The low down on where to eat downtown (Downtown Los Angeles, that is)

You know I'm immediately enamored when a restaurant's motto is "Pure food is good medicine. Inside beauty starts with healthy life." I mean, really? How can you say this to me and not want to start a monogamous relationship? In short, I am in friggin' LOVE with my latest restaurant find in downtown LA: Shojin.

Have you ever been to the Little Tokyo Mall? Have you ever been to Little Tokyo, period? (Restaurant reviews aside: please go. It's one of my favorite little districts in downtown. All of LA, really. I, personally, like to eat my way through it, but there are a million other culture-ish things to do there, too. Just sayin'.) In the mall itself, there are a handful of eateries I could talk about for hours. But, I'll save that dish for another time. Right now, it's all about my new love affair with Shojin (FYI: rough translation? “To drive out the evil thoughts and strive for Buddhism with one's whole heart.”) Divine.

The food here is natural, organic, macrobiotic, and entirely vegan. Which I sorta-kinda-maybe forgot to mention to my partner in crime before taking him there this past week. Oops. It coulda been a disaster, except it was Shojin, and therefore was exceptionally stellar, deception and all.

We started with the Pumpkin Croquettes. Crunchy fried pumpkin... are you kidding me? How is this concept not implemented everywhere?! Next was the BBQed Seitan (which my handsome carnivorous companion devoured). The Sea Vegetable Salad was delicious, but you pretty much have to dig seaweed to enjoy it. I chowed down on the Spicy Kale Rolls, and my BF went for the Caterpillar Roll (more seitan, of course). The Green Pesto Spaghetti was definitely his favorite -- it's covered in this crazy cilantro pesto sauce, it's super garlicky, and the kale and cauliflower florets added the best textures. And I brought the Vegetable Curry home with me to have the next day. Side note: the curry is sweet. And I mean literally. I was given a disclaimer when I ordered it because not everyone is all that into it. But I really dig all kinds of curry: yellow, green, red, you name it. This one is very brown and very, very sweet. Which was just fine by me.

Did I mention the staff yet? OH MAN, THE STAFF! Sweetest servers I've ever had, hands down. Yoko took care of us the other night, and if I could have folded her up and taken her home in my pocket, I would have. She was that precious. As I am walking out the door, after raving over the deliciousness of every dish she brought, and thanking her a million times for taking such good care of us, she calls out "See you tomorrow!" Ohhh, Yoko: if only I could see you everyday.

All in all, I'm going again. And again. Wait... just got an email from them. Apparently there's a special five-course dessert shindig happening on July 25. Who's in?

Dear Shojin,
You make my mouth water.
Lovingly yours,
The Nightowl

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