Doomies to the rescue!

What do you do when your friends visiting from out of town are vegan?  You take them to Doomie's!  Or as it happened on this weekend, they come prepared knowing already where they would like to go, and you simply... Follow.

Can you blame your vegan friends for wanting to taste bacon, chicken and cheese?  I certainly can't.  There are some things we've become accustomed to eating and it's only natural for our bodies to crave the foods it's been accustomed to eating.

My vegan friends who we will call Mr. and Ms. Veganite were craving comfort food, so they came to dine at no other than Doomie's located in Hollywood a block away from the Arclight theater and serving the best comfort vegan food.  

Mr. & Ms. Veganite

The menu served everything from burgers, pastas, chicken and salads, including a wide range of dessert, a few different cupcakes as well as brownies and even croissants, should you want a pastry!

Starters and sides there are aplenty including Jalapeno Poppers and mac 'n cheese, tonight we decide on Broccoli soup, absolutely delicious!  And Hot Chicken wings, which of course included a little stick to make it look like an actual chicken!  The faux bone in the faux chicken was... cute?  Or was it just a bit odd?  Whatever it was the the faux hot chicken wings that came with a side of faux-ranch tasted like hot chicken wings and yummy too!  At this point, I'm in awe.

Mr. Veganite orders a vegan bacon and cheese burger, there is a strip in the burger that looks very much like bacon and of course... tastes very much like bacon!  There is a yellow colored sauce, the cheese, and though it looks pretty disgusting in my opinion, the yellow sauce does taste like cheese.  And when you take a bite out of this faux bacon cheese burger, it indeed tastes like a bacon cheese burger!  Now I'm pretty amazed.

Ms. Veganite has set her sights on fried chicken which comes with a side of sliced potatoes, a biscuit and corn.  The chicken is breaded and fried, and of course in the center of this faux chicken is a faux bone!  The fried chicken tastes of fried chicken, the potatoes delicious!  The chicken delicious!  

Mr. Borscht opts for a chop salad with real cheese, yes, the real cheese is an option here at Doomie's, *whew!  Thank goodness for that!  The chop salad was fresh and very delicious, I would go as far as to say that this chop salad is probably one of the best I've had in town, and a very huge portion it is too.

I'm not one for faux bacon nor faux chicken with their cute little faux bones and so I order a shrimp pasta, just adventurous enough for me in the vegan genre.  Aside from the pasta being a little too oily it was delicious.  The faux shrimp though was funny looking, but I probably could have gotten past that had it not been for the slightly rubbery texture and the not so quite like shrimp taste.

I now understand why vegans come to Doomie's to feed their comfort-crave, everything tastes as it should, tricking your senses and your tummy.  Doomie's is the one place where vegan's can have their naughty foods and find their fantasy flavors come to taste.

The Damage:  $72.00 +/-

1 Iced Tea

1 Coffee

1 Cola

1 Hot Wings App

1 Chop Salad

1 Shrimp Pasta

1 Bacon cheese Burger

1 Fried Chicken plate

1 cup of Broccoli soup

And of course, we all left pretty happy

Doomie's
1253 N. Vine Street
Hollywood CA 90038
(323) 469.4897

Kings of Pastry

A documentary on the competition of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France, Best Craftsman in France also known as the MOF.  Winning the MOF means wearing the esteemed blue, red and white collar.

Crepevine Pt. 2, Brunch

What do you do when you eat at a restaurant you've never eaten before and decide you're not quite sure how you feel about the food?  You eat there again, you give it a second go.  What do you do when you eat at a restaurant you've never eaten before and decide that you like the food?  You eat there again.  And that's exactly what we did.

While in San Francisco visiting Friend Simon we stumbled upon a restaurant called Crepevine, and though it was decided upon that Tummy didn't like the name at all we gave it a try anyway, and we found that the food was delicious.  So the next day, Tummy, Mr. Borscht and Friend Simon found themselves once again at Crepevine.

Oddly enough, we were number 11 again!

On this day we all decide to start the day with a bit of fun, 

Mimosa! Bloody Mary! Sangria!  

Mr. Borscht orders a spinach, smoked salmon crepe which included carmelized onions and melted cheese.  It was delicious as almost always smoked salmon crepes are when gotten at decent crepe shops.

Today in celebration of brunch I opt for the pulled pork sandwich:  BBQ pulled pork, shredded lettuce with ranch dressing.  The dish came with a side of french fries and a lightly dressed salad.  The BBQ pulled pork hit the spot and was delicious as almost always BBQ pulled pork sandwiches are when gotten at a decent sandwich shop.

Crepevine is decidedly a delicious place to get your grub on, but I would be lying if I said it was fantastic and what you get here you couldn't get anywhere else.  Crepevine has a wonderful casual atmosphere, a great place to get brunch on your sleepy sunday after a night of partying the night before. The food is above average but it not life-changing, nothing to ooo and ahhh about wide-eyed... or sleepy eyed.

And for those of you who read this post and decide not to visit Crepevine because I'm saying it's nothing to ooo and ahhh about... well let's just remember we came here two days in a row on our short visit to San Francisco.

The Damage: $62.00 +/-

1 Black coffee

1 Mimosa

1 Bloody Mary

1 Sangria

1 BBQ Pulled pork sandwich

1 Smoked salmon Crepe

1 Custom Crepe

Crepevine

216 Church Street

San Francisco CA 94114

(415) 431.4646

Home Made Cookies, you better let them know!

I don't pretend to be the best baker because... well, I'm not.  Precision and following specific detail isn't my forte and it really shows when I bake.  But if you bake and you can make a mean batch of cookies you might as well stamp em "Home Made" and let everyone know they are indeed eating the real deal.

The new store for home and garden called Terrain is where I found this adorable cookie stamp, they have other designs as well, so take a look at their site (below is a link to their site).

Enjoy! Num num num.

Homemade Cookie Stamp
2" diameter

View other Terrain items

Crepevine, searching searching searching... Then there was Crepevine

Mr. Borscht and I found ourselves in San Francisco visiting an old friend, a close old friend, Friend Simon.  Saturday, brunch time we found ourselves near the botanical gardens, hungry, walking the streets and looking for a place to fill our empty voids most commonly known as the stomach, or as I like to call it, Tummy.  We were pointed by a baker across the street to a place called Crepevine, couldn't say I liked the name very much, but there were tons of people there and a long line to the register- when in doubt follow the masses, I suppose.  We got in line.

The line was long but that was okay, we were okay with that, because the Crepevine menu board was absolutely packed with delicious descriptions of breakfast, pasta, lunch and drink items.

Number 11!

Aleksey opted for a Denver omelet with a Sangria.  The Denver omelet was spectacular, I took a bite, all the flavors of the omelet stuffing were exact and flavorful, the ham a little salty, the bell peppers peppery, the cheese... cheezy!  The omelet itself had me asking whether it was the best form of eggs I've ever consumed, the omelet was nothing less than perfect, moist, soft, not too dry, tasted of eggs (fresh!), the Denver omelet was beautiful!  If beautiful had a taste, this is definitely what it would taste like.

The Sangria was large with nice chunks of fruit floating about, sweet, tangy, slightly fruity- very delicious but not very alcoholic oddly enough.

I opted for a single shot of mocha, the mocha was very average although nice to look at served in a tall glass and all.  To go with my mocha... or vice versa, French Toast!  And not just any french toast but Parisienne French Toast, bits of nuts and raisins added a crunch and sweetness.  Four slices of french toast filled my empty void perfectly, and though I can't say it was the best french toast I've eaten, it was pretty darn good.

On the table sat syrup for those who needed it, Great Northern Maple Syrup in one of those glass bottles that just makes you want to pick it up and pour a tremendous oozing amount on your bread beckoned me to taste it, and so I did, but just a little bit as I'm not all too fond of syrup.  It was of course too sweet, which is exactly why I don't like syrup.  I had my french toast plain, as I almost always do, and it was still damn good.

The Damage:  $56.00 +/-

1 Sangria

1 Double shot mocha

1 Single shot mocha

1 Lg Orange juice

1 Custom crepe

1 Denver Omelet

1 Parissiene French toast

Crepevine

216 Church Street

San Francisco CA 94114

(415) 431.4646

Figaro Bistrot Pt. 2, Croissant sandwich & Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and capers

My first experience at Figaro Bistrot was less than what I expected but I suppose I wasn't happy with the final outcome of that particular trip, perhaps I knew there was something more to be had at Figaro Bistrot than the heavy omelet I ordered on that first fateful visit. It very well could have been the charm that brought me back, whatever the reason Tummy was convinced all on her own to give it another go.

Like the first encounter the basket of bread with butter and jam came out first, and like the first encounter, by the same waiter.

Tummy and Mr. Borscht decided to sit in the bistrot dining area opposed to the lounge area, in the bistrot the light was better, the din was louder and the atmosphere more awake.

A couple of freshly squeezed orange juice, absolutely delicious and sweet- a good start to a morning of second chances.

But however good the orange juice is it can't wake you up like a shot of espresso can,  Tummy ordered a single shot of espresso topped with whipped cream, though it's not quite as good as Midi Cafe's Vennoise, it still hit Tummy all in the right spots.

Mr. Borscht ordered the smoked salmon scramble with capers, which came with a side of potatoes and lightly dressed greens.  With an ample amount of smoked salmon and capers the dish was delish, accompanied by the rosemary potatoes which were subtly flavored with rosemary, the breakfast potatoes were near perfect.

Tummy smartly decided to stay away from omelets, afterall, omelet is what she had on her first encounter which decidedly was not to her expectations.  And so this morning Tummy decided on the croissant sandwich with scrambled eggs, scrambled with tomatoes and bacon, the croissant sandwich dish also came with breakfast potatoes and a green salad.

The croissant was crusty, flaky on the outside, moist on the inside, the scramble egg filling with fresh bites from the tomatoes and the saltiness from the bacon was... Perfect!  

After eating 1/3 of the sandwich Tummy began to feel relief, so Figaro Bistrot wasn't bad after all, simple a dish that wasn't to her taste is what happened the first time around.  Needless to say, Tummy and Mr. Borscht happily full left Figaro Bistrot, a lightness in their step- perhaps it was the charming atmosphere and the delicious food that put a pep in their step?  Or perhaps it was the mere fact that Tummy was indeed looking for the good at Figaro Bistrot and found it?  Whatever it was doesn't really matter because Tummy and Mr. Bistrot would be going back again.

The Damage:  $41.71

2 Orange Juice

1 Croissant sandwich

1 Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon & capers

Espresso with whipped cream

Figaro Bistrot
1802 N. Vermont Ave
LA CA 90027
(323) 662.1587