Real Food

A couple of weeks ago we went to lunch with someone who was a vegan. Since we didn't really know any vegan places, we went along with her suggestion: Real Food Daily in Santa Monica. They serve purely vegan (and of course, organic) food, but with a lot more choices and innovation than most other places.
Of course, you can still go with one of your salads or vegetable sandwiches. They have an amazing portabella mushroom sandwich with hemp bread! Give it a try!

After that we've come back, and the place is always packed. The bad thing is that they don't take reservations, so you end up waiting for quite a while for it. Usually they will send you to the spiritual bookstore right next door and will come get you there when your table is ready.

The special for March was this vegetarian lasagna, which was absolutely delicious (I didn't really catch what was in it, sorry ... next time).
Also to note is the Better with Cheddar nachos for appetizer. They used melted cashew cheddar cheese and tofu sour cream and this was really really good.

Someone got one of the specials which consisted of noodles in peanut sauce topped with some tempeh (for those who don't know, tempeh is made of soy beans- kinda like soy bean cake). I didn't get to try this, but they seemed to really like it.
We ordered the chocolate pudding for dessert. Of course, dairy free and gluten free. And it was amazing. It tasted very rich and chocolatey.
I'm glad someone suggested this place. I would never have tried it otherwise since I don't really venture into vegan eateries, being a red meat lover myself. This place serves really good food though, and it sure comes real handy when you have to take someone vegan/vegetarian out to dinner and need to pick a place :)

Real Food Daily
514 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Exploding Stomachs at the Counter

A friend of mine told me about The Counter a while back, where you can build your own burger and shake. I never got to try it until yesterday, where I suddenly felt a craving for a nice burger and shake.

The Counter in Santa Monica has a clean, modern look to it, with lots of colorful and fun paintings on the wall.

I like this burger painting they had at the corner.

It was already 4 pm when we were having this "lunch", and since it seems like it was going to be the only meal of the day, I decided to go all out and ordered a chocolate banana malt.

The malt took a while to be served, but it was definitely yummy. Thick and rich, at the bottom of the glass you will even find lumps of banana.

We also got a side of sweet potato fries, which were cooked just right - crispy but still moist inside, not burnt, and not overly greasy. It is served with a chili-mayo type sauce which was not at all spicy.
I ordered the burger of the month: Crab Cioppino Burger.
A moist crab cake seasoned with saffron, etc, served with baby greens, tomatoes, crispy pancetta on top, with lemon basil tartar sauce served on the sauce. Unfortunately the crab cake was so moist it is so easily breakable, even when you're only trying to bite into the burger. But no matter what, eating your burger here will be messy.

Definitely had a hard time eating the crab cioppino burger while trying to keep it all together. The tartar sauce and the pancetta went nicely with the crab cake.

We also got a BYO beef burger. This is a 2/3 lb beef burger, on honey wheat bun with gruyere cheese, crispy pancetta, avocado, hard boiled eggs, lettuce, and sprouts.
We had gotten the sauce of the month which was the lemon basil tartar sauce but it didn't go nearly as well with beef as with the crab cake, so ketchup was better for this one instead. I think we both liked the beef burger better overall, although the crab cioppino burger was definitely good. Perhaps it was just getting all the toppings you wanted.

We were completely stuffed and I couldn't really finish my burger ... the fries definitely went into a to go box ... Stuffing two meal into one is not that pleasant at the end of the meal :P
But although stuffed, we were satisfied and would definitely come back for more.

The Counter
2901 Ocean Park Boulevard
Santa Monica CA 90405

The Lobster Hall of Fame!

1. The blue Lobster at L'atelier de Joel Robuchon
5-7, rue de Montalembert, Hôtel Pont-Royal
Paris, France 75007 · 01 42 22 56 56
2. The lobster curry at Chinois on Main
2709 Main St
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 392-3037
3. The "2 on a Plate Special" at the Port of Los Angeles Lobster Festival
www.lobsterfest.com