Weekend getaway :: Eating vegan.

After hitting up some super cool Asheville breweries on our weekend getaway, we had an early reservation at Plant.  It's a really cool, chic vegan restaurant in downtown Asheville.  Asheville is very "Portlandia"in that there is a lot of focus on sustainability and the environment.  You can check out Plant's full philosophy, but basically they are offering "offer flavor-sophisticated scratch-made food using only carefully chosen ingredients that come from the earth.  Each dish will reflect a multicultural influence of the best vegetables, spices, and techniques that inspire us to eat."  I've never eaten at a fully vegan restaurant, so I was pretty thrilled to try it.

[I love the open kitchen]

D and I were pleasantly surprised to see that our fav beer was on tap at Plant, so we promptly ordered a round.  Then we moved on to the important stuff...food.

Starting at the top left and going clockwise: 

• Our app, tofu "cheese" with bread and olives.  This was D's least favorite.  It was actually one of my favorites.  It totally tasted like cheese to me as well.
• D's main, peppercorn crusted seitan, truffled cauliflower, grilled broccolini, tomato & wine sauce, and shitake bacon.  We both loved this dish.  Neither of us had ever tried seitan (google it if you've never heard of it), but it was amazing.  Every component of that dish was perfect. 
• For dessert, we got the "black out pie" which is a chocolate peanut butter mousse with ice cream and a berry agave.  D felt it was super rich (probably because it was made vegan).  It was still a major hit.
• My main, smoked portabello steak, spinach and garlic, crisp loaded polenta, cherry tomato salad, and a v1 sauce (their housemade version of A1).  Overall, I was happy with my dish but didn't love it.  The waitress recommended it, and we heard it's their top seller.  The polenta was the best I've ever had, but I still would have gone with D's over mine.

I would definitely recommend checking out Plant if you're ever in Asheville.  They have a few other vegan/vegetarian spots (and most are vege-friendly nonetheless).  We headed back out on to the windy mountain road and ended our night in the perfect spot.

[Hot tub under the stars]