More high praise for NELA restaurants
Two local restaurants – Wolfie’s Hot Chicken in Highland Park and Just What I Kneaded in Elysian Valley – have made the Los Angeles Times new list of top vegan or vegetarian restaurants.
Here’s what the Times had to say:
Wolfie’s Hot Chicken
Highland Park American $
BY STEPHANIE BREIJO / Los Angeles Times
There’s no chicken at Wolfie’s, but things can get heated. Richard Chang (formerly of Tehuanita 2.0) and Jason Eisner (Party Beer Co., Nic’s On Beverly) turned a Nashville-inspired hot chicken food truck into a bricks-and-mortar restaurant and bar in Highland Park, and it’s here that Wolfie’s serves tempeh-based “chicken” sandwiches and tenders, plus fries, burgers and brunch. The Nashville-style hot chicken sandwiches can be ordered as mild, medium, spicy or super; other options include a bourbon barbecue-sauce fried “chicken sandwich,” and a Korean fried chicken sandwich topped with gochujang glaze, kimchi-vinaigrette slaw, and a chili-and-garlic aioli. It’s quick, it’s casual, it’s bursting with flavor. Get extra ranch.
Wolfie’s Hot Chicken, 5050 York Blvd., 323-741-2747, instagram
Just What I Kneaded
Elysian Valley Cafe $
Delivery
BY STEPHANIE BREIJO / Los Angeles Times
After years as a plant-based pastry wholesaler to a range of L.A. coffee shops, Justine Hernandez’s homey bakery operation has a bricks-and-mortar cafe in Frogtown. Just What I Kneaded serves some of Hernandez’s most popular items — the lemon-zested cinnamon buns, the pinwheels, the cookies — alongside an expanded menu of new savory vegan goods that tend to be produce-forward: quiches filled with farmers market vegetables, breakfast burritos, bodega-inspired breakfast sandwiches on house-made bagels, granola bowls and grilled cheese sandwiches among them, plus a rotation of seasonal pop-tarts. There’s ample patio space and a full coffee bar for anyone who needs to take a break with a plant-based pastry, an almond-milk latte and a bit of sunshine. Just What I Kneaded’s menu changes daily; look to its Instagram account for menu updates and specials.
Just What I Kneaded, 2029 Blake Ave., #104, Elysian Valley, (323) 522-3340
