Friday, May 28, 2010

The Best Vegan Brunch Buffet in LA

OK, to be fair, this is the only vegan brunch buffet that I have ever heard of in Los Angeles. However, if you haven't been out to Silverlake to try the Meet Market, I highly suggest going one Saturday or Sunday morning. They have pancakes, french toast, tempeh bacon, tofu scramble, breakfast potatoes, fruit, and unlimited coffee and orange juice. This is all for the ridiculously low price of $10 (that's less than 2 soy lattes at Urth Cafe for anyone who was counting).
A few weeks ago, I convinced my friend to make the brave trek to Silverlake for brunch. I am slowly becoming one of those "west side people" who never makes it to the other side of the 405, but I had read about this brunch and knew that I had to try it.

First, the cons.....
The first thing that stands out in my mind: the questionable hygienic practices of said buffet. The margarine was missing a serving knife and everyone just seemed to be helping themselves with their own knives in a willy-nilly fashion. Same thing for the tempeh bacon. The place was also pretty small, about 6 tables, so if it had been crowded, we would have had a problem. The unlimited orange juice was a nice idea, but tasted completely watered down, like that stuff you get from a can in the freezer section of the grocery store.
Those issues aside, I was very intrigued by the idea of a vegan buffet. The notion of multiple vegan food options on the same table is really exciting, especially to someone who has to scrutinize all menu ingredients when dining at omnivorous restaurants. Out of pure journalistic interest, I tried everything. This was my first brush with tempeh bacon, and it was pretty good, albeit a little heavy on the liquid smoke. It did have a really nice crust on the outside that made it the color of real bacon. I also enjoyed both the breakfast potatoes and tofu scramble, although I felt like both of them were pretty heavy on the onions. I don't have anything against onions, per se, but I did end the meal with a little pile of them on the side of my plate.
The real deliciousness of the meal lay in the pancakes and french toast. The pancakes were moist and soft and full of cinnamon. After turning it over in my head for awhile, I have decided that they might have a hint of pumpkin, but sometimes cinnamon just tastes like pumpkin to me because they are so closely intertwined in pumpkin pie. I still can't figure out how they did the french toast. They must have used really dense bread and let it soak for hours, because there was virtually no telling where the toast ended and the french began. I also admired the nice, even golden brown color on both sides of the toast. I still haven't been able to get my french toast to a point where it makes full contact with the pan, so I'm always left with some soggy bits.
The Meet Market also has a lovely little shelf full of vegan staples (like nutritional yeast) and treats (like marshmallows). The Meet Market is located at 3206 W Sunset Blvd in Silverlake. They don't have a website as far as I can tell, but they are open 10am-7pm on weekends and noon-7pm on weekdays. It is by far the cheapest vegan meal I've found in Los Angeles, and good enough that I would gladly make the trip over there at least once a month (if my waistline holds out of course).

No comments:

Post a Comment