Vegan Venice Beach Date Night at Plant Food + Wine

Right before Christmas, I got called up to LA to do a blogger event at Sony Studios. We already had plans for both kids to go over to the grandparents house and my husband and I were planning on doing some holiday shopping after he finished work. He decided to come along and do his conference calls from Venice Beach. When he picked me back up he had late lunch/early dinner plans for us at Plant Food + Wine before we had to jet back down to San Diego. As a former Angelino, I wouldn't have even thought to go out to go "all the way out" to Venice because I lived and worked centrally, in Hollywood but I'm so glad he took the wheel on this one, we were in for a treat!

Plant Food + Wine is an all vegan restaurant by renowned chef Matthew Kenney who crafts beautiful, delicious and healthy plant-based food concepts with locations both in Venice, CA and Miami, FL.

The Venice restaurant has an indoor dining area and a relaxing and cozy garden with a wine bar outside. I was glad I brought my sweater and left the kids at home. This is just the kind of place to be thankful we can be outside on a sunny California day in December.

Of course we had to order a bottle of wine. This restaurant is on the pricier side, but when you are at a restaurant where wine is literally in the name, "when in Rome" right? This bottle of Solminer 2013 Vollmand was nice with the meal, however I personally look for something more full-bodied than this bottle turned out to be.

If we make it up to this place again, perhaps we would prefer to sample a few different wines between my husband and I before taking the plunge into another bottle.

Fortunately, their food is absolutely worth it. I thought their cheese plate was complete perfection with the savory plant based nut cheeses, fresh and dried fruit, and handmade crackers, and gherkins. My husband is a little more picky about vegan cheeses and left me to enjoy this one on my own.

He ordered the Heirloom Tomato and Zucchini lasagna. It was gorgeous and accented by the delectable macadamia ricotta, pesto, thick tomato sauce and mandolin sliced zucchini squash.

The flavors of this carefully constructed tower came together seamlessly, and as a self-proclaimed junk food vegan at times... many times, we really enjoyed this raw and healthy plate.

I ordered the Spicy Udon noodles and was extremely pleased with my choice. There were beautiful purple radish slices, and tempeh sausage accenting this dish of noodles in a sauce unlike anything I had ever tasted and infinitely pleasing in its complexity. I love spicy food and wouldn't consider this too spicy for someone who likes a little heat. Both my husband ate every last bit of our meals, savoring them with the safely vegan wine and enjoying our afternoon immensely.

I wish we had room for dessert and I hadn't drank all my sugar for the day in beautiful glasses of red. Everything we tried was wonderful and worth coming back to try more of the menu next time we head north!

I'm glad I was able to make this trip up to LA and everything fell into place for an impromptu date at this amazing all vegan place right before the holiday. If you are ever in the area you should try it! I'd love to hear what you think.

Plant Food + Wine is located in Venice, California

Address: 1009 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291

Phone: (310) 450-1009

Plant Food + Wine menu

Where to Stay in Venice Beach Area:

Airbnb

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Loews Santa Monica

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