Chili Cheese Fries at The Veggie Grill

Just when you thought you had The Veggie Grill figured out – it’s tasty, but no, the meat isn’t real – The Veggie Grill surprises you. There’s a secret menu!

As with many secret menu items, these dishes are variations of items already on the menu. The one we tried were the chili cheese fries, which uses the restaurant’s signature sweet potato Sweetheart Fries topped with the Bean Me Up chili, vegan cheese and sour cream, and garnished with chopped tomatoes and parsley. This is a huge dish, so be prepared to either share it or to bring at least half of it home. The chili cheese fries are tasty but heavy. Who knew vegan food could be so substantial?

There are also a couple other secret menu items. The buffalo wings are a variation of the barbecue-flavored Chill Out Wings, which are made with the Grill’s seasoned and marinated Chillin’ Chickin’ soy protein, and the El Dorado Burger, which is the cheeseburger topped with jalapenos, caramelized onions and ketchup (the cheeseburger El Dorado-style is actually a footnote on the menu, so it’s technically not a secret).

If none of these float your boat, there’s always the old standby All Hail Kale salad or the delectable Santa Fe Crispy Chickin’ sandwich, which we like better as a wrap.

All Hail Kale salad

Santa Fe Crispy Chickin' wrap

If you take the time to examine the faux meat, you’ll notice it’s a bit spongy. But if you don’t pay too much attention — and when it’s adorned with so much goodness, you don’t really need to — it’s every bit as satisfying as real meat.

Another satisfying item: the carrot cake, which is a pleasant surprise because it actually tastes really good! We haven’t been big fans of vegan desserts in the past, but The Veggie Grill’s carrot cake, as well as the walnut chocolate chip cookie, were executed nicely, leaving little to be desired.

Carrot cake

And the drinks aren’t to be missed, either. The peach black tea, pomegranate green tea and strawberry lemonade are all top choices.

Note: Portions of this post were originally posted on LAist. This meal was hosted.

The L.A. mini chain Pitfire Pizza is about to get just a bit bigger with a new location in Culver City, and even though it’s not officially open for business yet (official word has it opening in about a week), the food is already pretty solid. I guess that’s easier to do when you’ve had some practice at your North Hollywood, downtown and West Los Angeles locations. But the Culver City location has a new kind of pizza oven, so there!

Really, the pizza, especially the crust, is very good. I normally don’t eat pizza crusts, but the crust on these pizzas was so good that I had to force myself to not eat them lest I was not able to control myself. It’s perfectly light and chewy, with just the right amount of bite. As for toppings, stick with the pizzas that come with tomato sauce. The burrata, magherita and pepperoni pies are good. I wasn’t as impressed with the field mushroom pizza, made with fontina cheese and creme fraiche, because it didn’t have as much flavor without the tomato sauce, which is also spicy.

Burrata pie, topped with arugula

Magherita pizza

Field mushroom pizza

But Pitfire isn’t all about pizza. Before this visit, I had been to the downtown location a couple of times and had pasta both times. While we didn’t sample pasta this time (the pasta is good, by the way), we did have some starters. I loved the roasted vegetables, especially the brussels sprouts and the cauliflower, which was dusted in breadcrumbs. I could easily eat a plate of these vegetables as my whole meal. The chicken salad, with roasted chicken, arugula, butter lettuce, croutons, scallions, toasted pine nuts and pickled currants.

Roasted vegetables

Chicken salad

The cucumber mint lemonade was a standout, and the jumbo chocolate chip cookie is one of the best I’ve ever had. The chocolate is layered, so you get the maximum amount of chocolate in every bite. It reminds me of the cookies at Grey Dog’s Coffee in New York.

Cucumber mint lemonade

Chocolate chip cookie

A note about the new location: Though it’s technically in Culver City, it’s not in the downtown Culver City area. It’s west of the 405 freeway. Be prepared.