Erven Gives Los Angeles Its Best New Vegan Restaurant
I've always enjoyed Chef Nick Erven's cooking from his previous restaurant, the now-shuttered Saint Martha. I wasn't expecting him to open a vegan restaurant in Santa Monica, but I looked forward to it just the same, especially after hearing all the glowing reviews!
Erven is divided into two parts: the Marketplace side which serves sandwiches, cookies, juices, and such. Then there's the dining room which is open for a casual lunch, but the highlight is of course, the dinner service (although the vegan sandwiches are also great).
We started with a bowl complimentary fried chickpeas - the amuse bouche seems to rotate based on the other reviews.
The savory portion of the dinner menu is divided into "Snackables", "Shareables", and "Principles".
We tried a couple of the snacks including the Black garlic chickpea fritters with yuzu and Aleppo pepper ($5)
The chickpea fritter is a good way to start and gives you an idea of Chef Erven's cooking.
Purple sweet potato rice roll with avocado and Korean chili ($5)
Vegan kimbap, anyone?
From the Shareables section: Tiny Beets with avocado mousse, curry-almond streusel, and cilantro ($12)
The beets weren't really "tiny" but regardless this was a wonderful and interesting take on beets, with the crispiness of the streusel, combined with avocado mousse.
