1110 1/2 Gayley Avenue, Westwood, 310/209-1055 (1.5 blocks north of Wilshire), www.nativefoods.com
Open 11 am - 10 pm Monday through Saturday
I had heard about this restaurant because it existed in, of all places, Palm Desert. Never made it out there, but I was very excited to learn it was coming to Westwood - now L.A. has two three or so vegan restaurants (no meat, no dairy)(Leonor's and Real Food Daily being the only other two I can think of right now). And all of the food is organic! It ran six months over it's remodeling schedule, and I envisioned a huge restaurant. Instead it is a cozy, tiny place, very tastefully but casually done, with an (small) upstairs eating area that overlooks the long, narrow, OPEN kitchen. My first suggestion: get the seat right over the chefs so you can sit and wonder at the doings below.
Most of the food prep is already done - veggies chopped, for example, but there is a huge steamer that lets out a dramatic waft when opened to reveal bowls of fresh veggies. You can watch the fryer, and the very adept and artistic presentations they make - more artistic than you ever see at such a casual restaurant. And so that you'll be in the know - you order downstairs and they bring your food up to you. The drinks are self-serve (as are the desserts - go ahead and order a cobbler in advance to take upstairs so it will have time to come to room temperature).
The crowd here, as you might have guessed, is largely of the young UCLA-set (at least, when we were there), and tend toward the quirky, which also makes for good watching.
After pacing over the menu I decided on Ray's Macro Fun ($8.50), a plate of brown rice, quinoa, tempeh, steamed vegetables, sesame sauce, sea vegetables and sauerkraut. It's macrobiotic, and mixing the quinoa and brown rice turned out to be very clever. Quinoa is a "super grain" with lots of protein. It looks like cous-cous with a little ring around it, and by itself it tends to be a little bitter and a little too crunchy to adequately provide a soothing carb-accompaniment. With the brown rice it was excellent, and the brown rice was lightly cinnamony. Tempeh, a fermented mixture of soybeans, grains and rice, has a meatier grain and texture than tofu, and is very high in protein. They handmake the tempeh at Native Foods, and it really makes a difference. They lightly bread and fry the tempeh, serving two strips beautifully displayed on skewers arching over the top of the bowl. The sauce, a tahini mixture, was delicious. If you are watching your fat intake, go light on the sauce, and perhaps ask if they can either lightly fry the tempeh or serve it another way. I did notice some tempeh lurking lengthily in the fryer, and it made me nervous looking down on it (the longer it fries, the more oil it absorbs). This should reveal to you how often I indulge in anything fried...
Steven opted for the Baja Surfer Tacos ($5.95), with battered Tempeh bites that actually, somehow tasted like fish (How'd they do that?!), covered with sauce (which was HOT, and they have even hotter available on the side), shredded cabbage and guacamole. Steven reported that it was the best vegetarian meal he'd ever had and wanted me to say that it was four-star restaurant food in a casual place. He raved, in short.
We both drank the Native Iced Tea ($1.50), which is a blend of hibiscus tea with apple juice - delicious and refillable. The peach cobbler was yummy but would have been just amazing warmed up with some Rice Dream or soy ice cream or regular ice cream dripping down the sides. Take it home?
Almost all of the tempeh and seitan featured at Native Foods is grilled or fried or seared, making it a very unusual and ingenious even in the realm of vegetarian cuisine. It's like Vegetarian Bar and Grille... I will likely update this review as I plan to return soon to try some of the other amazing-looking food at this place. Among the wonders: Pizza, made with a variety of toppings (around $8.50), cooked on flatbread with Native Cheese - a somewhat mysterious mixture of nuts and other ingredients. I'll get back to you on this one for sure. The Poltz Burrito ($6.50), with seitan (wheatmeat), brown rice, black beans, banana salsa (cool!), and guacamole...or how about a Philly Peppersteak ($7.95), with sliced peppered and seared seitan, sauteed mushrooms, onions, bellpeppers and the mysterious Native cheese.
Before you leave you must go to the bathroom - not because of the food, but because they have paintings in there painted by an elephant, complete with his "About the Artist" info. A nice place.