Vegetable

Vegetable Restaurant Review:

This inviting café from chef Jerry Yu in Studio City offers vegetarian fare in a rustic, playful setting. The space features reclaimed wood booths, exposed-wood rafters, brick walls and blackboards with rotating art and cartoons. Out front on the sidewalk patio, metal pails grow herbs like parsley and lavender. You’re likely to hear some ragtime music or swing jazz. Yu changes his organic plant-based menu seasonally, so Vegetable’s soups could highlight chilled cucumber gazpacho or hot Mediterranean chickpea. Compelling salads include roasted cauliflower wedges marinated with turmeric and chipotle, plated with roasted heirloom tomatoes, bitter arugula and dill yogurt dressing; and a fine roasted golden and red beet affair with goat cheese, D’anjou pear, mesclun greens, candied walnut and shaved watermelon radish. Yu’s cooking shines with elevated dishes of roasted sunchoke and parsnip risotto, spring pea and mixed funghi pasta, and the restaurant’s signature saffron-infused pan-seared savory corn cake with mango-serrano salsa and smoked sriracha aïoli. Vegan options are plentiful; those made with organic dairy cheese can substitute a cashew cheddar or Alfredo. To drink, Vegetable brews Intelligentsia coffee and serves Mighty Leaf teas, Press Brothers cold-pressed organic juices and fresh coconut cracked to order.