M Cafe – West Hollywood, CA

What’s left when there’s no refined sugars, eggs, dairy, red meat or poultry? As bizarre as this probably sounds to most diners, there’s still a long list of other ingredients and intensely flavorful dishes to eat without these overused 5. I really think that we are so used to automatically reaching for these items without thinking about it and forget all the other great things to eat that are better and more delicious. Break the rut, open your eyes and expand your taste buds to a more interesting and diverse world of eating. The easiest and very motivating way to start is by heading over to M Cafe, the contemporary macrobiotic cuisine cafe with a global menu for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and more. Their kitchen uses wholesome, ecological ingredients like heirloom-varietal whole grains, organically grown beans, fresh fish and locally-grown fruits and vegetables. [...]

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Market Restaurant at the Cooper Building – Downtown Los Angeles

There’s a new breakfast/lunch spot in Downtown L.A. where you can get the best molasses cookies around along with other fresh and hot items. Bret Thompson of MILK in Hollywood partnered up with Pablo Ramirez and opened up Market Restaurant at the Cooper Building in the Fashion District. The catering menu is impressive as well as a promising 30 minute delivery service. Other than their molasses cookies, some of my favorite dishes to try are the Feta-terranean Salad with romaine hearts, cucumber, tomatoes, feta cheese, black olives, pita chips, garbanzo beans and lemon vinaigrette, the Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding with fresh fruit and granola, and Turkey Burger with cheddar cheese, vine ripened tomato, green leaf lettuce, pickles and secret sauce. See below for more menu items.
Here is more info from Market Restaurant:
Chef/Partner Bret Thompson (co-founder of MILK in Hollywood) and Partner Pablo Ramirez opened Market Restaurant [...]

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Real Food Daily’s Organic Cuisine Menu Update for Jan.18-31

Here’s an update to Real Food Daily’s weekly specials for the 2nd half of January. I’m ready to find out what the forbidden black rice is all about in the Madame Wong’s Stir-fry Palace. My favorites include the Country Vegetable Miso Soup, perfect for this rainy week,Faux-stess Cupcake with gooey white filling, chocolate cake, and fudgy icing, and Peanut Butter Cookies!
Monthly Special Jan 4 – Jan 31
Hippie Love Loaf
Lentils, millet, butternut squash, carrots, onions, herbs, gravy and roasted parsnips, carrots, Brussels sprouts
WEEKLY SPECIALS Jan 18 – 31
Madame Wong’s Stir-fry Palace
Spicy, stir fried Chinese long beans, miso glazed tempeh, eggplant, onion, carrots, forbidden black rice, peanuts
Fajita Chop
Black beans, seitan fajitas, vegetables, corn, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, guacamole, salsa, romaine, chipotle ranch dressing, spicy tortilla strips
Week Jan 25 – 31
On the Mexican Riviera
Pecan-cornmeal crusted tempeh, coconut yams, sautéed chipotle greens, spicy black bean sauce, mango salsa
Pippi Longstockings
Chickpea polenta, corn, roasted [...]

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Real Food Daily’s Organic Vegan Cuisine Menu for January

Good for you food and yummy comfort food can both be delicious and drool-worthy. Vegan and vegetarian food has come a long way but most people still think of them as tasteless boring vegetable dishes. That is so untrue and the complete opposite, especially with the abundance of choices in Los Angeles. So for 2010, I’m promising myself to remember to try out more new healthy delicious dishes. One of my favorite and very popular restaurant for this occasion is Real Food Daily. This place has done all the work for you in preparing yummy high maintenance food for vegans, vegetarians, macrobiotic dieters, organic eaters, kosher certified, low-calorie low-fat and low-sugar, and all foodies. My favorite is the Cold Soba Salad with soba noodles, julienne vegetables, cucumbers, cilantro, sesame seeds, peanuts, peanut dressing, and marinated tempeh. Check out their new menu [...]

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Recipe Review: Farro Beets Green and Feta Salad

I’ve eaten countless cookies between Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve. I wouldn’t ever say I’m giving up desserts, but I do feel the need to tilt my diet towards the healthier side for a bit. Just a bit. Something like a salad but more comforting. That made me think of my favorite farro salads with diced tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, and feta. Farro is a hard wheat grain sometimes known as spelt and has a texture closer to a thick pasta al dente. It is as hearty and healthier than pasta and makes a very satisfying main dish ingredient.
Here’s Martha’s recipe for Farro Beets Green and Feta Salad. The addition of beets gives a little bit of sweetness to the mix of nutty and salty combination. I like adding diced cucumbers and sliced green onions to the mix with some squeezed lemon [...]

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Restaurant Review: Alcove Cafe & Bakery – Los Feliz, CA

My 3pm brunch doesn’t have to be at home with Alcove Cafe & Bakery around. This place is the perfect spot for lingering over heart-warming meals in a garden setting that feels just like home. Their menu serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and a dizzying list of pastries throughout the entire day and night. I love this place!
Finally, I can have a seriously good brioche french toast with side of apple wood smoked bacon as late as I want. I had to order the fruit plate to add something healthy to my table. They also have an impressive coffee/smoothie bar and variety of other drinks to order. There is plenty of patio seats around the front and sides of this house converted cafe – with umbrellas for shade in this sunny spot on the block.

Apple Wood Smoked Bacon – cooked to order! Goes perfect [...]

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Restaurant Review: Fig & Olive Kitchen & Tasting Bar – Manhattan, New York

I like to try out lots of different dishes wherever I’m dining at so I can enjoy a variety of flavors and combinations created by the chef. This can be pretty tricky, since most places in the U.S. serve up gigantic one-size fits all portions. Most of the time, I’m served one of these supersize me dishes and I’m looking around for the other 3 people it’s supposed to feed. I don’t have that problem over at social spot Fig & Olive and I’m also not emptying out my wallet either. Fig & Olive Kitchen & Tasting Bar, over in the Meatpacking district, NY, is the perfect place to hang out with friends that you’d actually want to chat with while enjoying some delicious food & drinks. The high ceilings and modern natural design without that annoying noise level, makes you feel like spending the entire [...]

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Restaurant Review: Cafe Sabarsky – Manhattan, New York

If you find yourself melting faster than you can say sweat storm in the New York hot pot, like myself, hail a cab and zoom over to Cafe Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie. This Austrian cafe is located on the first floor of a beautiful renovated building on 5th Avenue – more importantly, the updated museum standards means pristine air conditioning that we can all deeply appreciate this summer.
The Neue Galerie is an intimate home to a beautiful collection of German and Austrian art. Even better, their Cafe Sabarsky has the best Apple Strudel I’ve ever tasted – and Viennese Coffee of course! It’s lightly sweet but tart, fresh and buttery with a thin flaky pastry shell (pic below). This dish was on my NY dining agenda, and it was just as wonderful as I remembered it. I couldn’t help myself from ordering a few [...]

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Restaurant Review: Le Pain Quotidien – Los Angeles and New York

The best communal table dining around both East and West Coast is at the belgium Le Pain Quotidien. It’s even made from reclaimed wood. Their bakery and patisserie items are made fresh every day and always by hand with organic stone-ground flour. They have daily and weekly pastry specials such as the cinnamon apple muffin (top pic), cherry apple canele (pic below) and regulars like butter and chocolate croissants (pic below) and baguettes.
My favorite part is their long list of desserts and tartines, open-faced sandwiches, finally a place that serves sandwiches the way I always end up eating it. They have a full coffee bar and serve breakfast/luch/dinner. I’ve been to several different locations in Los Angeles and a few in NY, it’s always very cute and casual. The kind of place you can just show up at and grab a table. I’ve even [...]

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Restaurant Review: Balthazar Restaurant – Soho, NY

Sunday is for having brunch with friends. That means Balthazar, one of the all-time best spots in New York for brunch. The place is packed all the time and the food is consistently superb in all the years this place has been open. Their traditional french bistro fare turns up perfectly in every dish. Their tiny bakery next door is just as well renowned and included in their brunch menu. This is why brunch here is one of the experiences I think everyone should have in their lifetime. Needless to say, their Le Panier basket of fresh daily pastries and bread was one of the first things I ordered (bottom pic). There were slices of brown bread that I thought was just brown bread, and was floored when I realized it was actually sliced chocolate bread – pure chocolate! The service here [...]

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