27 Jan Childhood Classics Redone – Vegan! Spontanea Pop-Up Dinners – Santa Ana, CA
This past weekend, Chris and I had a food adventure and visited eLOVate in Santa Monica followed by the Spontanea Pop Up Dinner in Santa Ana hosted by Hannah McNeely, Briana Maxson and Evan Oliver. These three ladies put together a vegan 5-6 course pop-up dinner each month (different every time) in order to bring together the community, share their love for plant-based foods & super delicious food that non-vegans are attracted to. The 5-6 course Spontanea pop-up dinner is only $40/person, which also includes a complimentary glass of wine or {non alcoholic} kombucha; additional glasses are available for purchase 🙂
This month’s theme was Childhood Classics Redone – Vegan!
They are focused on spreading the message that you don’t have to support violent industries in order to have an amazing five-course meal! Almost all of the ingredients were organic (90% to be exact), and everything was made with love 🙂 If you are looking for mouth watering vegan food and good conversations with like-minded people, this is for you!
You don’t have to be vegan to attend the event, and you can come alone if you want, it is a great place to mingle! They assign you a seat so there is no awkwardness when finding a place to sit for the dinner as well. Chris and I were placed at the perfect table, we had great conversations with those we were sitting with, talking of travels, work experiences, granting advice to one another about similar situations in our lives.
Currently, kids are not allowed to attend the event BUT there will be future events that will accommodate, stay tuned!
Check out photos on instagram here: #spontaneadinner
Contact for info & tickets: spontaneadinner@gmail.com
Homemade kombucha!
Nothing like what I have made in my own home, I need to know their secrets! The price of the dinner included one glass of kombucha or wine, so I opted for the strawberry booch 🙂
Image via Hannah McNeely
Plants on a log, not ants!
These were served for an appetizer on the tables prior to dinner 🙂 Celery, unsweetened peanut butter and raisins!
Cafeteria salad
Ice berg lettuce, tomato, red onion, vegan bacon bits, and a house made blue cheese dressing. Somehow they got the dressing into each layer, so there was a bit of each salad component in each bite. I really enjoyed that it was served in a wedge, nothing like I have ever had, but it as a great presentation and looked like a flower on a plate!
Buffalo cauliflower
Cauliflower battered in coconut milk and flour, baked, then tossed in a vegan buffalo sauce made with frank’s, earth balance, and spices. Served with a side of celery and a drizzle of ranch. These were SO good! Buffalo wings were one of our go-to easy meals in our home, take out happened frequently throughout the week. I remember my mom and I used to always share a box to ourselves with ranch, hold the celery. To be able to provide my mom with that option once again, but in a healthier, plant-based, cruelty-free form brings a smile to my face 🙂 I wish she could have been here to try them.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Tomato and coconut milk bisque, grilled cheese with follow your heart vegan cheddar . I never grew up eating this dish as a kid, so it was not as nostalgic to me as it was to most, but I wish I did! This was the first time I had eaten a grilled cheese in years and it was everything I remembered it to be. How anyone could NOT give up cheese…I don’t know.
Mac n’ cheese (oil free!)
Elbow noodles tossed in a cheesy, potato based sauce with topped with salt and cracked pepper. These all came in individual mini skillets, they were the cutest!
Image via Hannah McNeely
Ice cream sandwiches
Dreamy rice milk ice cream, sandwiched in between two of their house made chocolate chip cookies. These were a bit crunchier than my liking, but the flavor made up for that! Cookie ice cream sandwiches were one of my favorite things to get from the ice cream truck growing up (unfortunately), so it was nice to be brought back to this memory but in cruelty-free form 😉 
Image via Mackenzie Hussman
The tables were set with coloring pages, colored pencils and crayons, perfect for reliving our childhood! Here is my table and our completed pages!
Please send an email to spontaneadinner@gmail.com to get more information on the event, and to reserve your seats!
Mackenzie
Posted at 09:44h, 04 FebruaryGreat review!! We had such a good night with everyone at our table. We’ll definitely be back again 🙂 And hopefully see you and Chris around again!
Jasmine Briones
Posted at 10:26h, 05 FebruaryThank you for visiting my page! It means a lot 🙂 We all definitely need to get together soon <3