{"id":415105,"date":"2026-07-28T12:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/415105\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T12:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:22:14","slug":"vegan-dining-in-flux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/415105\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan dining in flux"},"content":{"rendered":"

It always sucks when your favorite L.A. restaurant closes. Multiply that feeling tenfold if you happen to be vegan and already live as an outlier. While Los Angeles has long been seen as a hub for plant eaters, lately, not everyone has felt that way.<\/p>\n

Donna Jean, an Italian-inspired vegan restaurant in Sherman Oaks, which shuttered at the end of 2025, was just one L.A. restaurant to close in recent years. Chef Roy Elam opened Donna Jean, which became a beloved community staple, in 2022, naming it in honor of his mother who died of breast cancer but switched to a vegan diet in her final months, in lieu of another round of chemo. The restaurant became known for preparing all its pizzas, pastas and sauces from scratch while using top-notch ingredients.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Donna Jean’s cast iron mac and cheese, #1 crush pizza, kombucha on draft and lasagna. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt really felt like a small-time kind of community restaurant in a lot of ways,\u201d said Josh McClain, a former manager, going as far as calling it a \u201clifeline\u201d for certain customers with niche allergies. <\/p>\n

In spite of its dedicated fanbase, at the end of the day the restaurant just never was able to expand beyond them, said Elam, who still operates the original Donna Jean restaurant in San Diego. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have a $10,000 day and that would be our whole entire week, and every other day would be, like, $0.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Donna Jean’s sitting vacant on Woodman Ave, after closing in December. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a problem spread across the local landscape. Other notable vegan restaurants in the Valley to have closed over the last five years include Krimsey\u2019s, Mamicon\u2019s Vegan Mexican Restaurant, Sugar Taco and the Van Nuys location of Grain Cafe. <\/p>\n

It got us thinking …. What do plant-based diners do when their favorite restaurants go away? Stay home and cook? Eat vegan dishes at omnivore restaurants?\u00a0Give up the lifestyle altogether? We spoke to a handful of vegan Los Angeles diners to get a better grasp.<\/p>\n

Veganism out of fashion?<\/p>\n

McClain, a former manager at Donna Jean, became vegan during the last five years of Covid, initially due to supply-chain fears related to the availability of meat. He does believe there\u2019s substance behind conversations about veganism going out of fashion. Post Donna Jean, rather than eating out, he and his girlfriend have been staying home, disconnecting \u2014 as much as possible \u2014 \u201cfrom the structures of agriculture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Josh McClain and his girlfriend have begun the practice of homesteading, making their own tofu, sourdough, soy and oat milk.<\/p>\n

The couple have started the practice of homesteading, making their own tofu, sourdough, soy and oat milk, continually dialing in and refining their processes, as being vegan \u201ccan get pretty expensive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cTypically, most people that are vegan, they have the time to be able to do so,” he added. “They have the money to be able to do so. They have the time to figure out dishes, test, and experiment.” <\/p>\n

He acknowledged that it\u2019s only in recent history that vegans have been able to go out and enjoy restaurants like everyone else. To do it at home, he admits: \u201cIt\u2019s a privileged position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Natural correction<\/p>\n

Eric Eichelberger, a local filmmaker who\u2019s been vegetarian across different cities since 1994, has the hindsight of remembering what it was like before the boom of the 2010s. What\u2019s happening now is a natural correction, he said, and nothing to be overly concerned about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a fad of opening vegan restaurants. And so there became, just like anything, too many to really support the people who were vegan, vegetarian, whatever,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s now back to a reasonable amount.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Eric Eichelberger believes if you have great food and a great price point, vegan restaurants can survive.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Courtesy Eric Eichelberger<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean Eichelberger hasn\u2019t lost some of his go-tos. Real Food Daily comes to mind, but he stands by a simple truism: \u201cIf you have a great price point and you have great food, you’re going to survive.\u201d <\/p>\n

He also added that places that have maintained a hippy, punk or political approach have done better, with some spots having been around for decades. <\/p>\n

For example, he points to Studio City\u2019s Leonors Organic (which opened in 1985), and Oh Happy Day Vegan Caf\u00e9 and Grocery (in 1977), which sadly burnt down during the Altadena fires, though the owner is reportedly looking for a new location.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all these sort of vegan, Bacari-like kind of places that are closed now,\u201d he said, referring to the hip \u2014 and pricey \u2014 Silver Lake omnivore restaurant. Veggie Grill is always a dependable option, he said. (One of their locations closed in the Valley, as well.)<\/p>\n

Vegan heaven<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jacinda, who comes from Texas, is an optimist about L.A.’s vegan food scene.<\/p>\n

Jacinda, a customer care associate for a plant-based brand, has been a strict vegan for 16 years. (She declined to give her last name for personal safety reasons). Hailing from Lubbock, Texas, she\u2019s one of the optimists. \u201cL.A. is [still] vegan heaven,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As someone who likes to eat her way around town, \u201cEvery time I see one [restaurant] close, I see a new one open,\u201d she said. \u201c[To this day] I don\u2019t know how somebody could go eat at every vegan restaurant here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, every closure, like her local favorite Hijo De Su Madre, is \u201cheartbreaking,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

But what if all the restaurants did close? \u201cIt’s just not an option to change either,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will do whatever we have to do [to stay vegan]. If we have to eat beans and corn bread at home, then that’s what we’re going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supper clubs baby!<\/p>\n

Jef Travis, a hospitality professional, has been vegan since 1991, taking on the lifestyle initially as a form of rebellion against his father who insisted on taking him hunting as a kid. As prices continue to rise, Travis predicts some vegan restaurants will continue to exist, but they\u2019ll be expensive, and will exist mainly for special occasions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As produce prices continue to surge, sometimes faster than meat, due to a mix of agricultural labor shortage and escalating oil and fertilizer prices, he said things won\u2019t get any easier for restaurants.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully those costs will begin to plateau,\u201d he said, as we see more streamlined mechanized processes be implemented, and as we cross the threshold into the much-vaunted AI-driven fourth agricultural revolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Travis urged other vegans to try and stay ahead. <\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t neglect the frozen food section\u201d at your grocery store, where you can stock up on produce that\u2019s flash frozen at the peak of ripeness. That, as well as finding gathering places, \u201cSupper clubs, supper clubs, supper clubs, baby! Let’s supper-away and do it together. Let\u2019s go to the grocery store!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Leaving the lifestyle<\/p>\n

If the restaurants continue to close, Eden Gordley, an actor who started her journey toward veganism six years ago to help with sinus issues, said she might be discouraged enough to leave the lifestyle herself. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that it’s not easy to cook for yourself all the time,” she said. “It’s really hard. Anybody who is able to do that is, like, extremely privileged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI’d be discouraged to eat out {as well},\u201d she added, noting that vegan dishes at omnivore restaurants aren\u2019t really reliable options. This goes for national restaurants and fast food chains, too, not just mom and pops, who often use L.A. and similar big blue cities as test markets for specialized trends. Some dishes disappear overnight, she said, and others that find their way onto menus often aren\u2019t given much thought or intention. \u201cThey just aren\u2019t good.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s next for vegan restaurants in L.A.? Donna Jean\u2019s Elam said: \u201cThis is the one thing I noticed about L.A., is that when you’re new, they care. When they can’t have you anymore, they care. But the middle part \u2014 that\u2019s the hard part.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It always sucks when your favorite L.A. restaurant closes. Multiply that feeling tenfold if you happen to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-415105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}