Vegetarian/Non-Vegetarian Compromise
I'm choosing the restaurant for a team dinner for five at the end of January. Last time, we ate at the Blue Fin in Union Square, which was great - we'd like something with a similar price range and quality. However, one of the women on my team is vegetarian, and the Blue Fin only had one or two vegetarian options. She requested that next time we go somewhere that has more options for her.
In looking at various menus, it seems like our options are: a "regular" restaurant that again, only has one or two vegetarian items, or a restaurant that serves basically all vegetarian, which isn't really fair to the rest of us who love fish and meat. Are there any good compromise places that I just haven't found? I did come across a menu for Josie's, which had a few of both, but the non-vegetarian items looked pretty basic and not anything special. Maybe I'm wrong about that - if so, let me know.
We're coming from clients all over the city, so we'd prefer to be somewhere "centrally located," basically just meaning not way uptown. I live near Lincoln Center, so since I'm organizing it I'd love to make it easy for myself and choose a place near there, but it really doesn't make a big difference.
The only other big thing is we need someplace where we can hold a good conversation and the restaurant isn't too loud. Blue Fin was fine, so clearly we're not looking for total silence - just someplace we can chat and hear each other reasonably.
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My mistake - I meant to Cafe Boloud, not db Bistro Moderne. It's the Cafe that has a great veg meal (not sure about the variety, though). Josie's struck me as a crunchy, bland diner and you can certainly do better service- and atmosphere-wise. Then again, other people seem to like it, so maybe it's just me. I wouldn't worry too much about this vegetarian colleague of yours. If you go with Indian or most Italian spots, you'll do just fine, especially if you warn the restaurant in advance.
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Hey, Scenestealer,
Blue Fin is in the Times Square area, on B'way & 47th St., so if the restaurant you were referring to was on Union Sq., that would be Blue Water Grill. That said...
Of Daniel Boulud's three restaurants, dbBistro Moderne has always seemed to me to be the least veg-friendly. And checking the current menu on the website, vegetarian dishes appear to be slim pickins'. Unfortunately, his eponymous temple of haute cuisine, which has a vegetarian menu, is far above your indicated price range, and Cafe Boulud, where one of its 4 menus is strictly dedicated to vegetarian dishes, is probably too expensive as well.
Italian restaurants are usually the best bet when it comes to satisfying both carnivores and vegetarians. I would suggest L'Impero.
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I checked out menus, It looks like most of the places suggested still only have one or two vegetarian entrees. The problem the first time was that there was one vegetarian entree, but my coworker wanted a variety of choices to be on the menu (I realize she could always ask for it be vegetarian, but she didn't seem to want to do that).
It seems like the most promising on there is Etcetera Etcetera, but I'm a little concerned about its location in the theater district making it noisy. Yes/no? Or are there any reviews of its sister restaurant, Vice Versa?
Clembeau - why do you say to avoid Josie's?
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db Bistro Moderne has a great veg meal. I don't recall if there was a lot of choice but what they offer is great. Less so for Telepan in my experience. Another thought is Insieme (or just about any Italian, for that matter) or Indian. Utsav Festive India isn't far from your neighborhood. It's on the upscale side (but far from outrageous), solid food, and and you'll be able to hear each other. Skip Josie's and avoid the seafood restaurants in general. I haven't been to Cesca in quite some time but that could work nicely for you too.
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Spiritchaser
Dec 11, 2007 11:16 AM
My GF and I have this scenario whenever we go out to dinner (she is vegetarian and I am not). There are so many places that are accomodating that it's hard to say where to begin but try these:
Etcetera Etcetera
Telepan
db Bistro Moderne (may be too pricey)Also, when I don't see a good veggie selection I have had great results in asking the restaurant (ahead of time) if they could do something "special" for a vegetarian so she could have something as great as my selection (I butter them up a little). It has resulted in GF getting some incredible, custom made dishes.
