The Vegan Joint is a mini, nay, a micro chain with just three locations: Downtown Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, and right here in Culver City. The place specializes in comfort food, but as the name suggests, everything on the menu is vegan. It’s wonderful that Culver City has restaurants like this, where vegan diners don’t have to feel like they’re missing out. Sure, not everything on the menu is healthy, but it’s at least environmentally sound.
The menu is packed with delights, so the real challenge is deciding what to go with. The Seitan Burger, obviously made with a seitan patty and then dressed with a garlic and cilantro sauce, sounds amazing. But then so do their takes on Thai curries – they have red, yellow and green, plus pineapple and pumpkin.
This wasn’t our first trip to the Vegan Joint; it’s become something of a family favorite because, no matter what you order, you aren’t left disappointed, or hungry. On this occasion, we opted for the “Create Your Own Omelette” (they use the continental spelling of omelet), which offers the freedom to select your own ingredients as you build your own breakfast dish.
Ours was heavy on the vegetables, due to the fact that the dish automatically comes with The Vegan Joint’s own Breakfast Potatoes, and toast. So we didn’t need to dig deeper with the carbs.
The omelette is, “made from organic tofu and wheat flour, served with three choices of filling and jack cheese.” That egg-free egg is surprisingly light and fluffy, and unlike many other vegan egg options, isn’t bland. Vegan egg is essentially a soy product, so the same problem that exists with vegan meats is present here: how to make it taste right because texture isn’t enough.
That seems to have been achieved through seasoning and the aforementioned vegan cheese. There’s also some sort of a soy sauce marinade on the onions, peppers and spinach (our chosen veg) and, together with the toast and seasoned potatoes, it made for a satisfying, comforting brunch.
We also tried the vegetable dumplings, “made of wheat flour, onion, mixed vegetables, potato vermicelli served grilled or steamed.” We chose to have them grilled, and the combination of the crispy outer layer and the aromatic vegetables made for a real treat.
It’s worth mentioning again that we’ve never been let down by the Vegan Joint. They know how to utilize vegan ingredients and make their customers feel like they’re not missing anything. That’s a gift.
The Vegan Joint is located at 10438 National Blvd #4664, Los Angeles 90034. Call 310-559-1357 or visit theveganjoint.com.