Grasshopper

The sign outside says, "The animals thank you," but it's really my tummy doing the thanking. Grasshopper is an amazing vegan Asian restaurant and one of the few places where there are more than 50 things on the menu that I could eat. I had the eggplant tofu surprise, which was eggplant, tofu (obviously), asparagus, and several kinds of meat substitutes in a black bean sauce. Every component was perfectly done and I kept eating way past the point I should have stopped, promising myself that the next bite would be the last, but then spying just one more that looked too good to pass up. The nice thing is that even though I ate a ton, and each bite was a little miracle, I didn't feel overstuffed and greasy and nauseus at the end, as often happens with heavier food.

The buckwheat noodles with assorted veggies and tofu in a ginger sauce on my friend's plate was equally enticing, although my favorite element was definitely my melt-in-your-mouth eggplant. Bill is going to be happy when he sees the leftovers.

Also try the fresh limeade. Heaven.