A Vegan Day in LA: 4 Plant Based Spots by Matthew Kenney

Matthew Kenney's plant based foods vary from sustainably sourced ingredients to innovative techniques that transform the power of plants into a culinary delight. Spending a day in Los Angeles, it is always resplendent to have an entirely plant based culinary endeavor from day to night - including snack time!

Make Out
@makeouteveryday
Breakfast
Inventively named Make Out, it promises a variety of plant based cold pressed juices, smoothies, superfood coffee elixirs and raw dishes and desserts. Our picks were the smoothies: the dragonfruit coconut smoothie, the turmeric orange one and the 'big bear' smoothie with almond butter and blueberries. For snacks, the coconut chips with avocado were a phenomenal take on guac-and-chips, and the avocado toast, kale salad and plant based 'sushi' rolls were the savory bites that pumped energy into the sunshine day. 

Sestina
@sestinapastabar
Lunch
Sestina is a pasta bar concept which has its own visible pasta making room, a custom wood burning pizza oven too, and is filled with vibrant, healthy renditions of traditional Italian pasta. Plus, local wines and even wine on tap make for a complete trip to Italy without leaving SoCal. Our favorite pastas are the spicy fettuccine, the rigatoni arrabbiata, and the seasonal butternut squash ravioli with alfredo, pepitas and pumpkin seed oil. The tie dye pizza of a trio of sauces is also salacious, with flavor in each thin-crust crunchy crumbly bite. Truly a lunch or dinner experience that combines ambiance with decadent cuisine.

Plant Food + Wine
@plantfoodandwine
Dinner
Designed as a communal gathering place, this space with a magical outdoor courtyard offers a unique dining experience around decadent, health conscious food. The backyard dinner parties are a staple of Southern California, and are filled with Olive trees and greenery, alongside a private dining room and wine room. Our favorites are the buffalo cauliflower with crudites and vegan ranch, the vegan caesar salad with pumpkin seed parmesan, the very inventive avocado tikka with curry leaf yogurt and potato flatbread, the almond udon with chili, scallion, shiitake and sesame tofu and the classic cacio e pepe with kelp noodle and dried olive! So much to choose from, and a Mykonos style white cobble stone ambiance that delights us through the day.

Double Zero
@doublezeromk
All Day, Because Its Pizza!
Okay who doesn't eat pizza literally any time of day? And did you know that 93% of Americans eat pizza once a week? One only has to wonder about the remaining 7%. This hotspot reinvents our favorite dish, the pizza, into a plant based treat. With the likes of pepperoni pizza with chili peppers, margarita pizza with cashew cheese mozzarella, macadamia ricotta and zucchini pizza, along with the signature vegan Caesar salad, save room for the budino style Italian desserts for a complete meal... any time of day!