Doomie’s Home Cookin’, Hollywood – Post 3

I have already talked about Doomie’s, but I am doing multiple reviews of restaurants as I make subsequent visits.  Click here to see previous posts about Doomie’s Home Cookin’.

Eric and I were generously given free tickets to Universal Studios as well as front of the line passes by a friend of his.  I hadn’t been to Universal Studios in over ten years, so I was interested in seeing what had changed.  It was fun to see the changes and the front of the line passes really helped, but it was otherwise unimpressive.  It really hasn’t aged well and the “newer” rides are just re-dressings of the old rides.  I mean, seriously, the Simpsons ride is literally the same ride as Back to the Future but with different decor and a different video playing on the screen.  I wouldn’t recommend it over any other theme park.

Anyway, since we were in the area, we popped down to Doomie’s Home Cookin’ for dinner.  We ordered the vegan chicken fingers (which are always super tasty) and Eric got the vegan chili cheese fries.  The fries were cooked well and the chili tasted great, but the cheese sauce was a little runny.

I ordered the Chicken Parm Sandwich, which was delicious, but very messy.  I can deal with the messy, but my only complaint is that the “mozzarella” was very thin and sauce-like, almost foamy.  That was a little weird, but the flavor was there and it all mixed together fine, so it was ignorable.

Eric ordered the Western Burger, which came with onion rings, cheese sauce, and some kind of vegan bacon (not made with tempeh).  He liked it very much and said that he would order it again.

As a last minute impulse buy, I got a “chocolate truffle” from the dessert case.  It didn’t taste bad, but it clearly wasn’t a truffle.  It was obviously a cake ball.  I don’t know if they were purposefully trying to pass it off as a truffle or if there was some sort of mix up, but I wouldn’t buy it again.

Doomie’s has been hit or miss on our previous visits, but this time it was mostly great.  Just a few small complaints, but we will definitely be back when we need an unhealthy vegan fix.

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Doomie’s Home Cookin’, Hollywood – Post 2

I have already talked about Doomie’s, but I am doing multiple reviews of restaurants as I make subsequent visits.  Click here to see previous posts about Doomie’s Home Cookin’.

You may recall that I was eager to take my husband, Eric, to try the comfort foods at Doomie’s Home Cookin’.  For our anniversary this year (four years married!) we decided to keep it low key and drive out to Doomie’s for a date.

Please keep in mind that this is not a healthy restaurant, they just aim to make guilty pleasure foods available to vegans, too.  We shared the nacho plate, which was a little dry and hard to get down.  The meat replacement in it was overcooked and the portion was huge, so we couldn’t finish it.

Nacho plate

We also shared the “Chicken” Fingers, which were the best part of the meal!  You could hardly tell that it wasn’t meat and the sizes were appropriate.

“Chicken” fingers

I got the Spicy “Chicken” Burger because back when I ate meat, I really liked that type of sandwich.  It was tasty, crunchy, and spicy, just how I like it.

Spicy “Chicken” Burger

Eric ordered the “Chicken” Fried Steak because it’s something he really enjoys usually.  However, it was an awful big piece of imitation chicken and I think for an omnivore, something that better masked the fact that it wasn’t real meat would have been better for him.  Plus it was pretty greasy and the breading didn’t stay on well.  He said he would order the Spicy “Chicken” Burger next time.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of his plate.

Click here for all posts about Doomie’s Home Cookin’.

Visiting Animal Acres & Doomie’s Home Cookin’, Hollywood

My sister, Alli, has talked about Farm Sanctuary’s Animal Acres in Acton since she first visited a couple of years ago. After deciding to pursue a vegan lifestyle, I asked Alli to join me on a trip to the farm. Their website describes Animal Acres as “a Los Angeles farmed animal sanctuary and compassionate learning center dedicated to rescuing and protecting farmed animals through rescue, education, and advocacy efforts.” They offer “meet and greet” tours at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm every Sunday. Our knowledgeable tour guide, Cameron, introduced us to several animals, answered our many questions, and gave us quite a bit of information.

First, we visited the pigs. Pigs are actually very social and will cuddle like this, even in high temperatures. They look like they are smiling when they’re sleeping and they love having their bellies rubbed. Cameron explained that they are also very smart. Their intelligence level is roughly equivalent to that of four year old humans and they have been known figure out how to unlatch the gates around the farm.

The cows were also very sweet and friendly. They seemed to like all the attention from our group. This one kept licking Alli’s hand.

The goats were sweet and outgoing. This little guy, Prince, kept lightly nuzzling his head against people, similar to what my cats, Noche and Vito, do all the time.

Last, we went to see the birds in the courtyard. This poor turkey was so overweight that he walked like it was a real struggle for him. This chicken, contrary to his appearance, is only 6-8 weeks old. When people stroked his feathers, he closed his eyes as if he really enjoyed it.

After our tour, we visited the gift shop where I picked up a lot of literature on vegan recipes, restaurants, and information about the animal products industries. It was an eye-opening visit and I’m sure we will be back again.

After our trip to the farm, we drove all the way to Doomie’s Home Cookin’ in Los Angeles. My husband, Eric, is a lover of hearty, meaty food. If he were ever willing to try a vegan restaurant, this is the place I would take him to. I ordered the “Chicken Parmesan” sandwich, which was delicious. The chicken replacement was nearly perfect; the only real observable difference between it and real chicken was the texture of the skin. Had I not known that it was a vegan sandwich, I would have just assumed that the chicken was over cooked. Alli had the vegan buffalo wings, which tasted pretty great, again, just with a tougher “skin” than animal meat. Finally, we took a brownie to go which was huge and tasty. We shared it with our dad, who also really enjoyed it. Pictures of the food below. We will definitely go back again!