Souplantation’s Far East Feast: 9/18-9/30

Souplantation will have some tempting vegan offerings for the rest of September. Following their Passport to Flavor promotion that sets their menu items to follow the cuisines of a foreign land, the final stop will be the Far East. I must admit that I have been looking forward to this one as there will be more vegan dishes available than usual.

For starters, we get the ever rare VEGAN tossed salad; The Thai Udon Noodle & Peanut Tossed Salad.

Prepared salads gives us the Mandarin Noodle salad with Broccoli, and the new Sweet & Sour Broccoli Slaw.

One of their better soups will be coming back, the Indian Lentil Soup (because India is in Asia, you know) along with their almost always present Vegetable Medley. The Vegetable Medley is listed as “vegetarian” on their website but I have checked the ingredients and it is vegan.

Well played, Souplantation; well played.

Tomato Joe’s – Best Vegan Pizza Ever!

Tomato Joe's - Best Vegan Pizza!

As I write this I can hardly believe it, but I swear it is true. I have been there several times just to make sure it is not some crazy dream. I have had the best vegan pizza I have ever eaten, and it is in the Santa Clarita Valley! Once a Garlic Jim’s, the franchise owners on McBean and Decoro broke away from their Parent, and overnight became Tomato Joe’s Pizza Bakery. Free from the restraints of their franchiser, the owners are able to source their own high-quality ingredients and serve any kind of pizza they wish. Fortunately for vegans in Santa Clarita, Tomato Joe’s wants to have the best vegan pizza around.

Tomato Joe's - Garden Combo Pizza. 16" Ordered with their vegan thin crust and Follow Your Heart Vegan Mozzarella. Classic red sauce, white mushrooms, red onions, fresh tomatoes, artichoke hearts, green peppers and black olives. $18.97

The thin crust at Tomato Joe’s is vegan, and soon they will have a “Micro-Brew” crust that will also be vegan. The Micro-Brew dough will be a thick edge crust made from Hefeweizen (wheat beer) of a local brewery, probably Wolf Creek just a few doors down. So, thin crust or thick, Tomato Joe’s got the vegans covered.

Vegan Cheese? Right now they are serving Follow Your Heart’s Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella. I was told they are also testing out others, namely Teese Soy Cheese from Chicago Soy Dairy. Not only that, but they are also testing out other vegan toppings like mock meats and such. The vegan options at Tomato Joe’s are ever increasing, so not only do they have the best vegan pizza anywhere, but it is still getting better!

Tomato Joe's - Sallys Secret Garden Pizza. 16" Thin crust with Follow Your Heart's Vegan Gourmet Soy Cheese. Extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, white mushrooms, red onion, green pepper, fresh tomatoes, minced garlic. $18.97

Pizzas can be ordered in sizes of 8″, 12″, 14″ and 16″, except for the Micro-Brew crust that will only be available in the large 16″. You can design your own pizza if you like, with lots of interesting vegan toppings and sauces. Maybe you want a Bar-B-Que thin crust with mandarin oranges, sun dried tomatoes and soy cheese? How about the the beer crust with Chipotle sauce, black beans, roasted corn and cashews? Yeah, we can have all kinds of pizza fun at Tomato Joe’s. Did I mention they deliver?

I’ll be making regular visits to Tomato Joe’s to see how things are progressing. A place like this requires more than one review. Tomato Joe’s is the closest thing Santa Clarita has to a vegan restaurant, so we need to support this place. It is so nice to just pick up the phone and order a vegan pizza, and if you live within range, have one delivered. Everyone EAT at Tomato Joe’s!

Tomato Joe’s Pizza Bakery is located at:
27732 McBean Parkway
Valencia, CA 91354
(661) 263-8646

Corner of McBean and Decoro, inside the Ralph’s Shopping Center.

Save the Cows, Save The World!

Interesting article in today’s L.A. Times. The United Nations is urging wealthy countries to dramatically change their eating habits to reduce meat consumption; beginning with one meatless day per week. Not only that, but once everybody in on board with the weekly meat-out, it’s said that we should progress from there to further exclude meat from our diets.

Why would the U.N. concern itself with the diets of wealthy nations, you ask? Could it be the world-wide obesity epedimic? Heart disease? Cancer? Nope, try Global Warming! As it turns out, the production of animals for consumption accounts for nearly one fifth of green house gasses; says the U.N. A quote from the article:

“Cows and other ruminants, such as sheep and goats, release methane and nitrous oxide in amounts that put to shame the carbon dioxide belched out by cars. In fact, a red-meat-eater in a Prius is probably hurting the environment more than a vegan in a Hummer.“

So, if you really want to save the planet just Go Vegan!

Read the article on-line.