Binary Blonde

..at Real Food Daily! Sunday night we went to my favorite Southern California vegan restaurant for my first pig out on real food again after the cleanse.

Of course, this being a proper pig out, we ordered an appetizer first. I’ve always wanted to try their “Better Than Cheddar Nachos”. They always looked so delicious when I’ve seen them on other people’s tables, too. When we ordered them, the server asked us if we wanted jalapeno cheese or regular cheese – of course I said jalapeno! Shortly after, there they were… so yummy, so melty, so delicious. We both dove in, but not before I doused my half with more jalapeno hot sauce the server gave us.

Wow, that hot sauce was HOT, but I looooved it. I think I enjoy the punishment. 😉 Kevin said it was hard not to tell the difference between the vegan nachos and “real” nachos. I wouldn’t know. All I knew was they were so good that we polished off the entire plate. They really could have been a shared meal between us, but we had already ordered our sammiches. Oh well!

I ordered my fave sammich at RFD: “The Total Ruben”, which is baked marinated tempeh on toasted sourdough rye bread with herbed tofu cheese spread, thousand island dressing and sauerkraut. It comes with a choice of side dish and I always order the potato salad because it’s the best damn potato salad I’ve ever had. The sammich is possibly my most favorite vegan dish of all time. I actually crave it sometimes and that’s when I know it’s time for a visit to Real Food Daily.

Kev ordered “The Club”, which is lightly breaded seitan served club-style on toasted sourdough bread with tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato and veganaise. It also comes with a choice of side dish, so he ordered his favorite – mashed potatoes. Kev really enjoyed his sammich and loved his mashed potatoes. He always says he wants to know their recipe. I think we’ll have to buy the cook book someday soon. 😉

For dessert (because what would a vegan pig out be without it?), I ordered the “Tofu Cheesecake”. Well, at first I ordered their “Moon Pie”, but they had just served their last one. There are no freezers at RFD, so they only make enough for the day on most desserts and when they run out, they’re out! So, in it’s place I ordered the cheesecake. They had a choice of the in-season fruit topping or chocolate drizzle. Uhmm, is there really any contest here? The chocolate, of course! The cheesecake was fresh, creamy, and delicious. Everything you’d expect from a “real” cheesecake, except much healthier. I almost forgot to take a photo before I started in on it, which is why the fork is there. Oops!

I love Real Food Daily. In my opinion, it is the vegan restaurant to compare all other vegan restaurants to. Just the fact that RFD can make food taste good to a meat-eater really impresses me. If you also take into account that literally everything they make is 100% vegan, they only use natural sugars (nothing refined) and it’s mostly organic, well that just brings it in a class by itself.

If you’re ever in West Hollywood or Santa Monica and feel like pigging out vegan-style, check out it out.