Los Angeles: Cafe Gratitude

The furthest I'd ever ventured out of LAX was a hotel about 4 miles away. Until last month, I'd never spent an extended amount of time there but thanks to my sister's visit, my best friend pursuing her dream and the generosity of a wonderful friend, I got to stay there for a whole week.

Verdict? I loved it, and I cannot wait to go back. The trip was just one of many things this year that made me thankful for my life so I guess it's appropriate that I start off my L.A. recap with my experience at a little place called Cafe Gratitude.

I mean, come on.

Cafe Gratitude is a vegan, organic restaurant. It's cute, and the whole theme is that they encourage a sense of gratitude - their menu items/dishes have names like "Fulfilled," "Enlivened," "Awesome" and so on. After you order, the server goes over what you asked for by saying "You are this, that, whatever." Same thing when they bring you the food, as they place it in front of you, they do the same thing. It's cheesy, but also kind of cute. At least, I thought so that day but it may be because I was there with two of my most favorite people in the whole world at the same time.

We ordered our own bowls (I got Humbled, which had a potato curry under fluffy brown rice with veggies - so good), and shared what has to be the fluffiest pancakes ever. Beg pardon - the fluffiest GLUTEN FREE pancakes ever. In keeping with the restaurant's vegan thing, the whipped cream was a surprisingly tasty, delicious cashew whipped cream.

The best part? Everything we ordered had flavor and was delicious and I really really liked it. You know I love meat and fat, and while I'm not the biggest meat fanatic out there, if there's a restaurant that could change a meat-lover's opinion on a vegan diet being tasty, it would be Cafe Gratitude. I liked it so much I convinced my sister and her fiance to go there for lunch with me before I caught my flight back home.

Check them out here, and if you're in LA, go to one of their locations!