Even though we live blocks away from some of the finest veg-friendly establishments in LA, who can deny the fun in being 100% lazy.
Vegging on the couch in PJs with dinner from Real Food Daily. Yes please.
On the left: Kyle’s RFD burger with the works.
On the right: my Salisbury seitan with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Since it’s hard to tell what the burger looks like in the container, here’s a zoom of it (mid-grub). Or you could see his order in this post. He sure loves that burger.
We each got Caesar salads as side dishes, as well as an entree sized Caesar salad to share. Clearly we were in Caesar moods.
At first glance, I was a little bummed with my order. It looked small compared to Kyle’s burger. And kinda suspect in appearance.
The fact that the “golden gravy” came on the side, didn’t help sell the dish one bit. And as much as I looove seitan, these wheat meat cutlets looked more like frozen TV dinner grub than the gourmet vegan fare I have come to expect from RFD. Yes, I was craving hearty comfort food, but this was not what I had in mind.
Luckily, the dish tasted better than it looked. Geez Elise, judge a book by it’s cover much?
It was good, but I don’t think I’ll order it again. The mashed potatoes were really dry and needed major help from the gravy. By contrast, the sauce on the seitan was completely overwhelming. My taste buds didn’t even stand a chance with the amount of salt involved. I actually had to hold back on adding any gravy to the seitan because the sauce coating it was more than enough.
The salad was good, but not $9 good. For romaine lettuce and dressing? I want a mountain of blue corn croutons with that price tag.
At least we had extra dressing left over.
I used it a few days later to recreate the same(ish) salad.
I added carrots and plain tofu to some on-it’s-death-bed lettuce.
I just realized how much this photo looks like an Irish flag. Too bad I didn’t think of making it on St. Patty’s Day.
It was yummy but still missing something. [Carbs]
Next time I think tossing in some quinoa would be beneficial.
Maybe I’m being overly picky, but I’m used to being wow-ed by restaurants.
If my amateur take on a dish is better than the chef’s creation, well, that’s a problem. I enjoy the convenience aspect of ordering take-out, but I don’t like compromising satisfaction, so there’s a fine line in finding the balance. Don’t get the wrong idea about RFD though – their brunch definitely wins the award for the best vegan breakfast in LA. I guess some meals (particularly ones with dressings and/or sauces) aren’t meant for take-out.
I get so jealous of people who live within distance to tons of awesome restaurants like that! I’m visiting – no arguing!
I think a lot of places overcharge for simple salads, it’s just lettuce and maybe some veggies!
Your “revamp” of the salad looks much better! Good job! I’m always disappointed as well when I order a salad and it’s just lettuce and dressing.
wow the burger looks really good but I’m sorry to hear that your meal wasn’t as good. Bummer when the mashed potatoes are no good.
entrees and burgers and salads, oh my! i’m jealous of the veg-friendly options you’ve got out there 🙂 go forth and eat well!
Hey Elise!
I’ve been a reader for about a year now, and love your blog! Anyways, I’m an undergrad at UCLA right now and totally need to check out more of the veg-friendly restaurants around here that you’ve talked about. Also, I was reading the DailyBruin today and noticed Kyle on the front page for his teams first place win in the Knapp Venture competition! Congrats that is awesome! Anyways, hope you had a nice long weekend, and again, congrats to Kyle!
-Jamie F.
hi jamie, front page too! it’s pretty cool! i have a copy sitting right next to me 🙂
yes! you will get zero arguments from me.
I’m glad to read this review of RFD… I was terribly disappointed at my last visit. In fact, so disappointed that I haven’t been back since. Hm… It may be worth a try for breakfast at some point.
I think they are so used to catering to the masses who want to eat vegan for the “novelty” of it, that they forget that real vegans actually want palatable food.
And… you can’t make up for creativity with salt.
I keep finding myself more and more disappointed in restaurant meals. I either feel too heavy and full after, or I know I could make it better for less money. Though there’s no denying the necessity of lazy comfort food occasionally!
I’m the same with eating out/ordering in… it’s not that hard to make flavourful, well balanced, exciting dishes, so if I’m not wowed then I won’t bother!
Wow, if the sauce was too salty for you, it must have been WOAH NELLY salty (I’m a salt freak too… Viper always tells me off)
$9 for lettuce/dressing? The cheek of it! Still fun to order out though, and it sounds like you are pretty spoilt with the array of vegan eateries available – lucky!
RFD has yet to win me over. Every time I’ve gone I’ve spent too much money and been disappointed!
boo! have you tried brunch? i think their breakfast fare is better (and more reliable) than the lunch and dinner stuff.
well this doesn’t exactly wow me either, but if kile orders that all the time, maybe i can order that friday? feeling meh over rfd now.
have never been for brunch – i trust you, elise!
no worries dude. we will choose the good stuff and enjoy it.