I know, a brewery? I would think the same thing…but I go where the wind takes me this week, and everyone seemed to finish the work day at South Street’s famous Tuesday evenings, full of cheap excellent beer and worthy grub. This review will be short and snappy.
I feared South Street would break my vegetarian streak of the week (and it was only Tuesday), but the words “portobello ravioli” called my name from the menu. I didn’t even bother reading the description assuming there was nothing in this meat related. Yes, I was right. The ravioli were giant round circles cooked perfectly and filled with sautéed portobello…they were dam good. The sauce was a crème based cheese sauce topped with parmesan cheese. This dish alone made the evening a success.
I couldn’t find anything else on the menu that appealed to my inner veggie except for the veggie optioned nachos. Did I miss something else on the menu worth noshing on?
Ravioli pic on Flikr
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Tagged as: Beer, Charlottesville, charlottesville vegetarian festival, cheese, cville veg fest, diet, dining, eat, farm, farmers market, Food, happy cow, Local, no meat, non-dairy, Organic, pasta, ravioli, raw food, recommendation, Restaurant, restriction, slow food, vegan, Vegetarian, vegetarian guide, veggie heaven, veggieheadonline, vegguide.org
the goat cheese and roasted garlic puff pastry (with balsamic vinegar), best thing on South Streets great menu
Could you maybe actually take pictures of what you ate instead of putting in random pix from Flickr? Got a camera phone?
no…waiting for an iphone!
Sweet! And I have mad respect for restaurants that don’t resort to cheese-centric dishes as the vegetarian option. South Street, unfortunately, is just not that inventive.
I know this veggie tales thing has its ups and downs, but look out for Veggie Tales 5 in the next couple of days…super inventive veggie dish coming your way! While South Street wasn’t that inventive on the portobello ravioli, the execution/plating/overall taste was really good. Not expected at a place full of beer and burgers.
And yes I do feel like a poop for not posting real pics…you have no idea the burning desire deep inside me to whip out a Canon SLR and take pics of my dinner like it was Eva Longoria.
Oh I see, a challenge, eh? Bring it.
Several things on their menu can be made veggie (w/ meat removal) if you ask: the tostada, pita, & taco salad. Hummus is veggie. Also the house salad if too small for dinner could be doubled.
I appreciate that most restaurants have at least one veggie option. More often than not it is pasta or something designed to appeal to the maximum number of veggies, the dish may be good but is often bland. For better or worse, a pasta with a non-cheese filling actually counts for creativity. When I first moved to town in ‘94, a lot of restaurants didn’t have veggie entrées and of the 60% or so that did, all had penne pasta with pine nuts, every one! While things have changed for the better – and there are some pro-veggie places out there, eg Bang! – too many good restaurants fall down on the veggie front. Primary offenses: (1) Complete lack of creativity or caring. Fancy, delicious, creative fare erupts from the kitchens at many of our finer feed bags, but it seems that the chefs delegate the creation of the veg dish to the dishwasher, and only then as an afterthought. (2) Only one option and it never changes. (3) Salad, only. At least pasta fills my gullet. Here are some offenders:
Hamilton’s - Hamilton’s offers a Blue Plate special comprised of four different dishes, mostly salad or veggies. It’s not substantial. Generally, there is one component I like OK, two that I can stomach, and one I just can’t abide. This makes for a wildly un-satiating and unsatisfying meal. That said they do make an honest attempt at providing an exciting, varied dish which is a welcome change from the pasta dishes offered elsewhere. Keeping in mind that this dish may appeal to others and is executed with care, I won’t give it a failing grade. But please, have some respect; nothing says second class diner like a collection of side dishes.
Bizou - I really want to go to this restaurant, but for years all they’ve offered (and grudgingly as far as I can tell) is a single never-changing, off-the-menu entrée salad. A meal without substance is a meal unworthy of being called an entrée. Just because I am a veg doesn’t mean I am on a diet. And why is it off the menu? Are they ashamed? Maybe. Or perhaps they realize that a lot of veggies will after reading the menu go elsewhere. Clearly not a restaurant that wants my business.
Escafe - The new chef (or owner) ruined what had been my favorite affordable restaurant (or is that ONLY affordable restaurant) on the mall. Escafe used to offer several veg dishes on a regularly changing menu. Now: Nothing, zero, zip, nada. Unless you count a salad for 8 or 10 bucks to which you can add tofu. I love tofu and it’s a great way to add substance to a salad. But $5 for a single 1″ slab of tofu is INSANE. Dear Escafe: Change it now please.
Of course I haven’t been to these places in quite some time, so if things have changed let me know. I suspect my favorite bar maid, Shananigans, has a different take on Bizou which I’m interested to hear.
Veggie favorites offer variety on the menu and over time and appeal to the diverse tastes of the veg community. Extra points for vegan options. Favorites include Bang and Blue Moon Diner
i just had a delightful fake-meat lunch at ming dynasty. aromas also has a couple of good options. yum, aromas…
The fake meat options at Ming Dynasty are awesome! Or were, ages ago, when last I was there.
See, I lub Hamilton’s Blue Plate special. It’s always different and a fun little combo of exquisite veggie concoctions. It’s like a Veggie tasting menu all on one plate. Tonight’s offering: White Bean and Pesto Salad with Sundried Tomatoes with Eggplant Fries w/ Marinara, Roasted Beet Salad with Pommery Dressing, Spicy Haricot Verts, and a Stuffed Pepper with Fontina. Nice! A
Bizou is pretty meat-centric but they usually have either a Roasted Beet Salad (gud!) or a Blue Cheese/Walnut/Apple/ Balsamic vin. salad. They usually always have a Veggie Quesadilla too. Their soups though, usually always have a meat stock. Definitely no vegan options. They are definitely not too creative. C+
Escafé Never had the desire to eat there. Did once and it was so unremarkable that I can’t remember what I ordered. I do however remember the cheese on the cheese plate tasted like it came out of one of those Hickory Farm’s samplers you see at the mall at Christmas. C-
Bang: 2 words: Vegetable Curry. 2 more: SO GUD! Their menu doesn’t change much but I will go there just for that dish. Nobody else in town makes it. B+
OXOalways has a vegetarian entrée and it changes monthly. They always have a salad too and the veggie based soups are made with veg stock. B+
Fleurie Has the typical Veggie Pasta as the veggie option but the chef there is so talented, if you tell him you’re veggie, he will whip up awesome veggie creations for you on the spot. A
The Box I lub lub lub the Box. Cheap and veggielicious. Vegan-riffic even! But menu stays the same.A
The Local I gave them crap for having Veggie pasta as the veggie option and I guess they took heed, because now they have Veggie version of Steak/Frites and a local Veggie duJour and a veggie soup and at least two different veggie pastas. Also you can get Tofu on your Caesar. Not that I’d want to but they get props for trying to appease us Veg-heads A
Mas OMG. Always have awesome fruit and vegetable offerings. Cooked amazingly. Too bad you can’t get a table and if you sit inside, you leave smelling like cooking oil. A+ (just for the food)
excellent use of gud, shenanigans. except i actually forgot about my advocacy campaign, so you may currently be holding the only internet candle in the western hemisphere for that ridiculous word.
it’s gud to have a cause!
\BTW. “paco”is not the man who has a dong named so…(might have a dog named so,but not the man yer thinki’)
@13: Come again??
@1–oy, you said just what I was thinking. That goat cheese, roasted pepper puff thing is great.
re: Bang! did anyone notice that the japanese caramelized eggplant isn’t on the menu any more? That was one of my veggie favorites there.
Oh, and if you are willing to wander out of town, Duners always has a veggie option that is generally yummy and changes relatively regularly (yes, it is often pasta.) http://www.dunersrestaurant.com/menu.pdf
Now, if we could only get a Big Burrito restaurant in Charlottesville, so we could have veggie tasting menus like this: http://www.bigburrito.com/eleven/menu/pdf/eleven_dinner.pdf
(skip to page 3 of the menu for the veggie tasting.) Unfortunately, all their expansions seem to be of their Mad Mex restaurants and not the others.
why yes, I am lusting over a restaurant from Pittsburgh…I went to Eleven for dinner last week and I’m still swooning.
You are completely wrong. The sauce has veal in it. It says so it right on the menu. I was ready and eager to order it before I read the fine print. Not even close to vegetarian.
[…] South Street Brewery: Beer and vegetables? Well beer is made FROM vegetables, so I guess we aren’t too far off the mark. I hit their portabello ravioli like Burt on Ernie. I wouldn’t have expected that kind of quality from a pub style restaurant and was pleasantly surprised. Our favorite oy suggested we try the goat cheese puff pastry with balsamic vinegar. Mmmm….goat […]