Meat lover chows down at vegan eatery

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Horizons' veggie dishes suit her just fine By CATHERINE LUCEY luceyc 215-854-4172 JORI KLEIN / Daily News The Portobello Carpaccio was a hit with our reviewer. GROWING UP, I was known in my family as a meat and potatoes gal. No salad. No green stuff. Just steak, pork chops or chicken wings. As an adult, I've learned to enjoy a fresh green salad or nicely roasted asparagus, but I still like my meals on the carnivorous side. So I was a little apprehensive before heading to vegan restaurant Horizons on 7th Street near South, even though

vegans and non-vegans swore by the tastiness of the Caribbean-influenced food. But I have to come clean. It's really delicious. Three friends and I settled into a high-top table Saturday night in the colorful downstairs lounge, with bright paintings on the walls and blue mosaic above the curving wooden bar. Upstairs, there is an elegant white dining room. Everything on the menu, even the alcohol, is vegan, which basically means there are no animals or animal products in the dishes. No meat, fish or dairy. We enjoyed several glasses of the vegan wine. Apparently animal products are sometimes used in wine processing. But I can report that vegan wine tastes just as good as the regular kind. We started with a round of appetizers. I enjoyed the edamame hummus ($6), which came with delicious spicy rice crackers for scooping. And the spicy Malaysian cauliflower salad ($7) was a creative combination of

flavors, with shredded lettuce, curry, peanuts, mint and scallion in the mix. The chilled cucumber avocado soup ($5) tasted too much like thick guacamole. But the grilled BBQ seitan ($8) was delicious, the sauce rich and spicy. "It really does taste like chicken," my friend Ketlie exclaimed. I'd never had seitan before. The waitress explained that it was made of wheat gluten and was often used as a meat substitute. The dish used to be called BBQ wings, she said, but the chef had changed the name because he didn't want to mimic meat dishes. Meat or no meat, it was delicious and very skillfully prepared. So delicious in fact, that I ordered grilled seitan with mashed potatoes and spinach ($19) for my next course. It was a winner. The grilled portobello ($16) was also a hit. My boyfriend declared that the smoked-tofu-and-wild-mushroom enchiladas on the side were the best thing we ate all night. The tofu

entrees we tried were also satisfying, with lots of flavor. I especially liked the Pacific rim grilled tofu ($17) with broccolini and edamame mashed potatoes, an interesting twist on traditional potatoes. The desserts were a little less satisfying. Coconut cream, after all, does not replace real cream. The mojito perfecto ($5.50), a mix of cake and lime sorbet served in a goblet, was light and summery, but a bite or two was enough. And the Mexican chocolate tart ($7) was a little too spicy for my taste. The guayaba cheesecake ($6) was the best of the bunch, with a creamy texture and tangy kick. It came with a small coconut float, which my boyfriend rightly noted tasted like suntan lotion. Still, to a reluctant vegan, the meal was something of a revelation, delicious and satisfying. We left full, not jonesing for a burger one little bit.Peter H

 

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