Real Food Daily - Take 2

Jane and I were out and the other night, and since we were over on that side of LA anyway, we decided to re-visit Real Food Daily for dinner. We were very impressed with our first visit, and had high hopes for this one. Also, I received a comment from MaryAlice PV on my September 12th post, suggesting other things to try.

Unfortunately, our internet access was down all day before we left home so we didn't get to refresh our memories as to what we should order. MaryAlicePV suggested:

"For the meal I go with the basic 3 or basic 4, which means you can make your own dish based on several menu options. The marinated tofu is not to be missed, the regular golden gravy (not the mushroom gravy from your special) is so delicious. I used to get the mashed potatoes, gravy and tofu with the vegetables of the day, but that is a very heavy combination. Now I've replaced the potatoes with sea vegetables and sometimes brown rice if I'm extra hungry. The house dressing is also very delicious, heavy on the tahini."

MaryAlicePV had also recommended the hummus and pita, as a not to be missed, but we completely forgot about that! Next time I guess, although Jane makes a really good hummus herself, so it's not something we're inclined to order out much.

We were close, but not spot on. Jane ordered the TV dinner, which comes s a slice of tempeh vegetable loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and vegetables. I ordered the RFD Burger with the works, the works being avocado, tempeh bacon and cashew cheese, plus the standard roll, lettuce, tomato and onion that the burger comes with. Of course, we planned on sharing our food.

As usual, the meals arrived beautifully presented. The TV dinner was true comfort food. The mashed potatoes and gravy were absolutely delicious. The tempeh vegetable loaf was pretty good too, but the vegetables, a mix of sliced carrots, cubed red onions and a few pieces of yellow squash were rather uninspired.

We ordered the burger because we'd read somewhere that it has been voted one of the 10 best burgers in LA. (Neither of us can remember where we read that - so no link, sorry.) It was really, really, really good. But for $2.50 extra, you can skip the works. Neither one of us even noticed the taste of the cheese, and the tempeh bacon is no where near as good as the Smart Bacon you can buy at the grocery store. We also ordered the sea vegetables instead of a salad for an additional $1.95, and while they were good, a salad would have been just fine. That put the burger at just under $16, instead of the $10.25 the basic burger would have cost, and the burger was the best part of the plate. Oh well, you live and learn.

So, after our second trip to RFD, we'd still recommend it, but not as highly as before. And we won't be making any special trips out there.