In the wisdom of Danny Meyer's "Setting the Table" where he discusses mistakes in depth, he says he enjoys them as they allow him to "write his own endings"- by listening to and acknowldeging the problem and being generous in response. Most repond quite well to that, take mailsf for instance.

going this Sunday, casual dress I'm assuming?

Sweet Willie wrote:going this Sunday, casual dress I'm assuming?

Their Opentable listing says "Business Casual". But when in doubt, phone the restaurant. I've always gotten an accurate response by doing so.

Sweet Willie wrote:going this Sunday, casual dress I'm assuming?

Casual (I'd call it "smart" casual) is fine.

boudreaulicious wrote:Casual (I'd call it "smart" casual) is fine.

I would agree, I wore a sport coat. There was everything from ripped jeans/t shirt to fine dress. So come as you are.

Mrs Willie & I shared 7 dishes, 3 were the morel tasting menu which I ordered, along with the wine pairings. Dishes for the most part were terrific & full of flavor. I'm sure this is a very tired response but being omnivores, Mrs Willie & I did not miss meat having a starring role.

(* designates tasting menu item)

The two meh dishes, these just didn't move us:
Shiitake & Oyster Mushroom Soup - goat cheese, grilled scallions, quinoa, parsley
*Chicken Fried Morels - glazed carrots, buttermilk biscuit, mushroom gravy

The good:
Housemade Gnocchi, English peas, charred spring onion, roasted oyster mushrooms, manchego

The great:
Fresh Spring Roll, snow peas, pickled shiitake mushrooms, Ruby Streak mustard greens, cucumber, mint, apricot soy sauce
Poached Hen's Egg - smoked potato purée, parsley, country sourdough
*Sautéed Morels - asparagus, crispy seared polenta cake, vin jaune sauce
*Morel Risotto - English peas, pickled ramps, fines herbes breadcrumbs

Hen's egg is a must do off of the regular menu.

Service was excellent, only down moment was we were finished with dinner, right at that moment many new guests had just got seated and we were forgotten, took a long time to get the check.

REALLY enjoyed the "Aloe, it's me" cocktail: tequila, cucumber, celery, simple syrup, procesecco.

Sorry about a lack of details, but another great meal at Green Zebra last night. With six of of we ordered LOTS of dishes and shared everthing. A few highlights were the Hen of the Woods pate, the pomegranate salad, the beet poke, Grandma Zanella's gnocchi, the ramps, and an intense red pepper soup. Also enjoyed several very fine cocktails, especially the Triple Crown (Buffalo Trace, Averna Amaro, Giffard Creme de Pamplemousse Rose, lemon juice).

Will not wait so long to go back.

Veggie-forward pioneer Green Zebra closing at year's end
http://trib.in/2BI6Nte

Dave148 wrote:Veggie-forward pioneer Green Zebra closing at year's end
http://trib.in/2BI6Nte

We had a lot of lovely food there over the years.

This is too bad.

pairs4life wrote:

Dave148 wrote:Veggie-forward pioneer Green Zebra closing at year's end
http://trib.in/2BI6Nte

We had a lot of lovely food there over the years.

This is too bad.

Kind of surprising too giving the current vegetable trend -- I've always been a huge fan and I think they've done a great job of maintaining quality through various chef changes.

BR wrote:

pairs4life wrote:

Dave148 wrote:Veggie-forward pioneer Green Zebra closing at year's end
http://trib.in/2BI6Nte

We had a lot of lovely food there over the years.

This is too bad.

Kind of surprising too giving the current vegetable trend -- I've always been a huge fan and I think they've done a great job of maintaining quality through various chef changes.

Agreed, with the increase of people adopting plant based diets, and even some meatless meals, business should have been increasing.

This is just my opinion, but...

1. Shawn McClain hasn't lived in Chicago for years.
2. The menu didn't seem to change much and not many specials, if any.
3. Plant based portions cannot be the same as the small fine dining portions that are focused on meat, seafood, and/or dairy, and are more filling. We are no strangers to fine dining and never find portions small. Even all of the women in my family felt the Green Zebra portions were small.

It is extremely frustrating that a city the size of Chicago cannot support a veg/vegan restaurant like this. Their menu made creative dishes, just without the meat, seafood, and possibly dairy. The difference here was Shawn McClain was a great chef. Most veg/vegan restaurants have not-professionally trained chefs who started cooking at home because of the lack of veg/vegan options and they open a restaurant.

This may draw criticism, but IMO (again, only my opinion), it seems many plant based diet folks were never really INTO food. Many seem to have never enjoyed meat and or seafood. This is not the background for creative chefs. Most successful, creative chefs just love food and rarely have limited diets. Plant based restaurants need more great chefs who decide to embrace a plant based diet personally, or see the business potential as more people start to eat this way.

On a personal note, sad since it is now close to our home.

Eh,

I think the portions are properly-sized to share and I feel like they have always said that. They definitely are not huge portions. I have never left hungry. I do tend to get dessert. But I do that everywhere!

Our wedding anniversary is a few days before the last day of service so I made a reservation.

pairs4life wrote:Eh,

I think the portions are properly-sized to share and I feel like they have always said that. They definitely are not huge portions. I have never left hungry. I do tend to get dessert. But I do that everywhere!

Our wedding anniversary is a few days before the last day of service so I made a reservation.

Just curious what your thoughts are. They did very well for many years when they were ahead of the curve. The neighborhood has gotten hotter and plant based is growing more than it ever has.

Fwiw, I went ahead and restored the images in the post I started this thread with. Until this thread popped up, I hadn't realized they were missing. That was a truly great meal.

I am definitely to blame, at least in part, for GZ's closing. I just stopped going. The food was still excellent after chef McClain exited. But eventually, it just fell off my radar. Unlike Al, I don't live nearby, so it wasn't a place that came to mind often. And even when it did, there was always somewhere else I wanted to eat, or some other place that was closer to where I was meeting my friends, etc. I didn't intend to ignore it. It just sort of happened. And now, I'm sad that it's going to close. But in some ways, I've got no one to blame but myself.

=R=

+1 Ron, always enjoyed my meals but certainly didn't frequent enough

We celebrated big things with meat eaters there. We last went about a year ago.

The food was on point. My tummy can’t keep a place open. This is terribly disconcerting and I don’t know what to do with that info.

I am pretty much the only vegetarian I dine with, professionally or personally. While I frequently make the selection, I have become “less fussy” about having a number of good things to choose from b/c almost always the purpose is not the food but the fellowship. At this point I can go to a rib shack and just drink tea or soda and be fine if my companions are great.

It happened again today, friend and kidlet were concerned about where there would be options for me and we landed at Burger Bar. I was fine. But nothing I ate there would be on my best things tasted list this year. And over the last 13 + years of Green Zebra most meals I did have an “OMG” taste.