A few weeks back, when Katie + I were prepping for our first New York visit since early spring, we ran through a usual routine for us: Meticulously assembling a list of new vegan and vegan-friendly NYC eats and prioritizing said eats. Los Angeles is an amazing resource for superb vegan food—some would argue better than New York—but there are some things Gotham will just always do better than our new home.

As we were assembling this substantial list, we noticed a trend amongst our top-runners—many, many sandwiches, and, amongst them, specifically a lot of places now known for their vegan burgers; prime among them, the much-lauded Superiority Burger and the über-cute By CHLOE in the Village.

As we noted in our write-up of LA’s Burgerlords last month, GQ named Superiority Burger’s vegetarian burger the year’s best burger…not the year’s best vegetarian burger, year’s best burger. Now, one could argue that GQ’s pulling some sort of publicity stunt, poking the red-meat-loving bear that is their primary demographic, or, if you’re more generous, you could argue they’re concerned about the health of their average reader and want to promote a meat-free lifestyle more publicly. You could even argue that Superiority Burger’s burger is indeed the best burger of 2015. Us—we don’t care, we just love that people are promoting vegetarian + vegan food more and more every year, that it’s getting easier and more mainstream to rid diets of animals, and that it all results in fewer animals being locked into a cruel system that ultimately ends in their death. I think the animals are with us on that one.

Yeah yeah yeah, you say, preaching to the choir—HOW ARE THE BURGERS‽ Well, they’re fucking good.

We’re not going to play the Who Has the Better Vegan Burger game—we’d be tempted, but they’re both so good and we feel like we’d need a side-by-side comparison, ideally; plus, they’re both great, so everybody wins! The two establishments couldn’t be more different in their general approach to food and space, though; that we will comment on. If you’re looking for a restaurant franchise, you got to check out jackintheboxfranchising.com this link.

By CHLOE has nailed the fucking adorable branding, going to the restaurant branding go-to, Paperwhite Studio (hats off to you, sirs + madams). From restaurant signage to sandwich wrappers to fry holsters to even coconuts with her logo, chef + partner Chloe Coscarelli comes across as having a clear idea of her brand and it’s communicated clearly and copiously. CHLOE also trends toward the younger, more health-minded crowd, stocking juicing and air-baking fries (which, are actually remarkably good), which is super-smart given their proximity to NYU. Again, absolutely love that this beautifully done, amazingly tasty spot is so easily accessible to the mainstream NYC college kid. And the food is just that—tasty, very tasty. The burger’s great, with a savory housemade tempeh-lentil-chia-walnut patty that’s got a great texture and…hate this word, but…mouthfeel (shudder), and is topped off with fresh pickles, onion, lettuce, and awesome beet ketchup on an equally awesome, soft, slightly sweet potato bun. AND it’s all gluten-free. What might be even better than the burger in this barbecue-lover’s opinion, though—their Whiskey BBQ sandwich, smokey portobello mushrooms + housemade seitan smothered in a bourbon barbecue sauce and topped with sautéed kale, onion marmalade, and grilled pineapple on that same delectable potato bun. It’s just as messy and amazing as it sounds. Our only complaint with regards to CHLOE—the place is on the small side and seemingly ceaselessly packed to the gills with customers, to the point that seat-hunting becomes a sport both stressful for the hunter and the guilt-ridden seated alike. It’s a superb problem for Chloe + co. to have, but not the most enjoyable eating experience.

Superiority, by comparison, is about as laid back as it gets, in both its presentation and it’s overall attitude toward its food. Though the place is small (it’s actually in Dirt Candy‘s old spot), it’s staff is extremely chill and the seating’s so sparse it’s kind of a non-issue, making for quicker eating at the European-style swivel-out tables or counter-eating to the side or, more likely, take-away or street-eating. And the menu and space are both nearly equally adorable to CHLOE’s in their lack of refined branding and clear marketing expertise. The main menu (billed as vegetarian with a lot that’s “accidentally vegan just ask!”) focuses on cultivating a small number of staples and doing them really well—the namesake red quinoa-based Superiority Burger, the sloppy Joe-style Sloppy Dave (tofu in a mildly spicy tomato-based sauce on a larger sesame seed bun)—and then branches out with some really well-done, plant based sides that tend to circulate. We had a really great beet dish and a baked potato sopped with a relish and both were wonderful. Friends and frequenters of Superiority actually swear by the sides, telling us that they trump the burger itself. We think it’s all great though. And, as mentioned, the staff’s super-nice—they actually threw in a couple off-menu items when we ordered, the shiitake BLT and a tiny yuba Philly vegan cheesesteak that packed quite a punch and ended up being one of my favorite things. It’s clear that chef + founder (and former executive pastry chef at Del Posto), Brooks Headley, is a creative fucking dude and we’re excited to see what else he has in store. You can actually hear a great piece that Evan Kleiman did with Headley recently on KCRW’s Good Food on the thinking behind the burger and his general philosophy on food. Our only complaint with SB—the Superiority Burger itself is pretty tiny…slider-size, in fact. We hear that’s a relatively new development, but, regardless, they’re really great.

In conclusion, mmmmmmmmmmm, vegan food.

Thank you, goodnight.

Photo above of CHLOE’s offerings and just below of their facade courtesy of by CHLOE; just below that, CHLOE’s burger; the Whiskey BBQ; a shot of the sandwiches and fries; Superiority Burger’s facade; their starkly jaunty menu; the Superiority Burger; the fried onion-covered Sloppy Dave; Superiority’s beet side; their burgers again; the shiitake BLT; and SB’s tiny interior with immeasurable attitude. To the right, an amazing old White Castle poster at SB.

We’re still recovering from the food coma that was our recent trip to New York City, but one must-visit for us was the new Bed Stuy vegan joint, Toad Style.

Picture a take out style restaurant created by a vegan kid who loves fried food, video games, and kung-fu, and you’ve got Toad Style. Actually, as far as I know, that might be the story behind Toad Style. But, regardless of back story, Toad Style is well worth a trek out to the Bed Stuy-Bushwick border, just don’t visit when you’re “kinda hungry”—there is a lot of bread here and most everything is deep fried in the classic fried chicken style…which is fitting for a neighborhood chock-a-block with traditional fried chicken take out places.

We settled on two sandwiches on our visit—the vegan báhn mí (coconut-crusted fried oyster mushrooms, pickled daikon + carrots, cilantro, hothouse cucumber, lime aioli, five-spice mushroom paté, and house chili sauce—and their BBQ pulled jackfruit (tender smoked jackfruit, house BBQ sauce, Brussels sprouts slaw, fennel jam, and spicy pickles—and rounded things off with fried pickles with creamy horseradish sauce and fried lemon + rosemary brined cauliflower with sweet chili mustard sauce. So, yeah, not the lightest of meals, but goooooooooooooooooood. And, for the more gluten free eaters, the batter on those last two sides is actually gluten-free.

Word on the street is that Toad Style’s vegan eggplant parm (served on soft garlic bread) is to die for and their grilled cheese (with tiger figs and house almond cheese) sounds awesome, so I think we’ll be due a trip back next time we’re in New York. Shouldn’t be for another few months, so I think we should have time to work our appetite back up.

In the meantime, let us live vicariously through you—get thee to Toad Style, young warrior.

Following up on last week’s post on our holiday take on a Manhattan the massive Thanksgiving party we were lucky enough to attend, we wanted to give a brief mention to one of the many relishes dishes that were featured as part of the celebration—the vegan cheese spread.

Provided by hosts Erica Kubersky + Justin Lamb, we’re told that the overall spread was “played down” from last year’s, but it was, by our estimate, nonetheless the largest array of vegan cheeses we’d seen ever, likely. In this day of what we’ve before described as a bit of a vegan cheese revolution—most recently on our piece covering vegan cheese slices and then with various pieces on one of our favorite newcomers, Miyoko’s Creamery (on the company’s products in general and on their Mt. Vesuvius Black Ash cheese in specific)—the cheeses that impressed us the most this Thanksgiving were from one of the vanguards of vegan cheeses, Brooklyn’s Dr. Cow.

Dr. Cow was the first company to introduce raw vegan nut cheese to the market, beginning to sell their small, cultured cheese wheels in select New York stores year back. Now, the couple behind Dr. Cow sell at locations nationwide, having expanded their line to include sweets, jams, and spreads, and offering larger, more experimental cheese out of their 6th Street Williamsburg shop.

Erica dropped by the shop and picked out five aged nut cheese: a cashew, pumpkin seed, zucchini cheese (pictured above); a smoked balsamic salt cheese; a crazy interesting, amazing cashew blue made with West Indian shilajit, cordyceps, and hibiscus; an equally interesting, dark, dry macadamia reishi; and a hemp, chili, sesame cashew cheese (all pictured below). To the right, an illustration from Dr. Cow of the raw nut cheese process.

If you haven’t Dr. Cow a try, you’re overdue. You can find stockists on their Web site, but if you’re in New York, drop by their shop to get the really good stuff; they’re open every day but Monday.

In need of a new holiday cocktail to spice things up this season? We came up with this autumnal take on a Manhattan for our friends’ Thanksgiving party this year and it’s going over like gangbusters so far.

Here’s what you need:

2 oz. Bourbon (we used Bulleit)
1 oz. Sweet Vermouth (we really like the Italian Antica Formula)
2 dashes New England Spiced Cranberry Bitters
Maraschino Cherry

New Orleans-based Bittermens makes the cranberry bitters and they’re pretty great. But the recipe’s easy—just combine ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake gently or swirl, pour into a lowball glass, garnish with cherry and enjoy, pilgrim.

Likely if you’re a resident of Los Angeles, fan of vegan food, and/or follower of electronic music, you’ve heard by now that musician, DJ, animal rights activist, and outspoken vegan, Moby, is opening his long-awaited new restaurant Little Pine in Silver Lake tomorrow. We’ve been waiting with bated breath ourselves, so we asked Moby to take a few minutes in anticipation of tomorrow’s unveiling to tell us more about the work leading up to this point, how he hopes to impact the restaurant scene in Los Angeles, and how he wants Little Pine to make the vegan scene here even more mainstream and accepted.

raven + crow: Alright, first off, congratulations on Little Pine. I know back when we both lived in New York, you had a great little café—TeaNY, on the lower east side—but I’m sure that was a ton of work. What made you want to venture back into the restaurant world in your new LA digs?

Moby: opening and running restaurants is stressful and expensive, but ultimately really emotionally rewarding. walking into a space that i’ve designed and seeing people happily eating organic food is really, really satisfying.

That’s nice. I feel kind of the same way about opening MooShoes here. Though we rarely see people try to eat the shoes. So, Los Angeles is, thankfully, a virtual urban smorgasbord for vegans these days—we can’t throw Goldenberg’s Peanut Chew without hitting a vegan or vegan-friendly restaurant—what gap do you see Little Pine filling in the already dense vegan culinary landscape?

there are a lot of high-end vegan restaurants and a lot of punk rock vegan restaurants and a lot of new-hippie vegan restaurants but i don’t know of any other modern and inviting and neighborhood-y vegan restaurants that stay open until midnight 7 days a week.

No joke there. We were totally shocked at how little of LA is late night, minus the tourist-y/douche-y clubs. Why Silver Lake, though? I know it’s a hotspot, but I’ve talked to other restauranteurs in the city who think that the vegan scene’s totally saturated there as is and are looking elsewhere.

oh, because it’s where i live.

Fair enough. What made you chose that spot? It’s a great area, but I know you’re also right across from an elementary school and you’ve had more than your fair share of pushback from the community on the late nights + alcohol, respectively.

odd questions, almost contentious, are you sure you’re in support of what we’re doing?

Contentious‽ We’re just asking the hard-hitting questions the LA Times + TMZ are afraid to ask.

basically: this is where the building happened to be. i wanted to buy a restaurant building and restaurant buildings for sale are rarer than unicorns. unless you’re the army corps of engineers it’s not really feasible to buy a building and pick it up and move it somewhere.

I always wanted to buy a house in rural southern Virginia and fly it to an empty lot in Brooklyn. Never worked out. It sounds like you won the neighborhood over though—Little Pine’s open late and will have a bar.

7:30 a.m – midnight 7 days a week.

Why was that important to you?

because some people wake up early and some people stay up late and i really like the idea of accommodating people regardless of their schedule. also it’s exasperating to get out of a movie at 9:30 and 9:45 and making a panicked dash to a restaurant that’s just closed.

That’s why we stick to the Arclight next to the Veggie Grill. And the liquor license—I know you personally abstain; why was that aspect of Little Pine worth fighting for in your mind?

most of my friends like to drink the occasional glass of wine or beer, and i wanted a place where they’d feel welcome. also i like the idea of veganism becoming normal, which it already is. 28 years ago (when i became vegan) you could only find vegan food in dusty restaurants where they served cold kukicha. for veganism to become the new norm, it needs to be as normal as other restaurants.

That’s a great point. Also, I feel like having one of the few places open that late on a regular basis be vegan is going to expose animal-friendly eating to a crowd that might not be exposed to that as much normally. Well-done. We were also really impressed that you’re using 100% organic ingredients, not a lot of places can pull that off. Did that shape your menu at all? What you could and couldn’t do or even wanted to do?

pretty much everything we’ve tried to find we’ve been able to find, which says a lot about trying to have an organic restaurant in l.a. opening a 100% organic restaurant in oklahoma might be more challenging…and if we can’t find something that’s organic we just keep looking until we find it.

Face, Oklahoma. And are you all going to take reservations or walk-ins only?

we’ll take reservations and also do walk in. as we’re open from 7:30 a.m – midnight there will be lots of times during the day when the restaurant will be quite calm(like 3pm, i’m guessing). but at night we’ll take reservations for 50% of the tables.

Do you think you’ll be there much yourself or are you leaving most of the day-to-day to the team you’ve now got in place?

as opening a vegan restaurant is expensive and stressful it wouldn’t make sense to do the hard work of getting it open and then not hang out there. i plan on being there at least once or twice a day.

Nice. Finally, where does the name come from?

i’m little and i like pine trees.

As mention, Little Pine opens its doors for the first time tomorrow and stays open every day from 730AM to midnight…we’re guessing it closes for the occasional holiday. Reservations + contact, 323-741-8148.

Feature photo, Michael Buckner/WWD; interior/exterior shots courtesy of Moby; food photos by Melissa Danis.

Behold—another bizarre, new vegetable from a Southern California farmers’ market!

Yes, I know, it’s 100% culturally insensitive and ethnocentric to call something I’ve heretofore been entirely unaware of bizarre, but look at these things.

I’m told by the farmer who tasted these with me Sunday—I’m assuming to prove they were edible/not poisonous?—that these are called winged beans. I’ve never before seen them at a market, farmers’ or otherwise, and was immediately intrigued when I ran across them. This same farmer claimed they’re good eaten raw or lightly sautéed.

We just had them chopped up in a salad, and they provide a dry, slightly bitter taste along with an airy, crisp texture that seems to soak up sauces and dressings. Plus they make these cool star shapes when sliced. Give ’em a try if you see them around and let us know if you find out anything more about them.

They were at the nearly southern-most vendor at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market this past Sunday for anyone in the area and wondering, just before the mushroom tent.

New York may have the year’s best burger (which—hats off to NYC’s Superiority Burger—is meatless), but we’ve got Burgerlords, Los Angeles.

The modest take-out joint comes from two brothers already steeped in the LA restaurant world (they helped their father open the slightly less vegan-friendly Oinkster) who have an obvious love of burger-craft (Burgerlords is the namesake of their longtime Tumblr of the same name, which holds high all things burger). Much like Superiority’s menu, Burgerlords’ menu is brief and to-the-point—it features burgers, cheeseburgers, fries, and soda. Unlike the Oinkster’s menu, though small, it’s vegan-friendly, offering not just vegan-apporoved patties, but housemade patties—”made fresh daily with a custom blend of grains & vegetables”—served with vegan Thousand Island dressing and a slice of vegan American cheese on the cheeseburger (Follow Your Heart, by our estimation).

Katie + I got the chance yesterday to visit the recently opened Burgerlords, located on the Old Chinatown Central Plaza, and we can report back with the utmost authority that it rules. Cheeseburgers are crave-worthy—I already want another—and the fries are crispy, just salty enough, and beautifully done. Get yourself there.

With winter-like weather in both of the cities we consider to be our hometowns—NYC, where it’s currently in the lower-to-mid-fifties, pitch black, cloudy, windy, and on the verge of a GNR-approved cold November rain; and LA, where it’s crystal clear and in a solid, crisp mid-sixties (the approximate Los Angeles analog to the current New York weather)—we soldier on with an especially heated up Taco Tuesday entry.

These tacos are built around yellow farmers’ market Manzano peppers—an small apple-shaped chile (thus the name) with tiny black seeds, a bright, fruity taste, and a heat level between 12,000 and 30,000 on Scoville heat units (SHU) scale, making them anywhere from 2 to 12 times as hot as jalapeños. So, not for the light of heart.

We slice up the peppers into half circles along with farmers’ market red onions and mint and then quick-pickle it all, tossing the mixture in a half cup or so of Bragg’s apple cider vinegar and allowing it to sit for 15-30 minutes. This reigns in the heat of the peppers a little bit and plays up their fruity taste with the piquant of the vinegar. Then we cube and brown chunks of tempeh in olive oil in a heavy bottom skillet, removing from heat and tossing with a mixture of ground cumin + turmeric. Once that’s done, we set the tempeh aside and roast some fresh corn tortillas directly on the flames of the stove (we love these from Tortilla Land) flipping to toast each side and being careful to not burn them beyond edibility or set off our smoke alarms. Then we dress with a dollop of Vegenaise and some fresh arugula and add the tempeh and pickled mixture. The result’s a fruity, fiery, savory taco that’s quickly become a favorite at home.

Give them try to warm up your winter day. Just, yeah, don’t burn your kitchen down.

We’d mentioned last week that we made a trip down to the Huntington Beach area, primarily for art + culture…but almost nearly as primarily, as an excuse to visit one of our favorite Southern California vegan eateries, Seabirds Kitchen in nearby Costa Mesa.

Started in 2010 as a food truck, Seabirds has since grown into a brick-and-mortor mainstay of the region, putting an emphasis on fresh, plant-based ingredients and embracing a mission to push the boundaries of vegan cuisine. As they say: “As we’ve grown from a food truck into our current restaurant, our artisan approach has remained true. We make our sauces and condiments from scratch. We base our menu around seasonal produce, unique flavor combinations and creative techniques and we use top-notch ingredients and locally grown fruits and vegetables.”

We always walk away happy (and very full) when we leave Seabirds, but we did so especially last week, enjoying a few firsts for us at the restaurant—prime among them, their delicious Birdy Marys—garnished with green olives, pepperoncini, fried pickles, wild rosemary, lime, and a celery salt rim—and a new entrée, the Chef’s Medley in Golden Consomme—a mix of wild mushrooms, tuscan kale, butternut squash, grilled tofu, green tea soba noodles, golden umami broth, and shichimi.

If you’re in the area, we’d definitely recommend a visit; if you’re not, it’s certainly worth the drive.

Above, a favorite staple, the Holy Smokes Bowl with brown rice, BBQ jackfruit, sautéed greens, broccolini, pickled red onion, coconut bacon, Seabirds sauce, Kentucky BBQ sauce, and avocado. Below, the aforementioned medley with broth being poured and Marys; Seabirds’ BBQ Jack Sliders; their Local Organic Broccolini with pickled peanuts and Purple Taquitos with purple potatoes, chipotle sour cream, fermented curtido, almond feta, cilantro; and a tiny Birdy Mary mouse.

For the month of November, Tony’s Darts Away—the vegan-friendly Burbank pub started by Tony Yanow of Golden Road and Mohawk Bend—asked plant-based tastemakers of Los Angeles to design four signature vegan hot dogs as part of a monthlong Dogs for Dogs campaign. One dollar from each purchase goes to the work of  the Beagle Freedom Project, a nonprofit devoted to rescuing and finding homes for beagles used in laboratory research. You can read more about their work and beagles used in laboratory testing on the group’s site (for instance, the very heart-breaking fact that beagles are the most popular breed for lab use because of their friendly, docile, trusting, forgiving, people-pleasing personalities).

Katie + I are very pleased to announce that Tony’s Darts Away asked us to be a part of the campaign and—this week and this week only—you’ll be able to order “The Owen,” a Banh Mi style vegan hot dog named after our very own Owen, who can easily be described as friendly, docile, trusting, forgiving, and people-pleasing. Okay, maybe not docile, but nonetheless, we can picture him in that very same, deplorable, unnecessary (animal tests and human results only agree 5-25% of the time according to one of the world’s largest animal testing labs, Huntingdon Life Sciences) situation and it breaks our hearts to think of.

So help the Beagle Freedom Project out this week by heading to Tony’s and ordering an Owen—a Tofurky Keilbasa with vegan aioli, cilantro, pickled carrots & daikon, cucumbers, fresh jalapeño slices, and sriracha on a toasted bun. If you can’t make it this week, you’ve got three more weeks of special Dogs for Dogs, listed on TDA’s site and on the poster below (Nic Adler’s Frito Pie dog sounds especially intriguing). If you can’t make it to Burbank at all, give to BFP online.

Below, said poster and Owen 100% about to chow down on his namesake.