Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Foods / Restaurants / Vegetarian Zola Expands Veggie Roster
Posted by Carrington Fox on Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 5:10 AM
Chickpeas, pomegranates and carrots, watch your backs. Zola chef Deb Paquette is on a vegetarian rampage. The Iron Fork champion has added six vegetarian offerings to the regular menu, with three that can be prepared vegan.
Think of this information as a secret handshake for herbivores. Zola's vegetarian menu is not presented along with the rest of Chef Deb's north African-Mediterranean repertoire, but if you ask for it, your server will give you a knowing nod and then spill the beans, so to speak.
A glimpse of the new vegetarian menu is available after the jump.
Potato Napoleon
Grilled potatoes stuffed with caramelized onion, Idiazabal cheese, tarragon and spinach, with red pepper sauce, truffled zucchini slaw, pea pesto
Moroccan Tagine
Chickpeas, white beans, zucchini, carrots, butternut squash, spinach, raisins in a spicy saffron Moroccan broth, cous cous, feta
Stuffed Whole Poblano
Stuffed with sweet potato-and-ginger goat cheese with black bean coulis, pear sauce, pomegranate yogurt, mango butter and grilled Brussels sprouts
Zola Bruschetta
Hummus, roasted tomatoes, grilled romaine, basil, capers, roasted red peppers, black olive oil, pine nuts and feta on grilled focaccia
Tortilla
Filled with smoked carrot, caramelized onion and grilled apple, poblano-pumpkin seed sauce, cranberry-beet relish, Brussels sprout slaw and cheese (optional)
Comments (9)
Showing 1-9 of 9
The Potato Napoleon sounds fantastic. Did Chef Deb say whether demand for veggie offerings has been unusually high lately, or is this an annual affair? I was wondering if veggie patrons are starting to demand more options in general.
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10 days or so ago, Deb also had a pecan crusted fried poblano stuffed with goat cheese that is outstanding as well as "potato skins" like you've never had 'em! (Cauliflower, hot sauce & hummus were involved.) Both were appetizers & worth the trip alone.
Fantastic news! Zola is by far my favorite restaurant in town. The food is always excellent (so many unique combinations and HUGE portions) and the service phenomenal. I have never had a bad experience there. Zola's menu/website has always stated that the chef can alter dishes for vegetarian and vegan preferences and there is always at least one vegetarian dish on the menu. Looks like I'm planning a new visit to Zola to try out the new creations!
From what Ernie said, it sounds like the veg-heads have been sprouting from the woodwork asking for this.
I also wonder if the fact that veggies (most of them anyway) can be cheaper than beef/chicken/pork/lamb/etc was part of the motivation behind this as well.
OK, I have to come clean here and ask for advice. What is the etiquette for when a particular ingredient in what otherwise sounds fantastic is simply a deal breaker? No matter how many times I try them, goat cheese and feta are simply dead ends for me, and ruin whatever they're with. Is it tacky to ask if substitutions are possible, or is that an insult to the chef and a nightmare for cost-price ratios?
I think there are limits of course - if bleu cheese were my deal breaker (which it isn't, thank god), I wouldn't ask for its replacement in the ChaCha dip mentioned elsewhere, but is the stuffing in a stuffed poblana something that could be discussed without losing all credibility?
This is excellent news! I had tagine while in London last year and have been craving it ever since. It would be really hard to choose it over any of the others, though. Many thanks to Deb for this.
I can't wait to get over to Zola's and review some of their food. It sounds like they should have some great menu options that I can submit to Veggiething.com. Thanks for the great article!
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