skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Grezzo
69 Prince Street
Boston, MA
857.362.7288
www.grezzorestaurant.com
When my son moved to Cambridge for school, finding a good vegetarian restaurant seemed impossible. Boston, it appeared, was all about seafood. Period. I was a bit surprised then when a friend told me about Grezzo, a vegan raw or "living foods" restaurant in Boston's North End. My favorite raw restaurant in the Bay Area, Roxanne's, had closed a while back and I missed it terribly.
The concept is that nothing is heated to above 112 degrees F to preserve nutrients that cooking destroys. Being vegan, the cheeses are made with nuts. I love cheeses and must say the nut cheeses can certainly rival some of my favorites from Cow Girl Creamery and other premium cheese makers. Some people swear a raw foods diet has given them more energy, cured ills, made them look younger. I just know that when done well, it tastes good.
Grezzo is a cozy restaurant with just two rows of tables on either side of the walk way. All the dishes are organic, vegan and raw or "living", yet, amusingly, some of the offerings have names such as Land and Sea and Lobster Thermidor. You can take the seafood out of the Boston restaurant, but apparently you must keep the names.
I ordered the Lobster Thermidor ($22), which consisted of tarragon and mustard seed "cashew" cheese, black grapes and baby vegetables over papaya (pictured above). I don't usually care for papaya, but this combination worked. The items tasted fresh, the cheese was wonderful and the flavors were balanced and worked well together.
My son's tomato ravioli ($19) didn't work nearly as well. The tomatoes tasted bitter and overripe. I asked the waiter where they got tomatoes in March and received an evasive answer.
It has to be a challenge to have a raw foods restaurant where you can't grow produce most of the year. (Although Pure Food and Wine in New York City seems to have figured out how to do it well.) I would guess my papaya came from Central or South America. While it's worth trying, I would definitely recommend sticking to produce that is in season, and really quizzing the staff on where the produce in entrees came from before making a selection.
The specialty drinks list is interesting. I tried the green apple and ginger "saketini" ($12), which was enjoyable.
Grezzo also offers a chef's tasting menu at $59.
Other casual dining options when in Boston: Trident Booksellers and Cafe at 338 Newbury Street is both a great little independent bookshop and a cafe, with a good selection of vegan abd vegetarian options. From the breakfast omelettes to the handmade butternut squash ravioli and the momos (vegetarian dumplings), there's little there I wouldn't order again and again.
Tealuxe, on Newbury Street in Boston and also in Harvard Square, offers a selection of sandwiches and salads to go with their wide variety of teas. Sandwiches include a portobello mushroom and a caprese. At the shop in Boston, the downstairs eating area is a nice respite from the crowds on Newbury.
Bangkok offers a tremendous variety of food options, from street vendors to elegant restaurants perched well above the city. While it's easy enough to find vegetarian Thai food, here are a few restaurants that offer other choices for vegetarians.
Vanilla Brasserie in Siam Paragon has a good selection of pastas, crepes, salads and sandwiches. The food quality is good for the price. The mozzarella and tomato salad is a good bet as are the spinach ravioli.
Le Notre in Siam Paragon has good desserts, and they provide neat dry ice boxes for take-away. A mini cake is about $3. They also have gourmet sandwiches (of which few are vegetarian) and tarts (such as a spinach tart or sundried tomato tart). The tomato tart was a bit flavorless, but most tomatoes in Thailand are.
Often hailed as one of the best Italian restaurants in Thailand, Bel Guardo restaurant and wine bar in Siam Paragon has moderately priced ($10-20) dishes, including risotto, pastas, appetizers and salads. The black truffle gnocchi was bland, but the tomato Carpaccio was good, although monotonous by the end of the large serving. Before the meal, there is warm bread with good olive oil for dipping.
The restaurants at The Dome, on the 64th -67th floors of the State Tower offer striking views of the city, and sometimes good food to match. Sirocco is quite good but expensive: a 75 cl bottle of San Pelligrino is upward of $10, and a vegetarian main course is likely upward of $30. When they wash their two story-tall windows, you get a nice view of the outdoor bar and the city. A small string ensemble performs nightly. Mezzaluna is another restaurant in the collection with vegetarian food. Since the tower has become more popular, the service and food quality has decreased a fair amount, but it is still worth the trip.
Salathip at the Shangri La has moderately priced Thai food (about 300 baht), but the environment is lacking. At dusk the mosquitoes visit even the indoor tables. The dancers and Thai orchestra could be entertaining for some, but are somewhat tacky otherwise. Their wine doesn’t seem to be stored perfectly, leaving many of their reds with a watery taste. The wines also have a very high markup.
Crepes and Co serves a good array of crepes, although they are far better for dessert than for dinner as the savory crepes are a bit lacking in sustenance.
To Die For. This place serves many small dishes in a cool setting. And they have a separate vegetarian menu. http://www.todieforbangkok.com/menu.php
Pierre Gagnaire
6, rue Balzac
75008 Paris, France
(33) 01 58 36 12 50
www.pierre-gagnaire.com
Probably 15 years ago, I was in Paris and dared to ask a concierge at my hotel if the chef at the Michelin two-star restaurant there could prepare a vegetarian meal for me. Oh, I'll never forget the look on his face. This was about fine dining, le menu gastronomie, how could I think of asking such a thing, he responded in French. I quietly scooted away and spent that evening eating gluten sausage atop noodles in a vegetarian restaurant that looked like a '70s fern bar.
Thank goodness times have changed. And thank goodness for chefs such as Pierre Gagnaire who have shown Paris and the world that fine food and vegetarian menus can go hand-in-hand.
You won't find the vegetarian menu on Gagnaire's website, but with advance notice when you make your reservation, when you arrive you should find yourself treated to a vegetarian feast like no other.
I went for lunch - the restaurant is a bit more relaxed then, the menu slightly cheaper. I didn't get a menu, but what followed was a feast to die for – or at least worth robbing a bank for, which at $550 for two with wine (and it's probably more now) is about what it required. I can’t begin to remember all the courses, the meal began with some chips served up in a mixture of spices like so many sand dollars standing in a bed of sand. There was then a green tomato soup that was wonderful and an artichoke heart salad. It was really one amazing course after the other. There was risotto with pumpkin and a leek dish with the leek leaves all woven together.
Service was really spectacular. At one point in the meal I turned to look behind me for the bottle to refill my water glass and three servers literally ran to beat me to it. Early on in the meal Pierre came by each table and said hello.
We must have had eight courses before dessert, which involved another six plates. There were two chocolate concoctions, one dish of ice cream with edible pansies and some miniature strawberries inside a little crispy cone.
Lunch at Pierre Gagnaire lasted 4.5 hours and was probably the best meal I’ve had.
Restaurant Fredsgatan 12
Fredsgatan 12
Stockholm
+46.0.8.24.80.52
www.f12.se
F12's chefs and sommelier have won a slew of awards and it's no surprise. They turn out wonderful dishes with excellent wine pairings. The restaurant is in a comfortable space in the center of Stockholm, just opposite the House of Parliament. The decor is simple and unfussy, leaving the food to take center stage. The vegetarian menu takes advantage of local seasonal produce. The last meal I had there took advantage of the fresh asparagus and presented in unique ways, such as wrapped in a shell like little ice cream cones. It's clear the vegetarian menu is not an after thought here. By all means, do not skip on the "mystery" wine pairings. It was quite a treat to sample well-paired wines without knowing until after the meal what I was drinking. Expect to pay about 995 kroner per person without the pairings.
Wrenkh
Bauernmarkt 10
01.533.1526
www.wrenkh.at
The first time I was in Vienna, I felt as though I'd stepped inside a giant sausage and there was no way out. With sausage or Wurselstands on every street and corner of the city, there's no escaping the smell of sausage.
It was a great surprise then to discover that not only is vegetarian food readily available in Vienna, but that there are some pretty good choices. And Wrenkh has to be the best. This is the type of comfortable, attractive cafe that I'd eat at weekly if it was in my neighborhood. The furnishings are light and contemporary, the diners are interesting, the staff is friendly, and the food is terrific. I went back twice for the goat cheese and tomato confit over quinoa. It was simply perfect, with flavors perfectly balanced. The pumpkin tortellini with honey apple was tasty as well. Wrenkh generally offers about six vegetarian entrees at about 10 to 14 euros per.
Other vegetarian eats in Vienna: The Hotel Bristol even has a small vegetarian section on the menu, and the vegetarian lasagne isn't half bad.
Maceo
15, Rue Petits Champs
Paris, France
+33.1.42.96.37.86
www.maceorestaurant.com
It's no longer too tough to find a vegetarian menu in Paris - think Guy Savoy, Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Passard. What can be a little more difficult to find is a vegetarian menu that will get two people out the door for less than 500 euros. Maceo, from the owners of Willie's Wine Bar next door, is a hit with vegetarians in Paris for precisely that reason. While there are a la carte offerings and seasonal menus for omnivores, the "Menu Au Vert" is not only the best value, but often has the most interesting offerings. It's so appealing, my meat-eating friends often go with the green selections.
A winter menu offered preserved baby vegetables with goat cheese and parsley with a creamy veloute of chesnuts with truffle juice. The was followed by wild mushrooms and polenta with pear and fourme d'Ambert served with winter vegetables in curry sauce (above photo). A choice of cheese of dessert concludes the meal. And all for 32 euros.
The upstairs dining room at Maceo is a historical monument. The ceilings are 12' high and have beautiful moulded plasterwork. Tables are well spaced for intimate conversations. Maceo is definitely worth a visit.
Sadly, Blossoming Lotus, the wonderful little vegan restaurant in Kapa'a on Kauai closed Dec. 31, 2008. It will be missed, but there is another Blossoming Lotus in Portland, Oregon. I've not been to the Oregon location, but the menu looks just as good, with plenty of raw food options as well. Here's the website. Check it out when you're in Oregon and let me know how it is. http://www.blpdx.com/cafe.php
Grezzo is a cozy restaurant with just two rows of tables on either side of the walk way. All the dishes are organic, vegan and raw or "living", yet, amusingly, some of the offerings have names such as Land and Sea and Lobster Thermidor. You can take the seafood out of the Boston restaurant, but apparently you must keep the names.
