If you’re a West Hollywood local, odds are that you’ve passed the unassuming Vegan Glory on the way to pick up smokes, replacement light bulbs, or dry cleaning from the surrounding shops at Beverly and Orlando. Inside it’s small but airy with well-considered lighting and decor, and their location at the corner of the lot means more natural lighting than one might expect. Their energetic interior belies their faded facade; they fit the visual profile of a classic LA strip mall gem.
I typically start my order with the freshy rolls. Each roll is filled with rice noodles, bean sprouts, mint, a strip of soy chicken and a cornucopia of finely-shredded romaine straining the rice paper just shy of its breaking point. Most similar rolls I’ve eaten over the years have emphasized either Thai basil, tofu, or some form of rice noodle as the hero. What could be more gloriously vegan than defiantly serving a lettuce-forward appetizer1? The lettuce offers textural interest against the spongy soy chicken and bouncy noodles. It cuts a refreshing path through the sweet hoisin-based sauce that it comes with, and proves to be a neutral canvas for the smaller tub of sweet and hot chili sauce.
The thom kha with veggies is on the tangy side, very lemongrass-forward, which I generally like. The galangal pops as well; you might find yourself biting into a thick plank of it by happy accident and staying a while. It’s not as heavy on the coconut milk as other thom kha renditions I’ve loved, but it slots in nicely alongside their selection of light and aromatic offerings.
The yellow curry is nutty, mellow and sweet, with rustic-cut potatoes, carrots and onions. It comes with a brown-and-purple rice that has become an instant favorite. Their pad see ew on the other hand is bold and funky. There’s a very mild sichuan-esque numbing effect that pairs well with the coarsely minced garlic. The fried tofu has a delightfully absorbent crust to soak up the brown sauce, and the broad rice noodles have a nice sear on them. Other dishes to try include their flaky and peppery egg rolls, fiery panang curry and delicate seitan ‘chicken’ satay.
Vegan Glory also offers a somewhat discombobulating range of dishes that are very much not southeast Asian; these I haven’t yet tried and can’t speak to. However, on principle I consider vegan joints with dissonant menus more daring than the buzzy fusion spots that foodie mags might slap with labels like ‘brave’ and ‘important’. It speaks to the trust that I have in Vegan Glory’s consistently high-quality fare that I might someday be persuaded to order a ‘crispy chicken cowboy sauce’ wrap from a largely Thai menu. I would consider this wrap to be brave and important because it might be the only vegan ‘crispy chicken cowboy sauce’ wrap in the city – – or the world, for that matter. We’re privileged to live in a city that has some real wonders to explore, but to be a vegan diner is to live in a perpetual food desert. When we do come across an oasis it can be a rare treat to find a broad menu that bears exploration; as a result I expect that our community is more inclined than most to crafting and enjoying untethered menu concepts.
At a time when many vegan restaurants are struggling to stay open, it should be appreciated how spots like this are finding their own way by serving up quality Thai standards alongside Mexican-American classics and freewheeling experiments. Not all who wander are lost; Vegan Glory’s eclectic menu reflects a culture of scrappiness and ingenuity in the vegan community that deserves its due.
- Ironically, the last dish I recall eating that was this lettuce-forward was a burger at The Apple Pan. The method they use to take a divot out of a head of iceberg lettuce, a sort of grab-and twist motion, is legendary and ought to be replicated by a good vegan burger joint. Some folks like a rehearsed teppanyaki performance while they wait for their meal; I’d be happy just to watch a head of lettuce get roughed up a bit. ↩︎
