Los Angeles now has a robust selection of vegan restaurants that can satisfy both plant based eaters as well as carnivores who are open to inventive recipes with quality ingredients.

Los Angeles has come a long way in the vegan restaurant department. Just a few years ago, the most creative plant based dish you could hope for was radishes and carrot shavings mixed with your iceberg lettuce.

Not only are there now great vegan options at many restaurants around town, there are also dedicated plant based restaurants that are serving inventive, gourmet cuisine from top chefs.

Tal Ronnen is one of the Los Angeles vegan pioneer chefs. He proved that not only can you make great food with plant based ingredients, but you can also serve it in a swanky setting as he's done at Crossroads on Melrose in West Hollywood.

Many others have followed like Cafe Gratitude, now with 5 locations across Southern CA and healthy mantras to offer with each order. 

Even musician, and longtime vegan, Moby recently opened a plant based restaurant in LA called Little Pine.

I think the chefs in a lot of these restaurants are often working harder than those who have the whole pantry at their disposal. They're using vegetables in new and creative ways and are using unique techniques to infuse flavor. The spices and seasoning make a strong showing so it never feels like something is missing from the plate.

Vegan or not, Los Angeles' plant based restaurants and chefs are satisfying diners across the board with their talents and high quality ingredients. I'm looking forward to adding more vegan restaurants to this list as new restaurants continue to open across LA.