Moosewood Restaurant

I've always heard that Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY is a really great place for vegetarians to eat. I was up in Ithaca with my family earlier this week and we decided to go to Moosewood to see what all the hype was about. To those unfamiliar with the place, it's mainly a vegetarian and vegan restaurant with a little bit of seafood. The menu is different every night. They have eleven published cookbooks that include a variety of different ethnic cuisines. I have one of the cookbooks but I don't think I've ever made anything from it.

To be fair, I had really high hopes going into the restaurant. It's a nice place inside and the staff all seemed helpful and cheerful. The orders came very quickly. Vegetarian items on the menu are marked "vegetarian" or "vegan" for easy ordering. Between my family members and I we had salad with ginger-miso dressing, a white bean rosemary dip with bread, spicy peanut soup, Creole red beans with veggies, and vegetable jambalaya.

The salad and dressing were both excellent as was the bean dip. They both had a lot of really good flavors that went well together. We agreed that the peanut soup, although tasty, tasted more like carrots than peanuts and wasn't spicy at all. The Creole red beans with veggies were okay. They were basically beans with tomato-based sauce, some cooked veggies, topped with cold salsa and avocado and all over brown rice. It was nothing special that I couldn't have easily made at home for a fraction of the price. I didn't taste the jambalaya since it was ordered with cheese (although the cheese was optional) but it didn't look that great and I'm told the taste wasn't fantastic either.

On the whole, it wasn't a bad experience but it wasn't great. For the amount it cost ($40 plus tip) I wouldn't opt to go back again for dinner.

Tags: vegetarian dining | vegetarian restaurants | Moosewood Restaurant