Thursday, June 17, 2010

Mad Girl Pays Homage to Her Vegetarian Days

I have a dirty little secret - I used to be a vegetarian. It all started back in high school when I started hanging with some people who were also vegetarian. At the time I made the decision to stop eating meat it wasn't as trendy as it is now. It was a struggle with my parents to even allow me to become a vegetarian - I think it would have been easier for my family if I would have told them I was a lesbian rather then having to explain that I don't eat meat. I spend the first few years of my vegetarian life eating side dishes and explaining myself to people. Life got easier when I went away to college, but after 5 years of being a vegetarian I caved in at a Chinese buffet and ate General Tsao's Chicken -the rest is history.

I wanted to take my friend (who has recently fallen off the veggie wagon) to Green Zebra (www.greenzebrachicago.com) for a while now. The idea of a high end vegetarian restaurant is intriguing and Green Zebra did not disappoint. This is the perfect place for a special occasion or date. The atmosphere is soothing and subdued thanks to the low lighting and Zen-like interior and the food was of superb quality making it easy to overlook the lack of meat.

I started with the Cauliflower Pod de Crème which was so tasty that I could have eaten a heaping bowl of it. I’m normally not a huge dip person, but the cauliflower was the perfect mix of savory goodness. My friend and I each ordered soup. I had the French Onion and she had the Cream of Asparagus. This was probably the most disappointing course. My soup was good, but a little too much sweet onion flavor for me, especially following the intense flavor of the cauliflower. The Cream of Asparagus soup came cold and tasted like the garden. I probably would have liked it better if it was warm and maybe blended one more time, but we both agreed that the consistency was a little weird. After the soup I had these delicious dumplings with potato and garlic in them and my friend has some ridiculously tasty shitake mushroom rolls. For the main course we each had the scallops (the only meat on the menu) and they were cooked to perfection. They were served 2 on a plate (a little pricey at $17), but were sweet and tender. I was so full at this point that two turned out to be the perfect portion.

I also have to note the cocktail menu. As a cocktail enthusiast I usually like to try 3-4 different drinks from the menu. I ordered the Bees Knees made with Death’s Doors Gin and found it to be well balanced. I was quite impressed with their small, well-crafted cocktail list. What amazed me the most was when I looked at the non-alcoholic drinks and decided to order the Pink Peppercorn Thyme soda instead of getting a second cocktail- a very rare occasion indeed. This was one of the highlights of the night. It was subtly herbaceous and the peppercorn gave it a nice spicy aftertaste. I would highly recommend this and was quite impressed that were able to turn this die hard cocktail girl away from the booze for one night.

Green Zebra certainly isn’t cheap and you can expect to order 3-4 courses at $8-15 a pop. While I know this isn’t in a lot of budgets these days this is a great place to take that special vegetarian in your life.

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