Restaurants
Kale
Kale is an organic eatery that opened last year and is a refreshing addition to the Yonge and Eglinton area. Amongst the many pubs and fast food joints, Y&E can certainly benefit from a healthier option. The restaurant is simple yet sterile with a buffet lining one side of the narrow room. Full of vegan, organic and macrobiotic foods, diners can eat-in or take-away in recyclable containers.
I fill a large container with everything and anything that looks new and interesting. Though I'm not a vegetarian, I fully appreciate and am intrigued by a good veggie dish. At $2.50 per pound my total bill is a reasonable $11.26, though the dishes themselves are a bit hit or miss.
A delightful crust-free spinach pie is light and pasty with a touch of sesame seeds that add a little crunch. The cabbage salad is a hearty mix of green, red and Napa cabbage as well as some broccoli and bok choy for an extra healthy punch. A Cajun spice gives the salad a subtle kick through the lemon juice and olive oil. The zucchini and marinated tempeh is simple yet filling, the roasted zucchini compliments the cubed tempeh nicely, and keeps it moist. A curried Napa adds some spice to my selection, and I gobble up the lightly curried brown rice filled with chopped Napa, green pepper, peas and green onion.
The ginger tofu, however, is a little bland. The cubed tofu is firm but too cheap on the ginger. Both the marinated salad and the couscous with sundried tomato are nothing special. Perhaps I did not scoop enough of the tomato and olives, for the couscous is filled with only a handful of chopped celery and carrots. Finally, it is only fitting that I sample the steamed kale, a simple dish as the title suggests, and I feel no more enthusiasm for the leafy green than I did before.
Kale also offers a variety of organic juices that range from $6.50 for a 16 oz to $13 for a 32 oz as well as a basic selection of loose-leaf organic teas for $2.50 each.
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Is there an option to eat off of non-disposable foodware at this time?
Try sauteing some garlic and chili flakes and a pork product (i've used bacon, panchetta, smoked pork tenderloin, and sausage). Then add kale and a bit of liquid. Let it braise a bit. Maybe add black eyed peas to make a meal out of it. Inhale. Never complain about kale again. And never go to a restaurant that charges for steamed freakin kale.
A, you're right - except a vegan restaurant is unlikely to use pork to flavour its kale. :) But they're redeemed by the yummy kale-apple-lemon juice. (I also love the beet-apple-ginger.)
I'm assuming they have a lot of the same dishes they serve at the Noah's cafe, which I think is the most delicious food in the city.
Next time I'm in the area, can't wait to check it out!
I quite like their kale, get it every time, and while vegan I'm generally adverse to the masochistically healthy let's-squint-and-pretend-this-is-food stuff. But I'd eat kale raw, the plant is what it is on it's own and that's not something to blame vegans for. Sounds like A would rather pretend they aren't eating kale when they are, like people who will only eat broccoli if it's drowning in gravy.
The same experience in takeout format is indeed available at their original minilocation inside the Annex (Spadina/Bloor) Noah'.
I'm open to other vegan restaurant suggestions in the Toronto area if anyone wants to hand them out.