As LA foodies we are a huge fan of the West Hollywood restaurant Crossroads Kitchen. Tal Ronnen, the head chef, is known for his high quality, gourmet, vegan food. When Ronnen founded his plant-based dairy brand, Kite Hill, we knew it would going to be something special.
Kite Hill always uses the highest quality, simplest ingredients. Unlike many non-dairy yogurt/cheese companies, Kite Hill contains all real ingredients. They use traditional dairy processes, but substitute almond milk for animal milk. Kite Hill is always coming out with new products, and recently released their yogurt pops (which are a major throwback to Go-Gurt!)
Spoon USC was invited to attend the release event at Crossroads, whose menu is filled with Kite Hill’s cheeses and yogurts. We were so excited to have the opportunity to enjoy Ronnen’s food IRL. We got to sample foods made with all of Kite Hill’s products, which were all were amazing.
Ricotta
First we started with Crossroads’ famous “Chicken” and Ricotta Waffles which tasted just like the real thing. We also had the Ricotta Tartine with Peaches which reminded us so much of travels in Europe. The ricotta is even delicious in pasta dishes or mixed into a greek salad.
Cream Cheese
Next we constructed an amazing sandwich with a mini toasted bagel, Kite Hill cream cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes and carrot “lox.” Then we got creative and made a childhood favorite of apples with cream cheese and maple syrup. This cream cheese has the PERFECT texture; it might just be our favorite product.
Yogurt
Lastly we tried the star product of the day: the yogurt. We could not stop eating the blueberry yogurt with homemade granola. It was the perfect level of sweet, and we love how many flavors they offer. Next time we’re at Erewhon (our favorite grocery store/second home), we’re going to pick up Kite Hill’s greek-style yogurt, which has 11g of plant protein! The kid’s yogurt pops were also delicious, and made us totally jealous that we didn’t have vegan yogurt pops growing up.
At the end of the event Rob Leibowitz, the CEO of Kite Hill, came to speak about the company and their mission. Kite Hill’s main priorities are taste, using limited ingredient, and convenience. They’ve created their new products out of consumer demand, so if there is a dairy product that you’re really missing- shoot them an email!
While Kite Hill has made eating delicious dairy-free options SO convenient, the event also inspired us to want to do some cooking of our own. We scoped out Kite Hill’s instagram and Crossroads’ online menu, and we’re already putting together a shopping list for what we need to buy (the charred ricotta with peach thyme glaze and grilled sourdough is really calling out our name.) Fortunately, Kite Hill is available at so many stores across the nation. Check out the full list here!
