Simply put, Crossroads is a high-end vegan restaurant for omnivores. Plant-based chef-to-the-stars Tal Ronnen is reinventing meat-free meals with flavorful and imaginative dishes, whether served in the restaurant’s cozy, white-tablecloth Melrose Avenue dining room or the newly open location in Calabasas. The fare draws celebrities and the fashionable, youthful Melrose crowd, as well as a surprisingly older, suit-clad type. The Rockefeller-style baked mushroom "scallops'' and spicy maple-glazed Brussels sprouts with shiitake bacon are standout plates, as are the faux fried artichoke oysters. For a more substantial dish, try the carbonara, which comes topped with a tomato "egg yolk" that really bursts, or the lasagna, layered with dairy-free cheese from Ronnen’s own retail operation.
This is L.A., where the word vegan hasn’t raised eyebrows and prompted jokes about nut loaf for years, which means that there’s a smörgasbord of vegetarian and vegan restaurants in L.A. slinging slices of pizza piled high with veggies; upscale Mexican food; and even takes on the traditionally egg-laden Italian classic, carbonara. Here are the very best of the best places for plant-based eats (though some of them do serve a few dishes containing egg).
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