Au Lac is a vegan Asian restaurant in DTLA on 1st Street near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Here are my reviews of the menu items I’ve tried. Photos available on Yelp.
Ito Burrito. 5/5. An amazing raw bean burrito. Wins points for originality.
Salt & Peppered Yam shrimp. 4.5/5. Excellent. Crispy outside; springy, meaty inside. Full of umami flavor. Thinly slivered jalapeños give it a nice kick.
Curried rice. 4.5/5. Raw wild rice with vegetables in macadamia sauce. I love it. Some people may find it a little weird tasting.
Green pyramid. 4.5/5 Raw wild rice with vegetables in Thai pesto sauce. See previous entry.
Lemongrass fish. 4.5/5. Great. Crispy outside; chewy, pressed-yuba-like texture inside, with good umami and seaweed flavor. A little salty.
Baklava. 4.5/5. Raw baklava. Extremely sweet and rich; still very good.
Cali roll. 4/5. A vegetable roll that looks reminiscent of Japanese maki. No rice. Satisfying, super-healthy.
Octopus. 4/5. This is something akin to General Tso’s shiitake mushroom with a vegan batter. The shiitake mushrooms are crispy and very chewy (probably the origin for its name). They are coated in thick, sweet, umami-rich sauce and served with forbidden rice. Maybe the most unhealthy thing on the menu. This would probably be some people’s favorite dish.
Mad flax. 4/5. Flax chips with macadamia spread. Good. The flax chips have good texture and flavor and surpass many flatbreads at high-end restaurants.
Tiramisu. 4/5. Not as good as the real thing, but still pretty darn good.
Crimini pesto. 3.5/5. Stuffed crimini mushrooms. Unmemorable.
Sweet and spicy tempeh. 3/5. Too sweet, not very spicy, not very interesting.
Eggrolls. 3/5. These were basic and did nothing for me.
Pho. 2.5/5. Pointless.
Cheesy lime popcorn. 2/5. Silly. I sprinkle nutritional yeast on popcorn at home; I don’t need a restaurant to do it for me. And I prefer it without the lime zest.
I’ve had several other items on the menu, but I don’t remember them, so I won’t review them. They must not have been very good.