Alternative Outfitters Vegan Blog

We arrived at Green Leaves Vegan Restaurant at 7:30 on a Wednesday night. It was fairly empty and we were wondering how they could possibly stay open until midnight with such little business. Apparently I just had to be patient because after 8:00 hungry veg*ns from all over showed up to partake in the yummy vegan fare that makes Green Leaves so popular. 

We had a big group and we were determined to try as many menu items as possible.  We started with the Drum Sticks.  They are described as deep fried soy “chicken legs” served with house sauce.  Maybe it’s because they were deep fried, but they were oh-so-good.  We even ordered a second round.  We also had the Quesadilla with Vegan Cheese.  I haven’t had a quesadilla in so long and this one did not disappoint.  It was exactly as I remember.  The Chicken Sa-tay is soy chicken served with peanut sauce and cucumber salad.  The peanut sauce is delicious and is probably what makes this dish so delectable.

Now on to the main dishes.  There are so many different styles and choices of food here that it becomes a real challenge to decide what to get.  We pretty much stuck with the Thai style food, but there are breakfast burritos, pancakes, and scrambled Egz (the tofu version) that are served all day.  Not to mention wraps, sandwiches, and burgers.  We loved the Pineapple Fried Rice which was loaded with chunks of pineapple and cashews. The Rock & Roll Noodle dish is one of their “Signature” dishes.  The name and description (pan fried wide rice noodles with tofu, chili sauce, basil, tomato, onion, bell peppers, bean sprouts & special house jalapeno sauce) implies that it’s a spicy, but it wasn’t really spicy at all.  It was still full of flavor and very tasty.  The Mongolia Beef was our least favorite dish.  It had a nice presentation, but didn’t live up to our expectations after tasting the rest of the food.  The Shitake Curry was delicious and had a slightly unusual flavor (but in a good way).  We even got the Fish Dinner which is served with tahini sauce.  I am always a little apprehensive when trying “fish” in a vegan restaurant, because sometimes they tend to be too fishy tasting, but this dish was just right.

This is a great restaurant for sharing since you can order everything family style.  The food comes out fast, but don’t expect exceptional service.  This place is about the food.  Oh, by-the-way, there is no alcohol served here, but you can play Guitar Hero while you are waiting for your food which is fun.  Parking can be tough since they don’t have a parking lot.  It can definitely be a challenge to find a spot on the street. The key is to carpool or ride your bike and go with a large group so you can try lots of dishes. 

Green Leaves is located at 1769 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90027
You can view their website at GreenLeavesVegan.com.