That other vegan restarant in Irvine, California, behind the Orange Curtain is called Veggie and Tea says Toto.
I wish someone would take me there.

"Veggie & Tea House

14988 Sand Canyon, Studio #1 (Near 5 Freeway)

949-559-0577

Chinese


Exit 5 freeway at Sand Canyon, turn left on Burt Road and go all the way back behind on the right side past La Quinta Inn & a Mexican Restaurant. Open daily 11am - 9pm. Owners have a background in health. Selection of fine teas from Taiwan.

If you’d like a unique dining experience, check out Veggie and Tea House Restaurant. No menu—you order by looking at examples of the food. You will gasp when you see the presentation of the food at your table: it’s served in boats with amazing carved animals out of watermelon rind. It’s Chinese vegetarian with many dishes I’ve never seen before—many types of veggie rolls. Very cool place, nicely decorated, lots of fun and good food.
-Ron, Vegetarian Singles Orange County"


Happy Cow Website


Veggie and Tea (http://www.happycow.net/north_america/usa/california/soca/irvine/) :D

While we're on the subject of Orange County restaurants, has anyone ever been to Au Lac in Fountain Valley? A friend of mine at work mentioned I would like it. Here's the link:

http://www.aulac.com

It looks pretty good. It looks like it's a lacto place, but the vegan items seem to be well-labeled. They've got vegan flan! :) They even have a raw menu, which made me think of Oatmeal, though he's too far away.

Yet another place for me to check out this summer. :)

Au Lac is one of my favorites, the food is very tasty, Vietnemese Vegetarian, mostly vegan. I didn't ever notice a lot of dairy. The owner's name is Mai,
a beautiful soul. In the middle of the day they used to close down for meditation. Now the restaurant is too busy for that.

Toto

Anyone know of any Northern California restaurants to try?

Thank you so much Toto...I had no idea it was there! My husband and I ate at the Wheel of Life yesterday and they have signs up advertising their new website. http://www.wheelofliferestaurant.com
It's very nice.

The Tamarind Chicken actually has the texture and taste of KFC. I'm serious. The "Salmon" is excellent, and even though it is fried, it's not heavy or greasy at all. Same with the Deep Fried Vege Fish with Special Sauce. God, I miss the place already!

An awesome restaurant to try in nor cal is Chaya. It is an all vegan japanese restaurant. f***ing amazing. It is in berkeley on shattuck north of university

We have a Chaya in L.A.... not remotely vegan. Helpful, no?

That said, I just discovered that Cheebo, this new place down the street from me on Sunset, has vegan options on their menu, so that's another exciting find.

Heh, heh. I grew up behind the Orange Curtain, but happily escaped to Long Beach, Toto. But, I do work in Orange. There don't seem to be too many veg friendly restaurants around here since they closed Lotus Cafe. Mskedi, any poor soul stranded in OC with an ounce of conscience has no trouble referring to the fifth level of hell as being "behind the orange curtain." :)

Orange County, California was the evil home of the "John Birch Society", a bastion of McCartheyism and birth place as well of Richard Nixon.

There is a saying in pre-legend times that goes like this......"Everyone needs a tenacious enemey to build strong character so we may define who we are not and in the process determine our values, interests and personality."

Never the less there are some decent new and hard to come by vegan or vegetarian restaurants in Orange County, two in Laguna Beach which is the last outpost of the free surrounded by the Orange Curtain. One is called The Stand which is on Thalia Street and the other is Gauranga's on Legion St. in the Hari Krsna temple, both are just off PCH.

Toto

Originally posted by Quizeen
Mskedi, any poor soul stranded in OC with an ounce of conscience has no trouble referring to the fifth level of hell as being "behind the orange curtain." :)

lol
:D

I'm doing jury duty in San Pedro this week -- does anyone know any veg or veg-friendly places to eat there? Once I cross the bridge, I'm lost. :(

No sorry I don't know this one

no, but if you are ever in Sacramento.. I will show ya a great place to eat. :)

If this helps I just saw a veg chinese restaurant off the 105 heading towards San Pedro at PCH turn right and its on the right (east up the coast) hand side a few blocks up
in Lomita. That is right next to San Pedro Harbor.

Toto

Check happycow.com for L.A. listings near you. Good luck.

ok...so i don't really live in California. i live in Maine. but i grew up in San Diego, and shall be moving back there in about a year.....HOORAY!!!! you have no idea how glad i'll be to be back there again!!

so who lives in San Diego?

Originally posted by epski
I went to high school in La Jolla. It was very nice. Kinda boring at night, though.

crazy. where did you go? i went to LJCDS, Bishops, and LJHS at various times.

I came to California when I was starting 10th grade, so LJHS only.

what year was that if you don't mind me asking? i find this whole 'small world' thing fascinating! :)

anyone going to worldfest this year?

Grass Valley's a bit far. They're going to have Alasdair Frasier... I love that guy. I saw him perform in May, though, so I'm okay. :)

Oh my gosh! I've been so wrapped up in things lately that I forgot about World Fest completely. I used to know where they'd be and when from Whole Life Times, but we only carried that at my job that I recently quit. When is it going to be majake? I heard that they are charging to get in now and I can't remember if I paid the one time I went there....do you know if it's still free or not.

Sidenote...I had a great time there except for one thing. I brought one of my dogs with me, which by the way, she had a blast! It's pretty much a known fact that when dogs get excited, they pant heavily, and that's what she was doing. Anyway, we just got there and we got a cup of water for her for free and I was holding it for her and she took one lick and then ignored it. She was way too in to the goings-on of the place. We decided to move on and periodically offer the water to her. Meanwhile people were saying things to us like, "You know, your dog needs water!" and "I think your dog's thirsty." ...etc. Some people were cool about it and very polite. But others were treating us as though we were abusing her. GRRRRRR. Wow, I really had to get that off my chest!

As per epski's suggestion on the CA gathering thread, I'm bringing the discussion of possible get-togethers to this thread.

So... what do you think? I'm leaning towards the little local gatherings first before planning a huge thing that requires travel and lodging and such.

I think it would be easy enough for those of us in L.A. and O.C. (and anyone who's farther off but willing to drive) to meet at one of the vegan restaurants we've mentioned on here for lunch or dinner. It could be fun (?).

Vegetarians in Paradise has the best listings and reviews that I've seen for our area.

http://www.vegparadise.com/restaurants.html

My initial suggestion would be something fantabulous like Real Food Daily, but we could also reserve the private room at Sante La Brea. Difference is RFD is all vegan, and SLB is merely vegan-friendly. SLB is also a little cheaper.

Maybe we should narrow the list down to the maximum our polls can handle, ranging from cheaper to more expensive, vote on those, run off the top three, and nail down a date to meet at the winning restaurant.

Do we have a decent-sized group interested in doing this? If so, let's get the poll suggestions rolling, yeah?

too far for me sorry.....