Zen Palate

The brainchild of a group of Buddhist vegetarians who wanted to eat better, this Asian-based vegetarian restaurant is truly delicious and elegant.

By: Faith Bahadurian
   Open since mid-April, Zen Palate is delighting customers with top notch Asian-based vegetarian fare. But don’t think of this as just another Asian "combo" restaurant. The food does indeed draw upon several Asian cuisines, but it is wonderfully updated and even extends a bit into global flavors, although for myself I draw the line at lasagna with no real cheese. But even a die-hard carnivore like me is eager to work my way through the menu, as the food offers a level of complexity that will astonish those who equate vegetarian food with boredom or deprivation.

Zen Palate

Princeton Shopping Center

301 N. Harrison St.

Princeton

(609) 279-9888

www.zenpalate.com

Food: Very good

Service: Good

Prices: Inexpensive to moderate: soups/salads/starters $3.95-$6.95; sandwiches $7.50-$8.95; rice/noodles $7.50-$8.95; entrées $9.50-$11.50, more for specials.

Cuisine: All vegetarian, all the time

Atmosphere: Smart casual

Vegetarian and Vegan Options: All dishes vegetarian and most are vegan; dishes with dairy or egg are clearly marked.

Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Delivery and catering also available.

Essentials: Major credit cards accepted; BYO; wheelchair accessible; reservations only for groups of eight or more.

Directions

   Zen Palate originally opened in New York City in 1990 (where there are now three locations), the brainchild of a group of Buddhist vegetarians who wanted to eat better. The Web site explains that the name is derived from the word Zen meaning "sudden enlightenment," and the French word palate, meaning "sense of taste." Although bought out a couple years ago by a corporate group with big expansion plans (a Los Angeles location is in the works), the stated goal is still "to enlighten the individual through their sense of taste by providing delicious and vibrant vegetarian foods and foodservice."
   The décor is cool and sophisticated, but with a casual ambience, so you’ll feel free to stop in anytime, as food is served throughout the afternoon. I first stopped in for lunch one day, and had to take one of the counter stools or wait 45 minutes for a table. I enjoyed my Zen Burger (only slightly wishing I had a real one), loved the lightly battered yam fries, and noted many interesting dishes among the dinner entrées.
   When I returned with friends I was completely won over. We started with Thai chopped salad ($5.75), made up of relentlessly crunchy jicama, snow peas, cucumber and carrot with red pepper and mesclun in Thai peanut dressing. So cool, so refreshing, this will get you through the dog days of summer.
   Autumn rolls ($6.95) were a table favorite, succulent enoki and wood ear mushrooms combined with soy ham (a bothersome name, but good texture), bamboo shoots and snow peas, wrapped in soybean sheets. These sheets, called yuba, are a grossly underestimated product of making soy milk, and are put to many good uses at Zen Palate, where they also refer to them as "crepes." This wrapper appeared to be dyed red, maybe with beet juice, before being fried crisp. It was thoroughly delicious, slightly greasy, but no matter with such virtuous filling and knowing that all frying is done in canola oil.
   Eggplant Zentastic ($10.50), one of several "Prix Fixe" plates that come with appetizer rolls and rice, was perhaps the simplest of the dishes we had that evening. It came with two taro spring rolls and a large scoop of brown and red rice. The dish was simply composed of stir-fried Japanese eggplant in a lightly sweet garlic sauce, and small Shanghai bok choy. Both the eggplant and the braised bok choy had a pleasant slithery quality.
   Taste of Malay ($11.25) was moist layers of shredded yuba wrapped in a thin sheet of nori, then lightly fried. It came with broccoli florets (a bit too hard), and "fiery" Thai sauce that was not really so fiery. The seaweed wrapper gave the dish a deep oceanic flavor, and two basil peanut rolls and rice completed the plate.
   In New York, Zen Palate has an exquisite fine dining menu, but here, where it is tucked into a corner of the Princeton Shopping Center, there isn’t a big enough kitchen to pull it off. However, monthly specials are taken in part from that menu, so we aren’t too deprived.
   One of those specials when I visited was Crepe de Fleur, and if you think $20.50 is a lot of money for a vegetarian entrée, let me assure you that the creative thought and work that goes into a complex dish like this makes it worth every penny. A cake of soy protein, pine nuts, chestnuts and vermicelli noodles is "wrapped in a tofu crepe," but that doesn’t begin to tell the story. The crepe is "deconstructed," as the sheet is twisted into a tall edifice, fried to absolute crispness, and jauntily perched on top of the patty, not around it. The surrounding sauce is rich with exotic mushrooms. Propped up in the handkerchief-like folds of the crepe are three tall asparagus spears. Like the broccoli, the asparagus were too hard. (I think we Westerners are paying for the crudité craze of the ’70s when we rejected overcooked vegetables. Now Asian chefs think we like our vegetables rock hard.)
   Zen Palate offers many iced and hot teas, tonics and juices, in addition to coffee. From a short list of herbal tonics, I tried an icy Depth Recharger ($4.75), which tasted like cherry soda with a slightly herbal undertone.
   On another visit I enjoyed kale and seaweed salad, dressed with tiny cubes of tofu and tangy dressing. E.T., from the specials menu, arrived on a sizzling platter, a toothsome combination of eggplant, tofu, seitan (wheat gluten), ginkgo nuts and asparagus in black bean-basil sauce. My friend ordered Rose Petals, soy crepes served with garden vegetables and rosy wolfberry seeds which have Chinese culinary and medicinal uses.
   Out of the four desserts ($5.25-$5.95), all but one (the cheesecake) are vegan. Key Lime "High" was the best rendition of that tropical pleaser I’ve had in ages. Plenty tart, not over sweetened, and the cookie crust even had some crunch, instead of being the sodden disappointment it usually is. Banana Bliss pie greatly pleased a friend on another visit, however the Chocolate Raspberry Reincarnation I wanted to try was sold out. But I’ll be back. Finally, vegetarian cuisine that is truly delicious (and elegant) comes to town.