Ridgecrest? Where’s that? It’s in the middle of the desert north of the Lancaster/Palmdale area. Chances are, it won’t be your destination, but you might pass through one day. Minus being in the middle of nowhere, it actually is a pretty quaint town.
My mom, sister, and I stopped for lunch to visit a relative on our road trip. Ridgecrest doesn’t have a lot to offer vegans, but we can still find things at certain types of restaurants (Asian being fairly easy for vegans). Miso Sushi seemed like a great place for us to find at least an avocado roll, but we actually found quite a bit more.
We all opted for the special that includes your choice of 2 items ($12.95) or 3 items ($14.95) from a list of foods (they have a vegetarian section). Our first item was the Tofu-Avocado Salad which was so good! The tofu was so perfectly fried. I asked the waitress if any of these items used any egg or dairy and she tried to ask the chefs in back. While she was pretty sure there was no egg used, she said the chefs only spoke Spanish so there was a chance there was a mis-communication. From what I’ve seen in other Japanese restaurants, I don’t see a lot of egg being used on the tempura-style tofu, so I took my chances. If you’re more conservative in your vegan eating, you might want to learn some Spanish before ordering this.
Tofu-Avocado Salad
The second item was some Agedashi Tofu. Again, I asked about the egg in the batter around the tofu, but didn’t ask about the sauce (dumb, dumb). I didn’t even think to ask if there was anything in it, but have read Japanese restaurants might make it with fish dashi. If it is, you can always just opt to use soy sauce. I wouldn’t order this one again, though, so the sauce is no longer my concern. I thought the batter was a little gummy (not like the tofu in the salad).
Agedashi Tofu
And our third item was an Avocado Roll. This is your standard roll, but was really good. I love it when the avocado is so soft and creamy! Yum!
Avocado Roll
My sister didn’t want the avocado roll and instead got the Seaweed Salad. I didn’t try this, but she said she liked it.
Seaweed Salad
For lunch, this was a lot of food (even for dinner!). If passing through Ridgecrest, definitely hit up Miso Sushi. ”But I’m staying in Southern California and never going to these random places!!” Well, this is the last post in the mini-road trip series. Thanks for reading! I’ll get back to local stuff in the next post.
