Kajitsu

Kajitsu
414 E. 9th Street
New York, NY 10009
212.228.4873
www.kajitsunyc.com

I owe this unique find to my friend Rachel who is fortunate enough to live not far from this charming restaurant that offers vegetarian Shojin cuisine in a space that is so peaceful that it is far easier to think you are in Kyoto than Manhattan.

Kajitsu changes its menu just once a month, offering five- and seven-course menus for $50 and $70, respectively. (Sake pairings are available.) Each month's menu is posted on the website on the first day of the month.

When you enter, you are led to a tranquil, quiet space with minimalist Japanese decor. What stands out here are the details - from the few art pieces to the service to each little serving bowl. The website explains you may notice carefully repaired cracks or chips on some of the pieces as many are up to 200 years old. The careful repairs represent respect for the master potters.

My friend and I opted for the seven-course menu, which started with my favorite dish of the evening: chilled tomato aspic with avocado, fresh peas, wasabi and umadashi sauce (below). The combination of flavors played well, with every bite leading to something a bit new.

Noodles (kept chilled with an ice cube buried underneath them) with sesame dipping sauce were a little more ordinary and came before the soup with simmered watermelon, shiso and junsai shoots (below). The soup was another surprising blend of flavors and textures.

Buckwheat risotto with porcini mushrooms (below in cup), fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with corn and an array of fruit made for fun mix of foods, with the fried zucchini blossom a wonderful standout. The fruits were a nice palate cleanser.
The main course was a spaghetti squash stuffed with chilled summer vegetable soup served over mixed tempura. It was good and the presentation was lovely, but it was not outstanding.

After a course of asparagus rice, we finished the evening with a heavenly fresh peach mochi and then some matcha tea.

This is one of the more unique vegetarian restaurants I have visited and I highly recommend a visit. I can't wait to return.

Craigie on Main: What They Lack in Selection is Made up for in Flavor

Craigie on Main
853 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.497.5511
www.craigieonmain.com

I put off going to Craigie on Main for more than a year after it was first recommended to me. Every time I looked at their menu online, it just didn't look like they had much to offer vegetarians. And while that may be somewhat true, what they do offer - which includes a vegetarian tasting menu - is quite good. Now I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner.

The biggest reason it doesn't look like they have much for vegetarians is that most of their offerings are variations on their meat-based dishes. The ragout of forest mushrooms (above) with farro, ramps, herbs and fresh flowers topped with a poached egg is on the menu as being served with sweetbreads. Often, I'm hesitant about a dish that is modified to make it vegetarian as it seems incomplete. That wasn't the case here. The vegetarian version of the dish made for a wonderful blend of flavors with no sense that anything was lacking.

The crispy potato galette (above) is off of the bar menu and is served with a horseradish cream sauce. On the menu it has salmon roe and bacon bits, but again the dish stood on its own, with a crispy outside and tender, flavorful inside.
The four-grain pilaf-stuffed Vidalia onion with spring vegetables (above) was tender and flavorful with the onion not being overbearing.

The surprise of the evening was a dessert I never would have ordered, but it was absolutely fantastic. It was creamy Anson Mills corn grits with a warm strawberry compote. Grits do not sound good to me at any time and especially not for dessert, but this was so sweet and smooth that it was not to be missed. I would stop in just for that.

Service at Craigie on Main is friendly and attentive. Vegetarian prix fixe is $61 and entrees ordered a la carte start at about $21. One drawback is that larger groups - parties of more than four people - can generally only be accommodated at the tables in the bar, where it can be crowded and noisy.

Molecules Fail to Line Up at Chicago's Moto

Moto
945 W. Fulton Market
Chicago, Illinois 60607
312.491.0058
www.motorestaurant.com

It's like tromp l'oeil, but for the palate. Nothing quite looks like what it is. The savory dishes look sweet; the sweet dishes savory; and the cigar (below) is a veggie dog. Molecular gastronomy takes what you know about food and turns it upside down. When it's done well, the presentation is amazing, but doesn't outshine the food. When it's done poorly, it's all about style over substance. Unfortunately, at Moto it's not done well. It's fun, it's frivolous, but the food suffers terribly. And the service leaves much to be desired as well. At about $500 for two (10-courses each and splitting the wine pairings) that just shouldn't happen.

The evening started out with the night's menu printed on bread, which you consume. The waiter promised to bring another menu out so my guest and I could follow along with the courses, but we had to remind him two more times before this happened. It only took minor revisions to the menu to create a vegetarian menu, but most things fell flat, as they did with my guest's omnivore menu. The vegetarian version of the cannoli (below), made to look sweet, but really a rolled taco, contained little more than avocado.

This dish (below) made to look like fruits and desserts was savory, and unremarkable. A bubble tea was little more than a tiny shot-glass-sized glass filled with cool tea. It counted as one of the courses, but would have made for a weak amuse bouche.

One of the better dishes of the evening was a take-off on the Hostess Sno Ball (below). A great disappointment was that the waiter spoke so softly that it was impossible to hear what he said as he described any of the dishes.
The final course was a root beer float (below). This came with dry ice floating out and an edible 'packing peanut'. There was perhaps a smidgen of rootbeer - or anything edible - to this most dramatic yet severly lacking dish.
Overall, the food was poor and service was just as bad. The wine pairings were consistently brought out at ill-timed intervals. In a nutshell, Moto is expensive and disappointing, and in a city such as Chicago, where there are so many good alternatives - Alinea anyone? - there is no reason to dine here.

The RCC: Where Kitsch, Red Capitalist Ideals and Good Food Come Together

Red Capital Club
No. 66 Dongsi Jiutiao
Dongcheng District
100007 Beijing, China
+86 10 8401 6152
www.redcapitalclub.com.cn

I won't pretend that this is a place to get the most authentic Chinese food in Beijing. Is it touristy? Yes. Is it expensive by Chinese standards? Of course. Is it fun? You bet! And, of course, they happily accommodate vegetarians.

Tucked in an old hutong alleyway it's easy to miss the Red Capital Club. There's no sign, but there is a vintage limo that used to be used by Chairman Mao's wife parked out front.

You enter into a quaintly preserved courtyard home. The lounge is the first stop. It is filled with 1950-70s kitsch, but also memorabilia such as two sofas that were used by Marshal Lin Biao, who died in a "plane crash" after an apparent failed coup to oust Mao. Drinks are served in the lounge, with the Cuba Libre seeming most appropriate, although there is a large selection of signature and standard cocktails along with a good selection of local and international wines by the glass or bottle. In the lounge, you are presented with the dinner menu and place your order while relaxing and taking in all the trinkets and photos.

Once the first course is ready, you are moved into a dining room, adorned with yet more pieces from the Communist Revolution. Each plate is adorned with figures delicately carved from vegetables. The waiter explained this was how dishes were served to Mao.

The first course (above) was shredded bean curd skins tossed with chili peppers. This was the highlight of the meal, with its subtle, noodle-like flavor, yet just different enough to seem quite unique. I'd not seen this elsewhere.

The winter soup was a nice hot-and-sour soup. There was nothing unusual about it, but it was well prepared. Vegetable spring rolls (below) were nicely done, and obviously house made. They came with a mild soy-based sauce and a mild chili dip.

Asparagus was fanned out on a plate like so many peacock feathers. These were steamed to a nice al dente and garnished with carrots and lotus. These were simple and well-prepared.

The hot-and-sour bean curd (above) was rather unusual. Tofu cubes were flash fried to give a crispy skin and a soft interior, almost like the texture of roasted marshmallows. These were quite tasty.

Overall the food was well prepared, with several of the dishes being unique. All the dishes were artfully presented. Red Capital Club offers good food in a fun and attractive setting. It definitely makes for an enjoyable evening.

Post Ranch Inn's Sierra Mar: Breathtaking Views, Pleasing Food

Sierra Mar
Post Ranch Inn
Highway 1
Big Sur, CA 93920
831-667-2800
www.postranchinn.com

The views at Sierra Mar restaurant at Post Ranch Inn (below) are so spectacular it's easy to overlook the food, but it's just about as delightful.

The restaurant at the widely acclaimed inn, known for its organic architecture and far-reaching ocean vistas, offers a four-course fixed-price dinner menu for $105 a person. There are about four options for each course, including one or two vegetarian choices. Those with smaller appetites can order a la carte.

Dinner began with a trio of artichoke hearts (above), each uniquely prepared. One was pureed and mousse like; another thinly sliced like pasta ribbons and complemented with morel mushrooms; and the third was in a truffle vinaigrette with garlic crumbs. All three preparations were done very well. Each one flaunted the variation in flavor that creative preparation can showcase, and each was sized to leave you wanting just a bit more, but by the third it was a good sized appetizer.

The soy-braised Shiitake mushroom salad (above) was an interesting melange of ingredients, including mango, water chestnuts and cashews. The individual parts didn't seem to coalesce into a complementary blending of flavors, yet this worked surprisingly well as each ingredient stood on its own and was overall quite tasty.

The mushroom stroganoff (above) featured freshly made noodles with a generous amount of morel mushrooms and fresh-shelled peas, making for rich texture and flavors. The mushrooms soaked up the sauce to give a nice flavor with each bite.

Service was friendly, but relaxed and on the slow side. Courses didn't quite flow as they should have.

The wine list is large with an ample selection in a wide variety of prices.

Overall, Sierra Mar is a delight for dinner. To enjoy the view, be sure to make a reservation prior to sunset.

Fu 1088 Begs: Just How Much of the Meal is About the Food

Fu 1088
Zhenning Lu 375
Shanghai, China
021.5239.7878

Consistently listed as one of the top restaurants in Shanghai, Fu 1088 takes up three floors of a 1930s mansion, with guests seated in private rooms that can accommodate from two to 12. I had my concierge make the reservation at the fusion-style restaurant, and received word back that accommodating vegetarians was no problem and that the minimum charge per person was about US $40.

Upon arriving, I was immediately taken upstairs to my private room. I saw no other guests, as they were all tucked away behind doors in their own private rooms. Based on the small floral-print Victorian wallpaper and size of the room, I figured it was perhaps a small bedroom in its former life. My server handed me a rather extensive menu, but then gave me a printed sheet indicating they'd already selected the dishes I'd be having. I would have preferred to select my own dishes, and perhaps I could have made some changes, but I figured I'd go with it.

The first plate (above) had an interesting combination of fungus, vegetables and taro. Each item was good, but none worked particularly well with the other. The next knock on the door - the servers always knocked before entering - brought wild mushrooms baked in a bag (above) with truffle sauce and served with mushroom consomme. These were quite tasty and the preparation was interesting as was the presentation.
My favorite course was crispy "monkey head" flavored mushrooms (above) flavored with fried oatmeal. I loved the crispiness the the delicate flavor of the mushrooms.
This bean curd dish had a firm layer over the softer cake of bean curd. Served with asparagus, mushrooms and in a soy sauce, it was quite good.

The restaurant did serve one course that I'm quite confident was vegetable soup in chicken stock. I've grown to expect that some of the foods I get in Asia that are referred to as "vegetarian" often aren't what I consider "vegetarian". I could tell the server wanted to ask why I didn't touch it, but our inability to speak the same language didn't make that possible.

Upon leaving Fu 1088, I did ponder how much of the experience of going out to eat is the meal, and how much of it being around other guests. Somehow, tucked away in a private room left me feeling like I was missing the experience of dining in a restaurant. I enjoy seeing other diners - what they're eating, what they're wearing, who they are.

In any event, Fu 1088 is a fun, novelty restaurant to try in Shanghai and is would be great for small groups looking for privacy, but I honestly can't say my $40 meal there was better than the $4 meal I had later in the week, served outside in a lovely riverside setting. And I did feel something was missing by not eating in a dining room, surrounded by others.

L'Arpege - It Doesn't Get Any Better

L'Arpege
84 Rue de Varenne
75007 Paris, France
01 45 51 47 33
www.alain-passard.com

I will always be grateful to Alain Passard. Years ago in Paris I asked at a two-star restaurant if I could get the chef to prepare something vegetarian. I was met with disdain. How could I dare to ask such a thing? This was a restaurant gastronomic, not a tofu and sprouts fern bar. And so I found myself later that evening sitting at a fern bar with a plate of pasta and textured vegetable protein, thinking how wrong that picture was. And then came Passard.In 2001, Passard, who five years prior had earned his third Michelin star for L'Arpege, stopped preparing red meat and turned his attention to vegetables. His announcement was met with shock. Some felt he was risking his Michelin stars. But Passard's star shined through it all and today L'Arpege (as well as other of his restaurants) not only turns out wonderful food for vegetarians, but paved the way for other famed chefs to take another look at vegetables, and to accommodate vegetarians. To be clear, Passard does offer pork, fish and plenty of other animal-based dishes for the carnivorous.

A recent nine-course lunch at the quaint and unpretentious restaurant began with a collection of ravioli, each filled with a different vegetable from Passard's five-acre garden outside of Paris.

Then came a most amazing combination of slightly cooked egg yolk, creme fraiche and maple syrup all served inside an egg shell, which was placed in an egg cup. My dining companion couldn't figure out what all my fuss was about about until I explained you had to scoop to the bottom, getting all the ingredients at once, to get the incredible flavor combination. It was a mixture of sweet and slightly bitter that was divine.
That was followed by a very thin layer of onion gratin (above) with black pepper and fresh greens.

After the egg and maple syrup combination, the most surprising dish was the celeriac "risotto" with black truffle (above). It really wasn't risotto at all - there was no arborio in it - but celeriac that had been made into the shape of risotto. Every time I took a bite the creaminess of the sauce fooled my mouth into expecting smooth grains of rice, but instead there was a delightful fresh texture and light crunch. Delightful.

Beets were salt-roasted. The salt allows the beets to slowly cook and develop their flavor while the salt absorbs excess moisture to keep the beets from getting soggy. The beets tasted sweet and were still firm.


Celeriac was again served but this time in the shape of tagliatelle with more slices of fresh black truffle - a benefit of visiting in winter. The "noodles" had just enough crunch to distinguish them from a flour-based pasta.

A wonderful well-aged comte was freshly shaved from a large round that was wheeled throughout the room. The cheese had a melt-in-your-mouth texture like a fresh cheese, yet looked on the plate like a firm, dry cheese.

For dessert, there were sheets of thin chocolate piled up with creme. The dish was very light and flaky, and much too light on the chocolate for me.

To finish off, we received a plate of macaroons in unexpected flavors including beetroot and parsnip.

Passard visited each table during lunch and then came back and chatted some more with me as I was leaving. "My restaurant I made for you," he said when I told him I was a vegetarian. "You come here all the time." I'd go daily if I could, and if I could afford it. Lunch, which is a bargain when compared to dinner, was 130 euros per person. The wine pairings were another 70 euros per person. It is well worth the splurge.