DYNAMIC DISH

He says:
Oh, Dynamic Dish, I’d like to love you. I really would. You’ve gotten so much great press in the local papers and magazines. Everyone says you’re the best vegetarian restaurant in town. Your menu changes daily based on what’s in season. You use fresh, local, organic ingredients. Your décor is bright and airy, like a farmhouse in the Midwest. You have a charming, no-frills website. We should be completely in love right now.

But, you know, it’s just not working out.

Maybe it’s your wacky schedule. We tried to visit you multiple times in the past but have been cruelly turned away. After all, you’re only open for dinner three nights a week. And you know I don’t work close enough to Edgewood Avenue to see you for lunch. The long distance thing is difficult.

Maybe it’s your service. When we last visited you, there were only eight other people in the restaurant. But it took forever to get our water glasses filled. Questions about the tea list went unanswered. Check-ins were infrequent. I really wish you would pay more attention to me.

Maybe it’s the menu. Everything looks delicious. It really does. We were excited for tasty vegetarian dishes. It’s so hard to find the good ones in Atlanta. Alas, it was not meant to be…

She says:
Things started out pretty well... When that bowl of ginger pumpkin soup (which the server happily split for us) came out, I felt that fluttering in my stomach that only comes with a new crush. What a splendid, creamy soup! The zing of the ginger and the crunch of the toasted pepita garnish had me grinning like a fool! I admit, my interest was piqued.

Then I tried the Flammkuchen. It sounded rustic and hardy, but what came out was a delicate flat bread pizza covered with carmelized onions, fennel, and a smattering of cheddar. It was a nice dish, but I have to admit I was a little bored.

Which is nothing compared to the way our vegan friend was feeling, being forced to order salad. Salad!! That’s the ultimate insult, the fallback dish when no other options are available. The tempeh burger with vegan eggplant remoulade seemed like a possibility, but the burger was made with egg. Why? Why even bother offering a vegan remoulade when a vegan can’t eat the burger? It’s like false advertising. And then, like a slap in the face, the only vegan dessert – a sweet little chocolate cupcake just begging to make our friend a happy man – disappeared before we finished our dinner.

He says:
For better or worse, I kept hanging around. My trout was wonderful – fresh and flaky with a clear, smoky flavor. It paired wondrously with the horseradish cream and Georgia watercress. The earthiness of the potato salad gave the dish some needed heft. Its dishes like this that made me think we had a future.

But then our other, non-vegan friend had the tempeh burger. It was fine, but unfortunately it sat on a desiccated bun.

Oh, dear. You do so much so well and yet get the little things wrong. Maybe we can try this again in a few years, when you’ve had some time mature. I hope we can still be friends.

We say:
It’s not you, it’s us. Well, maybe it’s a little bit you.




Dynamic Dish
427 Edgewood Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30312
http://www.dynamicdish.net/

BAY LEAVES

She says:

I don’t think the future is bright for Bay Leaves. We visited on a Thursday evening with a Creative Loafing coupon in hand and ended up being the only ones there during our entire meal. This doesn’t bode well for the Little Five eatery, which only opened in May. I can’t say that I will feel any great loss if the restaurant ends up closing, but there may be some disappointed vegetarians out there, if only because their options are few and far between in this meat-loving town.

Bay Leaves’ menu focuses largely on vegetarian items and meat that comes from local, organic animals. (There’s also quite a few fish choices, but I forgot to see if they were sustainable options.) As for the cuisine itself… I’m not sure what’s going on. The menu is supposedly “international fusion” but seems to be primarily a mélange of Thai and American – an odd combination, particularly in a city so laden with good Thai food. Downtown Boy and I agree that a chef should pick one cuisine and do it well, rather than try to please the masses with multiple cuisines.

Our meal started off well, with the Bay Leaves’ Volcano appetizer, which consisted of pita bread topped with sautéed mushrooms, basil, spinach, tomatoes, and fake meat. A drizzle of creamy, chipotle dressing brought it all together. It’s not rocket-science but it tasted good.

He says:
The fish sandwich I ordered was one of the sadder things I’ve seen in Atlanta. The grilled tilapia was passable, but what happened to the “pesto dressing” the menu mentioned? My sandwich only came with lettuce and tomatoes. And where was the “fresh ciabatta bread”? The tiny fillet of tilapia came between 2 slices of supermarket brown bread – and not the nice Pepperidge Farm 7-Grain bread, but the cheap, Home Pride 99-cent stuff.

Seriously, if I want to eat a sandwich like this I’d rather stay home and throw a can of sardines on Wonder Bread. The dish’s saving grace was the sweet potato fries, which were nice and crunchy.

She says:
On our very sweet waitress’s recommendation, I got the ginger chicken. I was eager to back Bay Leaves’ support of all-natural, wholesome, happy chickens, but the chunks of chicken didn’t taste very happy. In fact, they were a little dry. The chicken had been sautéed in soy sauce with bell peppers and LOTS of shredded ginger. The ginger was everywhere and could have used a lot more dicing. Overall, the dish was overwhelmingly gingery and easily something I could make at home.

He says:
For dessert we tried the fried ice cream, two large scoops of vanilla with a thick, doughy crust. The fried exterior was far thicker than I’ve seen in other restaurants, but I didn’t mind since deep-fried anything tends to be A-OK in my book.

She says:
I thought it was terrible. The fried dough on the outside was too thick and tasted slightly of rancid oil.

We say:
While we support Bay Leaves’ use of natural ingredients, we definitely do not support their mediocre cooking.





Bay Leaves
1138 Euclid Avenue, Atlanta GA 30307
http://www.rewardsnetwork.com/details.htm?merchantId=91891

R. THOMAS DELUXE GRILLE

He says:
If you’re ever wondering what to order at a restaurant, ask the waiter what the most popular dish is. I got this tip from a magazine recently, and it’s darn good advice! When I asked this question at the bohemian eatery R. Thomas, where we recently dined with two of our friends, our waitress immediately responded, “The Thai Bowl. Everyone gets it.”

Unfortunately, I failed to take my own advice. Instead I ordered the organic salmon piccata, a fillet of salmon marinated in lemon and clarified butter. The salmon was tender enough, but its flavors were strangely muted. Neither the butter nor lemon had a strong presence, which made me wonder if the fish had been steamed. On the side, the raw kale salad and hiziki (a sea vegetable from Japan) in Dijon were too pickled for my taste; the quinoa had a great hearty texture though.

She says:
One of our friends and I did order the Thai Bowl – he had also suggested it based on previous visits. The dish is composed of a mélange of sautéed vegetables mixed with peanut sauce on a bed of quinoa. We both ordered tofu with ours, although it normally comes with the option of tempeh or chicken. I was a little disappointed with the peanut sauce, which I generally expect to be on the sweeter side, but this sauce was heavily soy sauce based. Otherwise, the dish tasted very wholesome and fresh.

Our other friend ordered the second “most popular” dish, the Down Home (it’s basically a smorgasbord of veggies, including collard greens). She commented that the millet corn casserole was what you’d get if meatloaf and cornbread ever procreated – I’m not sure whether that was a compliment or not, but she did clean her plate!

One of the great things about R Thomas is its strong vegetarian menu, but it also has plenty of organic meat dishes to keep everyone happy. Breakfast is literally served all day since this place is open 24/7. Another interesting aspect of the menu is its wide selection of fresh juices, smoothies, and other beverages. The Chai I ordered tasted real – not like a mix – and it was perfectly sweetened with honey. One of our friends ordered a shot of coconut kefir (fermented green coconut milk), which the waitress sternly warned was “very good” for digestion. We’ll have to ask her how that worked out.

He says:
I had the Big Bang, a hot concoction of apple juice, lemons, and ginger. Each of these ingredients came through loud and clear, especially the zing of the lemon, which definitely cleared my sinuses!

What I like about R. Thomas is that it is a breath of fresh air in a city like Atlanta. Downtown Girl said that it’s the kind of place you’d find Portland, OR, and I have to agree that its hippy flair makes it stand out from the other eateries on Peachtree. Along the restaurant’s exterior you’ll find actual parrots in cages, as well as a dizzying array of wind chimes and other knick-knacks. The inside is a cross between a tiki bar and a 70’s disco, with its woven grass decorations and rainbow colored lights. Yup, it’s a trip.

We say:
Order whatever the waitress says to at this vegetarian wonderland.




R. Thomas Deluxe Grill
1812 Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30309
http://www.rthomasdeluxegrill.com/index.htm

CAFE SUNFLOWER

She says:
Café Sunflower was an obvious choice for dinner with Downtown Boy’s vegetarian brother in town. One of the very few Atlanta restaurants that boasts an exclusively vegetarian menu, Café Sunflower gives non-carnivores the rare treat of being able to peruse an entire menu and choose something besides pasta. Situated in a Buckhead strip mall, the restaurant has an unfortunate location, but once inside the airy (albeit bland) space, the parking lots and neighboring laundry mats are forgotten.

The menu has a huge variety of dishes, ranging from fajitas comprised of soy steak to orzo eggplant lasagna. All of the dishes are on the hearty side, with plenty of faux-meat options. This is actually something I tend to avoid… when eating vegetarian, I much prefer creative combinations of seasonal fresh vegetables and straight-up tofu than the inevitable failure of making soy taste like and have the texture of meat.

He says:
I totally agree with Uptown Girl; I want my meat to taste like meat and my vegetables to taste like vegetables. Still, the couscous w/ coconut curried vegetables and tempeh was an adequate entree. The coconut curry reminded me of certain Thai curries, though the sauce lacked the spices to counteract the dish’s overall creaminess. On the other hand, my brother absolutely loved his fake lemon chicken with green beans and jasmine rice, so I suppose Sunflower Café is doing something right.

She says:
I tried the quinoa, which came with a so-so ratatouille and a slice of almond crusted tofu. The tofu was the best part of the dish, the almond crust giving it a crunchy and delicious outer coating. Obscured along one side of my plate was a vegan cucumber cream, which, once discovered, added a refreshing yet garlicky touch to the dish.

We say:
Café Sunflower is doing a decent job of holding its own in a meat-loving town, but a little competition might do it some good and help to sharpen its edges. That said, when other vegetarian visitors come to town, we’ll probably be back.

Café Sunflower
2140 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30309
http://www.cafesunflower.com/