This Year’s Eat Drink Vegan Food Festival Lineup Might Be Its Best Yet

Vegan without regret

The nearly decade-old Eat Drink Vegan festival is coming up at the end of May. The popular event is going down on Saturday, May 26 at the Rose Bowl and Brookside Golf Course, and frankly this may be the best food lineup the group has put together in years. Among the attendees are Shake Shack (showing off its new vegan veggie burger), Border Grill, Little Pine, Sumo Dog, Vegatinos, Pizzanista and more. There’s even a collaboration between Modern Times Brewing and Donut Friend, where one makes a vegan doughnut burger and the other a doughnut-infused beer. Tickets are $50 for general admission, or $120 for an extensive VIP pass.

Patio party

The Tam O’Shanter has its patio back, after a not-so-brief 70 year hiatus. LA Magazine reports on the new layout, and the possibilities for big meals and warm summer nights ahead.

A new lead

Clare Ward is in as the new head bartender at Pacific Seas inside Clifton’s Republic in Downtown. Ward has been on the scene for quite some time, most recently at AR Cucina in Culver City.

Lawry’s can’t lose

Everyone loves Lawry’s, the iconic prime rib spot on La Cienega’s Restaurant Row. The LA Times takes a look at the past 80 years of Lawry’s history, and its changing ways in the face of new clientele.

Bye, bye Lazy

Downtown’s Lazy Brewing Company has closed. The two-year-old coffee shop took over for the short-lived Auntie Em’s expansion in DTLA, but now has signage up offering a simple goodbye to the neighborhood.

Valerie Gordon on the move

Longtime chocolatier Valerie Gordon is heading up to the Alisal Guest Ranch for the Central Coast’s occasional BBQ Boot Camp series this weekend. She’ll be rocking a variety of desserts with preparations that somehow involve the grill, while others like Frank Ostini of Hitching Post II and Clark Staub of Full of Life Flatbread cook all weekend as well.

Il Moro does more

West LA Italian restaurant Il Moro is hosting a few out-of-towners this week. They’re putting up the Conca Del Sogno staff from the Amalfi Coast from May 14 to 19 for an a la carte experience on the other side of the world.

The back of house look

Scratch Bar is changing the way it does back-of-house appreciation month. Formerly, Phillip Frankland Lee and co. would offer free tasting menu meals through the whole month of February to anyone who could come in an prove they worked in a restaurant, but now they’re extending the idea year-round. Take a look at the video below to see how it all works.