Wonderful night at Green Zebra

My husband's cousin (a vegan) is in town for the weekend, and we figured it would be a great opportunity to try Green Zebra. Of course, I waited until the last minute (early Friday afternoon) to try to make reservations, and was told they were completely booked for the weekend. The first woman I spoke with was fairly brusque, and seemed uninterested in figuring out a way for us to make it happen. When I asked about child-friendliness, she pointedly told me, "Green Zebra is for the night away from the child." However, she seemed to waver a little when I explained that he was 4 months old and would be staying in a car seat for most of the meal.
Although we started to make alternate plans, I decided to give it one last try, and on the second phone call a few hours later, spoke with a different and VERY helpful and accomodating host, who suggested we try walking in around 10 pm, and said that the baby would be no problem.
When we arrived at 9:45, the restaurant was full, but there weren't throngs of people waiting ahead of us -- at most two or three couples. We were greeted by the host I had spoken to on the phone, who was, once again, incredibly accomodating. She explained that things had gotten a little backed up, and we were looking at an hour-long wait. We figured we'd give it 20 minutes, and then look elsewhere. We got drinks from the bar, and settled in for a wait. No more than 10 mintues later we were sitting at a table, with the waiter and surrouding diners cooing over our son.

Now, for the food. The meal began with small plates of spiced peanuts, spiced popcorn, edamame and wax beans, which were very good (in particular the beans). We started eating in earnest with the arrival of the organic beets with mascarpone, the carrot/carrot cake dish, and the avocado panna cotta. The avocado was clearly the standout of this course - creamy, rich and complex. The carrots were also wonderful, although I wish the portion had been a bit bigger; the accompanying carrot cake was a little spongy in texture, but my husband and his cousin really enjoyed it. The beet dish was the loser of the group, not because the beets weren't wonderful (they were), but because the mascarpone didn't fit quite right -- a little too sweet, perhaps.
Next, we had the fennel risotto cake, a chicken dish, the tomato and eggplant tart, and the ginger/sweet potato dumplings. Surprisingly, the risotto cake (a somewhat reluctant, last minute choice by my husband) was the winner of this round -- the texture was great (a little crisp, but not crunchy), the flavors very well balanced. The ginger dumplings were a big winner with my husband's cousin, although I felt the flavor was a bit too strong, and the texture a little gummy. The chicken was good, but not something I'd order twice. The tomato/eggplant tart was the loser only because it was very, very salty - otherwise, it would have been great (the pastry was especially well-made, flaky and light).
Gluttons that we are, after a brief pause, we launched into dessert - the Valrhona chocolate cake, a trio of creme brulees, and a spiced ginger cake with banana ice cream. The desserts were fantastic, but all were very, very rich. I felt the best of the pick was the lavendar creme brulee - unlike anything I've had before. The spiced cake was a bit cardboard-like (very dry) and while foreceful in flavor, lacked depth. However, the accompanying banana ice-cream more than made up for it with a rich, intense banana flavor. I felt the chocolate cake was serviceable, but nothing that special. A true chocolate lover might disagree with me, but after the meal, it was just a little too much.
We shared a bottle of Champalou Vouvray Sec (forgive me if I'm butchering the name); very nice with the dishes, light and fruity but not sweet.
Overall, a very good experience, and a pleasure to be able to take an out-of-town vegan guest to a fine restaurant. I would highly recommend it...

Anne