Vegan New England, Part 3: True Bistro

Trying to get to Boston’s True Bistro for brunch before the wedding hadn’t worked out. And unfortunately so. This all-vegan restaurant has one spectacular brunch menu. Considering there was no way I was leaving Boston without trying their delicious-reading menu of high end fare, we had to make a b-line from the ceremony to Somerville before their Sunday closing time, as Monday they were closed. To our surprise, the place was hopping when we arrived at 8:30.

A basket of bread was delivered promptly with some olive oil for dipping. Though it was not the freshest, few things beat a bite of bed saturated with a good olive oil. And this was a really good olive oil.

I opted for a small plate of pea and leek ravioli in a lemon-thyme cream though I had my mind on their Seitan Piccata since I first glanced their menu. The ravioli were so very good, tender and flavorful. It is so nice to have a cream sauce like this–lite and with no mouth coat. The quality of ingredients and chef’s skills are crystal clear given this one small plate. I must return for a full dinner.

Here is a close-up on the pea and leek ravioli cross-section. It was so difficult not to eat these in one inhalation.

For dessert, and maybe because I wasn’t able to eat one at the Shoreline Diner the day before, I had the Napoleon. Layers of paper-thin sugared pastry with a fantastic subtly sweet cream (I would guess cashew-based) and fresh, sliced strawberries. Mmmm! Dip into that sweet strawberry sauce and it’s even more delicious.

I struggled with how to attack Napoleon.

Max ordered their gluten-free dessert option, the ‘Death-by-chocolate’ cake topped with creme anglaise and crunchy shattered caramel. And he polished it off so quickly I didn’t have a chance to try it! I would have loved to try the caramel (foreshadowing alert… more on vegan caramel later).