Malachite Cafe
Ever wonder what it's like to be a culinary student? Now you can join me as I study the culinary arts for a year through my online interactive student diary. Just go to www.egullet.com and look under "Special Features" on the right-hand bar. I also contribute a regular series based on my first experiences behind the line at a fine-dining restaurant in DC, titled Dispatches from a First Kitchen Job. Look for the link to the latest entry off the eGullet main page.
I was a vegetarian from August 1992 through summer 2001. I ate eggs and dairy products, but no meat, fowl, or fish. I was not the proselytizing type of vegetarian, and many of my friends enjoy meat, so I often ate in restaurants that cater to all kinds of diets.

One of my primary complaints about restaurant reviewers is that they rarely cover vegetarian entrees or even mention the availability of vegetarian food in their reviews. I avidly read Tom Sietsema's reviews in the Washington Post, and he seems to be doing a decent job of mentioning availability when applicable.

Here are restaurants at which I have consumed vegetarian meals, and what I thought of them.

All reviews listed were posted prior to 2001. Please consider this before making your dining choices.

Vegetable Garden, Rockville, MD.
Carlyle Grand Cafe, Shirlington, VA
Thai Roma, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC
Laboratorio del Galileo, Washington, DC
Market Street Bar and Grill, Reston, VA
High Noon, Farragut, Washington, DC
Mimi's American Bistro, Dupont Circle, Washington, DC
When I was in high school and first started to really get into cooking, I'd occasionally fantasize about starting a restaurant. After I went to college and took the Malachite Awry nickname, I'd bring up this fantasy and mentally call my restaurant the Malachite Cafe. I pictured Malachite Cafe as being a little dive with a coffee and juice bar, a good wine selection, live music on weekends, and wholesome vegetarian food. In my mind's eye, it was situated in a neighborhood like the Spring Garden-Tate Street part of Greensboro, NC, and I'd paint its interior a marbled malachite green by hand.

I'm no longer interested in opening a restaurant, theoretically or in reality. Still, I'm a serious cook. I've channeled my interest in food into reading a whole lot of stuff about it, discussing it online, and spending quality time with my Jenn-Aire range. I have developed some original recipes along the way, and I've decided to make them available here.

All recipes were written prior to my enrollment at L'academie de Cuisine, while I was still a vegetarian..

Spinach and Cannelini over a Portabello
Gratin Dauphinos with Yukon Gold Potatoes
Roasted Pearl Onions
Sauteed Summer Squash
Tofu Satay with Peanut Sauce
Vegan Sweet Potato Casserole
Pasta e Fagioli
Soft Baked Polenta with Sundried Tomatoes
Macaroni and Cheese
Southern Style Cucumber and Onion Salad
Wilted Spinach Salad with Caramelized Pecans
Tofu Reuben Sandwich
BBQ Tofu Sandwich
Individual Tofu-Vegetable Pot Pies
Onion Soup with Baguette Croutons

How Do I Do Those Things with Tofu?
Other Food Related Writings

Food Shopping
Food Geeking
Grocery Store
Fun Size
Fake Meat
On Eating Fish
If you still haven't had enough, go to egullet.com and search on Malawry to see hundreds of writings on food.
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