Vegan Potluck at the Short Stop

For the last two years, the lovely Julie has been hosting the Vegan Happy Hour & Potluck at the Short Stop, a bar in Echo Park. Although Foodeater, Your Vegan Mom, and I had been trying to plan an outing to this potluck for months, we weren't able to get it together until this past Thursday. It was worth the wait!

It just so happened that we were also able to coerce Miss Anthrope and Mr. Meaner of Quarrygirl to join us and, as a wonderful bonus surprise, JennShaggy of Twinkie fame and Veganize It...Don't Criticize It was there! Hooray for an L.A. vegan blogger meet-up! I was so very excited to meet the three of them and chat the night away with like-minded people. We're already planning our next event.



I'm sure you'd like to know all about the food, since it was a potluck and this is a food blog. I baked tester Classic Peanut Butter Cookies from the upcoming Sweet Freedom cookbook (she blogged about these cookies on October 26, 2008). Foodeater's contribution was fudgy brownies that quickly disappeared. YVM brought her delicious meatballs, which were extremely welcome as the savory offerings were quite few, and yummy mint brownies. Speaking of savory goodies, JennShaggy's galettes were scrumptious and she specifically made the onion easily removable. Miss Anthrope baked cookies that I may or may not have tried (they weren't on the table when she was there, so she thought they'd already been devoured, but a bag of cookies mysteriously appeared after she'd left and I'm just not sure if they were hers that had been set aside or if someone else had brought them).



You might not believe this, but Foodeater, YVM, YVM's husband, and I headed over to Pure Luck after the potluck. Foodeater and YVM wanted to try the new faux fish, but the waiter cleverly explained that the faux fish maker "is just as flaky as the fish" and there wasn't any to be had that day. I wasn't hungry, but took it as an opportunity to grab something for the next day's lunch and ordered the Pure Luck Spring Rolls (from the menu: Spinach, basil, sprouts, lime and tofu rolled up in a flour tortilla. Served fresh or fried, spicy or mild). I chose fresh and spicy and they were perfect. I think it might be the best thing I've tried there so far. Foodeater also generously let me have few of her Potato Pals (from the menu: Small potato dumplings (gnocchi), lightly fried.). I found them doughy and not particularly interesting, although the dipping sauces were good.

All in all, it was a lovely evening with good food and great company. We really should get together more often.