Getting In Early: Ciano

In all my years of eating, I don't think I've ever actually been out to a restaurant's opening weekend. There almost always seem to be teething problems associated with any new restaurant so I think my lack of experience owes as much to not knowing early enough when a restaurant is about to open as it does to my not wanting to deal with cold food and sloppy service. Recently, however, my friend AO took care of the first part of the equation and got us a reservation at Ciano. The early reviews of chef Shea Gallante and the restaurant sounded promising enough for me to overcome the second half of the equation and we headed down to Gramercy for another of our regular group dinners.

The Great Fish Sauce Debate: E&O Trading Company

It happens without fail - each time I visit California, I wonder why I don't live there. The sun is almost always shining, people are much friendlier and happier, life moves at a much more pleasant pace and yes, one could own a car! The Bay Area takes all of that and raises it to even greater heights, with San Francisco being one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to. I was once visiting an office that had floor to ceiling windows, looking straight out over the bay, and wondered how anyone could get any work done with a view like that. William Henry Davies was probably looking out that window when he mused on having time to stand and stare.

My latest trip out to "Cali" was definitely not a shining example of my driving skills (let's just say a concrete pylon on the I-80 looked like it could use a few splashes of metallic grey paint), but was still memorable all the same. WH and I had spent a majority of the day driving to San Francisco and, despite having an early flight out the next morning, decided to venture out to grab some dinner. My iPhone scoped out some of the restaurants in the area for me and showed that E&O Trading Company was just a short walk from our hotel. A late flight had forced me to miss my last reservation at E&O and so I grabbed at the chance to finally eat there.

The Other Side Of The Bridge: Saul

I'll admit it - I'm a Manhattan snob. Any invitation I received to go out to an outer borough was usually followed by a response that went - "I don't go to (insert your favourite outer borough here)!" Outside of going to the airport, there just never seemed to be a good enough reason to leave the confines of the "main" island. That particular view of mine, however, has been changing and especially when it comes to Brooklyn. No disrespect to Queens, the Bronx or Staten Island, but some recent experiences in Williamsburg (an amazing little speak easy and a pub crawl among them) have made me much more receptive to the idea that some trips out to Brooklyn might be worth it after all. Recently, JW threw out the idea of trying out some of the restaurants there and after some debate, we decided on Saul for one of our regular group dinners.

The Dreaded Steakhouse: Cut Beverly Hills

A visit to a steakhouse is the ultimate nightmare for a vegetarian, and one that ends up recurring quite often, especially when it comes to work events. I'm not sure I fully understand why, but the steakhouse is definitely the bastion of corporate dining. Maybe it's the aura associated with an expensive steak dinner or maybe it's just the fact that it is the safe choice to make (no one really wants to have to make a client pick between "pad thai" and "pad kee mao" now, do they?). I have seen many a good vegetarian give in and go along for the ride - some actually even blame the constant required visits for their ultimate switch over to eating meat. I, however, am not too fond of making a meal out of mashed potatoes and creamed spinach and have diligently avoided any steakhouse excursions, regardless of who was doing the inviting.

Truffled Summer: Perbacco

I love the summer in New York. The only reason the (oh, so very cold) winters are bearable is because there is the promise of spring and summer to follow. Nothing seems to illustrate the summer better than a walk through the East Village on a pleasant summer Saturday evening. The streets are bustling with people who, in a dramatic about face for New York, have a smile on their faces and don't seem to have a care in the world. Most enticingly, the streets are lined with small, open air restaurants and cafes, from tables on the sidewalk to open bay windows flooding the small spaces with the warm summer air. One of these charming little restaurants, and one of my favourite Italians in the city, is Perbacco.

True Grit(s): Dirt Candy

It seems only fair that a blog about vegetarian food should have an all-vegetarian restaurant as its inaugural member. That is not to say that I consider all-vegetarian restaurants to be far superior to catering to vegetarians than others - quite the contrary in fact. I feel that some all-vegetarian restaurants can tend to be quite patronizing towards their very specific clientele versus regular restaurants that try very hard to be creative and interesting towards all comers. However, considering it was the most recent new restaurant I have been to as well, all the pieces seem to have fallen into place for Dirt Candy to become the first entrant.

No Meat, No Fish

Food, as we know it, has come a long way since the time of the earliest humans. Its eating is no longer limited to ‘raw, off the bone’ – in fact, it can now be eaten seasoned, steamed, fried, grilled, roasted, braised, sautéed and even, albeit occasionally, burnt. One no longer needs to hunt for what they eat – we can now have our food served up in a restaurant, delivered, canned and even ‘zapped’ in a microwave oven. Our lexicon now even contains a question that not so long ago could only have had one possible answer – “Do you ‘eat to live’ or do you ‘live to eat’?” Yes, food as we know it has come a long way. And yet, it seems there is one aspect of it that has remained unchanged through out this evolutionary cycle. Ever since the time Neanderthals have been biting into mastodon meat, a vegetarian at the table is usually eating alone.