The San Diego community has been awaiting the exciting day when Casa de Luz, an organic, plant-based “dining room” style restaurant with cooking classes would open. The day has come! This informative article by local writer Janice Stanger gives us the scoop on how the idea came to fruition!

Reprinted from “The Perfect Formula Diet” blog by Janice Stanger

Wayo at the Groundbreaking Event

Casa de Luz Will Be an Educational, Healing Community Dining Room

Eating out can be challenging on a whole foods, plant-based diet. Of course you can find vegan food in most restaurants, but it may well be too salty, oily, high calorie, low nutrient, and unsatisfying. This is not unique to eating plant-based. So many restaurants cater to tastes that have been warped by industrialized fast food, unhealthy school cafeterias, microwaved dinners, and packaged junk snacks.

In this landscape of undesirable choices, Casa de Luz will be a notable example of how much better we can be fed. I was excited to learn that Casa de Luz, a 20 year presence in the Austin dining out scene, will be opening in San Diego. Their dining room, in a converted Salvation Army building in the North Park area, will also feature a cooking school so you can learn to make appetizing, healthy meals at home.

I was lucky to have a chance to sample the Casa de Luz food experience at a recent Meet Up. The food is deceptively simple.

In fact, while using whole organic ingredients, our chef created an outstanding meal that I still think of with longing. The tastes are delicious, satisfying, complex, and memorable.

Far from being a restaurant, Casa de Luz in San Diego will be a dining room. Customers will sit at large round tables so they can chat with fellow diners while watching the staff chop vegetables and create savory meals in the large, open kitchen. Just observing will be a learning experience. The idea is that experiential learning is a powerful way for people to change and incorporate this healthy way of living – more powerful than a simple class would be.

Casa de Luz in Austin

Eduardo (Wayo) Longoria III, the founder of Casa de Luz in San Diego, is the son of the Austin dining room and holistic center founder. I was fortunate to talk with Wayo and learn more about why he’s starting the San Diego center and his long-term goals, which include healing both for his own serious diagnosis and for the community. Just as important, Wayo is passionate about the rich possibilities of the enjoyment of whole foods. He loves this way of eating, far more than previous routine diet choices.

Wayo’s family has been in the food business since he was a child. His Dad, originally from Nuevo Laredo, had a company called Healthy Snacks. These were packaged snacks that were less bad than the regular movie concession stand variety.  Wayo’s Dad sold the products on the honor system. People were not ready for this kind of payment and the company went out of business.

In the meantime, though, Wayo was literally a kid in a candy store – he would go to the warehouse full of these products and grab them by the handful. He was athletic and did not gain weight, but on the inside he was suffering the consequences of empty calorie choices.

Wayo had a stint at boarding school, where he also ate junk food in enormous amounts. Later he learned the restaurant business working at his family’s Burger King and Papa Johns franchises.

Wayo decided to branch out on his own and opened a seafood restaurant in Monterey, Mexico. At that point he was consuming seafood every day, for just about every meal. Instead of ending up a model of health, as the fish hype would lead you to believe, he got mercury poisoning and had to get chelation to get this destructive metal out of his body.

After getting through mercury poisoning, Wayo had an even more devastating diagnosis. He had started suffering with vertigo and numbness. He learned he had multiple sclerosis, a life-changing autoimmune disease that can lead to progressive neurological damage and sometimes even total disability.

Determined to beat his illness and get healthy, Wayo joined his family in Austin to research natural methods of combating multiple sclerosis. He discovered macrobiotics at the Austin Casa de Luz. Macrobiotics is a balanced yin-yang approach to eating that mostly relies on seasonal  whole plant foods, especially grains, beans, and vegetables. Macrobiotics is well-known as a healing diet for catastrophic diseases including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and Wayo was optimistic it would help his multiple sclerosis.

A journey to Europe to study macrobiotic cafes and work with macrobiotic chefs soon followed. Wayo learned the various schools of macrobiotic cooking and how to cook the most enjoyable foods in Amsterdam, Italy, and France. During this time he kept meticulous track of his multiple sclerosis flare-ups. He noticed these disease remissions got less frequent and milder. One year in Europe he had no flare-ups at all, despite being on no medications. He found Europeans to be accepting of healthy choices in eating out. “I felt part of a larger community there, not isolated” Wayo notes.

Still, since his Mom and cousins live in San Diego, Wayo decided to return there and start his own dining room founded on whole foods and the model his Dad is successfully following at the Casa de Luz in Austin. The Austin Casa de Luz has a loyal following of regulars based on delicious food that just happens to be healthy.

All the food will be tasty, organic, unprocessed, and nourishing. Diners will start their meals getting their own soup and salad, then runners will bring carefully designed plates of tasty food. The flavor of real unprocessed food grows on you the more you eat it. There is no menu to choose from, but you can check the restaurant’s site before going to see the food that will be served that day. If you want an add-on to the meal, there will be desserts, a juice bar, tea bar, wine, and beer, or you can buy another half plate of the main meal.

Artesanos, the cooking school, means “artisans” and is carefully named. Wayo explains that cooking is creating art work. “You are hand crafting your body. What you put in your mouth becomes you. If you eat wrong, you won’t be a masterpiece.” The cooking school is affiliated with the University of California, San Diego Center for Integrative Medicine. This innovative medical provider with sponsor some of the cooking classes for their patients, along with other alternate approaches to healing, such as acupuncture and meditation.

The parent company of Casa de Luz in San Diego is Commitment to Health, LLC. Everyone who works in the dining room will commit to their own health. Wayo finds potential employees are very open to this. While they can eat any way they want, they need to commit to eating healthier and making progress toward a whole foods, plant based diet.

Casa de Luz will open in San Diego most likely at end of November or early December 2011. Check their Facebook page for progress. Wayo is working on the final construction and hiring of the rest of the staff. He is so excited that he is once again like a kid in a candy store, but this time the “candy” is healthy, organic, and truly delicious for the educated palate. Casa de Luz will be a destination center for anyone interested in enjoyably nourishing their body while enjoying the best food on earth.

Most importantly, diners will learn they do not have to choose between taste and health. In fact, for the quality of food that the dining room will serve, taste and health complement each other. I hope Wayo clones Casa de Luz to many more cities.

If you enjoyed this post, you might want to read Twelve Ways to Make Cooking Fun and Easy.

Intrigued? Now you can use our Whole Foods Blog Finder to target informative, fun postings on whole foods, plant-based nutrition. Quick information at no cost!

Blog posting by Janice Stanger, Ph.D. Janice authored The Perfect Formula Diet: How to Lose Weight and Get Healthy Now With Six Kinds of Whole Foods. This easy-to-follow eating plan is built on whole foods, plant-based diet that can prevent, and even reverse, most chronic disease as well as get you to your perfect weight. Janice expects Casa de Luz will quickly become her favorite San Diego dining room.

Photo by Peace Pies

Today was so worth a stroll around the sunny Little Italy Farmer’s Market in San Diego. One of the first stops was the Peace Pies table, full of healthy raw, vegan, gluten-free and organic (what more could you want?) treats. They are still  fixing up their Ocean Beach location which had a fire, and are celebrating the recent opening of their second location in Encinitas at 133 Daphne Street, where the Greenery used to be. It’s open Tues.-Sat. from 11 am – 4 pm.

I couldn’t miss the Majestic Garlic table for some nutritious spread (made in many flavors) for sandwiches, dipping crackers,  and various other culinary uses. Today I crammed the basil flavor into my bag with an avocado, fresh chard, and oranges. Next I was called to sample a dip called Bitchin’ Sauce, which is fortunately vegan, gluten-free, and almond-based.  The vendor constantly used the “B” word, which was a bit amusing, and the product was tasty.

Blissful Bites Book!

The final and favorite stop was to see my friend Christy Morgan, aka the Blissful Chef, who was giving a cooking demo with samples such as Mac N’ Kale Salad, a cheesy kale salad using nutritional yeast. Morgan was also selling her new book, Blissful Bites.

Helping her out was Eduardo Longoria, who will soon be opening a Casa de Luz restaurant in San Diego’s North Park, stemming from the Austin macrobiotic center of the same name. Casa de Luz San Diego will be collaborating with doctors from the University of California Center for Integrative Medicine, offering cooking classes. Stay tuned for an article on Casa de Luz, set to open by November. Longoria is also the leader of the San Diego Whole Food Plant Based Diet, Macrobiotic Cooking meetup group which looks like much fun for folks who love to prepare healthy foods. Also helping Morgan was Longoria’s amigo Efrem Nicolau, a macrobiotic cook from France/Spain, who is spending a few months in San Diego to help get Casa de Luz off the ground.

I thought I was just buying vegetables, but I came home full of inspiration!

Christy Morgan, also known as The Blissful Chef and versed in macrobiotic cuisine, is in Thailand working on a Southeast Asian vegan cookbook. To keep up with her journey, subscribe to The Blissful Chef blog and become a fan on Facebook.  Let’s also travel vicariously through Morgan. Check out this post reprinted from her blog, which includes a sweet Indonesian recipe!

Recipe development is underway here in Thailand. The last couple of days I’ve been experimenting with Indonesian cooking. Since I haven’t been there yet I had to do a lot of research, reading Wikipedia to find out what the cuisine is like, what spices, vegetables, etc are commonly used. I looked through recipes online and found that Semur is a common technique served at home for your family. Semur means a rich stew or gravy made with sweet soy sauce, which is usually cooked for hours. But who has time for that! This rich stew is usually made with chicken, veal tongue or beef (Gross!). I made a healthier, simple quick version with tofu with a touch of coconut milk for added richness.

Even after a few days of testing I’ve realized that SEA food is pretty rich and uses a lot of oil (hope I don’t gain a ton of weight!). If you want to cut down the oil in this recipe then do not fry the tofu first. Make sure you get extra firm tofu that isn’t soaking in water. Trader Joe’s or the brand Wildwood are best for stir-fry and stews. If you make the stew without oil be sure to saute the onion, garlic and ginger with 1/4 cup water and add the tofu in after that.

Tofu in Sweet Soy Gravy (Semur Tahu)
Makes 3 servings

2 tablespoons oil
1 (14 ounce) package extra firm tofu, cut in 1 inch cubes
1 cup onion, half moon
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 cup tomato, sliced into thin wedges
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons coconut palm sugar (or any granulated sugar)

Heat oil in wok over medium flame and brown tofu pieces; set aside. In same wok sauté onion, garlic and ginger until brown. Add water as needed to deglaze the pan if it sticks. Add in nutmeg, pepper and tomatoes with 1/3 cup water and simmer for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Add the tofu and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove lid and simmer until the liquid is reduced and thickens, stirring occasionally. Serve with rice.

Christy Morgan

In almost 20 years of being vegan I have not heard much about the diet being combined with macrobiotics, so perhaps Los Angeles’ lovely Christy Morgan — aka The Blissful Chef — has created a niche for herself. With seven years of experience being vegan plus training in vegan and vegetarian cooking she received at The Natural Epicurean Academy of Culinary Arts, Morgan helps people create a holistic approach that combines the body, spirit and mind while focusing on vegan nutrition.

In her highly informative and friendly style, Morgan outlines her 10 favorite macrobiotic websites on her blog.

Her new eCookbook, “Cooking with the Seasons – Spring Edition:  A Blissful Selection of Seasonal Recipes to Nourish You Throughout Spring” gives details on the 5 Element theory and has a beautiful chart that explains which foods and cooking methods are best for this time of year.

Morgan says that to work toward a balanced life, we need to clean our bodies by giving up “sugar, coffee, simple carbs, alcohol, animal foods and other nasty stuff for a good amount of time.”

So why not do an inner spring cleaning and substitute those toxic things with the healthy and tantalizing 19 recipes in Morgan’s eCookbook?  I cannot wait to try Soba Noodles with Basil Pecan Pesto – yum, or salsa that includes Granny Smith apples.  Not to mention a Green Spring Casserole recipe that adds in crimini mushrooms, almond milk and other ingredients that may inspire longtime vegans to find new ways to consume the leafy greens much-touted for their nutritional value. Morgan’s knowledge of vegan nutrition shines through; interested folks should definitely get a copy of this enlightening eCookbook.

Brilliant Broccoli

The veggie movement is growing fast, with numerous innovative people making their mark, and I wanted to point out a few businesses in L.A. specializing in preparing and delivering vegan cuisine, as well as educating others.

One such creative person is Christy Morgan and her business called The Blissful Chef. They prepare vegan macrobiotic food for eco-friendly Los Angeles celebrities, and air cooking videos. In addition they hold vegan cooking classes and private consultations. Learn how to prepare  weekend brunches (crepes without egg or dairy are not something vegans find every day!) or tempeh, the healthy protein-rich soyfood. Meal delivery is another part of the Blissful Chef’s service.

Also in Southern California is an affordable weekly meal delivery service called Vegin’ Out and owned by two brothers. Each week they’ll deliver 9-10 meals to your home or office – if you live outside the greater L.A. region, they can ship next day. The food is about 75% organic. Doesn’t the Ziti Bolognese — using tofu instead of ground beef — sound amazing, with a White Bean Salad, followed by Orange Chocolate Chip cookies? Vegin’ Out also caters events.

There seems to be a trend in sibling-owned vegan businesses in L.A. Spork Foods, run by a couple of sisters, also offers catering, and gives cooking classes on gluten-free recipes, aphrodisiac cuisine, and homemade pizza, among others. I would probably drive from San Diego for The Grilled Portobello, Spinach, and Pine Nut Cheese Pizza on a Spelt Crust! With a focus on local, organic and seasonal foods, Spork also does food consultations, so if you are new to veggie food and need someone to help shop and replace your pantry with healthy goods like nutritional yeast, spelt flour, coconut water and such, call Spork Foods.

Salad Time

For L.A. restaurants serving vegetarian or vegan cuisine, a comprehensive listing can be found at the Vegetarians in Paradise site, along with information on L.A. vegetarian events and natural foods stores.

Photos by Jeremy Pearl.

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by Paige Newman and Jon Charles Newman, Exclusive to VegDining.com

The Los Angeles area is huge, and since it is a greatly international region, you can find numerous vegetarian choices – everything from Mexican eateries and Thai vegan restaurants to farmer’s markets and dozens of health food stores.

The ecologically-friendly coastal city of Santa Monica is a good place to start, boasting many veg-friendly restaurants. Always popular is the all-vegan Real Food Daily. Interim Café (formerly Newsroom Café) has meat-free chili, tofu burgers and more, while Juliano’s Raw serves unique items like zucchini fries and avocado soup and is run by a raw food pioneer, Juliano.

In ritzy Brentwood, A Votre Sante is a nice bright place, offering several vegetarian items from falafels to tostadas.

On hip Melrose Avenue, M Café de Chaya is full of vegan options with a macrobiotic focus, including shiitake avocado rolls and homemade desserts. Or you can find deliciously handmade ice creams, including smooth vegan flavors like pistachio lemon and maple at nearby Scoops on N. Heliotrope at Melrose Avenue.

If you are in the Westwood area catching a movie, Native Foods has wonderful, big portions.

Braving the traffic from West L.A. to the less culturally inspiring San Fernando Valley might be worth it for the many vegetarian options.

Follow Your Heart (the makers of a favorite type of vegan cheese) in Canoga Park is a classic, with veggie pizzas, burgers and other sandwiches, and an adjacent natural foods store.

In Tarzana is the exquisite Madeleine Bistro, a fine dining experience that just happens to be all-vegan. The menu changes seasonally, but one can mention the chicken-fried seitan or portabella steak. The desserts must be sampled too.

Also in Tarzana is Vegan Factory, one of the many Thai-vegan places to open recently in the broader L.A. area that features all the standard Thai dishes, which can be ordered with tofu or a variety of faux meats. Try the yellow curry or the prik king (green beans and your choice of “meat” and chili).

In Studio City, tucked in a corner of a tiny nondescript strip mall is Leonor’s, serving predominantly Mexican dishes, but also a variety of sandwiches and surprisingly good soy cheese pizza. Check out the many “chicken” dishes (tacos, enchiladas, tamales, etc.) for a start.

To really get a feel for the wealth of veggie choices L.A. has to offer, one would definitely need a car, a comfortable budget and many free days to explore.

Paige Newman was raised in Los Angeles but now resides in San Diego. She is a longtime vegan and writer of veg-friendly travel articles.

Jon Charles Newman, Paige’s cousin, is a lifelong musician and resident of L.A. who has gradually gone vegetarian over the last several years.

This article was originally printed in VegDining.com. Photos Courtesy of Paige Newman.