Good news for the herbivores amongst us, Moby is opening a strict vegan restaurant and he’s calling it Little Pine. A devote plant-eater himself, the (almost 50 year old) DJ/singer-songwriter/photographer/animal activist is giving you the opportunity to taste from a menu designed as if animals did not exist. You will have your choice of leaves, twigs or dirt, all organic of course; accompanied by a fresh glass of water to wash it down with, but only if no animals were harmed in the process of making that water.
Okay, perhaps I’m being a bit extreme, but this is what I imagine eating from an organic vegan restaurant would be like. It’s hard for me, an occasional lover of meat (who in their right mind doesn’t like bacon?) to fathom an eatery that doesn’t include animal based ingredients like milk or cheese in their menu. Vegetarianism I can appreciate (I’ve had my phases) but strict veganism, I dunno, it fails to stir my appetite.
So what will the menu actually include? Well …there will be some lemon mint pea pate (sounds fancy) a pan-bagnat with crushed garbanzo beans (I have no idea what that is, but it sounds even more fancy) a roasted beet salad, and not to be outdone a cauliflower steak. Personally, I don’t agree with the use of the word “steak” here, it throws me. Nonetheless I’d still like to see what a cauliflower steak looks like. Do you think they’d have to mash the little pieces of cauliflower together to form one lump? Or do you think they would actually shape it to look like a cut of steak? Mmmmmmmm steak.
Anyway, Moby’s not new to the culinary market, back in 2002 he opened TeaNY, a tea café in New York with his then girlfriend Kelly Tisdale. The café serves, you guessed it, organic vegan food and beverages and has proven to be successful enough for Moby to extend the brand to a product line of TeaNY drinks sold only in New York. Also proving he’s a postcode snob.
His latest venture, is expected to open in California during the summer, head chef will be some woman called Anne Thornton, probably chosen because she knows her shit and the place will be decked out by Tatum Kendrick founder of Studio Hus , who’s background includes Psychology. So you can probably expect the décor to fuck with your mind and cause you to remember events of your childhood you worked so hard to supress. But hey, you’ll be so into your pan-bagnat you won’t even mind.
Should you find yourself in the Silver Lake area this year and keen to check it out. Take note, at first they’ll only be open for dinner, with breakfast and lunch hours to be introduced at a later stage, so don’t rock up at 6am banging on the door demanding a serving of pea pate and beet salad - you won’t get it.
-Bise
