A glance over the entrees told me most of what I need to know: there was no vegetarian entree on the menu, and there wasn't even a vegetarian appetizer I could pair with a salad to make a meal. Grrrr. I was about to give up and leave when something in small type underneath the side-dish menu caught my eye: "Chef's fresh vegetable plate with sauteed tofu, $14.95." If I hadn't heard so much nice stuff about this place, I woulda left anyways, but I decided to go ahead and check it out for lack of a better idea of where to dine.
The tables were a nice dark wood, and I was seated at a moderately-sized table for two facing some big windows with corporate art outside. The napkins had "MSBG" printed on them. The kitchen was open and looked like it had all kinds of interesting things going on inside it. I plopped down my coat and sat in my chair and re-examined the menu. I don't know why I bothered, since there was only one real option on it.
A waiter showed up and took my order. I was sorely tempted to order a glass of wine to accompany my meal, but I knew I'd be driving, and I knew the wine would hit me pretty hard, so I passed. Their wines by the glass seemed to be more along the lines of Sutter Home than anything interesting, anyways.
A gentleman appeared and placed a large basket of sliced bread and a small dish of a scoop of what looked like composed butter in a small pool of tomato sauce. Some of the bread was whole-grain (this always makes me happy) and had sunflower seeds scattered over the browned crust. I fished out a slice and spread it thinly with the butter and tried a bite. The spread was actually some kind of pungent cheese, not a composed butter, but it was still tasty. I tried some of it on the sliced Italian bread in the basket as well. This bread was okay, but not as satisfying as the whole-grain. I suspect the breads came from the Panera bakery (also in the Hyatt), and they would have benefitted from warming, but they were pretty good for cold slices. While I snacked away, a jazz trio started up in the bar area, providing a nice backdrop to my meal and setting me in a good mood. Live music is so rare in most restaurants, and if it's there it's usually too loud. This was just perfect.
In short order, my vegetable plate appeared. A huge pile of broccoli rabe took up most of the plate. There were also a few grilled rings of yellow pepper, a small pile of spinach, two rectangles of tofu with an orange-colored gingery sauce, and a small quantity of spaghetti squash strands mixed with grated carrots. A molded cone of sushi rice with black sesame seeds rounded out the platter.
I'd never had broccoli rabe before. I hope it always tastes as wonderful as it did at MSBG. The thin stalks were sauteed in a thin coating of what tasted like clarified butter; the stems were as sweet as asparagus, and the florets were satisfyingly dark with the slightest trace of bitterness to give them a kick.
The spaghetti squash was nice and mild, and the carrots added a sweet touch. I didn't touch the peppers, since I'm not particularly fond of them and since there was so much other food on the plate. I enjoyed the tofu, which had a nice crispness to its edges that benefitted greatly from dabs of the ginger sauce.
I liked the spinach initially (I normally adore freshly cooked spinach, unless it's been canned), but the garlic flavor soon became overpowering. It was actually making it harder for me to enjoy the broccoli rabe, tofu, and spaghetti squash. I started taking a little rice onto my fork with bites of spinach, which helped significantly, but I was also annoyed. A chef who knows how to treat vegetables, which obviously includes the chef who prepared my platter, should know better than to throw that much mostly-raw garlic into a dish. The rice itself was unobtrusive, making it a good basic choice to pair with the spinach and tone down the garlic flavor.
There were several other single diners around me, and I spied a gorgeous looking pile of whipped mashed potatoes on one guy's platter, along with a huge slab of beef. I wished some of those good-looking potatoes had made it onto my plate in place of the rice or the spaghetti squash, but I guess I can't complain too much. If I go back, I may order a side of mashed potatoes.
I ate my fill of everything on my plate (I wish there had been even more broccoli rabe?that stuff is GOOD!), and then my server showed up with a dessert menu. After all that garlic, I was hoping for a seasonal scoop of peppermint stick ice cream, but they didn't have any. Most of the desserts looked pretty creamy/buttery/fatty, and seemed like they'd be inappropriate after such a healthy dinner, so I decided to pass. The dessert coffees were tempting, but I passed on those for the same reason I passed on wine with dinner.
I'd eat at MSBG again, perhaps asking for mashed potatoes instead of rice, if the occasion arose, but I certainly wouldn't take a trip out to Reston for one single vegetarian entree. I guess it goes in the same category as Carlyle Grand: good food, but no selection for a vegetarian. I'm definitely going to be dreaming of that broccoli rabe for a while.