DC Spotlight: Dinner at Taberna del Alabardero

A few months ago when I wrote about DC's plethora of Spanish tapas restaurants I promised to publish a separate post about the most upscale of them all, Taberna del Alabardero, which also happens to offer a separate (and rather extensive) vegetarian menu. 

My most recent meal is pictured below.  These dishes were so satisfying that I unfortunately did not have room to try the vegetarian paella, but will do so next time! 

Spanish potato and egg omelet with fried bell peppers

Scrambled eggs with scallions and mushrooms

Grilled asparagus with wild mushrooms and red potatoes

Taberna del Alabardero also may be the most authentic Spanish restaurant in DC.  It's part of Grupo Lezama, which operates a number of restaurants throughout Spain.  The group's only U.S. restaurant is right here in DC, and it is quite popular among Spanish embassy staff and other Spaniards living in or visiting the area.  It's a perfect spot to celebrate a special occasion or to bask in a little bit of "Old World" charm!

 

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Grand Cayman has no shortage of first-class restaurants, and, probably because the island is so international, many of them cater to vegetarians.  It's not hard to find them, either.  Just check out the Good Taste dining guide for a comprehensive list.  The website is terrific -- you can search for restaurants using a variety of different criteria, check out the menus (which clearly identify which items are vegetarian), and make reservations all in one place.  The magazine version is also widely available around the island (look for it at the airport or at your hotel), and it includes maps and sample menus to get you started (but without the vegetarian markers, unfortunately).  

Four nights in Grand Cayman was not nearly enough time to explore all of the restaurants I wanted to visit.  But I did have four fantastic dinners.  Twice I dined at the hip Camana Bay development, where some of the island's newer and more popular restaurants are located.  

My favorite meal was at Ortanique, which is a Cindy Huston restaurant, just like the original in Miami.  Ortanique serves modern Caribbean cuisine in a romantic and elegant setting.  My callaloo and shitake wonton soup, made with the freshest ingredients, was absolutely delicious!

Callaloo and shitake wontons, served with tofu, baby bok choy, and carrots in a hot-and-sour broth

Also at Camana Bay is the recently opened Mizu, which serves typical pan-Asian cuisine, including typical pan-Asian vegetarian dishes (edamame, spring rolls, noodles, etc.) in a more urban, energetic environment.  I was particularly impressed by the wide variety of vegetarian sushi options.

Futo maki, avocado nigiri, shitake maki, and spicy vegetable maki

I had a more casual yet lively (and slightly off-the-beaten track) experience at Agave Grill, which serves great Mexican food and is very accommodating of dietary restrictions.  The side dishes, most of which are vegetarian, are really tasty -- the roasted pumpkin with cumin is not to be missed!

Veggie tostadas (one is vegan, without cheese, and the other is just vegetarian), with white rice, vegetarian black beans, and pico de gallo

Fried plantains (left) and roasted pumpkin with cumin (right)

Finally, although I recently discovered the best vegetarian Thai food in the world right here in DC, I could not resist checking out Thai Orchid, which devotes an entire page of its website to showcase its vegetarian Thai selections and, like Mizu, also offers an extensive array of vegetarian sushi options.

TIP:  If you plan on dining outdoors anywhere on the island at sundown or shortly thereafter, bring bug spray to shield off the mosquitoes!

DC Spotlight: Dinner at Beau Thai

With today's post, I add my first Mt. Pleasant restaurant to the Washington, DC Restaurants page of this website.  Recently opened Beau Thai, although a bit more casual than most other places on my list of recommended first-class restaurants, is by far the most elegant restaurant in DC's Mt. Pleasant neighborhood. 

As you might guess from its name, Beau Thai serves Thai food, but unlike many other Thai restaurants I have visited, Beau Thai takes dietary restrictions very seriously.  Not only are vegetarian items clearly marked, but they really are vegetarian!  That means (according to my server) in vegetarian dishes there is no fish sauce, and the imitation crab is made with bean curd rather than processed seafood.  Not only that, but a separate vegan/gluten-free/food-allergy menu is available upon request.

Now for the best part -- the food is absolutely delicious!  It is by far the best Thai food I have ever tasted.  Everything seems to be made with really fresh ingredients. 

Spring rolls

Pad king with tofu (comes with white rice)

Pad Thai with tofu (and peanuts on the side, for my dining partner with the nut allergy)

The food was so good that three days later I ordered carry out (and the dish I ordered, pad pik king with tofu, was so tasty that it disappeared before I could snap a picture)! 

Mt. Pleasant (often called "a village in the city") has plenty of casual eateries (and no shortage of vegetarian food -- from cheese pupusas to veggie burgers, there are a number of quick-and-easy options reflecting the community's diversity), but Beau Thai offers a nice sit-down experience in a dimly lit, industrial-chic, hip space with a great view of Mt. Pleasant's main street.  It also has a vibrant bar and a great wine and cocktail list. 

Beau Thai's Mt. Pleasant location is the restaurant's second.  The original is located in Shaw.  

 

DC Spotlight: Lunch at SEI

About a year ago, shortly after I started this blog, I recommended dining at SEI to celebrate the National Cherry Blossom Festival. 

Since it's that time of the year again (although you wouldn't know it given the cold weather and still-bare trees), I thought I'd revisit SEI, which recently added a tasty tofu bibimbap entree to its lunch menu.  If you're in town visiting, this is still a great place to catch a quick but elegant Asian-themed meal in DC's conveniently located Penn Quarter neighborhood.

Tofu bibimbap (tofu, fried egg, watercress, rice, shitake, and gochujang sauce)

SEI also serves delicious cocktails and has a spacious bar/lounge area, where you can stay warm until the DC weather improves and the trees finally bloom.  Don't worry, it will be worth the wait!

Cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin (2011)

 



DC Spotlight: Spanish Tapas in Every Neighborhood

Like most places that specialize in small plates, Spanish tapas restaurants are excellent for vegetarians because they allow diners to piece together a meat-free meal while also sampling a number of different dishes.  Fortunately, DC has more than its fair share of Spanish tapas restaurants.  In fact, almost every neighborhood has one!

I previously reviewed my favorite of them all, Estadio, which is located in Logan Circle.  Estadio is my favorite because it offers (upon request) a separate vegetarian menu, and because the quality of the food, wine, and service is consistently excellent.  But it's also very popular, and if you don't get there early, you may have to wait for a table. 

So, if you don't have a lot of time, you might want to head to one of the other first-class restaurants mentioned below, where it will be much easier to get a reservation or simply walk-in, depending on the night of the week.  The vegetarian options at these places are all very similar, and also very delicious. 

At each place, I usually start my meal with an order of marinated olives and some bread topped with fresh tomato and Manchego cheese.  I then move on to some sort of grilled vegetable or sauteed mushroom dish.  My last two tapas are usually something heartier, like Spanish tortilla (egg omelet with potato and onion) or spicy potatoes.  I also always look for sources of protein, like meat-free dishes made with lentils or chickpeas.

If you're headed to Georgetown, check out Bodega.  This place has an authentic Spanish feel (which is obvious from its website) and is located right in the heart of a historic DC neighborhood. 

Marinated olives at Bodega

Green beans with almonds, garlic, and sweet red pepper at Bodega

Spanish tortilla at Bodega

If you're downtown, I recommend Jaleo, which is great for lunch as well as dinner.  Jaleo is Chef Jose Andres's first American restaurant.  As you can read here and here, I am big fan of his restaurants, which are all vegetarian-friendly.



Patatas bravas (fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and alioli) at Jaleo

Chickpea and spinach stew at Jaleo

Pulpo in Cleveland Park is relatively new, but I was impressed by my first visit.  The menu combines Spanish tapas with modern American, Latin American, and European flavors.  I stuck with the traditional Spanish dishes.

Garlic mushrooms at Pulpo

Bread topped with fresh tomato and Manchego cheese at Pulpo

Finally, if you want something much, much more upscale (read: expensive), check out Taberna del Alabardero, which also offers a separate vegetarian menu.  I will review Taberna del Alabardero separately at some point in the near future because it deserves its own post. 

All of the places mentioned above are listed on the Washington, DC Restaurants page of this website.  Two additional Spanish tapas restaurants (which I have not included on the static list, mainly because I have grown intolerant of the noise levels at these places) are La Tasca in Chinatown and Boqueria in Farragut North.  The former is a local chain and offers numerous vegetarian options.  The latter is an NYC offshoot. 

TIP:  If you're actually traveling to Spain, check out my Barcelona post here.

DC Spotlight: A Taste of the South at Eatonville

Having recently traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana, and Columbia, South Carolina, I've been longing for my next fix of Southern cuisine.  Fortunately, Eatonville, right here in DC, is just what the doctor ordered.  

Eatonville not only serves a number of Southern classics, but its menu, which seems to change seasonally, clearly identifies a number of vegetarian and vegan items, including vegan gumbo, fried green tomatoes, and Cajun mushroom loaf.  It also offers a number of tofu dishes and locally grown vegetable sides.  Some of my favorite items are pictured below.

Honey-cornbread muffins

Fried green tomatoes, served with avocado and micro-greens salad, basil oil, saffron aioli

Grilled tofu and avocado salad with arugula, shitake mushrooms, roasted tomato, and apple-cider vinaigrette

Eatonville, named after author Zora Neal Hurston's hometown in Florida, is located in a spacious and colorful building in the popular U Street neighborhood.  Not by coincidence, it is located directly across the street from its sister restaurant, the very veg-friendly bar/lounge/cafe Busboys and Poets, dedicated to Langston Hughes.  

Eatonville is a fun place that also hosts a number of cultural events and other parties, often with live music.  Because of its festive atmosphere, tasty yet healthy food, and Southern-themed cocktails, it is one of my favorite places to spend holidays and other special occasions (I still have fond memories of the black-eyed pea chowder I had there a couple years ago on New Year's Eve).  It's also excellent for brunch, and, unlike in Birmingham, Alabama, you don't need to worry about whether the biscuits are made with lard (because they aren't)!

New Orleans (February 2013)

I just returned from Mardi Gras in New Orleans, which is a great food city -- that is, if you like seafood and sausage.  New Orleans gets a bad rap for not being vegetarian-friendly, but I disagree.  

As noted on the Travel Tips page, New Orleans has numerous first-class restaurants, most of which do not include any vegetarian items on their menus.  But because their chefs are so well trained, most of them are more than happy to accommodate special diets, especially if you call ahead.  Although the downside to this approach is that you may not get to choose what you want from an array of options, the upside is that you almost always will end up with a unique and delicious well-balanced meal, prepared especially for your palate and based on whatever fresh ingredients the chef has in the kitchen.  

At both Emeril's (in the Warehouse District) and Bayona (in the French Quarter), for example, I described my dietary restrictions to the waiter and discussed what foods I like (mushrooms!) and dislike (eggplant!).  Then, it was up to the chef to invent something that would satisfy me -- and that's exactly what happened.  Pictured below are my meals at both places.

At Emeril's, the chef prepared this vegetarian trio: grilled bread topped with grilled mushrooms and other veggies, baked beans topped with a tomato-corn salsa and fried onions, and bok choy served with cauliflower, roasted red pepper, and rice.  

My vegetarian meal at Emeril's was accompanied by freshly baked focaccia, corn muffin, and roll.

My meal at Bayona began with these tasty black bean cakes.

This is one of two different vegetarian entrees that my dining partner and I shared at Bayona.  This one is made with rice, greens, onions, baby carrots, and roasted peppers, and was deliciously seasoned.

Bayona's second vegetarian entree consisted of polenta, portobello mushrooms, broccolli, cauliflower, cabbage, and a tapenade relish.  This dish had a totally distinct flavor than the first one.

On Fat Tuesday I had lunch at Luke (located right on St. Charles Avenue in the Central Business District).  They were also very accommodating, although because it was a busy day for them and I did not call ahead, I was limited to meat-free versions of existing menu items, which were still delicious.

At Luke, I was served this pasta dish with seasoned mushrooms and veggies.

I also was able to get a meat-free option of Luke's onion tart, served on paper-thin flatbread with cheese.

But my favorite meal, by far, was at the Gumbo Shop (in the French Quarter), which serves authentic New Orleans cuisine AND offers both a vegetarian gumbo and a daily vegetarian creole-style rice and beans dish.  Unfortunately, the restaurant does not accept reservations, but I had no problem getting a table even during the busy carnival season by showing up a little early, before the dinner rush.

The Gumbo Shop's vegetarian gumbo contains mushrooms, greens, and kidney beans, and is topped with white rice and scallions.

The Gumbo Shop's daily vegetarian rice-and-beans dish on the day I dined there was made with creole-seasoned black beans and came with a homemade corn and tomato salsa.

For more casual dining, I definitely recommend Carmo (in the Warehouse District) and Bennachin (in the French Quarter).  Almost everything Carmo serves is or can be made vegetarian or vegan.  And Bennachin, which is a family-owned African restaurant, has several vegetarian options on its menu.  Carmo, with its tropical theme, also serves delicious cocktails.  Bennachin, on the other hand, is BYOB.  My meals at both places (pictured below) were delicious.

Carmo's broken noodle salad is made with rice noodles, tofu, peanuts, bean sprouts, cabbage, mushrooms, cilantro, peppers, and scallions, and tossed with a citrus-ginger-chili vinaigrette.

Carmo's daily special on the day I dined there was a curry dish made with potatoes, black-eyed peas, green beans, and scallions, served over price and with a side of greens.

At Bennachin, I had this hearty dish of black-eyed peas served in a tomato-onion stew with coconut rice, fried plantains, and a freshly baked roll.

Finally, vegetarians and carnivores alike cannot go to New Orleans during carnival season without trying the traditional Mardi Gras King Cake, which tastes great with Community or Orleans brand coffee.

This slice of traditional Mardi Gras King Cake is about to be devoured!

TIP:  As previously advised here and here, always be careful when traveling in the South to make sure that dishes that appear vegetarian are not, in fact, prepared with animal products (like lard).