Herban Fix Vegan Kitchen

Herban Fix Vegan Kitchen Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: Atlanta chef Wendy Chang and her husband Donald Mui have long planned a vegan restaurant to put this kind of cooking on a level seen nowhere else in the city. To prepare, she returned to her native Taiwan and studied certain techniques and dishes, then did the same in Europe --- notably Switzerland --- and California. Taking over the large and long-shuttered Dogwood space, the couple made modest changes to the interior, using just enough Asian-inspired elements to set the tone but not so much as to set a stage. An open kitchen energizes the enterprise.

Food & Drinks: Everything Chang does is about balance. The lemongrass broth holding custardy tofu and the slimmest of enoki mushrooms is just spicy enough, flirting with the comfort edge but never crossing the line. A silky pumpkin bisque gets texture and interest from a few pine nuts and bits of beet. We've never liked "faux fleisch," but the soy duck-stuffed buns compel us to rethink the matter. Mushrooms play a large role in this cooking, but nowhere more elegantly and complex than the "pom pom steak,” a formed round of long-cooked and shredded assorted mushrooms on baby bok choy with a delicately flavored sauce. From Southern Sweets, which has mastered the fine art of vegan desserts, the raspberry kissed chocolate torte was first-rate, but departed in tone and content from Chang's distinctive style. As always, her plate presentations are striking yet clean. A wine list and full bar make this a total dining experience.