An enduring mystery of dining in L.A.: Why, with the state’s agricultural blessings, doesn’t the city have more vegan restaurants that focus on vegetables? Crossroads Kitchen serves plenty of pasta dishes and Italian-leaning entrees that rely on meat substitutes. But crucially, chef-owner Tal Ronnen and his team also luxuriate in the seasons, arranging artful plates by which you can mark the calendar. Fried artichokes over saffron and lemon sabayon in the spring segue to summertime salads of tomatoes and stone fruit and, for fall, parsnips chiseled into bronze pegs with roasted grapes. Their next-level plant-based cheese includes Climax blue cheese with just the right hit of funk, scattered over a riff on carpaccio made with pears. Crossroads has locations in Calabasas and Las Vegas, but I’m forever loyal to the cozy, clubby Melrose original. — B.A.

8284 MELROSE AVE., LOS ANGELES, (323) 782-9245; ALSO AT 4776 COMMONS WAY, SUITE A, CALABASAS, (747) 230-4210 l CROSSROADSKITCHEN.COM