Vegan Dinner at the Breadbar with Kim Barnouin of SkinnyBitch

My girlfriends had been talking about it, I had heard whisperings about it here and there, and it had reached #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. What is this you ask? Well SkinnyBitch of course! Well, not quite of course. I'll be honest, with the little free time that I do have, I have very little time to read, and when I do decide to pick up a novel here and there, it is not a diet/nutrition book (however, recently I have taken to historical fiction).

Because of BreadBar's immense success with Ludo Bites, I decided to check out their calendar for any interesting upcoming events. I saw that Kim Barnouin was hosting a SkinnyBitch dinner. That evening I mentioned the dinner to my friend Erin and she jumped on the opportunity to go. I still had not read the book myself. Then, days before the event I decided that, in the off chance that I got the opportunity to speak to Kim Barnouin herself, I probably should read the book. So Sunday night I cuddled up on the couch and learned everything I needed to know about the "crap" we put in our bodies. The book was actually very good, a quick and easy read and full of interesting little tidbits on how to live a healthier life. No crazy diet plans, just information that is simply based on common sense. I was officially ready to be a SkinnyBitch.


The dinner this evening was a 7 course vegan feast, specially approved by the SkinnyBitch herself, and prepared by Chef Nori. The meal began with a watermelon gazpacho with tapioca pearls. When this came out it looked like a fabulous pink champagne cocktail. Now that's the way to start an evening! Unfortunately, we took our first sip and it tasted like tomato soup - not champagne -- darn! After getting over the disappointment of our first course not being champagne, the gazpacho itself was actually quite good. It was refreshing, flavorful and nicely complimented by the texture of the tapioca pearls.

The meal itself consisted of broccolini bruchette with kimchi; eggplant caviar; ginger and scallion marinated tofu with seaweed salad and white sesame vinaigrette; kobucha squash soup with asian pear, fried chickpea and thai basil pesto and red curry with quinoa and soy tzatziki.


Every element of the meal was so unique and full of flavor. My favorite was the tofu with the seaweed salad. The tofu was fried and had a great crunchy outside with a soft silky center and was complimented with the salty seaweed salad and the creamy and nutty seasame vinaigrette. To top it all off, the entire meal was incredibly filling, and we still had dessert!

For dessert we were served a warm mole chocolate risotto and avocado chocolate mousse. The avocado chocolate mousse was amazing. There was no hint of avocado, just purely decadent and creamy chocolate goodness. I could have eaten a whole bowl of that mousse!

Overall the meal was a complete success. I was amazed at how flavorful, diverse and filling a vegan meal could be. After reading the book, and experiencing such a great meal, I decided to try and incorporate some of what I had learned into my everyday life. An overall "cleaner" lifestyle. No more refined sugar, *less* coffee, more organic foods, less meat, and I have to be able to read all the ingredients on the foods that I buy. That is all that i'm committing to now, baby steps.

Oh yes, and Kim did sent us each off with a to-go package of homemade vegan chocolate chip cookies, recipe included! They made the perfect post lunch dessert at work the following day! Thank you Kim!

Breadbar - Century City
10250 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90067
310 277 3770