Sunday, June 11, 2006
New Vegetarian Restaurant in Boulder - Leaf
Leaf Vegetarian Restaurant
16th, just North of Pearl, Boulder
A few people have mentioned this place, so Linda and I tried it last night! Overall, it's pretty good, but pricey.
The decor is really nice, sparse, but very elegant, clean, and tasteful. Wood floors, big windows, white walls with muted colors. It's a very small place so I can imaging it being a bit noisy if was real busy.
The service was great and the staff very attentive and on the ball. Our server knew exactly what was vegan and what could be made vegan, he didn't have to ask the cook about every dish, which was great!
We had the fiddlehead ferns (appetizer) which was delicious! Tender young ferns stir fried in olive oil, garlic, and other seasonings. Very tasty. The seaweed salad was also outstanding. A decent portion (good for two), lots of seaweed, beets, radish, and salad greens. With the appetizers they also brought out some wonderful bread that tasted freshly baked. We were wondering if we can just get a bottle of wine and a loaf of that bread next time! ;-)
We tried two entrees - the grilled seitan with a bourbon-bbq sauce and the noodle bowl. The Seitan was wonderful, highly recommended. The grilling gave the seaitan a nice charred flavor and the sauce was thick and tasty. It's served with potatoes, carrots, and a tiny piece of bok choy. Not a huge portion! I think the seitan was made fresh, it was very tender.
I liked the noodle bowl, but it wasn't great. The noodles were a little overcooked and there weren't many veggies with it. The sauce was nice, though. Linda found it too spicy and didn't like it much. I wouldn't get that again. The thai and indian dishes looked great, maybe we'll try them next time.
For dessert we had NOTHING! ;-( They're really short on vegan desserts. They had a rice pudding that we didn't want and soy ice-cream. Big deal. We made a point to ask about more vegan desserts and even made our guy go back and be sure nothing else is vegan. If everyone who goes in there asks for vegan desserts, maybe they'll work on that!
So overall, the food was very good, definitely "gourmet", but without alcohol (we drank a smoothie and a fruit juice), it was about $50. More than we'd normally pay to go out to eat, but ok once in a while. Definitely worth it for a special occasion, or just to support a vegetarian restaurant!
16th, just North of Pearl, Boulder
A few people have mentioned this place, so Linda and I tried it last night! Overall, it's pretty good, but pricey.
The decor is really nice, sparse, but very elegant, clean, and tasteful. Wood floors, big windows, white walls with muted colors. It's a very small place so I can imaging it being a bit noisy if was real busy.
The service was great and the staff very attentive and on the ball. Our server knew exactly what was vegan and what could be made vegan, he didn't have to ask the cook about every dish, which was great!
We had the fiddlehead ferns (appetizer) which was delicious! Tender young ferns stir fried in olive oil, garlic, and other seasonings. Very tasty. The seaweed salad was also outstanding. A decent portion (good for two), lots of seaweed, beets, radish, and salad greens. With the appetizers they also brought out some wonderful bread that tasted freshly baked. We were wondering if we can just get a bottle of wine and a loaf of that bread next time! ;-)
We tried two entrees - the grilled seitan with a bourbon-bbq sauce and the noodle bowl. The Seitan was wonderful, highly recommended. The grilling gave the seaitan a nice charred flavor and the sauce was thick and tasty. It's served with potatoes, carrots, and a tiny piece of bok choy. Not a huge portion! I think the seitan was made fresh, it was very tender.
I liked the noodle bowl, but it wasn't great. The noodles were a little overcooked and there weren't many veggies with it. The sauce was nice, though. Linda found it too spicy and didn't like it much. I wouldn't get that again. The thai and indian dishes looked great, maybe we'll try them next time.
For dessert we had NOTHING! ;-( They're really short on vegan desserts. They had a rice pudding that we didn't want and soy ice-cream. Big deal. We made a point to ask about more vegan desserts and even made our guy go back and be sure nothing else is vegan. If everyone who goes in there asks for vegan desserts, maybe they'll work on that!
So overall, the food was very good, definitely "gourmet", but without alcohol (we drank a smoothie and a fruit juice), it was about $50. More than we'd normally pay to go out to eat, but ok once in a while. Definitely worth it for a special occasion, or just to support a vegetarian restaurant!
