A mushroom tart appetizer with roasted maitake and Boursin.

CALAMARI, Bordelaise, Bolognese, homemade Italian sausage, vanilla ice cream: Crossroads Kitchen doesn’t bother to rechristen the plant-based foods it serves that mimic meat, dairy and eggs. Sometimes the language gives pause to vegan friends scanning the menu for the first visit, but I reassure them it’s entirely herbivorous. Sometimes it is boggling how few L.A. restaurants crack the code on vegan dining that carries a sense of occasion — but chef-owner Tal Ronnen and partner and executive chef Scot Jones solve the puzzle, particularly when a knowledgeable server drops off stilllife plates such as halved baby eggplants filled with soft whole garlic cloves, drizzles of “tahini yogurt” and crushed pistachios. While I mostly prefer making meals of the season’s vegetables, I also always end up admiring one of the dishes sporting a yellow orb — a modernist holdover of yellow tomato Béarnaise transformed into a jiggly “yolk.” When it bursts and enriches strands of spaghetti carbonara at dinner or the already creamy center of a khachapuri filled with almond ricotta at brunch, the whole meal feels a little more special.

• 8284 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 782-9245; 4776 Commons Way, Ste. A, Calabasas, (747) 230-4210; crossroadskitchen.com