After showing you can have authentic-tasting Italian food without ever using ingredients such as cheese, beef, pork or even eggs at her West Hollywood restaurants, chef Tara Punzone has brought an all-star vegan menu to the South Bay.
Pura Vita, a plant-based Italian restaurant and wine bar expanded out of its West Hollywood home and opened a third restaurant in Redondo Beach in early February with a menu created by co-owner Punzone, who comes from a food-loving Italian family but has been a vegan since the age of 10.
âI turned vegan at a very young age, so I spent most of my adolescence trying to do what my parents do in the kitchen but do it without animal products. Itâs been a work in progress for a very long time,â she said.