Veritas Tavern

Veritas Tavern is an exciting small plates spot located in practically the last place you would think - Delaware. The fast growing community North of Columbus is home to this exciting restaurant. It is well worth the drive if it is far from you to experience the work of chefs Avishar Barua and Silas Caeton, and it's even better if Delaware is in your back yard.

The menu features great seasonal ingredients. While there are a limited number of vegetarian items on the regular menu, the kitchen is able to accommodate vegetarians with additional dishes if given advance notice.

The dining room has ample bar space, and the bar has a nice selection of wine, beer and great cocktails. Mixed drinks are made with quality ingredients, and show great care. 

The decor is fun with cookbooks adorning the walls as well as menus from the restaurants of renowned chefs Grant Achatz and Thomas Keller. While the dining room is whimsical, it could benefit visually from a greater focus and organization.

The feta dip appeared straightforward with cucumber and flatbread on the plate. The flavor is clean with a subtle richness, and the dish is far more complex than the simple ingredients belie.

The potted blue cheese with chocolate biscuits and port wine in a squeeze dropper is a study in flavor. When combined, the sweetness of the wine tempers the strong cheese, and the chocolate adds layers of roasted notes. Each element can also be removed, changing the flavor profile considerably. 

The Brussels sprouts were roasted and served in a deeply savory sauce that made them irresistible. They were tender, falling apart. The sauce held the essence of tamari soy sauce. I'm not normally a Brussels sprouts fan, but these were good enough to order again.

The grilled asparagus with late harvest peas, maitake mushrooms and ricotta made fantastic use of great ingredients. The mushrooms were seared, and the texture and flavor were as close to bacon as anything I have ever experienced as a vegetarian. The cheese added a creamy background to the dish, and the peas sweetened it up and gave the dish a nice texture.

The white and dark chocolate dessert played with the contrariety of temperature and texture. White chocolate was frozen in liquid nitrogen. The dark chocolate was an ice cream, served with an even-darker hot chocolate fudge. The white chocolate dissolved into a rich frozen smoke. The chocolate was even more rich, and the warm fudge added a great contrast. Drops of Pedro Ximenez sherry add complex oxidized notes to the dish.

Service was exceptional. The staff capably deals with dietary questions. The menu changes often enough that regular visitors would not have to worry about repeating dishes. Interestingly, reservations on the weekend are not taken, and diners are seated first-come, first-served.

Twist by Pierre Gagnaire

Twist by Pierre Gagnaire is the heralded chef's sole North American restaurant. Pierre Gagnaire's technique is firmly rooted in the French tradition, but he adds a modern flair with international influences to his cuisine that makes him more forward-looking than some of his fellow countrymen.

Twist is located in the swanky Mandarin Oriental in City Center on The Strip. The dining room has a great view of The Strip, which makes it a great spot for romantic dining.

The wine list is chock full of interesting lots to pair with the fare coming out of the food-science laboratory kitchen. There are great wines from the Old and New World, and the cocktails and beer are selected with the same care as everything else at Twist.

Service at Twist is as exemplary as the food. The kitchen controls the dining experience, and does a phenomenal job preparing artful food for vegetarian and vegan diners.

The menu changes with the season. Gagnaire typically works in the kitchen for a week or two when the new menu is introduced.

The bread plate and plate of amuse bouche show the careful attention to detail from the kitchen. There were three different risen breads, as well as flavored flatbtreads. They were served with amazing butter and an addictive popcorn foam that adds a sweet, salty backdrop to the baked goods. 

The amuse bouche came in four parts. Many were savory plays on desserts, spicy cookies and cheese marshmallows that were perfectly suited to a one-bite format.

The salad course was made with green and white asparagus, shallot vinaigrette, tomato coulis, avocado and diced mushroom agar. The dressing was augmented by vegetable-gelatin-suspended spices. The plating was almost too pretty to eat.

The next course had cabbage as its centerpiece, and played nicely with sweetness and acidity. Passion fruit adds a nice bite to the crisp, green veggies.

 The carrot fondant was served atop a raspberry and beet reduction. Sliced turnips gave the dish a nice crunch.

The next course was beets in a reduced maple syrup on roasted red pepper and pimento jam. It was topped with graffiti radishes that added a great visual pop.

The sauteed baby potatoes sat in an arugula coulis with enoki and Paris mushrooms. It was a pleasing combination of savory, salty flavors that were completely balanced.

The saffron risotto with baby zucchini, broccoli and corn was as good of a risotto as I have ever tasted. The creamy rice was a perfect vehicle to deliver the lightly roasted vegetable flavor that defines the season.

The dessert tasting consists of six components. They range in order from light and fresh to rich and sweet. They were followed by petit fours.

There are too many great chefs in Las Vegas to count. Vegans and vegetarians looking for fine dining options should take note of Twist when exploring fine dining options. The modern take on meatless cuisine at the restaurant surpasses anything else you are likely to find in Sin City.

The Catbird Seat

If you have only one meal in Nashville, The Catbird Seat should probably be it. Chefs Josh Habinger and Erik Anderson have worked at practically every heralded restaurant around the globe. Habinger spent time working under Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck, Tom Colicchio at Craft New York City and Grant Achatz at Alinea. Anderson spent time under Thomas Keller at The French Laundry and Rene Redzepi at Noma. The beverage director/front-of-house manager Jane Lopes also has a resume that includes a stint at The Violet Hour. The pedigree shows in the performance here.

The restaurant is located next to the stylish Patterson House. This cocktail bar is run by the same company as The Catbird Seat. The house-made ice and bitters are ingredients in cocktails that like the Roman god Janus look to the past while also seeing the future.

The Catbird Seat is a small restaurant. Seating surrounds the kitchen area, allowing diners to watch the chefs prepare each dish. Dinner was a 10 course degustation with a few extra amuse-bouche thrown in for good measure. The kitchen can accommodate any dietary restrictions with advance notice.

 Vegetarian courses tend to mirror the standard chef's menu. There are two levels of beverage pairings, and bottles of wine may also be ordered.

The amuse-bouche was a savory cheese cookie that looked like an Oreo. It was similar to a classic dish that Grant Achatz made at Trio in Evanston. Achatz's savory parmesan ice cream sandwich looked and tasted like this teaser at The Catbird Seat. The conclusion of the meal was a sweet version of an identical cookie.

The first course was a trio, with a smoked root vegetable and cheese bite, a shiitake Cracker Jack corn, and a seasoned radish flavored to taste like the Nashville classic Hot Chicken. The Cracker Jack and "Hot Chicken" exploded with flavor. It was paired with a dry Riesling by Stock and Stein.

The second course was made with grated burnt bread, an off-the-wall ingredient that worked way better than it should have. There was also a fennel blossom salad with ramp capers, juniper, quince, lychee and almond that had a bright, clean citrus essence. It was served with Delheim Gewurztraminer from Stellenbosch, South Africa dosed with a mint tincture.

The kimchi was  cabbage, avocado, kiwi, watermelon rind and shaved coconut. The greens atop the slaw added an earthy layer to the dish. The slightly sweeter Airfield Estates Riesling was a bracing palate cleanser.

The plating on the grilled vegetable course was spectacular with perfect cross hatches on the squash. The layers of peas and cheese bring understated vegetal touches to the dish, and the Depeuble Beaujolais brought in subtle tobacco notes.

The dish that was the vegetarian equivalent of the beef course featured house-made seitan with a perfect texture. It had cleaner taste than packaged wheat protein. The Portuguese red wine added nuance to the mushroom flavors of the dish.

The cheese course was Jasper Hill Harbison cheese, an oozing cow milk cheese with hints of flowers and pine. Dried hibiscus, blueberry and gingersnaps bring different flavors to a luxurious cheese, as did the Tripel Karmeliet, a Belgian abbey ale.

Dessert was split into three courses. The first was a peach sorbet with walnut ice cream, Fernet Branca gel, walnut pudding and a cardamom crisp. While many of the elements worked well on their own, the Fernet Branca is such an overpowering flavor that it obliterated the taste of anything else.

The maple custard was served in a cracked egg with a crisped candied carrot and a sprig of thyme. It was rich and luxurious. It was served with a Sawa Sawa sparkling sake that was off dry with a faint vanilla base. The bubbly sake complemented the dish while also clearing the palate. 

 The final course was a playful take on pineapple upside down cake. The vanilla cake was topped with pineapple gel, smoked oak ice cream, cherry peanut crisps and a bourbon gel ball. Different pairings of ingredients yielded entirely different experiences with a surprise around each corner. 

Reservations at The Catbird Seat are a little tricky, but it becomes easier if you keep a few tips in mind. Reservations open 30 days in advance on the website at midnight Central Time. Reservations disappear quickly, although last minute cancellations sometimes allow diners to procure last-minute seats. Check Twitter or email directly for details.     

Graham Elliot

Graham Elliot is the namesake restaurant of noted chef Graham Elliot Bowles. Bowles has gained notoriety over the years from his stints at restaurants like the Mansion on Turtle Creek, Charlie Trotter's and Tru, on the Top Chef Masters program on Bravo, and from his much publicized spat this week with Chicago Magazine.

Graham Elliot combines Bowles' lighthearted spirit with his flair for the dramatic in fine dining. Servers are dressed down, sporting Chuck Taylors on their feet as opposed to Italian dress shoes. The decor is refined, modern and stylish.

While there are not many vegetarian choices on the menu, the staff was more than willing to prepare vegetarian items a al carte or as part of any of the degustations.

One of the most talked about items at Graham Elliot is his deconstructed Caesar salad (warning: it's not vegetarian) that actually contains a brioche Twinkie. My vegetarian first course was a deconstructed Caprese salad, with green zebra tomatoes, croutons, buffalo mozzarella, basil sprigs and a solid mass that functioned as a green basil crouton. The textures ran the gamut from crispy to soft, and each bite gives a different perspective on the flavors that compose the dish.

The spring pea bisque is a bright, fresh mouthful of the season. The savory quotient of the dish is turned up by creme fraiche, and the clean pea notes linger beautifully on the palate.

The third course was a spring salad, prepared with leafy greens, asparagus, nectarine segments and crispy flatbread wedges in a pea-laced vinaigrette. The flavor is tangy, bright and delicious.

The breaded tofu course was served with mushrooms, microgreens and foamed soy sauce that adds a luscious quality to the dish. Both the presentation and the taste of the dish were breathtaking.

My dessert was a dark chocolate torte with an almond financier, apricot jam, salted caramel sauce and cream cheese. This was another dish where the variety of flavors and textures are on the plate, and by combining the many elements in various ways, each bite is a different experience.

The Intelligentsia coffee from the French press was a nice touch. It was served with an hourglass that, when empty, signified that the coffee was ready to drink.

Graham Elliot is a great experience. The fun environment combined with the cutting edge cuisine is absolutely worth the trip.

Graham Elliot