- This is some of the
best macaroni and cheese
I've ever had in my life hands down.
- I'm getting some, like, serial killer
vibes of this honestly.
The way that you've made these rows.
- Hello everybody its your girl Merle
and today I'm going to be having
my friend Q on the show.
Q loves mac and cheese but
he's lactose intolerant.
So, I know he suffers for it.
I want to prove to Q that
there is a vegan version
of mac and cheese that
can satiate that need
and that want that he has.
So we're gonna go out there
and we're gonna find the best
vegan mac and cheese that we can in L.A.
and then I'm going to bring him back here
and we're gonna make our
own homemade version.
Then he's going to see
which one he likes more.
So, lets go get Q.
What are we waiting for?
- Merle, what is up?
- Well, ya know, I'm always up
to something weird and vegan.
- I'm actually kind of nervous
cause every time I do a video with you
it's something crazy.
- This is actually not gonna be like that.
I've heard through the grapevine
that you love yourself
some mac and cheese.
- Oh (bleep), yeah, I
definitely love mac and cheese.
My mom is the ultimate
mac and cheese maker.
It's like no one in my city
like, if someone is making
mac and cheese for the party
my mom is gonna make the mac and cheese.
- In your city?
- In the city.
- Yeah.
- I'm telling you its popping.
It's like 5 cheeses in there.
It's baked, has some burnt pieces on it.
- Oh!
- It's just so many layers
to it that makes it so good.
- Clearly you love mac and cheese.
You love your mom's mac and cheese.
So, today, I'm going to Sage Vegan Bistro
and we're gonna get some
bomb mac and cheese.
Rachel did a research day
where she drove around
on the companies dime,
taste testing all the different
vegan mac and cheeses
that L.A. has to offer
and she said this one's the best.
- That's a pretty high
bar we're setting here.
- I don't need it to be
better than your mom's
I want it to be comparable.
- How is that gonna be possible?
Like, what do you substitute?
- Listen to me, Q
vegans are the MacGyvers
of the culinary world.
- Okay.
- We find a way!
- I mean, I'm open.
I feel like a healthier way to eat
mac and cheese is always a good thing.
Sorry mom, but I mean,
like, after the fifth plate
you definitely start to feel like (bleep).
But, hey!
It's a good (bleep)!
Love you mom, I'm sorry,
I didn't mean that.
(bright funky music)
- I wanna know how Sage
Vegan Bistro started.
- I wanted somewhere that everybody
is going to have something
that they are familiar with
and they feel comfortable eating
but, it doesn't have any of the
animal products in it.
Eighty percent of our guests are not
vegan or vegetarian so,
I'm very excited about that
because I believe it's a numbers game.
I'm not about telling
everybody they should be vegan.
There is always going to be vegans
and there's always
going to be meat eaters.
And, to me, it's how can we get our global
consumption of meat pared down
to something that the planet can sustain.
So almost everything that you're eating
as far as produce, was grown
within sixty miles of here.
For me, it's a big
disconnect when people say
"Oh, I'm a vegan for the
animals, I don't care
if it's local or if it's
a family owned farm."
To me, we have to care about the animals
the environment, and human beings.
- How do you make your
macaroni look so not vegan?
- We use a mixture of
a vegan cream cheese,
Daiya cheese, mix that
with nutritional yeast,
melt it together and then pour it over
the par cooked noodles
and then I put the breadcrumbs on top
with the Follow Your Heart mozzarella
and it gives you that, crispy on top
and gushy, and delicious inside.
When one little noodle starts to burn
- That's it!
- That's how you know
it's ready to come out.
- I knew I could trust you!
- Okay.
- I know I can trust you.
- For you.
- Thank you so much!
This looks like real cheese.
- Whoa, whoa!
I completely forgot this was vegan.
- Oh (bleep), I shouldn't
have said anything!
Oh my, look at that!
- Smells good.
- Oh, my goodness!
- I feel like I'm in shock right now.
- I can't even look at you right now.
This is so incredibly delicious!
Its so creamy!
Remember when you were
talking about layers?
- Yes.
- [Merle] You got the
crust, you got the goo.
- This is some of the
best macaroni and cheese
I ever had in my life, hands down.
That's not a question.
- So, I set the bar very high.
I'm regretting that a little bit now.
But but but, I'm gonna
make it all from scratch.
- Okay, I like that.
If it's gonna come out
something like this, or better,
people, listen to your girl.
- Here we are in the kitchen.
I'm gonna do my best to
give you an even better
mac and cheese version
that you can make at home.
- I wanna believe in
you, I do believe in you.
But, Sage was fire.
- I'm gonna rise to the occasion.
- Okay.
- I'm gonna exceed your expectations.
- Okay.
- The first thing you're gonna do is
you're gonna roast yourself
a little head of garlic.
You're gonna cut the head off
of your little garlic guy.
- Yeah.
- Just like a half an inch.
So, I'm gonna add some oil.
All right, we got that puppy all lubed up.
And now, we're gonna add some
salt, can't resist sometimes.
Oh, he's Salt Bae in the house.
Good-bye now, into the oven you will go.
Just roast this for like thirty-five
to forty minutes.
- Okay.
- Fortunately, planned ahead.
We've got one done, right here.
- This smells amazing!
Like, I wish I had some fries!
- All right, so, you want
this to be fork-tender.
- Is this fork-tender?
(bleep)!
She tender!
- This is the fun part!
Starting from, like, the
bottom you just push it out.
Yeah, oh my, that's very satisfying!
For Aria, I made a cashew milk
to go with his chocolate chip cookies.
- Interesting.
- So, we're gonna be doing
the same kinda dealio here.
- Time out.
- Yeah?
- Did you just say that
we're gonna use this
cashew plus this garlic
to make cheese sauce?
- Listen, the cashew
is a very powerful nut.
It is fatty, it makes things creamy.
- And what about, like,
the yellow, cheesy look?
- Ah, all in good time.
- Okay.
- See these fatties?
I soaked these for about four hours
so they're engorged right now, in liquid.
Which makes them softer
which is going to make
them easier to blend.
- Okay, definitely.
- No, you just pull the whole thing off.
- Oh, okay.
- Wow, I am teaching you everything.
So, let's put the cashews in,
you can put the garlic in.
And then, we got about
three cups of water here
and then we're gonna blend it
up so it's nice and smooth.
(blender roaring)
- Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!
(bleep)!
Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!
Gosh!
- So, this is looking really good.
It's all formed together
so, it's a nice kind of milky situation
we got going on.
Yeah, that garlic is poppin' off in there
I'll tell you that much.
You're gonna put some oil
on that pan right there.
Put the panko bread crumbs-
you're all the way in.
- I'm all the way up!
- Paprika, add a nice
little smokey flavor.
And then, of course,
our best friend, salt.
- All right, so we're gonna give this
a quick little stir, yeah?
- Every thirty seconds
or so, we'll zhuzh it up.
So, Q, I've heard through the grapevine
and directly from you
- Directly from your mouth, to my ears.
- That, you are trying to
incorporate a little bit
more of a plant based
diet into your life.
Is that true?
- Yes, a hundred percent.
So, I feel like once I
seen all the celebrities
not eating this stuff,
I knew that was my time.
- Are you serious?
- That was my time to change my ways!
They know something that we don't know!
So, at that point, I'm
like, you know what Q,
follow the celebs.
- Yeah, you know what, they
do have the inside word.
- Going forward, I just don't wanna eat
that much red meat.
And, I feel like this would
be a good move for me.
- Just cause I'm doing
it a hundred percent
doesn't mean everyone has
to do it a hundred percent.
- I agree.
- I think baby steps
are just as important.
- Honestly, I feel like
I'm killing it right now.
Like, if this is what
being a chef would be.
- I'm getting some,
like, serial killer vibes
off this, honestly.
The way that you've made these rows.
You could just move it around, like this.
You're like, "Sleep tight, my dearies."
Not the feeling I get from you!
Now, you can transfer this to the bowl.
And, in the same beautiful pan
we're going to make our roux.
We got two different
kids of fats over here.
We got vegan butter, and then
a little bit of olive oil.
Then classically, some more garlic.
You never have enough garlic.
- Honestly
(glass thuds)
- It's an exciting day!
- I love cooking!
- Sizzling it up!
- That's vegan butter, baby!
- A roux is equal parts fat and flour.
And it's commonly used to thicken sauces
and that's what we want
it to do for us here.
Mix that all up.
So, ultimately, what we want is for it
to look like the consistency of wet sand.
- We're pretty close already.
- We're getting there!
Do you cook a lot for yourself?
- I really do enjoy cooking.
I'm meal prepping--
- "Keep whisking"
- You see this, double-tasking?
I'm a cook.
- Now, you've done such a great job here.
I'm gonna add the cashew
milk we made earlier.
Keep stirring that until
the roux is combined
nicely with our cashew milk,
so it's nice and creamy.
Let's add nutritional yeast
which is gonna give it more of that
cheesy flavor that we
obviously know and love.
This is apple cider vinegar, don't worry.
When it all comes together,
it's like a symphony.
- You can wash your dreadlocks
in apple cider vinegar.
- Really?
- It gets out everything!
- Apple cider vinegar's a beautiful thing!
- Yeah!
- So, that's turmeric.
But, that's gonna give us that
yellowy, orange, cheesy looking color
that you were asking for.
- This is staring to
look like it, for sure!
A little pepper?
- Pepper, fresh, ground black pepper!
And, we're gonna add some salt.
Now, we're gonna turn
the heat down to low.
And, we're gonna let this bad boy simmer.
And, in the mean time, it's time for
some vegan trivia!
- I'm like, "What is it
time for, tell me, now!"
- Hello and welcome to vegan trivia.
According to a climate report from the EWG
cheese produces how many times more
CO2 emissions than tofu?
- Two.
- Seven times!
- Now, that's crazy!
That's a very crazy fact.
- I think, a lot of the
time, people will equate
beef with methane emissions.
But, if you think about it, dairy also.
You're dealing with cows, right?
You need cows to produce the milk.
- Yeah, cow fart.
- Yeah, basically, yeah.
It all boils down to cow farts.
- Yeah, change the world.
One fart at a time.
- That's the slogan this show needs!
Now, you might notice that our sauce
is thickening up quite nicely.
- Most definitely.
- If, for some reason, it
gets a little too thick
you just add a little bit of water
and that'll loosen that
puppy right back up.
We got some elbow mac and cheese.
This seems only appropriate
for a classic mac.
Ooh, look at that!
- This is definitely looking like
what mac and cheese should look like.
- This looks so freaking creamy!
- Like, we can stop this
video right here and say, yo.
- But, we're not gonna do that.
We're taking it beyond.
- We didn't go the same direction.
- Try to evenly distribute
it as much as you can.
- I'm a perfectionist!
- Oh right, I saw the
way stirring earlier.
Let's do it, why wait, you know?
I'm hungry, man.
(bright funky music)
Looky here!
- Whoa!
- Woo!
- You gotta spoon it out
because you're a professional.
- A professional spooner.
- I wanna get every aspect
of this macaroni and cheese.
It's game time.
- I can't look!
- That's good!
- Is it?
- Yeah!
It's not like a, 'pull
it and there's, like
something in the middle
but like, it's macaroni and cheese!
- Yeah!
- I taste that garlic in here for sure.
And, I feel like it's a game changer.
I think it has everything
that you need in a macaroni.
All we're missing is that burnt piece.
- The burnt piece!
- I think now, all we have left
to do if for you to rank it.
We've even prepared your
mother's special recipe
of mac and cheese.
- You guys called my mom?
- Lovely lady.
Yeah, we're tight now.
- It's time for the moment of truth!
- Oh!
- We have, dear sweet
mother's mac and cheese.
You know, this, the gold
standard, of course.
We've got the Sage mac and cheese
that we had earlier today
and then, of course, we
have the homemade one
that we just made.
You're not gonna rate your mother's
cause, she's gonna win.
- Yeah, that's a ten.
- It's your mother's.
- Yeah, that's a ten.
That took me right back to Thanksgiving.
Let's move on, before I cry.
- Sage is great.
It visually looks a lot
more like my mom's macaroni.
They cook it a very similar way.
This one is much more, like, cheesy
cause they used the vegan cheese.
- Okay.
- But, also, vegan cheese is not
readily available everywhere.
- Correct!
- So, what I like about what we made today
is that everything is natural.
Anybody can make this recipe.
This is definitely very creamy.
The crumbles threw me off visually
but it tastes amazing.
- Good God, what are you gonna rate it!
I need to know!
- So, this is a ten
this is a 7.5
this is gonna be an eight.
- Yay!
Oh, my God!
(clapping)
- Yeah, like, I could see
this with some collard greens.
This is my favorite.
- Yeah, of course!
- Nothing is ever going to top that.
- Of course.
- But, I feel like, this
is for a special occasion.
I cannot eat this every week.
I can eat this every month.
I feel like, for just every occasion
when I wanna make macaroni
outside of holidays
and, just, you know,
just some regular weekend
type of thing.
These options are
definitely worth trying out.
It's way more eco-friendly,
way more health conscious.
I am a hundred percent
down to start going for
vegan macaroni and cheese,
like, not a question.
- Yay.
_ You did good today.
- You did great!
(high five)
(cheering)
Well, thank you for watching!
I hope this was fun and informative.
Let us know in the comments below
who you wanna have on the show next
so I can veganize something for them.
Invisible maracas, yeah?
That's very exciting!
(bright uplifting music)
- [Q] Is my mom here, seriously?
- [Merle] Can you bring her in, please?
No, she's not here.
- [Q] Oh!
- Sorry, was that cruel?
- Nah, yeah, definitely.
( bright uplifting music)
