What's for dinner?

My wife has read the book "Skinny Bitch" and I have read most of it too. It had a profound effect on both of us in terms of what we are putting in our bodies and caused us to rethink our obsession with food, and where our food comes from.

The book is a profanity filled tirade that would make Ozzie Guillen blush - which is why I couldn't put it down. It was refreshing to read real conversational writing about a topic that I would not have otherwise given a second look. My wife has since commited to being a vegan and I have given up Beef, Pork, and Poultry.

This brings me to our recent experience at dinner at a vegan reasturant in Boston's North End. I arranged for a sitter for our son and my wife and I headed into Boston, excited to try this place where we could both order anything we wanted and not have to make all kinds of assenine substitutions. "I want the Lasagna, but instead of meat, can the chef make it with beans. Instead of cheese, can the chef use dehydrated coconut milk and organic sea salt?" Paula Dean and Giotta on the food channel would personally kick our asses they ever heard of such nonsense.

This reasturant serves "Raw, organic, vegan" dishes, none of which are heated above 100 degrees at any point in the cooking process. Sounds interesting, and we are always up for something new.

I don't recommend trying this if you're hungry, or in our case, hungry and slightly buzzed after a round of drinks pre-dinner and a bottle of wine while agonizingly disecting the menu. We went with a tappas approach, ordering 3 apps and an entree to split.

The first appetizer was the highlight of the evening, food wise. It was 3 slider type veggie burgers placed between fresh organic tomatoes. Served cold of course. The only thing not cold in this place was the water. That was served lukewarm with a slice of cucumber. I recommend bringing your own ice cubes. I usually keep some in my car - just in case, but I forgot to bring them in.

The next item was a nut cheese paste served between dehydrated potato slices. This was terrible. It was like trying to chew up and digest a Michelin all season radial - with studs. We both were determined to have the full experience, so we ate them quietly (how can you talk with a mouth full of tread) hoping that we had just picked a dud appetizer.

This was followed by Potato Gnocchi (sp?), which was tasty. Again, served cold and drizzled with a "cream" sauce made of god knows what. It was tasty though - all four pieces.

That concluded the appetizer portion of the meal. So far we each have had 1-1/2 sliders, 1 slice of all season radial, 2 pieces of pasta, a Grey Goose Martini and a half bottle of wine. On to the main event...the entree!

The entree we ordered was fresh tomato ravioli. This was served with another unknown sauce, and again, we recieved 4 pieces of food. Two each. We cut up little pieces and tried to make it last, enjoying our conversation and our night out. When finished, we debated dessert, but decided that dime-size piece of nut-cheesecake was not worth $13, so we paid our bill and left.

Upon reaching the street, my wife, a devoted vegan turned to me and asked "So where do you want to go for dinner?" We both began laughing hysterically and analyzing each morsel we recieved.

Not the best meal we have ever had, but the story was worth it.