Monday, July 20, 2009

Red Velvet Cafe and More.

I have been wanting to go to Red Velvet Cafe for a long time. I finally took the time to go. IT WAS VERY MUCH WORTH IT!!! My friend Jeny (I loves me some Jeny) called me up and told me she was interested in going because I had been talking to her about it for like 2 weeks. I honestly plan on trying everything on their menu before I move back to CA next summer. The restaurant serves omnivores, vegetarians AND vegans. How often does that happen? Everything on their menu is veganizable!

Veganizable? I know, I know. "That's not a real word." Oh, YES it IS!

First, we ordered the most amazing chips and guac that I've ever had in my life.

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Look how much they give you! At most places the guac runs out before the chips do. this was SO not the case. I would have been totally satisfied on just this, but the food kept coming.

Closer shot:
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Next up, what I ordered. I decided on the vegan Taco Salad. Very BIG, very good. I absolutely hate when I restaurant is stingy on the avocados. I swear I must have eaten the equivalency of 3 avocados. I was happy.

Vegan Taco Salad:
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Inside shot after I ate 1/4 of it:
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Next up, What Jeny ordered. She settled on the Veggie Panini. She actually gave me half of her order to take home because she's not good with leftovers and I am. This was even more amazing than my taco salad! Spinach, artichoke, roasted Tomato, pesto and vegan cheese. I'm drooling now thinking about it.

Veggie Panini
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2nd Shot:
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I'm just glad she put up with me taking pictures of the food before either of us touched it. I highly reccommend this restaurant. If you live in Las Vegas or ever visit and want to have an absolutely enjoyable meal, pick Red Velvet.

REd Velvet Cafe
7875 W. Sahara Ave Ste. 103
Las Vegas, NV

In my last pst I showed you 2 ways I like to have my grits for breakfast. I think this one beat all. I had this one day last week. I told a story about how my mom use to make grits for us all the time. Well, as we got older and learned to make them for ourselves my brothers got really into making cheese grits. It's amazing how nutritional yeast, vegan margarine and garlic can give off a cheesy flavor! That's how i made these. I made a seitan/tofu scramble with a less dense tofu (last time I used Wild Wood, which i wish I could use every day. Sadly I ran out).

"Cheesy" Grits:
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Tasty-tasty it was. I leave for San diego on Wednesday (July 22) and I'll be home late Sunday. some time after that you shall see another blog of all the fun I am going to have at 2009 COMIC CON!!! Til' next time!

-Lee

11 comments:

Mary said...

That all looks so tasty. How could anyone not be good with leftovers? Leftovers are half the fun of eating in restaurants!

Rose said...

Im so jelous of that taco salad, im amazed you found a place that sells vegan mexican food! I love avocado too, has to be one of my favourite foods. Australia is no good for vegan food unfortunately, and when i go out for dinner its always such a battle to get something vegan.
Can I ask what grits is? id never heard of it before your last post and im curious.

Rose

Anonymous said...

this looks amazingly yummy :) I have never heard of the Red Velvet Cafe before. I would love to go but unfortunatly i live no where near NV *sniffle*

Michal

Anonymous said...

Ooh la la I'm definitely going to have to put Red Velvet on my list for Las Vegas in December. I can't resist an awesome taco salad.

Anonymous said...

I've never heard of Red Velvet Cafe, but it sounds damn good! Whenever I'm in Vegas I hit up Grand Lux Cafe and Vosges Chocolates.I have to go to RVC next time I'm in town. DUDE! Comic Con! Did you get to see Johnny Depp and Tim Burton?! A lot of my fav artists are going to be there, like Tara McPherson and Molly Crabapple. Ooo! Oh so jealous me!

Mihl said...

All that food looks really delicious! I love the tortilla bowl for the taco salad.

Hua said...

Hi!

WOW, that meal looked absolutely delicious! Thanks for sharing all your vegan meals.

Thank you for being an active voice in the in the vegan community. I am the Director of Blogger Relations at Wellsphere and I believe that you would be a valued resource in our HealthBlogger Network, which currently has over 2,600 of the best health writers on the web.

After reviewing your blog, I see that you meet our standards joining, so I'd like to invite you to participate as a Top Health Blogger. As a Top Health Blogger, you would republish your writing on the Wellsphere platform (now with over 6 million visits a month), and yet you retain ownership and all rights to the control of your content.

If this opportunity interests you, please visit http://www.wellsphere.com/health-blogger or email me at hua [at] wellsphere [dot] com.

Have a wonderful day,

Best,
Hua
Director of Blogger Networks

Anonymous said...

CHEESY GRITS?!

GULP.

Might as well add this to the list of Things I Didn't Know I Missed.

Sylvia said...

I love guacamole! And you are so right-- most places you definitely run out of guac before chips! Good to know there's a place that doesn't happen! :)
-Sylvia
Ananta Watches

Le Lite Bites said...

WOW those chips and guac look fabulous! I must stop there next time I'm out there. Thanks for the great recommendation, and I love your blog!

Anonymous said...

We have been eating here since this place opened.

At first, we were thrilled to have the kind of food so readily available to us in other big cities in which we've lived on our side of town; as a vegetarian/vegan couple it certainly seemed to most number of menu offerings in the city!

Unfortunately, despite developing an affinity for certain favorites (the taco salad, pizzettas, certain wraps and the red velvet cake are all extremely tasty), the rest of the menu is fairly uninspired and the grilled panini sandwiches kind of mushy and flavorless. (or I should say, the flavor of the mushy bread overwhelms the ingredients within).

The specials are ridiculously overpriced for what they are, and the prices in general are a bit high considering the scant use of organic ingredients, the overall starchy nature of most everything, and the reliance on commercial soy products for mock meats.....these things are of questionable nutritional value (other than being lower in saturated fats, cholesterol, maybe in calories) because they're highly processed forms of soy......which at that point yields a substance that may taste salty and chewy but is regarded by the body as something akin to plastic.

In a place like L.A., only the cheap quick vegan eateries do that. It allows them to keep prices low and find a middle ground on taste, texture, and presentation. Red Velvet Cafe, however, charges up the wazoo for these things ($15.00 or more for some soy fish on brown rice with some overcooked until shriveled, thin, bland asparagus? Really?).

Nevertheless. For the times when we were very busy and didn't want to deal with food prep (sometimes veggie food takes a lot of ingredients!) or when friends and family were in town we happily continued to frequent the place, and spent quite a lot of $$ along the way...especially when ordering the food in bulk for a party! WOW!!!$!$!$!

What has finally killed it for us, no matter how delicious that darn cake is, or how much I long for a turkey wrap that isn't Tofurkey (much as I love and should own stock in that stuff), is the absolutely appalling service!

NOT just when it's busy!

ALL THE TIME!

Starting with the chef/owner. While her husband is gracious and engaging, helpful and affable, she has never once smiled at me in all the times I've been there (what has it been now, nearly 2 years now?), which, as a fellow industry person, loyal customer, and part of what was keeping the lights on, thinks is a pretty poor excuse for manners.

I'm in a customer-service based industry; you don't get to be crummy towards your patrons unless they get crummy with you -- and even then sometimes you're expected to take it, with that whole "customer is always right" nonsense! ;-)

It's a bad vibe, and it's a bad look for her. I know she works long hours and has a lot on her shoulders, but that's no excuse for thinly veiled hostility or at best, diffidence to one of your early adopters and strongest supporters!

The service there is a real paradox! The actual people are perfectly pleasant and seemingly quite intelligent. How then does a new group sit in your station after strolling through the front door of your fairly small restaurant and not get menus, water, or service for up to 15 minutes?! It's ludicrous! And, it's costing them money......a small group I'd brought walked out.

You have to wonder after 10 minutes or more who has left RVC in a huff as my group did? That is money down the drain. If they do stay, they might not come back.

And most tragic of all, even those of us who have tried to get used to it are despairing and MOVING ON.

The food is not THAT spectacular to have that poor of a customer service experience, sorry.

I will miss the grub, and even some of the people, but I will not miss being made to feel like somehow they were put upon to have to sell it and serve it to me.

We're taking our restaurant business elsewhere.