Vegetate

My experience at Vegetate was disappointing.

I recall hearing about the restaurant before it opened. I remember when it opened i was excited to have a nice modern american vegetarian restaurant in the city, close to my house. I remember first seeing their menu online and while salivating, i looked at the prices and was distanced. I prefer to go out a lot to mid priced places than just a few times to expensive places. I only just made it to Vegitate this week.

So here's what my wife and i had:

Drinks:
Lime aid- way too tart and acidic for me, and i'm a big big fan of limeaid.

first course-
Herb Risotto Croquettes with parmesan & tomato jam - This was tasty and the tomato jam was terrific. really terrific. the crouquette was sadly a little dull. If you 've had this dish at Two Amy's, you know what it ought to taste like. This was a bit bland in comparrison.

Heirloom Tomatoes with olive oil, balsamic, basil & grilled bread (vegan)- The "grilled bread" portion was a tiny sliver of homemade melba toast.. or may as well have been. The tomatoes were tasty. nothing great, but decent.


Second Course

Sesame Crusted Tofu with quinoa and gingered organic pea shoots (vegan)- This was good. nicely herbed and had the feeling of breaded fish, oddly. I'd have marinated the tofu first since the frying process doesnt give enough time for the herbs to soak in. it was a bit dry too.

Roasted Zucchini and White Beans on a corn grit crust with organic collards (vegan)
The corn grit crust was lacking in spice, in my opinion. justplain ole grits really. the zuchini was fine. The collard greans were outstanding. they were marinated and oozed with flavour. a sweet soy saucey vinegaryness. I couldn't quite place it. They were great.


Dessert

Ice Cream Sandwich molasses cookies with Tahitian vanilla gelato
Local organic peaches with vanilla vinegar over Raspberry Sorbet (vegan)
the desserts were average. I'm not a big dessert guy, so it has to be outrageous good for me to care.


All in all i was very disappointed in my Vegetate experince. The food was generally lacking in flavour and i find the price a bit silly. To be fair, i do prefer spicy foods, exotic foods, Thai, indian , african, things with zing and perhaps i'm not as attune to the subtlties of this type of cooking. Perhaps it was "minimal" as is the decor.

So, the decor. The place is pretty cool. I'm excited that there is a place in that area of ninth, which when i first walked around there 10 years ago, was like a ghost town. SOOOO many boarded up places, so desolate. Now, its bustling. i like that. The walls are gray and green. I like the color combinations a lot. the furniture was a dark wook. very pretty place, though there werent really any focal points. i'd have pizazzed up a coupla walls. still, it felt cool. The look of the place was inviting though like the food, could use a bit more spice. just a bit. and oh..our waitress was about as friendly as a tax audit. The music was cool, and it was DJ'd. the place would be a great lounge.


I dont think i'll be back.I actually feel pretty ripped off. For a $70 meal for two without drinks, you'd think we'd get something more exciting than the collard greens.