Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/175740
Six Must-Try Vegetarian Restaurants Right Now Greenbar, Fort Lauderdale 1075 SE 17th Street, 954-533-7507; greenbar.com Green Bar & Kitchen embodies the concept of vibrant, plant based, gluten-free wholesome eating. Their menu items feature whole, gluten-free grains, nuts, seeds, veggies, soups, fruit, cold-pressed juices, superfood salads and smoothies, raw treats and vegan/gluten-free bakery items. Kajitsu, New York 125 East 39th Street, 212-228-4873; kajitsunyc.com The top choice for gourmands, specializing in shojin cuisine, a type of vegetarian cooking that originated in Zen Buddhism. This is the Japanese star for meatless, fishless haute cuisine. Café Gratitude, California Various California locations; cafegratitude.com A super-chic, karma-centric restaurant serving the freshest and most healthy, feel-good food available. The menu is vegan, always organic and unbelievably satisfying. Vedge, Philadelphia 1221 Locust Street, 215-320-7500; vedgerestaurant.com Considered one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the country right now, Vedge prides itself on being a foodie's restaurant—for omnivores, vegetarians, vegans and carnivores alike. Seva, Michigan Ann Arbor and Detroit locations; sevarestaurant.com An award-winning vegetarian institution that's been around since the '70s, this whimsical restaurant remains the core of Ann Arbor's bohemian scene, not only for its delicious food, but coffee bar, juice bar, bakery and overall vibe. Green Zebra, Chicago Clockwise from top left: a tomato mini pizza; banana pancakes; tomato-and-potato salad with snap peas and zucchini spaghetti, all from "Vegetarian Everyday." recipes have such a cult following? David: We don't know! Maybe because we're nice and compassionate people. We were amateurs when we started…neither of us were chefs or photographers. We've taught ourselves everything, and I suppose people like that we're not superhuman or anything like that. Luise: Also, vegetarian food is quite simple to make pretty because it's so full of colors. We've tried to capture that prettiness in everything from Brussels sprouts to beets. You have the whole rainbow spectrum. We see our food like that, and we hope others do too. What is your most popular recipe? David: Our Beet Bourguignon—everybody seems to be obsessed with it. It's playful and tastes really nice as well. Do you receive a lot of fan mail? Luise: It's incredible. We get emails from families that really needed to get healthy—notes from mothers saying that it's changed their kids' well-being. David: We've heard from young girls with eating disorders saying they've started to eat well again because our blog makes them feel good about food. That's really moving. 210 BAL HARBOUR 1460 West Chicago Avenue, 312-243-7100; greenzebrachicago.com With an intense focus on the purity of ingredients, the owners have strong relationships with local farmers and foragers, creating unique dishes that mindfully connect the seasons with our senses. What's next? David: I'm still disappointed in the quality of vegetarian restaurants in Stockholm. We've talked about opening our own, but we're not restaurant people. It's so much work and we have a small child. We do have another dream, which is to create a food bike—like a food truck—and cycle around Sweden with smoothies and such. Luise: We also have another book that we're working on. It will be the same format, but with a different twist. "Vegetarian Everyday" was such a long, hard process. When we handed in the final manuscript, we were like, "We're never doing that again…" But that didn't last long! And your daughter, Elsa—what are her current eating habits? David: Elsa eats almost everything we cook. Apart from loving all kinds of beans, lentils and chickpeas, she has always been a pancake kid. No surprise! So we often make banana pancakes from the book. And when we make gluten-free pancake for dinners, we prepare the batter in our Vitamix blender, where we also add spinach or kale, and call them green pancakes. She loves that they are actually green and we love that they are more nutritious than normal pancakes.