N. Vegan
Last Friday we finally made it to Horizons, the famed upscale "new vegan cuisine" restaurant everyone's been telling us about. The group was comprised of myself, be, Bonesli, L and X. No one was vegan but 3 were vegetarian, 1 pescatarian and the last was a general meat-eater who didn't know how to cook.Yes, the restaurant looks nice. Yes, the service was good. Two bars. Feels like you're in the Southwest or California. Bright and airy, even during rainstorm. Big tables. Etc.
Okay, now the important part: the food. Damn dudes, the food was INCREDIBLE. You could tell that with every single step of the preparation, from selection to cutting, pairing and plating, searing roasting condiments flavor layers - whatever it was - the chefs really knew what they were doing. I haven't had food that good in a restaurant in a long time. Sure, the prices are a tad higher than the average we spend on dinner, but when you consider the quality and skill, it's totally worth it.
For starters, B chose a Jamaican bean soup with mango creme, be had the chilled cucumber avocado soup with toasted pumpkin seeds, L had Yucatan spinach salad, X had the chile cauliflower and i chose the Jamaican BBQ seitan. Everything was truy amazing. Each dish was layered with numerous levels of flavor; for instance, be's soup started out smooth and creamy, then you notice the roasted pumpkin, the hints of cumin and the herbed oil all working together for each spoonful. And i cannot truly explain how good my BBQ seitan was. One must take a bite. It was sweet, hot, tender, blackened perfectly, porklike - yes that is weird to type! - with a wonderful cucumber dipping sauce and a side of habenero cabbage slaw. This is the one dish X really seemed to like, probably because you couldn't tell it wasn't really meat.
The main dishes were just as drool-inducing: B and i both ordered the portabella trio with enchiladas and jicama salad; be chose the pan seared tofu over wild rice, L got the hearts of palm paella, and X had another appetizer, mushroom carpaccio. My grilled portabella cap was simply the best one i'd ever eaten - smokey, tender, juicy - and paired perfectly with the cilantro sauce and tofu enchiladas. be's seared tofu was crusty, dense, flavorful and creamy - unlike any other (unfried) slab of tofu. I would've never thought to get the paella, but L's dish was excellent: a round of paella with a "salmon" flavored hearts of palm cake on top, crowned with a stuffed pepper and lined with asparagus. Wow. And lastly, the carpaccio was excellent as well, although i think X wished he'd ordered differently.
Sadly, we were all too full to get dessert. The portions were all much heartier than we thought and most of us brought home leftovers, too!
Last story: as we were waiting downstairs before dinner, guess who walks in and looks me straight in the eye for a brief split second and heads upstairs? My brain went through the usual ticklist: someone i know. Workshop? other Asian American organization? did i help once in the bookstore? And then it hit me a moment later: M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN! Everyone downstairs was in a tizzy all buzzing "Did you see who that was?!" He ended up sitting at the table right next to ours, but no, we didn't talk to him or ask for an autograph. We all just enjoyed our food like everyone else (but we kept glancing over, of course!)
posted by beXn @ 11:51 AM
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