Walking into Jewel, a new vibrant, inviting, and hip vegetarian restaurant, you immediately feel welcomed. Manager Sharkey McGee and Executive Chef Jasmine Shimoda dreamed of opening an affordable, plant-based casual dining spot in or near Sliver Lake. They took over their friend Coly Den Haan's Hot Hot Food and revamped the restaurant into a new concept, Jewel.
Jewel’s exterior features an appealing floral mural by Chef Shimoda’s brother, Danny Shimoda, and macramé hanging plants near the entrance.
Inside are cool blues and pastel colors offering a pop of creativity. A jukebox is in the entry, and a pastry cabinet is filled with appealing vegan donuts and pastries.
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Chef Shimoda isn’t hyper-focused in serving only vegan-forward dishes, she is happy to add an egg or two to any dish upon a customer’s request. Her goal is to separate Jewel from other health food restaurants in the area. No one will ask you to make any affirmations or say ‘namaste,’ but instead prepare seasonal, local, and sustainable plant-based food without sacrificing flavors.
Shimoda is a talented chef working with Masaharu Morimoto, David Waltuck, April Bloomfield and George Mendes. Her partner McGee is a hospitality dynamo, managing for Jean-Georges Culinary Concepts in Atlanta and New York, and Pastis in New York City before joining Gjelina in Venice. Together these ladies make quite a team at Jewel.
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Here's what to order:
Breakfast dishes include breakfast burritos and overnight oats made with almond “mylk” and chia seeds. They also make three different types of toast served on multigrain or sub gluten free seed bread. The L.G.B.T is visually spectacular toast offering a rainbow of colors made from lettuce, guacamole, tempeh bacon, and cut heirloom tomatoes.
For lunch be sure to order the colorful avocado toast with a cashew-herb spread topped with house pickles, and puffed quinoa togarashi. Hearty sandwiches include the LAPhil that is a vegan take on a Philly cheese steak. It’s made with braised yuba sheets, shiitake, romaine, caramelized onion, pickled jalapeño, cashew fondú, all rolled into a whole wheat wrap.
Burger fans may discover that they like The Impossible Burger better than a real beef burger. It’s topped with grilled red onion, heirloom tomato, romaine, and a slightly spicy, beet enhanced 1000 island-style dressing.
What makes the pizzas at Jewel visually attractive is the activated-charcoal crust. The Black Diamond pizza is gluten-free. It’s topped with heirloom tomato slices, and spinach-artichoke ‘cheese.’
They also make a Jewel Box that starts with either brown rice or sweet potato. It’s then layered with avocado, black beans, garlicky greens, turmeric tofu, pickles, raw veggies, amaranth-pumpkin crunch, miso ginger sauce.
For dessert the Ebony + Ivory is a healthy sweet treat. It’s a chia pudding made with cashew milk, date, cacao, vanilla, berries, and delightful buckwheat crisps for texture and crunch. This is also a great breakfast dish.
Save room for a maple donut topped with coconut “bacon”, or a red velvet donut, strawberry donut, matcha donut or churro. Since they are made with plant based ingredients, enjoying these sweet treats didn’t leave an unpleasant film on the roof of my mouth.
Looking for a new dining destination for healthy and sophisticated plates for breakfast and lunch? Jewel sparkles and shines in Los Angeles.
The restaurant opens on Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On the weekends it opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m. $ 654 N. Hoover St. (323)522-6927.
