Los Angeles.

Los Angeles a city that feels immediately comfortable to me, like an old friend. So it’s doubly comfortable visiting an old friend in Los Angeles. Friends that know you got to eat… and eat we did! First at Chavela. They have a excellent menu with so many delicious totally plant-based traditional Peruvian dishes to choose from.  

We started with chicharron de hongo y coliflor, crispy batter-friend cauliflower and mushrooms with a sweet and a spicy dipping sauce. Deliciously spicy that welcomed a drench in one of their creamy dips. 

Our entrees, clockwise, were the truffled black pepper pasta with shiitake mushrooms, kale and winter squash, quinoa elbows, housemade cashew black pepper alfredo; achiote cauliflower steak served with a dreamy, oddly airy potatoes au gratin, smoky tomato and ancho romesco, and herb salad; and, mine, the mole verde enchilada, two enchiladas stuffed with summer squash and anasazi bean filling in an organic non-gmo corn tortilla, and drizzled beautifully with cashew nacho cheese and lime crema on a bed of organic quinoa.

Each dish was spectacular. 

To follow our meal, we had to get dessert at little pine, Moby’s newish restaurant in Silver Lake. There are some wonderful things happening here.

So here is the dessert breakdown, which kind of blows me away. To the left, a baked alaska: vanilla cake, strawberry ice cream, hot fudge, and candied rice krispies topped with a torched meringue. To the right, a s’mores ganache: graham crust under a tall, rich chocolate ganache, and a toasted meringue. And, mine in the center, their “pie of the day”, a huge banana cream pie. 

Totally amazing vegan options helps Los Angeles rank high in my book. The gorgeous scenery, old friends and pleasant, laid back attitude also help tremendously. What a welcome, LA!