Category Archives: Vegetarian food

d’Sozo chef still planning new place

May 8, 20123:41 p.m.

Chef Miguel Larcher

When Chef Miguel Larcher bought vegan restaurant d’Sozo from former owner Larry Cook back in December, his plans were to close it and reopen it with a new name.

He did — briefly. Larcher called the restaurant Miguel’s Eat-In Cafe, and he said he’d continue to operate at the original location at 1812 S. Seneca until he found a new location.

That didnt’ last, and he ended up closing to devote himself to the search. He thought he had a place picked out last week in downtown Wichita, but at the last minute, the deal fell through. Larcher now says he has a line on a few other spaces that look good. He hopes to be reopen by the end of this year.

In the meantime, Larcher is about to publish a new cookbook. It’s called “Three Olives – Of the Sea” and will be ready in July. It’ll feature vegan recipes and will be avaialable in local bookstores.

I’ll let you know when he finds a spot.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , , Filed under Restaurant closings, Restaurant reopenings, Vegetarian food | Comments

The crepes remain at Lotus Leaf

April 17, 201210:25 a.m.

I told you a few weeks ago about changes planned at Lotus Leaf,  the restaurant at  613 W. Douglas.

Owner Jacquelyn Keefer had just hired new chef Rebecca Gold and was rededicating herself to her original vision for the restaurant, which inlcuded the healthiest of health food dishes. She was considering eliminating crepes all together.

Keefer and Gold now have completed the new menu, and some crepes made the cut. There are also several tempting sounding vegetarian dishes, including a sweet potato crepe and a black bean and quinoa burger.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, 11 am. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays. For more information, call 316-295-4133.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Healthy restaurant food, Menus, Vegetarian food | Comments

Zen Vegetarian adding meat, changing name

March 10, 201111:20 a.m.

Two years after opening as one of Wichita’s first meat-free restaurants, Zen Vegetarian Cuisine at 3101 N. Rock Road is changing its approach — and its name.

Starting on May 1, Zen will be known as Oh Yeah China Bistro and will add meat dishes to its menu. Owner Shu Tsao, who previously operated Chinatown out of the space before remodeling it and adopting a Chinese vegetarian menu.

Tsao bought out her partner, Alan Hsu, so her daughter will move to Wichita from Houston to help manage the restaurant. Her husband, Robert Liao, will remain in the kitchen.

There just weren’t enough customers to support the business, said Tsao, who is a vegetarian. “It’s just not big enough,” she said of the vegetarian community in Wichita. “But they said, ‘We’ll still come if you keep our favorite dishes.’”

Tsao says she will keep many of Zen’s most popular meat-free dishes on the menu but will add back more traditional, sweet-and-sour-chicken type dishes plus Korean, Thai and Vietnamese fare.

Tsao also will add beer and wine to her offerings and will deliver within a four-mile radius of the restaurant.

For more information, call the restaurant at 316-425-7700.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , Filed under Chinese food, Vegetarian food | Comments

Chef Chat: d’Sozo’s Miguel Larcher

March 2, 20112:28 p.m.

I spent the afternoon yesterday with Miguel Larcher, the fascinating head chef at d’Sozo, the year-old vegan restaurant at 1812 S. Seneca.

Larcher is a Martinique-born cook who trained both at home and in Nice, France. His food is strictly vegan, and his talents are in high demand.

On Friday, we’ll publish this story, which contains the conversation I had with Larcher. What I couldn’t fit in the paper (he’s just too interesting) is information about his candlelight dinners and cooking classes, which he puts on regularly in the cavernous restaurant.

The dinners happen on the first and third Tuesdays of each month and feature a menu of fancy vegan dishes. A recent Tuesday night dinner featured a beef dumpling served with a curry emulsion, a stuffed cucumber gazpacho, a three-frut granita and saffron tamale with a fricasse of oyster mushrooms. Dessert was infused lime and apple Streusel caramel crepes. Yum. The dinners are $30 a person and are staged in a separate room with candlelight, harp and violin music and a rose. Call for reservations.

Larcher also puts on a variety of cooking classes covering topics such as knife skills and bread baking, and there are classes for kids, too. For more information, call the restaurant at 316-295-4498 or visit the website.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , Filed under Chefs, Vegetarian food | Comments

Lotus Leaf Cafe & Creperie opening in Delano

Nov. 19, 20102:08 p.m.

lotuslogoThere’s a new healthy, crepe-y place going in the former Palette spot in Delano.

On Monday, local acupuncturist Jacquelyn Keefer will open Lotus Leaf Cafe & Creperie at 613 W. Douglas in Delano.

The restaurant will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, including sweet and savory crepes, panini sandwiches, soups and dinner entrees such as tandoori chicken and salmon nicoise. About half of the menu offerings are vegetarian/vegan, Keefer said, and she’ll also serve natural juices and wheatgrass.

“Delano is fabulous for a place like this,” Keefer said. “The people down here are a little more alternative new-agey.”

Once open, the restaurant’s hours will be 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. For more information, call 316-295-4133.

By Denise Neil | Filed under About-to-open, Vegetarian food | Comments

Showering in public

Sept. 14, 20102:50 p.m.

I love me a good steak, but how can I say no to a video of a couple of vegans showering in public?

Thanks for the effort, Jaime Green. Burgers later?

By Denise Neil | Filed under Vegetarian food | Comments

Vegetarian dining

Aug. 9, 201010:42 a.m.

20070613 Fresh foodA reader named Barbara wrote over the weekend to pose a commonly asked question: Where can vegetarians find the best dishes in Wichita?

Barbara noted that she loves the vegetarian offerings at The Anchor, where juicy portobello sandwiches are on the menu, but she wondered where else she should try.

Following are a few of my suggestions. By all means, chime in if you can think of others.

1. D’Sozo, 1812 S. Seneca: This restaurant isn’t very old and opened in sort of an unexpected area. But it has a trained vegetarian chef preparing very good vegan and vegetarian dishes. When I reviewed it a few months ago, I was impressed with some fresh and fabulous soups and sandwiches, and the chef offers daily specials as well.

2. Zen Vegetarian Cuisine, 3101 N. Rock Road: This vegetarian Asian restaurant does a great job of preparing food that eliminates meat but not flavor. The chef experiments with lots of meat substitutes and fills dishes full of fresh veggies. I’ve heard they updated their menu recently, but I need to investigate.

3.  Maharaja, 3008 W. Central: Indian food is a good choice for vegetarians, and Maharaja offers several exotic uses of the green and leafy-s. The chefs care about vegetarians, so much so that they recently put on a special all-vegetarian dinner.

What am I missing?

By Denise Neil | Tags: , , , Filed under Reader e-mails, Special diets, Vegetarian food | Comments