You’re on notice, Los Angeles—Blue Window‘s current pop-up menu, Junk, has merely one month left before it—poof—disappears forever.

In case you don’t recall, Blue Window is the pop-up concept of Chef Kajsa Alger and is attached to Mud Hen Tavern (née Street), and it features a single rotating menu for six months before switching over. All items are a flat $7 and all items can (and should, I’d say) be made vegan.

The first menu was Asian-inspired, the second and current menu is Junk—decadent, satisfying selections like falafel onion rings with black olive agave (below), tangy artichoke po’ boys, chili cheese Frito tamales, and cheddar melt sandwiches (above), which started out being mock-meat based in the vegan version and moved to a more purely plant-based recipe, employing crispy fried sun chokes in the current iteration.

Blue Window’s open weekly Monday through Friday, noon to 10PM, Saturday, 11AM-3PM, but they’ll be closed for the holiday Monday.

We discovered another great use for the Koda Farms Mochiko Rice Flour we mentioned a while back—vegan savory rice flour crêpes. Quick + easy-to-make, these have become a new go-to in our house for a fun, Pan-Asian-inspired breakfast, lunch or dinner.

You can do whatever you want for the filling, really. We usually take stock of whatever fresh vegetables we have on hand and do a combination of raw + some thinly sliced and salted for a short amount of time on very high heat.

For the crêpes themselves, you need:

1 cup sweet rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup almond or soy milk
1/2-1 cup water
1 Tbsp ground flax
2 tsp vegetable oil

First, in a small bowl, mix the flax together with 3 tablespoons of very cold water, whisking thoroughly with a fork until consistent and then place in the fridge; allow to chill for 10-15 minutes, until thickened (you can also place it in the freezer for a shorter amount of time). That’ll be our ‘flax egg’. Now sift the rice flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl and then beat in the milk and water until smooth. Vary the amount of water you add depending on how thin you want the crêpes and how confident you feel flipping them (more water, thinner crêpes). Once it’s sufficiently chilled, add the flax mixture and oil and mix until consistent.

Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat or until it is hot enough to bounce water droplets. Lightly oil pan and then ladle enough of the batter into the skillet to form a relatively thin, large pancake. It may take a little practice/trial and error to get the right thinness. Cook until you start to see small bubbles form throughout the crêpe—the middle will come last; once it does, carefully flip the crêpe, gingerly starting at the edges and working your way around with a spatula. Cook for a little less time on this side, checking the underside with the spatula; once done, add fillings, fold over, and transfer to a plate with some nice herbs and/or Gochujang to top.

For any who don’t already know, Brooklyn’s long-running foodie fair Smorgasburg opened its western counterpart in Downtown Los Angeles last weekend and—totally side-stepping the fetishization of food in general, the undeniable Brooklyn-ization of LA, and how all these damn New Yorkers are ruining this fine city (ahem)—Smorgasburg LA is really worth a visit, especially for vegans.

Whereas none of the food vendors are explicitly, totally vegan, many if not most have some really great animal-free eating options, amongst them, our friend Minh Phan of porridge + puffs who does a great rice porridge topped with housemate pickles and savory jams; vegan grilled cheese from Greenspan’s Grilled Cheese; vegan slices from skater-pizza connoisseurs Pizzanista; Japanese-style rice balls from Mama Masubi; vegan ego donuts from Donut Friend; and vegan options on a ton of other stuff we have yet to try like pozole, tacos, deserts, and everything else under the unforgiving sun (it’s pretty hot of late).

SmorgLA runs every Sunday from 10AM-6PM on the site of the Alameda Produce Market in Downtown Los Angeles. You can find more information and a full vendor list on their site.

We’re not really behind the concept of ‘superfoods’, truth be told—we love fermented foods and appreciate that they’re good for us as a beneficial side-effect, but we don’t think that popping alai berries or downing green smoothies are our bodies’ salvation.

We were, however, huge fans of Greek-style yogurt—thick, creamy, and far more savory + tangy than it is sweet.

Our go to for a dairy-free, vegan, cruelty-free version used to come from Wildwood, but they changed their recipe years back so that their yogurt—like most other vegan ones on the market—is sweet, even when unflavored. So whenever we come across a new vegan yogurt that claims to be Greek-style or even just not sweet, we give it a try.

On our last trip to Ojai, California, we swung by the local natural foods store, Rainbow Bridge (which is awesome, by the way), we noticed this one from San Luis Obispo-based company New Earth Superfoods and decided to give it a go. The verdict—it’s the best on the market in terms of Greek-style vegan yogurts. Not the least bit sweet, rich, with a subtle sharpness reminiscent of its dairy-based counterpart, the yogurt is superb on its own or with a little granola or fruit or even topping other savory dishes.

New Earth boasts a brick-and-mortar in lovely San Luis Obispo (which is a really cute college town and nice stop to or from San Francisco) that’s open Tuesday-Sunday and they seem to offer even more vegan-friendly products in-store (like a dairy-free probiotic cheese).

Now that we’re back in Los Angeles, we’ve looked into who carries their products in-town—Lassen’s does, but we don’t shop their given their owners’ strong, anti-queer stance and past actions; it looks like a place called Grassroots in Pasadena carries them not far too though, so maybe we’ll stop by there before our next Ojai jaunt. The cost of a one container is pretty significant (about $20), but it’s really worth it in our opinion. And you get a handy little Mason jar!

Happy fucking birthday to Katie.

Vegan chocolate cake with chocolate icing and filled with vanilla icing and homemade cherry jam by Clara’s Cakes, who’ll be at Vegan Beer Fest next weekend. Word on the street is she’ll have mac-and-cheese waffles again and peanut butter cannolis.

Though this holiday weekend marks the unofficial start to summer, and though we hear tell that our beloved Brooklyn is currently experiencing quite the unexpected heat wave, here in southern California, summer still feels a little far off, with cool nights and the remnants of May Gray melting into June Gloom.

Which speaks to the surprise we felt this past weekend when one of our usual farmers at the Hollywood Farmers Market was featuring not only fresh watermelon, but also a small stack of fresh corn.

I’m personally pretty particular about my corn and have been ever since a friend told me in high school that the deep yellow corn is what she and her family always called ‘pig corn’ in farm country, reserving the less sweet stuff for our snouted friends. Be that a fair characterization of that particular kind of corn or not, I’ve always love the paler, sweeter white corn and love to make an easy-but-delicious corn bisque when the season does get into full swing.

This isn’t a very specific recipe and involves a lot of optionals, but your base it, obviously, fresh corn. For a soup that generously served two, we used three ears, husked with silks removed. I usually then snap the ears in half by hand and then use a sharp knife, placing the ear half perpendicular to a cutting board with the flat, snapped end down and carefully cut kernels off the ear, getting as close to the husk as I can.

After that, it’s a simple matter of roasting a sliced white onion, sweet onion (the Texas Sweets are great in Cali right now), or shallots with a little salt until caramelized and semi-transparent and then adding the corn, roasting of medium heat until tender and browning slightly at the edges.

In it’s simplest form, you can then let the mixture cool and blend until puréed, adding water and/or vegetable broth until you get it to your desired consistency. You can add any spices you like, but we find that as long as you’re using good, fresh, sweet corn, letting those flavors shine through is best.

For this one, we then topped with a little mustard oil, cilantro, and some popcorn we popped and then shook with some salt + paprika in a small topped container.

Summer in a bowl.

As we’d written last month, we’ve embarked on a collaboration with Chef Minh Phan of porridge + puffs to create a line of vegan savory jams and condiments—PINCH by porridge + puffs. We’re still very much in the development phase, but Minh was asked by the Hollywood Farmers Market (best farmers market in the world, in our humble opinion) to be a part of their 25th anniversary celebration, which has been going on all month and has featured cookbook author signings, live music, and celebrity chef cooking demos. Minh did a demo a couple weekends back and we used the event as a bit of a soft launch for the jams, selling samples sporting the labels we made. We’re hoping to refine the process and packaging soon, but you’ll also be able to find the jams at Brooklyn’s western expansion of Smorgasburg to LA.

Minh’s kindly shared the recipe she featured at her cooking demo for mochi dough, or glutinous rice dough, which can be used for sweet or savory rice cakes or dumplings—a perfect topper along with some pickles to a rice porridge and something to liven up any vegetable-based or grain bowl. Pictured above, Robin from Koda Farms modeling the porridges Minh made using her rice and mochi dumplings made with her sweet rice flour.

This weekend is the last of the month, thus marking the last celebration for the farmers market and it’s a big one, featuring Neal Fraser of Red Bird (who we hear does a mean tofu dish) + Curtis Stone of Maude Los Angeles, who’s also signing his book, Good Food, Good Life. Elina Fuhrman will also be signing copies of her book on soup cleanses. Details on HFM’s site.

Minh’s recipe:

MOCHI DOUGH (Glutinous Rice Dough)

• 1lb Box of Koda Farms’ Blue Star Mochiko (organic version is wonderful), divided
• 1.5 Cups Hot Water (Hot but not boiling) for Dough
• 1 Tsp Salt
• Optional: 2 Tbsp oil or other Mix-ins (See below for ideas)

For Cooking: 3 quarts water + one tsp salt (can also use stock or simple syrup)

General ratio for mochiko:liquid is 2:1

If adding oil or mix-ins with liquid, use less water. If your dough is only slightly dry, run hands under water before kneading dough. On the other end of the spectrum, if dough feels wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time, until you get a workable consistency. Adding oil to the dough makes it smooth and unctuous.

Base dough can be to used for savory or sweet rice cakes or gnocchis. Savory add-ins can be as simple as scallion oil (1/4 warm oil + 1 bunch chopped scallions), pureed or chopped herbs, citrus zest, aromatics, etc.

For sweet mochis, add in 1-2 tablespoons of sugar, honey, or fruit purees.

Directions:
Measure out 2.5 cups mochiko. Whisk with fork or sift so flour is loose. Make a well and add about ¾ cups of water. Keep mixing until dough forms. Add a tablespoon more of water at a time until a ball comes together.

Add oil or other mix-ins. Knead until dough is smooth and shiny. Form into balls for gnocchis or discs of ricecake. Use extra flour for dusting work surface and mochis so they don’t stick together. Can also dust with cornstarch.

For stuffed mochis, form into golfballs then roll or press into flat round sheets. Stuff with desired stuffing (i.e., PINCH savory jams) and pinch seal, roll to smooth. Bring cooking water to a boil with salt. Cook until mochis float. Take out, drain, don’t let mochis stick to each other. If making soup, can just drop mochas into soup right before eating and cook until they float.

Mochis can be cooked in stock, broth or simple syrups or juices for additional flavors.

© minh phan // porridge + puffs // hollywood farmers market 25th anniversary 2016

Heads-up, Los Angeles—Echo Park staple Mohawk Bend has seriously upgraded their vegan pizza menu, eschewing their admittedly excellent housemade cashew cheese but/and bringing in products from local vegan cheese experts Follow Your Heart + Kite Hill.

They’ve also added some totally craveable new vegan pizzas, such as the Ricotta Kale that employs Kite Hill’s nut-based ricotta and the Angry Vegan (my favorite, pictured)—”house tomato sauce, fresh serrano chilies, Calabrian chilies, Kite Hill vegan ricotta cheese, Follow Your Heart vegan mozzarella, house-made vegan parmesan, chili oil, oregano.”

From MB’s site:
“Our artisan pizza dough is made from a blend of organic and conventional flours crafted by master California millers at Giusto’s Specialty Foods. Our house tomato sauce is made from crushed California tomatoes, locally grown garlic, California olive oil and sea salt.”

Pizza and a beer, anyone?

Heads up on two things:

1. Crossroads brunch is very much on fleet, but;

2. Crossroads’ famous vegan Bloody Mary cart is not always around for brunch, it turns out, which is very much not on fleek.

Great vegan Benedict though.

Bringing back a studio favorite for lunch today—our homemade chickpea salad sandwich, grilled this time.

You can read our original 2012 piece with the recipe if you’d like to take a crack at the vegan salad, inspired by your traditional chicken salad.