Green Zebra (dinner with Dale)

I'll get this post started, at least, before we head out for the day. A sunny morning in KC, and it promises to be warm. Summerlike, in my view, but then, I have the skewed northern Canadian perspective on what constitutes "warm".

Backing up to Thursday...

Dale (a better shot, though blurry - he cursed me already this morning for yesterday's photo) is vegetarian. Apparently not even bacon will work its magic on him, and accordingly, I picked a restaurant I thought would offer him many good options. I am not a fan of the bean-y/rice-y/tofu-y approach of Chicago Diner and its imitations of real meat dishes, and I've enjoyed Green Zebra in the past, so we met there at 6:30.

I'll deal with the food in a moment. I should say that dinner was enjoyable for the company - Dale and I have known each other through mutual friends and through social networking for some time, but this was the first time meeting face to face. He was utterly charming, his haircut was quite fine, and I hope I held up my end of the conversation well.

I especially hope that because the restaurant was noisy. We each had to lean in a number of times and ask the other to repeat what was just said. When we'd finished dinner I badly wanted to head for a quiet place so that we could chat and hear each other. Strike one against Green Zebra.

Strike two was how off the timing and some of the service seemed. At times there seemed to be a lag - getting our drinks was the first such I noticed - and Dale eventually commented that he felt he was losing his appetite because of the pace of the meal. As for the service, mostly it was reasonable if not especially attentive. The oddest instance was the soup service. The bowls were set before us and we heard what the soup was (the tasting menu was not printed, so we had nothing to refer to). The person bringing the soup left, and we sat there, wondering if we were meant to drink it directly from the bowl because we had no spoons. After a minute or two, we caught the attention of someone who was supporting the waiter in the section and asked him for spoons. He told us that he would get our waiter but that it would take a few minutes because the waiter was with another table. Hmmm. So we sat politely until the waiter came. He told us what the soup was, and we thanked him and asked if we should drink from the bowl or could we have spoons. That got us spoons. We can laugh - and the soup was chilled, so no worries on that - but funny as it was, it shouldn't have happened.

So I felt a little badly about the choice of restaurant, and worse when Dale told me he had enjoyed Chicago Diner the night before. Still, the food was no less than interesting and some courses were very good. Onward (and without the assistance of a menu)...

Amuse-bouche: spiced eggplant and pine nut.

A salad of papaya, grilled white asparagus, and champagne sabayon.

Soup. I loved this despite the spoon issue. So clean and simple and lovely. Green pea with creme fraiche.

Curried potato potstickers with coconut, red pepper threads, and a lime-cilantro sauce. Dale had mushroom-filled potstickers instead, though I don't think he cared for them.

Another tasty course: gnocchi with artichoke, parsnip, carrot, fava bean, and lemon zest.


Dessert. Another strong showing for the restaurant. Mint panna cotta with a topping of bittersweet chocolate and two chocolate macaroons. The flavour of mint was green and herbal, not the cloy sweetness of extract. Good stuff!

Alas, unless another vegetarian friend comes to town, I may not be back to Green Zebra soon. Conrad, CG, and I are trying another of the owner's restaurants in a couple of weeks, though, and I feel a little anxious now. I am sure the food is fine, but I hope the overall experience lives up to it. Dale, we'll head up to Devon for Indian food next time you're through town.