VittlesVamp

Getting My Veg On

There is no question that I like meat. Meat and fish both. Cannot visualize going vegetarian, but I have been seeing more and more vegetarian options on restaurant menus - and have found myself intrigued.

Cauliflower steaks galore, people!

In truth, cauliflower has been a bit overplayed. But, there are other vegetables that are calling to me these days...Above are some gorgeous blistered green snap peas with Aleppo oil and crispy pita from Brooklyn's Celestine, and below are some of the kitchen's beautiful roasted baby carrots with crushed cashews...

Now, these are vegetarian mains I can get behind!

So, share vegetarian recipes if you've got 'em. No mock duck or mock anything though. If I want meat, I'll have it. If I do go veg, it is because I want the veggies out, loud and proud. Bring out the best in a beet or the finest in fennel, and you got me! Dare I say it? Produce pride!

Changing My Mind

In my last post I admitted that I am a planner. What I didn't mention was that I sometimes plan going out to a restaurant down to what I want to order off the menu. More often than not, that's because I'd read stories about a particular dish that got my mouth watering.

For example, it was New York Magazine that got me to visit Carroll Garden's Madcap Cafe for brunch a couple weeks back. They had waxed poetic about the spot's breakfast sandwich, describing it as "perfectly scrambled cheesy eggs and thick-cut bacon topped with a sprinkle of chives and rolled up in a slightly flaky homemade flatbread." I wanted it. I wanted it bad.

And, yet, confronted with the brunch menu, I went another way. I ordered the kitchen's take on Huevos Rancheros (pictured above), and have to say that I don't regret the choice. Moreover, I went back for dinner the next week and was dead-set on getting one of the restaurant's flatbread sandwiches for my evening repast - but then ended up opting for the Five-Spiced Duck Fried Rice. Once again, not disappointed in the least.

Will I ever get that mythical BEC at Madcap? Probably. Someday. And, if I pay heed to my last post about going "reservation-free," it'll be when I least suspect it.

Walk Right In

I'm a planner. A serious planner. I book flights months in advance. Same goes for dinner reservations, when possible. So, the evenings where spontaneity pays off are a special treat.

Case in point: This past Thursday, sashaying up to the host at Olmsted, the James Beard Award-winning hot spot in Prospect Heights, and being told we could have seats at the bar in 15 minutes. Would we care to take a seat in their drop-dead gorgeous garden and grab a cocktail while we waited? Um, YES! Thank you!

It was a marvelous meal, made all the more marvelous by it all being happenstance. (The fact that it was a perfect spring evening didn't hurt, either!)

I've had similar luck at notoriously hard-to-get-into restaurants like Oxomoco and Sofreh too.

It makes me wonder if I should abandon the notion of advance planning altogether. But, truth is, I don't think I can let go of my natural instincts to schedule in advance. Still, it might be worthwhile for me to remember the joys of winging it and leave a little more room for surprise.