Right across the street from MooShoes LA sits the massive black monolith that is Diablo—self-described as an “urban taqueria”.

We’d never really thought much about the place in terms of vegan options until, the other week, vegan food photographer + blogger Tim Moore—better known as Vegan Fat Kid—came by the store for an event and mentioned that he was heading over to Diablo to partake in some vegan taco action. Tim earlier dubbed this month Tacotober and has since been celebrating by eating and documenting at least one vegan taco from Los Angeles area restaurants every day. You should really check it out on his Instagram feed. It’s insane how much this guy can eat.

Anyway, today we decided to finally check out this Diablo place, akin the long, treacherous journey across the street, and we were very pleasantly surprised—nice, slightly dungeons atmosphere; a lot of celebration of farm-to-table; great craft beer list; oddly intriguing Michelada popsicle and beer pairings; and not one, but two vegan-izeable tacos.

As they state on their site:
“Diablo is a chef-driven, New-American restaurant that uses the concept of the “taco” and platform of the “tortilla” to playfully present eclectic ingredients, contrasting textures and interesting flavors prepared in a not-so-traditional way. Diablo respects the seasons and supports local farmers, so our menu changes often.”

The first taco, which is listed currently as a seasonal one, is vegan as is, filled with crispy fried Brussels sprouts and a tasty Asian pear slaw (above, back); the second—my favorite—is filled with tempura deep fried hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, braised tomatoes, and fresh cilantro and is vegan sans the white miso aioli.

By all means, we encourage you to stop by and try the tacos—which are both great—and encourage more new vegan experimentation at this taqueria.

Twenty years ago this week, the world’s view on vegetarianism + veganism was changed with a single, hilarious, 30-minute-long episode of The Simpsons.

When it first aired, I myself had transitioned from vegetarian to vegan mere weeks before, so it definitely struck a chord with me on a personal level. More than that, it humanized and—oddly enough for a comedic cartoon—grounded the issue in a pretty honest reality, with both Lisa as she begins to identify with animals and with those around her, as they deal with the changes that come about in her personality.

All of this was beautifully rendered yesterday in a Slate article by Washington DC-based writer, Alan Siegel, commemorating the twentieth anniversary The Simpsons episode that Siegel writes “marked one of the first times on television that vegetarians saw an honest depiction of themselves—and of the viscerally defensive reaction that meat-eaters often have to vegetarianism.”

He explains further:

“Vegetarians previously had been portrayed in pop culture, but rarely as anything but one-dimensional hippies. ‘Lisa the Vegetarian,’ which aired on Oct. 15, 1995, was something different: a conversion story, told from the point of view of the person becoming a vegetarian. Lisa, the moral center of The Simpsons, spends the episode wrestling with what it means to eat meat. Her agonizing journey mirrors the one experienced by many in real life.”

We highly recommend reading Siegel’s full article, which details how The Simpsons show runner at the time gave up meat and came up with the idea for the episode and how Paul and Linda McCartney got involved, which resulted in their one and only stipulation—that Lisa remain a vegetarian through the rest of the series. Twenty years later, that never-aging little girl stays as committed to animals as ever.

We re-watched the episode last night so many years later and it really does hold up, both in terms of hilarity and earnestness. If you have cable, you can watch every episode of every season (all 27) of the venerable show via SimpsonsWorld.com or through FXNow via Apple TV or the like. There’s even a random episode button that will doubtless result in many glorious lost hours at our home.

Below, a clip from the show when Lisa’s school becomes concerned with her turn and shows the class an education film titled “Meat and You: Partners in Freedom—Number 3F03 in the ‘Resistance is Useless’ Series”

Just created this to help promote tomorrow’s vegan bake sale at MooShoes Los Angeles benefiting Burrito Project LA.

The day’ll feature a ton of vegan baked goods, raffles, some early Halloween fun, and vegan franks from the spookiest vegan in town, Frankenstand. We’ll be bringing some baked goods ourself. Keep it on the DL, but we’re thinking special vegan hand pies.

Here’s another batty burrito too.

Not sure what the Burrito Project is? Check out this interview with one of the group’s local organizers, Kathleen. And totally volunteer with them.

Hope to see you tomorrow! Details + RSVP.

Pomegranates are soooooooo late-ninties when it comes to vibrantly colored super-foods.

To get with the times, we’re jumping on the pitaya bandwagon—formerly known as the dragon fruit bandwagon…which we assume was an attempt at rebranding the brightly colored fruit to appeal to video-game-playing teens.

We picked one up at the farmers’ market the other day, cut it open, and found that it practically glowed fuschia—Pantone 233, by our estimation.

Blend with a frozen banana, spare plum, a little almond milk, and a handful of ice, and you’ve got yourself a pretty tasty, evidently lifesaving smoothie.

As mentioned yesterday, we recently hosted a pop-up vegan fashion event and cocktail reception at MooShoes Los Angeles with Joshua Katcher of the Discerning Brute + Brave GentleMan. Mateo Hoke—Chief Cocktail Editor of award-winning Oakland vegan restaurant, Millennium—donated his skills to the night, providing two recipes to help us celebrate, one alcoholic, one not.

As we wrote in yesterday’s piece, the alcoholic cocktail recipe was built by Mateo around a locally made amaro—Greenbar Distillery‘s Grand Poppy Organic Aperitive, a bitter brandy hand-crafted in downtown Los Angeles by distilling organic grapes and then “infusing and re-distilling California-inspired botanicals to bring you an American amaro ideal with soda or wine and for cocktails.”

Mateo’s take on the best way to showcase the Grand Poppy’s flavor profile—a 1-to-1-to-1 blend with a smooth bourbon and sweet vermouth. As he told me:

“There’s a really great organic amaro being made in LA called Grand Poppy. It’s infused with CA botanicals and is bright and floral and delicious. I like to let it shine by mixing with equal parts of a softer bourbon and a nice vermouth, like Carpano Antica.”

Mateo gave us permission to share the recipe, so, for those of you who enjoyed it at the MooShoes event or this past weekend at our anniversary party, you can now make it yourself at home. We give you what we christened Joshua’s namesake cocktail—The Brave GentleMan, a floral-forward, bright, bold take on a Boulevardier:

1oz Grand Poppy
1oz Bourbon (we used Bulleit, but any smooth bourbon will work well)
1oz Carpano Antica (or any other quality sweet vermouth)
Stir with ice and strain into you glassware
Garnish with a lemon peel (express the oil onto for extra depth)

Mateo also gave us what turned out to be a wildly popular alcohol-free cocktail—it’s perfect to provide an exciting option for your non-drinking friends at your next shindig or feature at future baby showers. Mateo again:

“For an N/A cocktail, muddle 5 slices cucumber, half a lime, and 5 mint leaves in a shaker and add 1oz simple syrup (1:1 ratio). Top with soda (or vegan ginger beer), and garnish with a cucumber slice. Hella good.”

Hella good is right. Enjoy.

I won’t lie to you—running two businesses is a lot of work. After our official opening of MooShoes Los Angeles nearly a year ago, Katie + I began to realize that more than a few people assumed that move meant we’d shuttered our design studio. Clearly that’s very much not the case. Truth be told, we’re busier now than we likely ever have been. And, whereas we’re truly lucky to be able to lean on very helpful owners back in New York and extremely capable staff both here in LA and back in NYC, acting as Creative Directors for MooShoes can be overwhelming sometimes…but it’s also wildly rewarding.

Case in point, a few weeks back, we held a pop-up fashion event in the store with longtime friend, Joshua Katcher, who is about to open up his very first store back in Brooklyn (you can read an interview we did with him on vegan fashion last month to find out more). As part of the event, we threw a cocktail reception in the evening and asked the Chief Cocktail Editor of award-winning Oakland vegan restaurant, Millennium—Mateo Hoke—to lend his skills from afar and contribute a couple recipes. One that he contributed involved an amaro made right here in Los Angeles—Greenbar Distillery‘s Grand Poppy Organic Aperitive. Turned out, everyone I called in town was out of the stuff. Quite a pain, right? But when I contacted the distillery directly, they got back to me right away and invited us to come by to pick a few bottles up. When Katie + I made it down, we ended up meeting Melkon Khosrovian (pictured above), who, with his wife, owns the distillery and was kind enough to give us a private tour of their operations.

As Khosrovian told us, his family is Armenian, and family dinners customarily involve vodka shots. Khosrovian’s then girlfriend, now wife, Litty Mathew, was not a fan of the harsh taste though and, once engaged, he started infusing vodkas with natural flavors to soften the taste and allow Mathew to participate in his family’s tradition. Soon after, Mathew—who happens to be a trained chef herself—started collaborating on the process and friends and family caught on, asking for more than the occasional holiday gift of infused creations. Eventually, the hobby turned into a business, with Khosrovian + Mathew opening their doors in 2004.

As the write on their Web site:

“Soon, their unique spirits won many awards. But Melkon and Litty couldn’t take all the credit. They learned their successes also hinged on some silent partners — the farmers who grew their ingredients. Several had moved to organic farming, resulting in more aromatic, flavorful produce…which led to more flavorful, aromatic spirits.

Their minds were made. ORGANICS HELD THE KEY TO BETTER TASTING SPIRITS. Today, Greenbar Craft Distillery produces and distributes the world’s biggest portfolio of organic spirits—all made by hand with real ingredients.”

In addition to championing the value of local, organic ingredients, Greenbar plants a tree for every bottle of spirits they sell, and, by my math, they’re doing pretty well—they’ve plated more than 451,000 trees to date. As Khosrovian told us, producing such a wide range of products—from vodka to gin to tequilas and whiskeys and rums—is rare for such small operations, but they’ve pushed the boundaries of technology in their field, working to develop a cutting edge continuous column still (pictured to the right) to allow a streamlined processing of multiple forms of liquor.

As Melkon told us, the driving force to push the business to grow and be the best it could be has always been their appreciation of fine tastes and quality ingredients—they know what they want and, with their out-of-the-industry backgrounds, often come up with equally out-of-the-box solutions to problems that result in innovation. For instance,  he explained that they looked to California wine-makers to develop a new way of distilling their rum, first fermenting molasses in temperature-controlled tanks with white wine yeast, allowing for an extended fermentation that—along with the traditional double distillation that follows—makes for a richer and more refined rum. They then follow the distillation with micro oxygenation—a technique California wine-makers to mellow out their tannic reds—as opposed to the traditional Caribbean practice of barrel-aging and charcoal filtering, which, he said, strips out most of rum’s flavor.

In a similar vein, Melkon told us that the flavor profile for the Grand Poppy—which we were on a crusade to find that day—was inspired by hikes he + Litty took through Griffith Park and all of the native botanicals that fill the air there.

We’ll share the recipes Mateo passed on to us tomorrow; they were both huge hits, by the way. In the meantime, we recommend stopping by the distillery for a tour or tasting (times + info on both on Greenbar’s site). You can also search Greenbar’s extensive database of recipes for some fun new ideas.

Below, Melkon + Katie discussing the distillation process next to their whiskey casks; Melkon showing us the browned and uncooked wood planks they use in “giant tea bags” to flavor their whiskeys; their original still; the Skybox tasting room; Katie, showing off our winnings; some of Greenbar’s products; some of the natural ingredients that go into those products; and the Greener façade.

We’re hereby presenting our September 2015 mixtape, an accumulation of new songs from largely new (to us) artist that have us excited in the studio.

This month, we start off with a Brooklyn band that we’re really loving of late, Eskimeaux, before moving on to Eliot Sumner, who we simply cannot stop listening to (we gave her a brief shout-out and caught her live at the beginning of this month, which we highly recommend doing). We’ve also got some great new tracks from glitchy London artist, Farao, NYC orchestral chamber pop group and longtime studio favorite Miracles of Modern Science (who we interviewed last week), and the much-buzzed-about (and worth of said buzz) Empress Of, who, we hear, is about to join our ranks as New Yorkers who move to Los Angeles. And much more music, of course.

Listen on, friends.

And, if you’re new to the mixtape series, feel free to check out past installments and/or navigate to music-related articles via the MUSIC tab in the right-hand column.

The other day, someone asked me how the Mt. Vesuvius Black Ash cheese was from Miyoko’s Kitchen and I realized I’d never written about it here.

We’d first mentioned the mid-caost nut-based cheese-maker back in November, including shots of a wide range of their then current products, but we’d yet to experience their most goth of offerings at that time. The malady was quickly remedied though, and I thought I’d take a quick moment to share some shots of the visually impressive cheese.

As described by Miyoko’s, the cheese is “coated in black ash with a dense, smooth, creamy texture, and a mildly tangy, buttery sweetness” and is “great served with fruit or baked en croute.”

Honestly, like all of her cheeses, it’s great, but the taste of the Mt. Vesuvius itself is pretty on par with the rest of her firmer-yet-smooth cheese. What sets it apart is what you can see here—the visually striking contrast of the creamy white cheese wrapped in the stark black of the vegetable ash used by Miyoko’s.

As a whole, there’s a close-to-equal contrast in taste, as the rich, nutty base contrasts the smokey, ashy bitterness of the coating that’s interesting. But there’s no beating the aesthetic of seeing this cheese wheel cut up on a plate of hors d’oeuvres.

As with all of her products, highly recommended. And, this month, 1% of all of Miyoko’s sales benefit Compassion Over Killing—all the more reason to order.

Below, our unabashedly admiring parade photographs of the Mt. Vesuvius Black Ash cheese.

This of us who live and work in Los Angeles are in the midst of a pretty rough heat wave…for us, at least. As with most things Angelenos complain about, it’s nothing compared to what seasoned New Yorkers are used to dealing with.

In these hot months, though—especially if you, like us, usually work outside—it can be a struggle to keep cool, especially around lunch time, when the easiest, cooling go-to is a salad. Let’s face it though—salad gets pretty boring pretty fast, no matter how creative you are with your dressings.

Enter chilled melon soup, a dish that may sound a little odd, but, once put into practice, hits all the right notes—sweet balanced with a  little savory, smooth, cooling, and stupid-easy to make.

Essentially, buy a large melon from the farmers market or your local purveyor of produce—we went with an orange flesh honeydew, a  melon described as “similar to the Honeydew on the outside but has a similar interior color, taste and aroma that of a Cantaloupe.” Get it home, scoop out the seeds, and then either cut into chunks and then trim off the exterior rind or (as we did) simply scoop out the flesh of the melon provided it’s soft enough. Either way, then just place the melon chunks or scoops in a decent blender along with some ice and blend until smooth. Serve with a powdering of smoked paprika or chili powder and a garnish of your favorite green leafy herb. Sit back and enjoy not sweating for the next ten to fifteen minutes.

Late last month, I received a cryptic text from Mud Hen Tavern co-owner, Chef Kajsa Alger: “Hey Troy! We’re opening a new thing. Wanna send you an invite….”

Well, I like new things AND invites, so that was an easy sell.

This evening, Katie + I experienced a preview of that very new thing—Blue Window, a new take-out window adjacent to Mud Hen that will offer up quick gourmet take-out food at non-gourmet prices (everything’s seven bucks or less), with menus + cuisine rotating every six months. First up, Blue Window: Asia.

For anyone who remembers and misses Mud Hen’s previous incarnation, Susan Feniger’s STREET, Blue Window is an exciting addition to Los Angeles’ already vibrant restaurant scene, essentially taking STREET’s rich street food concept and condensing it into this new, modular, bite-size format. The Blue Window team expands on the idea in their press release for the new venture:

“As avid travelers and global cuisine addicts, co-owners Susan Feniger and Kajsa Alger have been keeping their eyes open for a new opportunity to bring international street food back to their neighborhood. As time went by, they realized that the best way to do it would be to bring it back to the kitchen where it all started…a small take-out window from their original restaurant, STREET. A tiny window, a counter, and all of those addicting little street bites that everyone craves. With a menu that only lasts six months, Blue Window is all about getting your fix in while you can.”

We love Mud Hen’s menu, embodying the more neighborhood pub-like, less global street cuisine interpretation of Susan + Kajsa’s cooking, but we’ve long-missed many a STREET menu item. Blue Window promises to bring some of those favorites back, starting with the BBQ bao, which, in its vegan version, exists as a light, puffy steamed bun filled with barbecue-soaked jackfruit and topped with peanut hoisin sauce.

And the bao’s not alone in its vegan incarnation—every single menu item at Blue Window is veganizable or has a vegan version, from the gochujang hot sauce wings (which swap in vegan soy chicken) to the albacore tuna poke (which employs a pickled daikon instead of fish) to the vegan version of the banh mi sandwich, with its grilled bread, pickled vegetables, green sriracha aoili, and marinated jackfruit.

All of it’s absolutely delicious, believe us—not only did we try nearly every single item on the menu, we were also literally the first ones in line Friday evening. That damn New York timeliness hasn’t quite been bleached out of us by the Southern California sun, it seems.

Blue Window opens officially Monday, with weekday hours from noon to 10PM. The concept will change after February 2016, so get this goodness while you can.

For anyone interested in hearing more about Blue Window’s forebear, STREET, you can read a 2013 interview we did with Kajsa, focusing on the strong vegan predilection that restaurant shared with this new concept.

Below, a couple shots of the legendary BBQ boa; a couple the excellent grilled bank mi; Blue Window’s menu (which can be seen in full on Mud Hen’s site); Korean potstickers with red yam dipping sauce; the gochu soy chicken wings with vegan scallion cream; blue nails for a blue window; stuffed tempura—another favorite of ours, full of beautifully tasty shiso leaf, kabocha squash, shiitake mushrooms, and chile thread; the vegan version of the albacore poke; and Katie enjoying the very first official bite of Blue Window. Very much.

Oooh—and not pictured but very much worth the six bucks—Thai iced tea, with the Window’s rich, house-made condensed coconut milk.