The lost meals entries consist of meals that occurred at various times throughout 2012 which, for any number of reasons, escaped my documentation – some due to a cross country move and a new job, some due to the Los Angeles Kings run to the Stanley Cup, and some simply as a result of too much travel. Having enjoyed many of these meals with friends or family and with some of them amongst the year’s very best the reality is that with time my memory has deteriorated and as life moves forward I’ve realized there is little hope to ever “catch up” or document these experiences as well as I’d hope, yet in order to preserve them I present these pictures, notes, and thoughts on the experience.
Deez Hazelnuts Tsoynami – Hazelnut Brittle, Dark Chocolate Bar, Chocolate Fudge
Pumpkin Pie Tsoynami – Pumpkin Puree, Pumpkin Spice, Vanilla Wafers, Maple Syrup, Whipped Cream
Betterfinger Tsoynami – Chick o Stick, Chocolate Chip, Buttercrunch Syrup
Snicker Fudge
Zucchini Donut
Blueberry Fritter
Blueberry Cream Cheese Turnover
Gluten Free Yankee Doodle
Namicake
Cinnamon Roll
Red Velvet Champagne Cupcake
Maple Bar
Nami-o Donut
Chick o Stick Donut
Smiley Face Pancakes
Having admitted my fondness for baked goods and a perhaps odd fascination with vegan pastry it was only a matter of time before I visited nami – in part due to the aforementioned interests and good word of mouth from a vegetarian friend and in part due to its location just down the street – but little did I know just how good it would turn out to be…or how many times I’d visit (Three to be exact, the most recent being a breakfast with friends on 12/30/12.)
Owned by Damon Brasch and operated on a daily basis by what seems to be a collection of cute college girls that you might see at Whole Foods or a local Co-Op, most of the things that nami does it does very well, perhaps most surprisingly their vegan take on the Blizzard entitled ‘tsoynami,’ the rich soy-based ice cream lacking any hint of “soy” and fixed with any number of mix-ins, some menu staples and other seasonal. Available 7:00am to 9:30pm I’ve had them at both ends of the spectrum and honestly prefer them to any frozen “shake” I’ve had save for, perhaps, the concretes at Shake Shack – the pumpkin was particularly excellent as part of breakfast.
Moving to the baked goods, as much as I wanted to like the donuts I just could not, save for the baked zucchini version and the dense blueberry fritters. Perhaps it was the glaze or perhaps the actual batter but something about each of them harkened that ‘beany’ flavor that turns so many off to soy based vegan foods. More impressive, perhaps due to the intense sweetness or a different glaze, the cinnamon roll was a much better choice, as was the turnover with a light flakey shell, sweet whipped soy, and fresh blueberry puree.
Moving on to the rest – I think it is safe to say that anything nami makes with chocolate is a safe bet – the rich organic tablets behind the bar likely 70% cocoa or better and a dominant flavor whether in a tsoynami, drizzled on a pancake, baked into a moist cupcake, or best of all made into dense “snickers” fudge that trumps the original by miles.
Last, and certainly not least, for those who don’t want chocolate – and all the more so for those unfortunate enough to be gluten intolerant (the real sort, not the trendy Hollywood stuff,) get the Yankee Doodle – a nearly quarter pound snicker doodle sandwich with dense, creamy filling, that is better than any snickerdoodle I’ve had elsewhere – vegan, veg, gluten free, or otherwise.