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Hugo's Introduces Vegan Mac & Cheese
Hugo's Vegan Mac & Cheese ($7.50) | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
There's no question about it. Hugo's Restaurant (you may know them for their taco stands) has some of the best mac and cheese in town (fusilli in a creamy combination of Cheddar, Gorgonzola, and Parmesan cheese baked crispy for $12.95). So when they introduced a vegan mac and cheese special ($7.50) for the month of February, it had to be tried.
The dish is made of fusilli pasta is mixed with diced onions, garlic, sliced mushrooms and sweet peas in a homemade cashew cheese cause, topped with a crispy potato crumb crust. Vegan blogger Quarrygirl was "floored" by it and others seem to agree.
From a non-vegan standpoint, however, it was decent. And as one Quarrygirl commenter noted, it was "more like a casserole than mac & cheese." The cheese sauce, which needed to be thicker, lacked the essence of cheese and felt more like a light cream. The vegetables are a nice gesture, but are more distracting than anything. This is a good step in the interminable quest to master vegan cheese and Hugo's should hold on to the menu item, both for their vegan customers and in an effort to perfect the recipe (we have faith they can).
Hugo's boasts a number of high quality meat and vegan dishes alike (try their veggie burger). You can find them in Studio City and West Hollywood. Their taco stands are in Sherman Oaks and Atwater Village.
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