When one of my local favorites, Hereâs Looking At You, closed its Koreatown doors early in the pandemic, it seemed like my entire neighborhood was mourning the loss of its inventive cocktails and spicy, polycultural small plates. The one bright spot: Their sister restaurant, the All Day Baby diner in Silver Lake, was open. But just barely. With the perseverance of owners, the notoriously friendly managing partner Lien Ta, chef Jonathan Whitener, and pastry chef Thessa Diademâwho makes the best biscuits in townâthey stuck it out, through pop-up bake sales and takeout brought to the curb and placed carefully in your backseat. One highlight of our work-and-school from home year has been an occasional fried chicken sandwich lunch for four. (Warning: The menu is indulgent. Itâs called âAll Day Babyâ not âEvery Day Baby.â) Now that the world is slowly opening again, weâre looking forward to breakfast on the patio ASAP.Â
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Going vegan even if just for a few meals might get a bit easier if Jared Simons has anything to do with it. The trick? Finding plant-based foods that hit all the signature textures and flavors of omnivores’ favorite dishes, and who doesn’t love a taco?
The former Escuela and No Name chef is building a menu of entirely plant-based Mexican food along Fairfax at Taco Vega, swapping grilled mushrooms for carne asada and subbing tahini or cashew for heavy cream in the house-made crema. The new taqueria open for takeout and delivery launched last week as a joint venture from Simons and co-owner Jared Meisler, of the Friend and Bar Lubitsch, and involves the kind of range that offers something for everyone, no matter their diet: tempura cauliflower that replicates beer-battered fish in a Baja-style taco; al pastor featuring grilled yuba, rather than pork; grain bowls filled with taco-spiced quinoa and braised kale; and heartier fare such as grilled oyster-mushroom asada
Pick-up and delivery available through the Taco Vega site
Veganuary, which is what happens when a person commits to trying or sticking to vegan-based cuisines in the month of January, is nearing its halfway point.
Of course, sampling snacks or sweets that are fully plant-based can be an activity that happens at any point of the calendar, but doing so in the year s earliest weeks, for many people, is a popular jumpstart-it route to incorporating healthier foods.
Jim Sullivan
And if your favorite food is the taco, but you d like to find more shells, tortillas, and wraps that are fully vegan, you re in some luck: Taco Vega just debuted on Fairfax Avenue on Jan. 8.
Gallery1988 opens two shows online on Friday, including 30 Years Later: Celebrating Your Favorite Films from 1991. (Image: Zita Walker, courtesy of Gallery1988)
Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on schools, stores, businesses and events. With in-person concerts, talks, comedy shows, food festivals and other gatherings cancelled, we have
turned our events column into an events / nonevents column. It will remain this way as long as social distancing and stay-at-home orders are in effect. Please double check the status of events as schedules change frequently.
During this difficult time, please consider contributing to your local arts organizations or to individual artists and performers.