh dressing and you won't even look at other sides.

There are various non-alcoholic drinks and desserts available. I recently had an Oreo cupcake that was fluffy, rich and moist and which I will be craving again. Parking is available on Wilshire and the side streets, but make sure to check the signs and feed the meters - it's an anti-gridlock area, which means no parking during designated times of the day.

* Neither oyster sauce nor casein (a milk product commonly found in soy cheeses) are vegan. Some "vegan" Thai places don't seem get this concept.

* * The BLTA's real name is "Be Love, Thanks & Abundance" and the order markers that are given say such things as, "You are Abundant!" I love that kind of thing, but it may annoy people who aren't as hippie-granola as I am. Trust me, the food is where it's at.

Thanks to an ordinary goddess for introducing us to another capable vegan eatery, for taking a bevy of excellent photos, and for writing brilliantly about it. Carol, any time you want to write more, let us know. Dave must take care lest she decide to start her own food-related blog. - Dave & Bianca

From Dave | Send feedback »
( Categories: Cuisines (by Region), Vegetarian/Vegan, Beverly Hills/Wilshire )

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From Dave | Send feedback »
( Categories: Miscellany )

Quick Notes

April 2010

2010/04/01 - Review sentences I will never use, Vol. 3
You have my permission to flagellate me with a rusty length of barbed wire if I ever condescend to claim that something, particularly a dessert, is "to die for."

October 2009

2009/10/29 - Review sentences I will never use, Vol. 2
I will always avoid saying, like an uncreative boor shilling for Pasadena Weekly:
"hits the spot"
... Although if I ever do write those three words, call me on it, and I will quietly remove it from the review and lie about it.

May 2009

2009/05/23 - Now this is an L.A. dive
Stopped by 107 Bar on 4th Street today, simply because we needed a little more alcohol to top off last night. I like it. We're talking black velvet paintings of boobage, mammal heads, a Hamm's Beer plaque with the black & white bear, vintage Schlitz knickknacks (which you'd expect would be for giggles only, but no, they can serve you cans of Schlitz), photos of Fernando Valenzuela next to the Virgin Mary, mildly alternative punk rock, and L.A. hipster prices.

May 2009

2009/05/09 - Review sentences I will never use, Vol. 1
In my reviews I will never, ever say, on pain of being a clichéd journalistic hack:
"If you're looking for a (insert specific good-time goal here), look no further."

December 2008

2008/12/09 - Missed out on the vegan twinkie
We never quite got around to trying the Vegan Philly Cheesesteak, the Sloppy Joe Tempeh, or the Vegan Twinkie over at the Vegan Spot on Sunset. A shame. It's now closed. It might, though, reopen as a vegan coffee shop. We'll see.

November 2008

2008/11/15 - Thoughts after a night at a goth-industrial club
I realize that thousand-island dressing is one of the more dubious substances on the planet, but on a turkey cheeseburger at Astro Diner at 2:00am, it suddenly becomes desirable and correct.

October 2008

2008/10/20 - This would be before I build the wine cellar
I'm thinking that if I lived in a cave, I would totally take the opportunity to age some Gruyère cheese in it, just so I could have cave-aged Gruyère cheese.

August 2008

2008/08/06 - Doughboys
Or rather, No-boys. Highland location is closed, too.

July 2008

2008/07/18 - Islands
Yeah, it's a chain. An utterly touristy, faux-Hawaiian decor chain. I don't care. The Kilauea burger (crusted with black pepper and jalapeño, with pepper jack cheese, a chipotle aioli sauce, and fried red onion strings) is completely awesome like Pele. Plus their fries have that whole zero-trans-fat thing going, and are crispy, which I like. There, I said it.

2008/07/01 - Kingston Cafe
Drove to Pasadena to try this place out... and it looks cloooosed. Some say for remodeling, but we know that's often a death knell when it comes to eateries. Dammit! Does anyone know if this place is dead and gone? There aren't that many Jamaican places to check out...

June 2008

2008/06/16 - Pinkberry
Don't care. Never did. Go to céfiore if you're in the mood for frozen yogurt. They're owned by Todai, yes I know, but I just can't get into Pinkberry.

Besides, I'm nearly always in the mood for gelato instead...

2008/06/04 - Takeshi Ramen
Used to be a nice place on Brand that played Japanese pop and had good lunch specials. Their ramen was always a bit salty, so I got the mabo tofu rice bowl and perhaps a side of black sausage with mustard. It seemed to have changed management; they were perpetually out of whatever drink you asked for, and the rice bowl became as salty as the ramen. Deeply unsatisfying. Now it's closed and is turning into a tofu house. That's what you get for betraying Dave.

2008/06/03 - Doughboys
Sigh. Steak soup. Smoky lentil & ham soup. Red velvet cake. No parking. Closed. But! A new location on Highland. We must go try.

2008/06/03 - Been a long time since we rocked and rolled
Lots of places over on the west side we haven't wandered into for a long time: Hirozen, Mishima, King's Road Cafe, Joan's on Third. Leave a comment if you know what's going on with those.

From Dave | Send feedback »
( Categories: Cuisines (by Region), Miscellany )

All Dining in L.A. Reviews

In alphabetical order, no less...

From Dave
( Categories: Miscellany )

Who Are We?

... and how dare we insinuate our culinary preferences onto the unsuspecting populace?

Dave Elsensohn is a writer with delusions of adequacy but a strong liking for many different kinds of music and food. He's written things before: for a magazine or two, for the Napster Music Service, and for his own seedy purposes. He can often be found tinkering with DeadLounge.com, his other site.

Bianca Elsensohn has impeccable personal taste and a discerning palate. Though her words may be sparse, her culinary experiences and opinions are interwoven with Dave's throughout the site. Also, if both of them take a photo of a restaurant, there's a better than 50/50 chance that Bianca's will end up being the better one.

DiningInLA.com is typed, scribbled, haphazardly splashed, and painstakingly arranged like funereal flowers via the b2evolution.net multilingual multiuser multiblog multicool engine.

From Dave
( Categories: Miscellany )

Green Leaves Vegan

1769 Hillhurst Ave (south of Franklin)
Phone: 323-664-2345 | map | website

The original review for Green Leaves can be read here.

There has been controversy between vegan customers, who naturally and rightfully prefer their food entirely devoid of animal products, and some restaurants (especially ones focusing on vegetarian/vegan Thai cuisine) who, knowingly or unknowingly, served products with stuff like casein or egg. Green Leaves had planted itself thoroughly in the middle, with apparently damning results. Read about the initial testing process at the ever-vigilant quarrygirl.

Green Leaves has been confrontational about it toward those who press the issue, even going so far as to briefly post a certificate of truth-in-menu, which was removed when it was found to be inauthentic.

I don't know why the resistance is so forceful; if one claims to be a vegan eatery, one should use only certain ingredients regardless of cost, and change them if they discover that an ingredient doesn't qualify (some restaurants have done this, as they were not aware of an ingredient's non-vegan status and honestly wanted to correct this).

This means, of course, that you are in the right to refuse to patronize Green Leaves, and many of my friends do. For the sake of comprehensiveness, I'm keeping the review available, but with the caveat that Green Leaves is not the most popular of places. It may have always been vegan, or have updated its menu and is now completely vegan, according to sources, but it might also have heavy-shouldered lawyers who don't write English at all well, either.

From Dave | 1 feedback »
( Categories: Cuisines (by Region), Vegetarian/Vegan, Los Feliz/Silver Lake/Echo Park, Thai )

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