Herbivore
So, we went to a vegan restaurant called "Herbivore" tonight. The vegetable sampler we got at the beginning came with three sauces, a lemon garlic, a pesto, and a tahini sauce that were all punchy, bold, and interesting. A good start, it seemed. The vegetables were well grilled, and held their flavors and textures properly. I ordered a Lemongrass Noodle dish, which was supposed to be grilled vegetables, noodles, and a lemongrass sauce.
I don't think I've had a restaurant go from decent to completely inedible in as short a time. The Lemongrass Noodles were basically rice noodles, the same vegetables from the vegetable sampler (not a terrible thing, but feeling a little one-trick-pony at this point) with some tofu, drenched in the most godawful sauce I've eaten this year, and probably the year before, as well.
The first thing that came to mind was laundry detergent. The second was LEMONGRASS!!! HOLY MOTHER FUCK!!! LEMONGRASS, BITCHES!!!! and then that was it. I ate the rest of the tofu, 'cause I needed to eat something, and it absorbed the least amount of sauce of anything else. THe noodles were utterly inedible, and the porous vegetables were the same. The sauce was so caustic and overpowering, I simply could not eat any more of it. The thought of another mouthful made me nauseous.
The sad thing is, (aside from Ei-Nyung's way over-peanut-buttery pad thai) most of the other stuff looked pretty decent. But holy crap, the dish I had was absolutely terrible. Terrible. Basically, it felt like the cook thought, "Flavor = good, therefore, more flavor = better," without actually ever bothering to *taste* any of his dishes. Where a great restaurant like Morimoto is all about harmony - making all the flavors balanced, and complement one another, this place was all about beating the living crap out of you with a single, bold flavor. It was like going to the symphony, and having a guy with an air horn blowing it in your ear for an hour.
Not recommended.
I don't think I've had a restaurant go from decent to completely inedible in as short a time. The Lemongrass Noodles were basically rice noodles, the same vegetables from the vegetable sampler (not a terrible thing, but feeling a little one-trick-pony at this point) with some tofu, drenched in the most godawful sauce I've eaten this year, and probably the year before, as well.
The first thing that came to mind was laundry detergent. The second was LEMONGRASS!!! HOLY MOTHER FUCK!!! LEMONGRASS, BITCHES!!!! and then that was it. I ate the rest of the tofu, 'cause I needed to eat something, and it absorbed the least amount of sauce of anything else. THe noodles were utterly inedible, and the porous vegetables were the same. The sauce was so caustic and overpowering, I simply could not eat any more of it. The thought of another mouthful made me nauseous.
The sad thing is, (aside from Ei-Nyung's way over-peanut-buttery pad thai) most of the other stuff looked pretty decent. But holy crap, the dish I had was absolutely terrible. Terrible. Basically, it felt like the cook thought, "Flavor = good, therefore, more flavor = better," without actually ever bothering to *taste* any of his dishes. Where a great restaurant like Morimoto is all about harmony - making all the flavors balanced, and complement one another, this place was all about beating the living crap out of you with a single, bold flavor. It was like going to the symphony, and having a guy with an air horn blowing it in your ear for an hour.
Not recommended.
posted by Seppo at
12:00 AM
2 Comments:
I had the Portebello mushrooms over spinach and Polenta, with a mushroom sauce. My only complaint is that there was not enough Portebello mushrooms (too much spinach and Polenta). There was an option to get this with marinara, but luckily Holly veered me away from that bad decision.
I'm not sure they really care too much about service, as when I ordered a small salad the waitress failed to mention that my meal came with a salad.
Yeah, definitley hit or miss all the way around. Andre, you also got a recommendation from a friend for Greens http://greensrestaurant.com/ which we SF peeps should check out. Or, at least, I will be. :)
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