Thursday, February 5, 2009

Flore: Keeping me well fed since 2008

No one in their right mind would ever tell you that I have the world's best apartment. But there are two reasons why I will be staying here for quite a while. One reason is that I have managed to find the one living space in all of Los Angeles county where my dog can bark her heart out all day long if she chooses and no one cares. The other is that I am oh-so conveniently located to my favorite restaurant: Flore.

You would think that with Flore being my fave and all, I would have blogged about it by now. But for whatever reason I never got around to it, and it's really not right of me to not share Flore's wonderful treats with all of yous. So here is a sampling of some of the meals I have had at the little Silver Lake side walk cafe over the past few months:

Let's start with my favorite item "The Flore Burger."
This picture doesn't exactly demonstrate quite how big this baby is. When you take a bite you really have to wrap your mouth around that sucker. This definitely wins for my favorite vegan burger in town. Some people have said it tastes a lot like Veganomicon's black bean burger--I'll have to test that hypothesis some day. Flore's thousand island dressing, which is similar to Pure Luck's special sauce (although admittedly it's not quite as magical as PL's) comes with the dish but I highly recommend doling out an extra dollar for the cashew cheese. It is utterly creamy and lightly cheese-y. It is the perfect topping for this perfect burger. I've had to stop ordering it recently though because, with the cashew cheese, this meal has to be at least 1300 calories. So I tend to save it for special occasions.

A classic staple at every veg restaurant is the Club Sandwich. Again, Flore does a great job.
From the menu: "Battered baked tofu, tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado, daikon sprouts, and eggless mayonnaise on toasted organic sourdough bread." They've got the proportion of ingredients here just right. Fresh, light, delish. What more is there to say?

Here is the Burrito Flore:
It's got all the fixin's of your average well-made vegan burrito: rice, beans, tomato, and avocado. But then it is Flore-ified with tempeh bacon, cilantro cream, and the always delectable cashew cheese. With these ingredients, it's pretty much impossible to go wrong. And as always you can see it comes with a vibrant side salad.

Flore doesn't just do wraps and sandwiches well. Their salads are also wonderful. Here is the Mediterranean Salad.
Normally this comes with a heap of hummus but I ordered it without at the time. The salads are huge and super fresh. I consider myself to be a bit of an expert on all types of tabouli and the quinoa version that comes in this dish was perfectly seasoned and not over oily (as many restaurant taboulis tend to be). If you are looking for a healthy but filling meal, you've got to check out one of Flore's salads.

In the back of the picture above you can see the Portabella Panini. Served with a really good soy mozzarella and Flore's creamy dill dressing (which actually may rival Pure Luck's special sauce), this panini is not the thin, greasy stuff of most restaurant paninis but is light and scrumptious.

Now on to what Flore does best: breakfast! Here is a crappy cell phone shot of the Tomato Basil Omelet.
The key to the deliciousness of this wheat and gluten free dish is the abundance of fresh dill. I opted for a side of Flore's roasted potatoes which are fluffy, well seasoned, and not at all greasy.

Here is the Veggie Fritatta (not to be confused with Frittata Flore which is served during weekend brunch).
Slightly nutty and cheesy in flavor, this smallish slice will leave you very full. Here you can see how fresh the fruit is that they serve at Flore. And they are always happy to remove all the melon for me (blech). A big bowl of pineapple is the perfect breakfast dessert after this scrumptious quiche.

Here is another view of the fruit where my friend ordered it with his tofu burrito (another yummy treat).

Flore is basically a dream come true for me. It is a vegan establishment in my neighborhood that embraces my own philosophy of what good vegan food should be. It isn't focused on having meat analogues or knock-offs of traditionally meat-based dishes. Instead it is just good meals made from good ole fashioned whole foods. Sitting at one of the sidewalk tables for brunch at Flore is one of my favorite things to do. And you never know who you might run into, like the other morning when I caught my boss and his son wreaking havoc on their bicycle:

Good ole Flore, what would I do without you???


Flore
3818 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026
323.953.0611

12 comments:

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

I definitely need to make a return trip to Flore. I had the Burrito Flore (sans avocado--yuck!) and it was really good. I'd like to try the quesadilla next!

Lisa said...

Thank you for the tour! And, you are killing me. But even when restaurants are far away, I love hearing about the taste combinations for inspiration.

Anonymous said...

what an awesome post on all the great things flore has to offer!

from personal experience, i can say that the black bean burger is just as good as you describe it. i've also had the burrito and salads that you mention...all very tasty.

as far as breakfast goes, i've ONLY had the tofu benediction from flore. it was absolutely incredible, and your post is making me very anxious to go and try more.

the vegan branch of flore is one of my all tome favorites---thanks for this awesome post detailing so many drool-worthy dishes.

i shall be researching these findings thoroughly! ;) can't wait...

Anonymous said...

You should get free meals from now on! As for that Club...wondering if there's enough time to drive from Hancock Park for this?

Kirby! said...

I had the single best thing at Flore to date the other week... the Tempeh Tu-no melt!! THAT SHIT WAS BANANAS!!! It tasted absolutely nothing like tuna salad, but that's fine because I don't really like tuna. But daaaaaaaaaaang homey, seriously, it was so big and creamy and delicious and unhealthy-- I wrapped up half of the gigantor sandwich and then ate it as soon as I got home. Bliss!!

Lauren said...

Yum! I love a good sandwich..looks like you do too! :) I need to take a trip out to the west coast soon!

amy. said...

Wow this restaurante/cafe looks amazing! I wish I could visit it...I love California <3 Beautiful menu choices, Liz.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

I look forward to reading more of yours. Have a great day!

tofufreak said...

that all looks so good :) you are so lucky!

i think it's pretty cool that you saw your boss there too!

Anonymous said...

ok, WOW! i want to eat there!! literally everything looks amazing, oh am i jealous. we have nothing that mouthwatering in the UK! xxx

Bethany said...

wow, Flore's food looks amazing. I love sprouts on a burger or in anything.

Though they have a scramble, so knowing me, I'd just get happily stuck on eating that every time.

Anonymous said...

I'm dying to trek back out to the west coast and visit this place (among others)- It looks so good! Sigh, California really has everything, huh?

Anonymous said...

That is some good-looking food. I haven't had the pleasure of ever eating out anywhere that actually serves vegan food deliberately. I'm envious!