As Bohemian As They Come: Tuesday Dinners at Hm157

This week I attended my first Tuesday Dinner at Hm157 in Lincoln Heights. Hm157 (which stands for Historical Monument # 157 on the California Historical landmark list) is described by LA Weekly as a "mildly rundown old Victorian in East L.A.... a hub for hipsters, artists and people of all ages... the bottom floor into a revolving art space, part-time gallery, music venue, backdrop for book readings, discussions and political powwows. For a very modest donation at the door, guests enter through the Storyville-esque front porch and either meet in the multicolored salons, or out back, where there’s a stage, fire pit and sound system."



And for the last 3 years on Tuesdays, Hm157 has been offering an organic Vegan communal dinner that invites you to “sit down with a stranger and get up with a friend." Captained by Chef Dave, these dinners are adventurous ranging from Louisiana Crab Remoulade (made with cashews) with Roasted Beet Tartare to a Vegan version of the quintessential Japanese hotpot Sukiyaki.

The clientele as bohemian as they come so you'll never know who's going to attend, what thing of importance you'll be discussing, how underground the musical performance will be. It's no wonder Hm157 was also voted LA Weekly as the “Best Underground Date Night 2009″ and “Best Escape From Corporate Entertainment 2010.″

And for those who are fiscally challenged Tuesday Dinners offers a discounted or free meal based on how much you volunteer for the event.

Every Tuesday at 7:30PM
$15 with RSVP ($5 for a one shift volunteer, $0 for a two shift volunteer. Each shift runs 3 hours long)
B.Y.O.B.
RSVP by Monday night
Hm157
3110 N. Broadway Avenue
Lincoln Heights, CA 90031
To find out menus and get more info check out their Facebook page.

Kogi Chef Roy Choi is going Vegetarian

Kogi Celebrity Chef Roy Choi is going Vegetarian

Choi, who exploded the Los Angeles street food scene in 2008 with his Korean barbecue tacos Kogi trucks, also pioneered the twitter food truck revolution. Four years later Choi is running an empire of restaurants including the Kogi taco trucks, A-Frame, Chego, Sunny Spot and the Alibi Room.
But all that might be changing as he noted on his blog that cooking no longer held any meaning for him. Choi went on to write that he's recently started eating a vegetable based diet. As he notes:

I stopped eating meat this week. That’s why I’m thinking about leaving cooking. How can I cook with out using meat? I will taste, for now as that is my profession. But I will no longer eat meat for my own consumption.
Animals be talking to me. They told me..stop. Stop, Roy. Please.
I talk to animals and kids. I feed adults. Time to switch. Talk to adults. Feed animals and kids. What are we gonna do about our streets now that you adults have accepted street food?
Are we supposed to put our faith in this man Jamie Oliver? A Brit? If so, then if anyone who reads this tell him to holla at me. Really. I can’t get to him. Tell him come see me, no PR, no publicist, no barriers. We can sit on the curb and join forces.

Choi also expressed disappointment at business partners' emphasis on profits, asking, "Profitability when our whole existence is at stake? Fuck you." Choi is set to publish his first book, a memoir, called Spaghetti Junction: Riding Shotgun With an L.A. Chef, through Anthony Bourdain's book line.
Personally I'd love to see Choi channel all this frustration into a kickass vegetarian/vegan restaurant.
Click here to read his full blog entry

It's Official: GMOs on California's Ballot!

It's Official: GMOs will be on California's Ballot.

Yesterday 971,126 signatures were dropped off at locations throughout California, the culmination of a ballot initiative to label GMOs in the Golden State. The almost a million signatures, gathered in a 10-week period by volunteers of the California Right to Know campaign, is nearly double the 555,236 signatures the campaign needs to qualify for the ballot. California officials will take at least several weeks to certify the initiative, but people on both sides of the issue expect it to appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are experimental plants and animals that have been genetically engineered in a laboratory with DNA from other plants, animals, bacteria, and viruses. Although GMO ingredients are found in 80% of packaged foods in the U.S., they have not been proven safe as the long term consequences of GMOs on our health and environment have not been adequately investigated. If passed this November, Californians will join citizens of almost 50 countries including all of Europe, Japan and even China who have the right to know whether they are eating GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) food.



At yesterday's Los Angeles County rally mothers, grandmothers, organic farmers, and students came together to celebrate their collective work. Their county's portion of the drop off contained 232,409 signatures. Each box weighted 37 pounds, with the entire payload coming in at 188 pounds of signatures.

The want to label GMO foods has the uncanny ability collect unanimous support across the political spectrum. A March 2012 Mellman Group poll found that 9 out of 10 American voters favor labeling for genetically engineered food.

"In a country seemingly dominated by partisan polarization on everything from the cause of hurricanes to the state of the economy, it’s hard to find issues, outside of motherhood and apple pie, that can muster over 90 percent support. In a recent survey for Just Label It, we found one...," pollster Mark Mellman wrote in a recent article in the Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill.

"Voters express almost unanimous support for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. An arresting 91 percent of voters favor an FDA requirement that “foods which have been genetically engineered or containing genetically engineered ingredients be labeled to indicate that.”

Pizza dj-ing

I just spent the weekend in the desert for Coachella and it was un-freaking believable!! The world's largest music festival will be exactly what you want it to be and for two gentlemen that meant dj-ing with baked goods and pizzas. And if there was ever an audience for that particular type of food/music mash-up it's at Coachella, so spin away guys!

How is This Possible? Veggie Grill's Crab Cake Sandwich

A couple of weeks ago I went to a tasting of the new menu items at Veggie Grill (the 100% plant-based comfort food restaurant). While we were waiting for our first item on the list, I informed my tablemates how I had walked away from Natural Products Expo West with the feeling that everyone was getting very close to the real deal in the world of plant based substitutes with things like chicken, but that nobody could master the art of seafood.

And within a minute I had to totally eat my words because Greg Dollarhyde, the CEO of Veggie Grill placed their new Crab Cake sandwich in front of me to taste.

I took a bite and the first words out of my mouth (honest, truly!) were: How is this possible?


A crispy “Crab” Cake with tangy tartar sauce, pickles, tomato, lettuce, and red onion along with a side of “sweetheart fries.” As a beach girl who grew up eating seafood in all forms (but the not the case anymore) I was totally hooked!

According to Dollarhyde the secret is a “certain type of seaweed adds the “seafood” umami to it.”
Veggie Grill’s constantly asking Americans to “taste and believe,” and after this experience I was totally a true believer. (And ended up going back less than two weeks later to experience it again!)

Something to Check Out: Food Forward's Spring Melt on Saturday!

Hey Guys!
My friends over at the amazing non-profit FOOD FORWARD are having an awesome Grilled Cheese event this Saturday night Elysian in Silver Lake. If you're looking for a kickass amount of Grilled Cheese (and a kickass cause!) please consider checking them out! The Deets are below.
Kat



We are in the final days leading up to our SPRING MELT fundraiser and it’s the LAST CALL to purchase your ticket! With less than 20 TICKETS REMAINING, we hope you take the opportunity right NOW to PURCHASE your ticket to our fabulously exciting Fruit-Bash!!!

Elysian in Silver Lake
Saturday April 14th 7-11pm!

With the purchase of your ticket you can expect an AMAZING assortment of zesty entertainment, a full menu of gourmet grilled cheeses and delicious eats from Clementine + an open bar with beer from New Belgium Brewery, our famous Grapefruit Forward cocktail and wine pours from Jordan Winery.

The night is sure to be fun-filled, with comedianne extrordinaire Beth Lapides as our evening’s Mistress of Ceremonies. Bushels of entertainment will include everything from interactive visual environments by international video artist Jesse Gilbert, sets of juicy dance tunes spun by DJs Fucsia and Matt Franke, to rolling up your sleeves alongside Miss Rhea Purpose at her ridiculous DIY Kraft Korner, plus other zesty surprises!

There will be a shared abundance of door prizes throughout the night, and a not-so-silent auction as only Food Forward can do it - featuring a bounty of outstanding items for all checkbook sizes: temptations for foodies, book worms, wine snobs, movie buffs, health nuts, sports fans and so much more.

Don’t worry, we have parking covered too with free valet service all night.

Come support the work of Food Forward to harvest food, fight hunger & build community and have a juicy fun time while you’re at it!

Making Informed Food Decisions at ModernMom.com

Have an article on Making Informed Food Decisions: The GMO Labeling Movement on the homepage of Modern Mom today.

Here's just a tidbit:

Making Informed Food Decisions: The GMO Labeling Movement

The demand to label GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) is picking up steam in the United States, both on the state and national front.

Genetically Modified Organisms are experimental plants and animals that have been genetically engineered in a laboratory with DNA from other plants, animals, bacteria, and viruses.

GMOs exist for two main reasons:
1. Seed producers modify their seed to make them resistant to their brand of herbicide.
2. Seed producers modify plants to contain built-in pesticides.

As of 2010, GMOs constituted 86% of the Corn, 90% of the Canola, 93% of the Soy, and 93% of the Cotton grown in the U.S.

Although GMO ingredients are found in 80% of packaged foods in the U.S., they have not been proven safe as the long term consequences of GMOs on our health and environment have not been adequately investigated. 40 countries, including Australia, Japan, China, Brazil, Mexico, and all of the European Union nations, either have significant restrictions or outright bans on the production of GMOs because they are not considered proven safe.

Check out the entire article at http://www.modernmom.com/blogs/kat-thomas/making-informed-food-decisions-the-gmo-labeling-movement