Vegetarian Faux Pas

While in Asheville, NC we found a restaurant that toted itself as vegetarian and gluten-free cuisine, so we thought it was a surefire hit. The restaurant was as you might expect a vegetarian/GF restaurant to be. Large flora/fauna murals on the walls, water features everywhere, hemp bathroom door locks, and staff that all looked and sounded like the adult versions of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.

While discussing the many dining options with our waitress, I casually made the comment about how impossible it is for me to find food on any given menu. She, thinking I was a vegetarian, said, "Oh yes, you usually have a choice of salad or salad." Me, being a GF non-vegetarian, said, "Or steak!". In that moment the juke box may as well have screeched and had everyone stop to stare, because the look on her face was one of horror, disgust, with just a sprinkling of judgment. Needless to say, I was a little afraid of what might find it's way to my plate after that.

What did find it's way to my plate were delicious apetizers, and a main course that tasted like croquetts made of dirt. Lesson learned, GF on a menu does not necessarily translate to delicious. I think this restaurant could could make a note that organic foods do not need to be flavorless and dry. I have worked really hard over the last seven years to create GF dishes that are not terrible, and they can do it too.