After what feels like years of waiting, there’s a new vegan restaurant in Echo Park, Sage, where the failed Mooi once was, adding to the list of vegan/vegetarian spots along Sunset Blvd.
The food is really great, and the prices are fairly reasonable. It’s nice to have another vegetarian kitchen in town, and while I’m not vegan, many of my favorite restaurants in Los Angeles are. This place just opened, and they are still dealing a little unwell with how busy they can get at times, but… I prefer stopping in for lunch on a weekday anyway, since I work nearby. Skip the KindKreme though.
Just a couple of blocks away, Elf is another vegetarian restaurant in the neighborhood definitely worth going to, with many vegan options if you’re so inclined. The food is unbelievably delicious… whereas Sage is a bistro, and Flore is like… you know… kind of a hovel (a hovel with delicious food), Elf is clearly a “nice restaurant”. The kind of place I would bring my parents to if they wanted to go out to dinner while visiting. The food is a medley of Mediterranean cuisine, with Moroccan tagines, Italian dishes, and things from the Levant.
And Flore, I mean, is a wonderful restaurant, all vegan. It’s a bit ramshackle feeling… as if someone took the prepared foods counter out of your favorite coop grocery store from the mid 90’s and transplanted it into it’s own location; this is of course part of it’s charm. The tonic juice is delightful (ask them to add ginger), and it’s nice to have a variety of veggie burgers to choose from, instead of a single patty with different toppings. The broccoli kale burger is especially good.
