I’ll be the first to admit—most days, I’m much more a coffee person than a matcha tea person. But, like being a cat person or a dog person, preferring one doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate the other. I look to coffee most mornings to help those synapses along in the whole firing + functioning thing, but there’s nothing like a soothing, gentle cup of warm tea when you’re looking for that cozy unwind on a chilly evening or sitting out on your porch taking in the slow, early morning awakening of the rest of the world and not quite looking for the shock-to-life coffee often gives.

So, tea, for me, is more of a luxury; something I don’t have often but, when I do, something that I truly appreciate in a way I don’t think I would if it were everyday for me.

One interesting tea company we discovered early this year and revived some excitement in tea for us is Adventure Tea, who pairs a uniquely captivating product with an organically storied backdrop and wonderful hand-done packaging artwork. As they put it:

“We spent most of our lives seeking awesome experiences to offset the awful experience of our 8-6 jobs (whatever happened to 9-5, anyway?)…. Finally, it hit us: the glowing computer screens, tightly clenched steering wheels and rampant aspirin abuse were the polar opposite of what we wanted our lives to be. We wanted to explore, to create, to seek what the modern world insists is a child’s fantasy.

Just as adventure is created through exploration, memories are built at the dinner table. Our best experiences centered on the joy of sharing food and drink with other people, whether they hail from next door or across the planet. We wanted to create something that could unite people from around the globe in their innate desire to experience the exotic, and tea was the obvious choice. For millennia tea has been the favorite drink of emperors and explorers, poets and farmers; it is the culinary common denominator that all of humanity has always agreed upon. Tea has started revolutions, catalyzed the exploration of the deepest corners of the globe, made and lost massive fortunes, and inspired some of the world’s greatest minds. Perhaps we love tea because when we drink it we can sense the thousands of years of cultural, geographic, and historical identity condensed into each leaf. Or maybe it just tastes good. Fueled by a few dozen cups of Guayusa, we ditched our dead-end jobs and launched Adventure Tea out of a 700 square-foot bungalow in West Los Angeles. Our mission: to bring the exotic to your tea cup, spark a little adventure in your life, and resurrect the identity of a beverage dominated for too long by passionless mega-corporations.”

Again, I’m no expert on tea—at all, really—but the teas we’ve had from Adventure Tea really do seem to tell a story all on their own when you take the time to step away from the hectic nature of your daily life and listen. Along with tasting notes, each tea comes with a backstory as to how the company founders discovered the tea and what makes it special for them.

They also come packed in these lovely little wooden boxes with sliding lids and really well-done handmade artwork specific to each locale (done by the wife of the the husband-and-wife founders we’re told).

Plus you can hide your weed in the used up boxes. Obviously.

So, next time life’s giving you the run-around, as it does us all, and you’re ready to scream, step away, assure yourself that this seemingly insurmountable problem will be there when you get back, and take some time to brew up + enjoy some tea, says this coffee-drinker. My bet is that things will look a little more surmountable when you take a second look.

We’ve been meaning to write these guys up for a while now.

Louisville Vegan Jerky Co produces what is, for me, the best dry vegan jerky on the market. Now, I know we all have the things we miss when we go vegan. Cheese is an across the board, universal longing for most of us. Beyond that, it varies, vegan-to-vegan, I think. For me, beef jerky definitely falls into that category of beloved, now shunned foods from my past. As a kid, I loaded up on the stuff every time we stopped for gas. Mind you, this was long before the ‘artisan jerky’ market hit the scene, so we’re talking pretty nasty stuff, Slim Jims included.

Come on. I was raised in the south. What do you expect, man?

Now, the vegan market’s had various versions of jerky for as long as I can remember, with old-timers like Stonewalls (they’re so old they got the domain name soybean.com!) and more developed companies coming on the scene later, like Tofurkey and Primal Spirit. Despite the intense name, I’m a fan of the latter, though it’s more of a wet jerky (sorry, gross, I know), with saucy soy-, gluten-, or mushroom-based jerkies. It’s also made overseas in Thailand and then imported by Primal’s HQ in West Virginia.

Newcomers Louisville Vegan Jerky Co. produce a dry jerky, like Stonewall, but one that uses longer strips of protein and, most importantly, a ton of beautifully natural, mouth-explosion-inducing flavors.  The company also sources its seasonings locally whenever possible, so take that Thailand.

As they say:
“Louisville Vegan Jerky Co. was started in 2012 as ‘What A Jerky’. The ingredients and brand got an upgrade in 2013 to follow down a path of using local seasonings and incorporating the city we love so much into our brand.”

Smooth move, What A Jerky. Back to the flavors though—sidestepping the old-school, straight-forward approach, LVJC instead goes big, tapping into the taste trends of the day with flavors like Bourbon Smoked Black Pepper, Bourbon Smoked Chipotle, and Sriracha Maple.

Bourbon and peppers and smoke. Who can’t love that?

The sodium’s a little high, but it’s jerky, man—it’s based on a food that was preserved with salt. That’s authenticity. Also, it’s nice getting a vegan jerky with ingredients you recognize and don’t number in the millions. If Facebook‘s to be believed—which it obviously always is—it looks like they might even have a Sesame Teriyaki Jerky now. It also seems like they’ve updated the packaging. Which is a great excuse for me to go find more of this stuff.

Ooh—and they’ve got cool shirts (–>).

Find store that carry Louisville Vegan Jerky with the company’s store locator.

We worked up this illustration—based off of the wallpaper we did for MooShoes Los Angeles—and the poster below for the just announced holiday party we’re holding at the store in partnership with LA-based gourmet food company, Spork Foods.

Owned and operated by sisters Jenny Engel and Heather Goldberg, Spork Foods offers organic vegan cooking classes, in-home healthy eating consultations, private cooking parties, corporate trainings and demos, team-building cooking classes, and more. Plus, they’re both super-nice, genuinely talented people to boot.

In addition to a night of in-store holiday discounts and a seasonally inspired menu from Spork, we’ll also have complimentary sparkling lime rosé from Pampelonne, complimentary snacks from Setton Farms, merchandise for sale from our friends at PETA, and excellent tunes from our in-store DJ.

So mark you calendar now, LA—Friday, Dec12, 6-9PM.

Forgive us if we’re late to the ‘accidentally vegan’ party with this one, but did you know Skittles are vegan? And fucking good?

Candy’s not really a big part of lives these days, so maybe all candy’s now skillfully designed by scientists and flavorologists (totally a word) off the Jersey Turnpike to trick our tastebuds into a addictively sugar-induced spiraling into morbid obesity. We don’t know. We just know these things are right tasty.

And, it should be noted, when we say Skittles are vegan, that is to say they no longer use gelatin—a collagen-based gelling agent obtained by breaking down various animal by-products like hooves and bones—in the candy and, of the many other, nigh unpronounceable ingredients listed, none seem to be directly related to animals. But, of course, Skittles’ parent companies, Wrigley + Mars, certainly produce plenty of other products that are far from vegan. So the overall impact on animals, the environment, and the public’s health is arguable, at best.

But, again—they’re really fucking good. Especially the oddly named Darkside Skittles. So, when choosing your candy this Halloween, why not reach for the hoof-and-bone-free variety?

Every little bit, man.

We know what you’re thinking—”Dried beans? Why bother? I can just head over to any given grocery store when I want to whip up a burrito or my grandmother’s recipe for red beans + rice or that stellar gluten-free chili you so generously wrote up a while back.”

Well we thank you for the kind words, but we must persist in our urging—dried beans will defeat your canned beans hands-down every time.

Yes, true, canned beans have that last-minute convenience that’s hard-to-beat, but the work involved in preparing dried beans is really pretty trumped up, we’ve found. Dried beans have gotten a bad wrap and we’re here to fight that wrap.

The standard for dried bean prep is to soak them overnight, right? Seems daunting, but it’s not. All it really means is that it’s ideal to soak the beans for, say, 6-8 hours before your boil them. So you don’t necessarily need to figure out what you’re going to eat the next day before going to bed every night. You can carve those hours out of the middle of the day if need be. Or set them out in the morning before you head out to work, just in case you think you might want to make them when you get home. If you end up not wanting them, cover and continue to soak for a day or two in the fridge until you do.

What’s more, we’ve found that we can soak your basic kidney beans or black beans or navy beans for 3-4 hours and have them pretty much ready to boil as long as you’re alright with them breaking up a bit more, which is fine if you’re doing something like refried beans.

Regardless, once they’re soaked, you simply change out the water and boil the beans, starting high and lowering heat once you reach a boil, watching the pot to make sure you don’t boil over. How long you need after that depends on how much they’ve been soaked and—I’m told—your elevation, but we find that they’re pretty good to go after an hour or so of boiling, sometimes less, sometimes more. Then cook them as you would any canned bean and be ready for A) a much richer taste, and B) a TON less sodium (even less than the ‘low sodium’ canned varieties).

A popular outlet for dried beans in our house is refried kidney beans, seen below. You can see my text to our friend Jacob to the side there, running him through—roughly—how to make them. And I think I meant ‘cast iron pan’ not ‘desperate pan’. We have no desperate pans—all of our kitchenware is very emotionally healthy.

But, basically, after boiling the beans until soft, you pan fry a sliced brown or yellow onion or shallot with olive oil and (usually) 5 or 6 cloves of garlic on medium-high heat until it’s all caramelized. You might want to cook the onions five or so minutes before throwing in the garlic to avoid over-browning that. Then add the beans and vegetable broth if you have it; water if you don’t. We use homemade broth, which is much lower in sodium than store-bought, so just be careful how much broth you add if it’s packaged. Cook, stir, and smash the beans with a fork as the liquid is absorbed and cooks off, adding more and repeating until the beans are consistently soft and refried, lowering heat gradually as you go to avoid burning them. We don’t usually have a need to add any sweeteners—I think that was offsetting a slight smokey burn we gave the beans that night.

So give it a go, everybody. I’m betting you’ll never buy canned beans again.

The other day, I was pursuing the cooler section of our local fancy foods + drinks shop, The Oaks, when this beer caught my eye.

Now, from a beer-drinker’s standpoint, Belgian white ales usually fall pretty low on my list of preferred beers, but, from a designer’s point of view, how could I not buy this beer‽ Look at that cat!

Wednesday Cat ale and its adorably designed can are produced by central Japan’s YO-HO Brewing Company. YO-HO was founded in 1996 by the eco-friendly, locally minded Hoshino Resort Company in the popular mountain resort town of Karuizawa—a spot often sought out as an escape from the hustle and bustle of nearby Tokyo.

The beer itself is described as a light, sweet, and citrusy brew with a low level of carbonation but some nice, unique aromas. And, as you can see on Barnivore—the online guide to vegan libations—Wednesday Cat is, in fact vegan. YO-HO’s head of Customer Relations got right back to us when we inquired, telling us:

“The answer is yes, but the line is not vegan. We make other products in the same line and we use isinglass (fish bladder) for filtering some of the other products. Wednesday Cat itself contains water,malts, hops, orange peels and coriander seeds. We use a kind of moss for filtering it.”

So indeed—let this cat help you get through the rest of the week.

Truth be told, I personally was never a huge fudge fan. Sure, I’d partake on my yearly childhood trips to the Outer Banks in the summertime, but it was never something I craved or sought out especially.

That said, as soon as something becomes unattainable, it becomes wanted. And traditional fudge—made by heating sugar, milk, and butter—isn’t exactly vegan-friendly.

Enter NYC’s adorably named Mister Sister, vegan bakery extraordinaire and purveyors of some very fine fudge. As they put it on their Facebook page:

“We noticed it was hard to walk into the neighborhood coffee shop and consistently find a dairy & egg free treat. Extensive googling often left us frustrated and dessert-less! Mister Sister is stepping in. No treats that are vegan in your nabe? We’ve got you covered. Gluten-free options for our wheat-averse friends, of course. We’re also certified kosher pareve by the International Kosher Council under the supervision of Rabbi Zev Schwarcz. Handmade, small-batch baked goods made locally is what we specialize in. Eating well shouldn’t be hard, and we take that very seriously!”

Our friend, Erica sent us some samples a little while back and they did not disappoint. I’m not quite sure how they did, but the fudge tastes dead-on according to my childhood memories and anything but lacking in fudge’s traditional richness. And they even make a vegan marshmallow-filled S’mores version!

West coasters, our only current port of call for Mister Sister is Portland’s super-store, Food Fight. But if you happen to find yourself in New York (or Maryland), pick up some fudge! You can find a full list of vendors on MS’s site + on their Facebook page. You can also order online from the company’s Etsy page.

We just made our first Caprese salad using the newly revamped Kite Hill nut cheeses, and we have to say—pretty awesome.

The cheeses themselves aren’t drastically different—they’ve changed packaging and recipes slightly in an attempt to bring the price point down a bit and make them available more widely in Whole Foods nationwide—but this just happens to be our first attempt to do anything other than eat the cheeses with crackers.

We just tossed the sliced Soft Original cheese and Soft Ripened (the Brie-like one) with sliced farmers market cherry tomatoes, Lunchbox peppers, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, and salt + pepper to taste and it was pretty perfect for a summer-never-ends first day of fall lunch in Los Angeles. Give it a go if you get a chance.

You can read the review we did last fall of Kite Hill’s White Alder cheese (now renamed Soft Ripened) and use their product locator to find a Whole Foods near you that carries them.

Now, to hold our breath as we await the new line of cheeses from Matthew Kenney + chef Scott Winegard (check out Scott’s Instagram post).

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Earlier this year, when we traveled back to New York for a little bit of work and a little bit of play, we were met by a couple lovely gifts from our host, Erica. Among them, a cute little box of chocolate covered caramels from a previous unknown to us confectioner—New Paltz, New York’s Lagusta’s Luscious.

In addition to being fully vegan, Lagusta’s Luscious takes things the extra mile, pulling in social justice themes in a playful way and sourcing many of their ingredients locally. From their Web site:

“We work closely with small farmers and producers in our beloved town of New Paltz, New York and across the country to source everything from our Maui vanilla beans (from a tiny two-acre vanilla farm) to the candy-striped beets (our beet-coriander truffle will win you over, we promise!) grown by Farmer Jessica less than a mile away.”

Their Bluestocking Bonbon line also celebrates feminist luminaries with Raspberries de Pizan, Pauline Benjamin Peanut Butter Cups (named after the owner’s mother), and Furious Vulvas, shaped—yes—like a vulva.

“But how do these chocolates—vulva-shaped or not—taste,” you ask! I respond with “Fucking awesome, dude. Why else would I be writing about them?”

The quality of the dark chocolate and creamy richness of the caramels that we had ranked among the best we’ve ever tasted. And the complimentary tastes Lagusta’s chose to set those flavors off—in our case, rosemary sea salt, apple + candied pecan, and thyme preserved lemon—were distinctively awesome, giving each caramel a personality of its own. A personality we wanted to devour.

Lagusta’s operates as a small brick-and-mortor upstate, offering chocolates, fresh pastries, doughnuts from The Darling Kitchen, and coffee and the like. They also ship their sweets across the country, including barks (like the Strawberries and Cream Bark), bars (like the Four Grain Bourbon Caramel Chile Bar), caramels + toffee (like the Heathen Toffee), and a lot more, including chocolate of the month clubs. Plus their packaging (as you can see below) is über-cute.

So get ordering and support both your own personal endorphin production and an animal-friendly, people-friendly, everything-friendly small business.

PS—Erica, we’ll be back in December.

Earlier this week, we brought friend + MooShoes Brand Manager over to the west side for what we thought would be a pretty standard dinner before dropping her off at LAX for her return trip to NYC. Instead, what we got was mind-blowing culinary experience consisting of thirteen courses of raw, vegan delights (if you count every dish brought to the table).

I know what most of you are thinking—”Ew. Raw AND vegan? Count me out, man.” And I hear you. That’s my usual response to most standard raw food. But I honestly think that the way Chef Scott Winegard of Matthew Kenney’s M.A.K.E restaurant prepares his food could sway even the staunchest disbelievers.

For anyone not already familiar with raw veganism, it essentially means preparing relatively unprocessed plant-based foods that have not been heated above 104-120°F (depending on who you ask). The theory being that overheating or over processing plants robs them (and you, the consumer) of valuable enzymes and can even add toxins to the plant that weren’t present before cooking.

Whether you buy that or not, I can tell you that, whatever they’re doing the food at M.A.K.E., it’s working. And it’s fucking tasty—honestly, that dinner was one of the best I’ve ever had.

We thought we’d share some photos we took at dinner and took a few minutes to talk with Scot Winegard, who chose our menu that night and acts as Director of Culinary Operations for Matthew Kenney. Side note—he’s also the bassist of seminal second wave emo band, Texas is the Reason. Read on to hear Scott’s favorite dishes at the restaurant, his thoughts on raw veganisn in general, and what you get when you mix kimchi and cashews.

raven + crow: Alright, I know there was a decent amount of time between things, but tell me—how does one go from bassist in NYC-based Texas is the Reason to Executive Chef of a raw, vegan restaurant in Santa Monica?

Scott Winegard: The whole time I was in TITR, I was working at Angelica Kitchen. I’ve been involved in restaurants since I was 15 years old. At AK, I did everything from delivery to waiting tables to managing the floor and then the kitchen. I worked there on and off for about 10 years. I learned so much about respect, community, seasonality, and the importance of organic and sustainable farming during that time. This was in the early 90’s as well, way before “farm to table” was on every restaurants mission statement.

Yeah, the scene had to be so different back then. Happy Angelica’s still staying true to their roots though. Texas is the Reason did some reunion shows last year too, right? How were those?

The shows were incredible. The others in TITR are my best friends in the whole world—I feel incredibly lucky and honored to have that opportunity to do that again.

So, starting in at 15 years old—guess it’s safe to say that cooking + food have been passions of yours for a while, yeah?

I always have been interested in food. I didn’t know how or what I was going to do, but I knew that it was either going to be music or food. Turning vegetarian at a young age made me look at food differently and I always enjoyed cooking as a kid with my family. My dad and Grandfather always had an amazing garden and that definitely influenced my future.

What is it about raw food in particular that interests you beyond the vegan realm?

I think we have to challenge ourselves to rethink how we put together dishes. I never feel that I am missing out on anything and the challenge actually drives me.

I love that it’s super clean and fresh and we don’t rely on trying to replicate cooked dishes as much as we used to, although it is a challenge to write a menu for a restaurant like MAKE without using words like lasagna or tacos. That’s why we offer the tasting menu so we can showcase some new techniques and flavor profiles that might not be something that anyone has had before as a vegan.

Yeah, that tasting menu blew everyone’s minds, man. Dish after dish kept just kept coming and each and every one was something totally new and totally delectable. You guys try to source from the Santa Monica Farmers Market whenever possible, correct?

We visit the SMFM every Wednesday and Saturday, the Venice Market on Friday, and Mar Vista on Sunday if we have to. Our Purveyors also source from a lot of local farms as well.

How does that impact the evolution of the menus over time?

I always say that the farmers write our menus as they harvest the next seasons vegetables. I use the time at the market to take a mental inventory, talk to the farmers, and find out how long something may be available or what else is coming up next. We also do some foraging and we just met a cool local urban gardener who we hope to partner with in the near future.

Any seasonal favorites coming up that you’re excited about?

Right now we are loving the lobster and chanterelle mushrooms; tomatoes are incredible too right now. The fact that I can get citrus and avocados that are so great completely spoils me as a chef.

Totally. What are some go-to’s as far as vegan raw food that you like to whip out to impress even the most dismissive of the food?

We always suggest the lasagna, the kimchi dumplings, and the black pepper kelp noodles—those always seem to change everyones mind right away.

Love the dumplings + kelp noodles. Favorite current dish at MAKE and rough idea of what goes into it in terms of prep + ingredients?

We have been doing a dish on the tasting menu with lobster or chanterelle Mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn, harissa, and a smoked cashew cream. The mushrooms are cooked sous vide at 115 degrees for 4 hours. The tomatoes and corn are tossed with some herbs, really great California olive oils, and they are lightly “cooked” in the dehydrator for an hour. (pictured above)

Loved that dish with the lobster mushrooms. Such a great texture. And the filling in that kimchi-cashew dumpling you did the other night totally reminded me of the taste + texture of deviled ham from my childhood…which might sound off but was totally awesome. Was that replication intended at all?

It’s funny—everyone always has a reference point, but I would have to ask Mathhew where the inspiration came from. When I came on to the company it was on the menu at our restaurant in Oklahoma. I really liked it instantly, but I did change it a bit to lighten it up and I was inspired by another chef friend who was putting a kimchi puree with a dish he had on his menu, so we started using red cabbage to make the kimchi to get that awesome purple color.

Well it’s superb. One thing I’ve never gotten a good answer on—why are beans + legumes generally shunned as a protein source in raw foods?

I don’t eat 100% raw. Most beans and grains, in my opinion, have to be cooked to enjoy.

We have tried some sprouting that we have had some mild success with but, for me, I don’t digest it well and I wouldn’t want to put anyone else through that. I have a huge problem serving something to someone that I don’t enjoy 100%.

There is tons of protein in nuts and other vegetables—we probably shouldn’t even be worrying about it anyway.

All music to my ears. I had a trainer who follows a Paleo diet recently tell me that the reason they don’t advocate ingesting grains is that the casing on the grains themselves isn’t easily digestible and can actually trigger disorders for some people. Does that thinking go into raw foods as well?

There is some truth to that, but we don’t boil water in our raw food restaurants so that’s why you don’t see it on out menus. We serve beans and grains at Tamazul (Oklahoma) and The Gothic (Maine) that have cooked items on our menus there.

Got it. So, what brought you out to LA originally?

I started working as the Chef for Matthew Kenney Culinary about 3 years ago. At first, my plan was to stay in NY and work from my test kitchen at my apartment there and at PlantLab in Maine (I developed most of the opening menu for MAKE there). I came out to Santa Monica and I never really wanted to go back, so after about 9 months of Air BNB rentals, I found my own space and, honestly, I love it. It’s different from Brooklyn, but I am super happy to be out here, especially doing the work I am doing. It’s perfect.

Was it tough leaving New York after so long though?

I grew up there. I will always love it. I have been back and forth a lot and it’s not that far and isn’t very hard to get back. I miss some of the conveniences of being able to meet up with anyone at any time but I don’t really need that at this point of my life either.

Assuming you spend most of your time around Santa Monica, what do you like about the west side over the rest of LA?

I love being by the Beach. I grew up in Oceanside on Long Island and I always had some connection to the water, whether it was surfing or skateboarding. I always wanted to move to California as a kid because of what I followed in the skate magazines I poured through. I haven’t been in the ocean with a surfboard yet and I don’t skate other than to get around but it feels super good to be out here. I love being in Venice now, but I have no issues with the east side at all. I just recently got a car so everywhere is available and I don’t mind the traffic that much yet either.

Well we hope to see you east-side some time, but, after that dinner, I’m guessing we’ll see you on your turf sooner. Thanks so much for talking with us, man.

You can (and very much should) visit Scott at M.A.K.E.—395 Santa Monica Place, Suite 333 (third floor), Santa Monica.

Below, our tasting menu, in order—California olives with grapefruit + herbs; a vegan cheese board, with cheeses made from cashew + macadamia nuts and served with a nut-based flatbread, lightly pickled carrots, pickled asparagus, and a house-made mustard; an amuse bouche of local fig with grapefruit caviar and puréed fennel; sweet peach + heirloom tomato gazpacho; a cucumber salad with thinly sliced fresh cucumber, spiralized cucumbers, cucumber cream, cucumber powder, and black sesame tahini; a watermelon radish + avocado salad with puréed avocado; a kimchi-cashew-filled dumpling made of dehydrated coconut and cilantro; black pepper kelp noodles with pea tendrils; which was followed by the aforementioned lobster mushroom and tomato dish (pictured above); then a palette-cleanser of fresh strawberry sorbet; fresh white + yellow peaches and a pistachio tart on a sweet mascarpone-style nut cream; a coconut-cashew-based coffee ice cream with aerated chocolate chunks and fresh raspberries; and, finally, a cute little box of vegan, raw cookies and macaroons.

What are we, the queen?

Photo of Scott courtesy Matthew Kenney.