Cheeseboard

Location: Berkeley, CA

Ambiance: Typical-Berkeley. Most people take-out. There is a small indoor seating area and occasionally there is a live band playing (check their website for the schedule). A few folks occasionally eat on the grassy meridian...that's Berkeley for you!

Quality: Great for the price ($20 for whole pizza).

Variety: There is only one type of pizza made per day-and yes, it is always vegetarian. On the plus side, you don't need to worry what to order! The menu for the week is posted online so you can plan accordingly; in general, all their recipes are far from boring.

Overall: Cheeseboard is a great casual place for locals and out-of-towners (wanting to experience the East Bay) alike. Beat the lunch and dinner crowd by arriving about 20 minutes before typical meal times. And don't forget to bring cash-they don't accept credit cards.

http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/

Clover

Location: Cambridge, MA

Made it to Clover (Harvard Square) the other day and it was good enough to make omnivores stray.

Ambiance: Imagine the inside of an Apple store. Clean, modern, straight out of unhappy hipsters. The entire joint is run on iPod touch. No, seriously, it is. You walk-in, tell someone what you want, they type it into their iPod, you pay, someone in the kitchen gets the order on their iPod and shortly after, your food is ready.



Variety: It's a vegetarian restaurant. I liked the fact that the menus were written on little white boards. This gave me the impression that the menus change frequently and are kept seasonal.

Quality: The meal cost roughly $10 and included a chickpea burger and rosemary fries. I wasn't the biggest fan of the cole slaw they used, but it added the right texture and my friends that ordered the same thing liked it a lot. To each his own, I suppose. I feel like a hypocrite for not being more jazzed about this place. I will say that the friends I went with are both ardent omnivores and wanted to come back to this place.





Bottom line: If you're in the square and want a change of scenery, the place is worth checking out. I'm definitely going back soon!

http://www.cloverfoodlab.com/

Sonsie

Location: Boston, MA

Took Giadda's advice and went to Sonsie last night.

Ambience: We were seated in the cafe area, with floor-to-cieling windows overlooking Newbury Street. Had it not been a cold Wednesday evening, the people watching would have been delightful. Behind us was an elegant mahogany bar, where I hear excellent martinis come from. Mahogany bars. So hot right now.



Variety: There was no separate vegetarian section, but finding veggie-friendly food was not that difficult. We split an appetizer and two of the pizzas. Our appetizer was unique: vegetable spring rolls with a spicy Vietnamese dipping sauce, lettuce wrap, and fresh mint. The pizzas were oven-baked, thin, and best described as eclectic: one had mushroom, caramelized onion, mozzarella, and brie cheese (pictured). The other was a pumpkin puree, with melted cheese, walnuts, and fresh sage. Word of caution, the pumpkin puree is good, but best shared. It starts tasting like baby food, albeit delicious baby food, after a couple of slices.



Quality: Chef Bill Poirier created an exciting menu with unique flavor profiles. The concepts are intriguing. And there's a sense of discovery! You look at the menu and think? Pumpkin on a pizza? This I must try. I'd call the food French-fusion, or international. For a $12 entree, Sonsie is definitely worth a shot.

Bonus: There is a Sai Baba picture on the wall.

Bottom Line: Would definitely go back, but I'd wait until it gets a little warmer and they open-up the cafe windows. Definitely a great spot for a first date. Seriously, you can tell a lot about a girl from what she looks for in a pizza.

www.sonsieboston.com

Photo Credit: Indulge Inspire Imbibe

Oleana

Location: Cambridge, MA

Went to Oleana for Valentine's Day and it was culinary poetry.

Ambience: we were seated near a window overlooking a patio covered in snow. I think the nicest thing I can say is that I forgot I was in a restaurant.

Quality: This is easily the best restaurant in Boston. The service was fantastic, and the food was refined. I felt a joy that I haven't felt in a long time between courses because I was excited for what was up next.

Variety: We ordered the vegetarian tasting menu (five meze and a dessert, $40), and Sortun did an unbelievable job selecting each course. Each bite was balanced and spiced to perfection. The falafel melted in my mouth and was unlike anything I've ever tasted. And the dessert? Nougat Glacé with Warm Pear & Pistachio Tarte Tatin. It was ecstasy in a bite.



Bottom line: I'm nostalgic for the meal and it has barely been 24 hours.

http://www.oleanarestaurant.com/

Sofra

Location: Cambridge, MA

Friday morning, a friend and I went to Sofra Bakery and it was exquisite. Let me start by saying that I have a soft spot for places where the menu is on the wall.

Ambience: The decor was largely unremarkable, contemporary-cramped? The cafe was pretty small and getting a table was a challenge at 10 AM on a Friday. I'd recommend avoiding this place on a weekend if you want to get in and out quickly. The parking in the back was a plus.



Variety: There were a couple of vegetarian breakfast options. For lunch, there were a number of stuffed flatbreads and like all Mediterranean food a fairly large Mezze Bar that was friendly to us. My first visit, I ordered the Turkish Breakfast (soft-boiled egg, cucumber, tomato, olives, feta, fried goat cheese, fig & thick yogurt with pear).

Quality: The place was pricey for a bakery, but I don't mind paying a premium for taste. The flavor profiles were unique and Ana Sortun (think: Oleana) can command the $13 price point for a refined breakfast. About a week later, I went back and tried their lunch offerings and had a heavenly falafel with beet tzatziki. Scrumpcious (see below).



Bonus: The chocolate hazelnut baklava with cocoa honey was unbelievable. Trust me.



Photo Credit: Delicious Dishings

Bottom line: drop everything and go now.

http://www.sofrabakery.com/

Sol Azteca

Location: Boston, MA

Last night a few friends and I tried Sol Azteca in Boston and long-story short, I would not go back.

My litmus test for good Mexican food is two-fold: guacamole and fajitas. Strike one? They ran out of guacamole. We had a 7:30 PM reservation on a Saturday. That's way too early to run out of avocados.

Strike two? Underwhelming fajitas. The fajitas were the "big-ticket" item on the vegetarian menu. Listed at $14.75, my entree should have come with guacamole, rice and beans. The rice contained chicken broth and no vegetarian substitute was available other than a bland side salad with no dressing. And to make-up for not having any avocado, they provided coleslaw.

Ambience: The restaurant's decor had an urban-hole-in-the-wall feel. The tables were charmingly tiled and the yellow brick was sufficiently exotic.

Variety: The restaurant had a decent vegetarian selection of both appetizers and entrees. Points for having a section in the menu catering to our folk.

Quality: The food was not very refined. I tried a few bites of vegetarian enchiladas that friends ordered and found vegetables like cactus over-pickled and over-cooked. I would describe this restaurant in the upper-mid-range for urban dining. Most vegetarian entrees were $12.95 and the $8.50 price point for a margarita seemed to be on par.

Verdict: You can eat like a king at Chipotle for these prices. On the bright side, the chips and salsa were delicious.

http://www.solaztecarestaurants.com/