Sunday, January 3, 2010

Real Food Daily: The Club

On the last Wednesday of 2009, I had the pleasure of dining at Real Food Daily in West Hollywood with one of my closest friends. Hours of chatter over dinner at RFD used to be an extremely regular occurrence for us, but hasn't happened in well over a year. In the ensuing time, RFD revamped their menu and increased their prices. They kept all of my favorite menu items, though, so I didn't expect much of a difference.



I started with the Sweet Green Juice (from the menu: cucumber, celery, parsley, spinach with a splash of apple) and added ginger. It was fresh and a tiny bit sweet, but I wished it contained kale for a heartier taste.



With my impending cleanse only days away, I decided to order my very favorite menu item, which is The Club Triple Decker (from the menu: Seitan, tempeh bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, vegenaise, sourdough bread) minus the avocado and tomato and with a Caesar side salad (from the menu: Romaine hearts, capers, wheat-free blue corn croutons, Caesar dressing). I'm sorry to say that what once was a very flavorful sandwich with soft seitan and smoky tempeh bacon was quite bland this time (Real Food Daily, if you happen to be reading this, please reinstate the original version of The Club. Thanks!). The Caesar was crisp and garlicky and I've always loved the touch of capers.



For dessert, we split one of the December specials: White Iced Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake (from the menu: ginger cake, light white icing, toffee sauce). The cake was soft and lightly spiced, but the sweet, thick toffee sauce was the star, in my opinion.

In a fortuitous coincidence, Quarrygirl just wrote a post about Follow Your Heart's vegan club with a plan to review all of the vegan club sandwiches in Los Angeles. I've also tried and enjoyed the FYH club, but it has been so many years that I think I need to order it again!

13 comments:

The Voracious Vegan said...

Iced sticky toffee pudding cake = PERFECTION.

And I would head back for seconds of that club sandwich, that looks intensely awesome!

quarrygirl said...

oooh, a lot of people say the RFD club is the best, but i've never had it! i'm sorry it was bland for you....i HATE when restaurants change menu items and they get worse.

Trinity (of haiku tofu) said...

Mmm I'd love a nice veggie club, but alas, no veg restaurants in my town. If we'd been dining together I'd have taken care of your avocado for you. Toffee pud looks delish.

Jenni (aka Vegyogini) said...

The RFD Club has always been fantastic...until this time. I'm hoping it was an anomaly and I'm sure I'll order it again to test that theory.

I did ask for the avocado and tomato on the side so I could pass them to my dinner companion. :)

Beth G said...

Hi,

This is Beth from Real Food Daily, and yes, we're reading your blog! We are so appreciative of guest feedback, and we are always so glad for candid reviews.

We have absolutely heard what you're saying, and we're working hard to constantly improve and make sure that all of our dishes (especially the Club-- one of our most popular sandwiches) consistently meet the standards of our guests.

We are so glad to hear you enjoyed the Sticky Toffee Pudding, and want to thank you again for taking the time to post on your meal. We hope you'll give us another visit, and more importantly, we hope you'll continue to let us know how we're doing!

All the best,

Beth G & all of Team RFD

Bianca said...

Okay, I'm not sure why I've never stopped by here. I thought I had, but then when I saw your blog, I realized I hadn't. Sorry! I'll make it a point to come by much more often.

That seitan club looks amazing right now. I've not had any serious cravings on the cleanse (except for a battle with thoughts of cupcakes yesterday), but I do miss seitan (and it's only been 5 days).

BTW, my best friend bought that Tree Hugger plate for Xmas, with an assortment of other things. I didn't know it had matching cups, but now I want to find them!

Sunny said...

I love RFD desserts!!! They made my birthday cake a few years ago and it was YUMZ! Too bad about their club. It sure looks yummy in your photo.

Debra said...

looks yummy!
Debra @ Vegan Family Style

vegan.in.brighton said...

That dessert looks really delicious, I love sticky toffee pudding!

Bianca said...

Hey! Hope your cleanse is going well! You asked about my juicer — I have a Jack Lalanne, like the one on those TV infomercials. Ha! It works really well though...no need for peeling anything except citrus.

Anonymous said...

Sticky...toffee...pudding?
Somebody grab a spoon and pick my remains off the floor, svp!

Hannah said...

That cake looks absolutely RIDICULOUS- and I mean that in the best way possible!

The Voracious Vegan said...

CONGRATULATIONS! You won my Vivapure giveaway! YAY! :-)

Send me your address and I will contact Vivapura and let them know to send your prizes off right away.

YAY!