Enjoy vegan food with a rock music twist at this Calabasas restaurant

Crossroads Kitchen is a vegan sanctuary, with a branch of Barney’s Gourmet Hamburgers on one side and King’s Fish House on the other.

Its “veganosity” is so well established after a decade on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood, the menu doesn’t even bother to proclaim its meatlessness. The slabs on the Cheese Plate are identified as “Camembert-Bleu” and “Boursin,” even though they’re cobbled together from curious things done to nutmeats. Ditto the whipped feta and bleu cheese with the poached pear. And, of course, the pepperoni and sausage on the pizza come not from the backyard.

Chef and owner Tal Ronnen has mastered his art with such evangelical zeal, reading through his cookbook (sold at the front desk) is to study a work of inspiration and holy study.

His food has come so far from the meat substitutes of an earlier time, they’re in a wholly different realm of edibility. The early meat substitutes were barely worth spitting in your napkin. Ronnen’s food is worthy of taking home to share with skeptics.

His Calabasas branch, on the eastern edge of The Commons, is a bit of a cultural curiosity. The cooking may be Zen, but the setting is upscale rock ’n’ roll. You’re greeted by a massive photograph of Mick Jagger in mid-“Satisfaction” as you enter. There’s also Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks and Carlos Santana.

Their soundtracks fill the air. During my salad alone, I heard “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “Dancing in the Streets” and “Rockin’ Robin.” And yet, as a bit of cognitive dissonance, there are spotless tablecloths on which to make a mess eating your meatless lasagna Bolognese. There are contradictions at every turn.

Vegan restaurants have been (admittedly stereotypically) the land of the Birkenstock people and the Woven in Cuzco Legions of the Righteous. Though I’ve never owned a pair of Birkies, I’ve spent time in Mendocino and upcountry Kauai. And I can testify that the local cannabis farmers do not end their days with cocktails with names like Pearadise City, Hollywood Babylon and Pretty Fly for a Mai Tai. Though Health-Ade Pomegranate Kombucha may be known to them. Or not.

And indeed, the folks sipping on $250 bottles of Far Niente Cabernet at Crossroads are a well-dressed coterie of locals who have opted to pass on a feed of critters for at least one meal.

Indeed, thinking of the food here as vegan – as if it were something a bit … odd – is a mistake from times long gone. This is just good food. It’s tasty. It makes your mouth and your tummy happy. Fried olives are fried olives, no matter what. Ditto roasted acorn squash and roasted cauliflower and braised leek and truffle potatoes. Crossroads demands we put our old school labels in cold storage.

I, for one, would be perfectly happy if nothing on the menu were a faux animal protein. The nut-cheese filling in the stuffed zucchini blossoms make this an essential dish. I like chestnuts, always have – which is why I adore the chestnut foie gras with grapes and grilled sourdough. That it pretends to be foie gras isn’t necessary for my appreciation.

The pastas – spaghetti carbonara, spicy rigatoni vodka, porcini and cauliflower ravioli and more (including the fettuccine & truffles, real truffles!) – are finely turned pastas. It’s a reminder that a well-sauced dish doesn’t need meat to make it come to life. Linguine lives all by itself.

Not surprisingly, the salads are exceptional – which I’ve found to be rarer in vegan restaurants than you might think. I especially like the salad of baby beets with citrus, toasted pistachios, vegan feta and balsamic dressing, simply because I’ve always had a jones for beets. A meal of beets brings me back to my lost youth, sitting in the kitchen watching my mother’s hands turn blood red as she peeled them.

Come for brunch, and there are eggless scrambled eggs with meatless bacon and breakfast sausages, but with real fruit and avocado. And genuine potato rosti. There are chicken and waffles that I have never seen in a henhouse.

There are perfectly good pancakes, though they don’t seem as much of a culinary challenge as the other dishes. Pancakes are mostly vegan, most of the time.

For dinner, there’s a dish called Heirloom Butter Beans, which puzzles me; I didn’t know legumes were “heirloomish.” I do need to come back for the eggplant short ribs with foraged mushrooms. And some dark chocolate coffee tart for dessert.

Maybe the soundtrack will include a little Dylan. “Forever Young” could be a theme for this particular Crossroads.

Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email [email protected].

Crossroads Kitchen

• Rating: 3 stars
• Address: The Commons at Calabasas, 4776 Commons Way, Calabasas
• Information: 747-230-4210, www.crossroadscalabasas.com
• Cuisine: Upscale California Vegan
• When: Lunch and dinner, everyday; brunch weekends
• Details: Full bar; reservations essential
• Atmosphere: Situated in between a thriving burger joint and a packed fish house, this branch of a longtime vegan on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood offers uniquely conceived meatless dishes in a setting that’s both sedate and rock ’n’ roll at the same time – with framed rocker portraits everywhere, and a soundtrack of greatest hits.
• Prices: About $50 per person
• On the menu: 8 Appetizers ($16-$18), 3 Pizzas ($23-$24), 4 Salads ($16), 8 House-made Pastas ($24-$26), 5 Meatless Proteins ($16-$24), 5 Sides ($13-$16), 5 Brunch Dishes ($18-$22), 4 Desserts ($8-$14), 2 Tasting Menus ($135 and $175)
• Credit cards: MC, V
• What the stars mean: 4 (World class! Worth a trip from anywhere!), 3 (Most excellent, even exceptional. Worth a trip from anywhere in Southern California.), 2 (A good place to go for a meal. Worth a trip from anywhere in the neighborhood.) 1 (If you’re hungry, and it’s nearby, but don’t get stuck in traffic going.) 0 (Honestly, not worth writing about.)