L.A. bites - Hollywood and Venice Beach

Here's part two of my L.A. food tour, with Hollywood and Venice Beach spots highlighted this time. Wow, my boyfriend and I ate out a lot this trip. Overall, I was very impressed with the food quality and quantity at each restaurant. However I was surprised how much romaine lettuce was used in the salads and as garnish. I made sure to eat some dark, leafy greens upon our return to the East coast.    

In Hollywood, we ate at Doomie's, 1253 Vine Street. The mock chicken drummies (pictured above) are an example of the crazy homestyle menu at this laid back restaurant. These spicy BBQ sticks came with a creamy ranch dressing and celery.  The pulled pork sandwich was sweet and savory, disappearing quickly.   

Also in Hollywood, Truly Vegan, was another winner, located at 5907 Hollywood Blvd.  I had the high protein salad, which again featured avocado* and garbanzo beans. The main dish was "Truly Spicy" noodles, featuring flat rice noodles, tofu, basil, and veggies.  

*For the record, I don't normally eat avocados, because of Dr. Michael Greger's recent, must-watch avocado video. So this California avocado overload was a treat.

Finally, in Venice Beach, we visited Cairo Cowboy, a vegan-friendly Mediterranean restaurant. Located near the oceanfront, at 46 Winward Avenue, Cairo Cowboy has a colorful storefront with a nice back patio. They also had a food truck parked out front when we visited. The falafel sandwich was great, very fresh-tasting with pickled turnips. The twisted potato kabob was a "beach food" novelty order. It tasted like chips on a stick. Cairo Cowboy also has excellent hibiscus tea, which can be hard to find when traveling.

I'm keen to return to Los Angeles area and explore more.  These websites and blogs were a great help for my L.A. veg food research:
http://www.quarrygirl.com/
http://vegansaurus.com/
http://www.cok.net/files/brochure-veg-los-angeles-2012.pdf
http://www.happycow.net/north_america/usa/california/los_angeles/
http://urbanfoodcrawl.bigcartel.com/