Since Los Angeles is all about the sprawl, we think it’s normal to drive 45 minutes for a taco. Or a pupusa. But the drive is worth it because the food is so. good. (I was thinking about waaay back in the day when I first had pupusas at Josue’s aunt’s house. It looked like an upgraded tortilla, but then you cut into it and it’s stuffed with beans and cheese?!)
So Saturday I wandered 46 miles up to Mamicon’s Restaurant in Reseda. They have a 34-item vegan menu that includes eight kinds of pupusas. I also got vegan empanadas, two with coconut and one with jackfruit. The pupusa was plain beans, but it was phenomenal. It was better than the ones at Grand Central Market in DTLA (heresy, I know, but true).
On the way back I stopped by Vegan District Long Beach because The Donuttery is on my to-try list. (I wanted to be quick to stay in the free parking window, and they accommodated by putting their truck right out front!) The Donuttery started as a traditional donut place, but then figured out how to make vegan donuts after getting requests from customers. The best part is that their brick-and-mortar store in Huntington Beach is open 24 hours a day.
I opted for a maple bar (they call them Long Johns). It was indistinguishable from a non-vegan maple bar (they call it “alarmingly similar”). Their website says they want to “transcend the vegan status quo of dry, dense, and dull,” and I’d say they’ve definitely achieved that. After this I’m going to look up that brick-and-mortar store …