The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 5

Restaurant Food Porn:

(Native Foods Green's Salad)

So I'm sure you peeps know, I live in So Cal where good vegan food is not so hard to find, thankfully! I do most of my "specialty" shopping (Cheap organic tofu, Earth Balance, Vegenasise, Tofutti Cream Cheese, Tofurkey Deli Slices, Nutritional Yeast, broth, etc.) at Mother's Market. Why I put "cheap" in bold is because I can still find most of these items in grocery stores but they are typically half the price at Mother's, as these aren't seen as such "specialty" items at a health food store chock full of vegan goodies! 

Mother's also has an awesome deli case with a deal for 3 hot items for $6.99 (Perfect for lazy hungover weekend days!). Some days they don't have much to offer, other days, it's a gold mine! I am usually happy if they at least have a vegan pizza out so I can have two Daiya cheese covered slices along with another item from the case. 

Last weekend, I chose 2 vegan pizza slices (One pictured above) and some barbecue soy "chicken". The "chicken" was especially tasty with some leftover rice from some vegan Thai takeout at Jumbo Thai Cuisine.

So on to Jumbo Thai Cuisine (Sorry their website isn't up an running yet so I used the best link I could find above)! I love the fact that they have a small section labeled "Vegan Dishes" but what I don't understand is that the restaurant has a huge VEGAN sign in the window yet most of the dishes they serve are not vegan?! 

I do appreciate how helpful the owners are in letting you know what meat dishes can be veganized but I feel like Jumbo Thai alienates both of their potential audiences: Typical "sheepoles" who want to mack on Thai animal fragments and run the opposite direction at anything vaguely vegan and vegans/ vegetarians who foolishly go in thinking that this is a legitimate vegan restaurant. 

I mean shit, what if I was that big if a dumb ass that I just phoned in my order thinking the Mongolian Beef was "Beef" made from wheat gluten or something?! I am developing a relationship with the owner, a VERY friendly lady, who knows me since I have come in a few times and talked to her while I was waiting for my food and the restaurant was empty... I am eventually going to tell her she should lose the sign that screams "VEGAN" so that this little gem stays in business!

First off, I would like to mention, the prices are cheap, especially the lunch specials! Here are a few dishes I tried when my battery was getting replaced at the Pep Boys nearby.

Spicy Eggplant with Tofu (This is my favorite Thai dish typically at any Thai restaurant so ya, I liked it!)

Pad Thai sans the egg (barf) before a good mixing...

Post mixing... Very good! I needed to dump on some Sriracha though to make it spicier.

 This is Young Ginger Thai Style with Tofu... This was okay, lots of shrooms and ginger... The owner recommended it. I personally wouldn't order it again though even though I don't particularly dislike any of the ingredients, it was just overkill.

(My personal favorite thing on Earth: Native Foods "Chicken" Wings)

Lastly, my love child, Native Foods, that has blessed this sweet Earth with happy hour every Friday 3pm to 6pm, which encompasses half priced appetizers and drinks! 

(My sisters favorite, Sweet Potato Taquitos... Sorry peeps these are greasy tacos, just sayin!)

I rush over straight after work to meet up with my sis every week we possibly can coordinate our schedules so we can stuff our happy, fat little vegan faces with as much food as we possibly can!

(Native Nachos are the bomb!)

This week, Chef Tanya was at the Aliso Viejo location we always hit up and was delighted to see us squealing with our typical joy as we fill up on half priced appetizers galore. She had us shoot a little video for yelp or something telling how we (Well my sister cause she was all dolled up so I nominated her for the role haha) loved Native Foods. We got a free Strawberry Shortcake Parfait for our difficult task :)

Saigon Roll (This is purdy but not orgasmic or anything)

Peace, Love, Vegan <3