First Look - Vegetate

If you're a vegetarian, or if you've got vegetarian friends, you know how hard it is to find a good vegetarian selection these days. Unless you're going to one of the few places that has a vegetarian tasting menu, odds are that you'll be stuck with a few bland salads or a stereotypical pasta dish.



What I like best about Vegetate is that you won't find that here. I went this past Sunday and made it just in time for the Chef's Sunday dinner, which is a fantastic concept - Chef Caesare Assad goes out to local farmers markets, picks what looks good, and comes up with a menu for that night.

It's so simple, and it works so well.

And honestly, you can say that about the restaurant as a whole. The dining room on the first level is small, but cozy, and is supplemented by a bar and more seating upstairs.

The food at times doesn't quite live up to the creativity behind it (just as a note though, I know that Caesare wasn't in the kitchen that night) - a salad of enemamme, heirloom carrots and other vegetables was quite good, with a good texture play between the soft soy and the crunchy carrots; however, an eggplant cake(?) was dry and too gritty.

Overall, I'm looking forward to going back and really exploring this menu. A year ago I wouldn't have set foot in here - but as my childhood fear of vegetables has subsided, I'm glad that there are places like Vegetate to allow me to explore the wonderful world of vegetables.