Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Cove

Food: delectable!
Service: good
Atmosphere: fun, family friendly, laidback

This laidback venue in downtown serves up delicious eco-conscious dishes for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. Most of the seating is outdoors, and the garden, picnic tables, and children’s playground contribute to a cozy, backyard type feeling. Not to mention you feel as if you are in a park, not in the middle of the city. Guy Fieri endorses this place, and I’m typically not a fan of his choices, he finally hit the nail on the head with The Cove! Even though this place has so many well deserved shout outs - and they really don’t need another - I am smitten and will continue.

There menu has an overwhelming selection for vegetarians and vegans. And if you have meat eaters in your group, they can nosh on meaty dishes prepared with SOL style (sustainable, organic, local). I ordered the vegan bacon cheeseburger (except mine wasn’t vegan because I asked for real cheddar on mine), and it was the best vegi-burger I have ever had! The texture was spot on: the burger was filled with hearty rice, mushrooms, and seeds (not mushy, monotone-textured beans). The vegan bacon was too hard, which made it difficult to bite through the burger and the bacon, so I pulled it out and ate it separately. I swapped out sweet potato fries for the traditional white potato option. They weren’t as crispy as I would like, but they were so fresh I didn’t really care.

The meat-eater says: The lamb burger was so juicy and flavorful and yum!

For dessert we ate a slice of the jalapeno carrot cake. I was worried that my Yankee palate wouldn’t be able to handle the heat, but the cake and the frosting cancelled out most of the peppers’ spice. This twist on a classic was flavorful yet light enough to not make me feel guilty.

Recommendation: Definitely, even if you are not vegan or vegetarian, the food is too good to pass up!

 
The Cove on Urbanspoon