Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, a solemn observance in the liturgical year of many Christian denominations. It lasts for approximately six weeks and leads up to Easter Sunday. During Lent, many of the faithful will commit to fasting or giving up certain types of luxuries as a form of penitence. In certain pious Catholic circles, the consumption of meat is traditionally self-abstained by many. Living in the US, which is largely made up of said Catholics, I figured I would offer a few recommendations for the best places to eat during the Lenten season.
Vegetarian restaurants abound in the city. Veggie burgers are a perfect alternative to the real deal. A deliciously cooked homemade veggie patty with avocado, field greens, tomato and chipotle mayo burger is a perfect alternative to the hamburger. If you haven't tried one of these, I urge you to do so. Not convinced? Perhaps a quinoa tabouli, baba ganoosh, tzatziki, black olives, falafel patties, cucumbers, tomato, carrots, dolmas and raw pecan hummus Mediterranean Bowl is more to your taste. Ok, maybe that one doesn't sound that appealing to a T-Rex. A vegetarian dish that's a little more mainstream and tasty would be the eggplant parmesan served over spaghetti with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. When it's done right, you'd swear that it tastes like a hearty meat dish.
Seafood is what most Catholics associate with during the Lenten season, but with so many great restaurants in the US, where is one to go? The way I see it you have two basic choices:
1.-You can go with simple, (inexpensive) street food, and/or 2.-The fine dining experience
America is becoming exceedingly good at pushing out simple, street food. There are very good restaurants that serve your basic fish/shrimp tacos or Po'Boys in a spectacularly tasty way. Admittedly, these dishes are hard to mess up, but what seems to set one apart from the not-so good is the sauce and the tortilla and bread that comes with it. I've had some good ones at chain restaurants and some fantastic ones at Food Truck Parks around the city.
The list of fine dining restaurants that primarily serve seafood isn't as big as the 'simple, everyday category', but it begins to get much larger when you include American steakhouses. Yes, for the Catholic carnivore, eating seafood at a prime steakhouse (with all of the tasty meat temptations) will certainly test the limits of one's faith. My personal pick for this category is a locally owned restaurant with a location in the US. Their seafood choices abound and they're all wonderful. As an appetizer, it's hard to go wrong with the house specialty, huge shrimp completely dunked in a divine sauce that you will want to drink with a straw or sop up with bread after you're finished. As an entree, you can't go wrong with either the North Atlantic Salmon Filet, the Alaskan King Crab Legs or the delectable Live Maine Lobster. My personal favorite is the lobster. I've never had a more plump, juicy and delicious lobster anywhere in the world... and I get around! Pairing it with their world famous Jalapeno Mac & Cheese or their Stuffed Tomatoes would nicely complement your main entree. For dessert, order the Bread Pudding with Maker's Mark sauce and thank me later. So there it is. For a quick Friday lunch, eating some fish tacos or a shrimp Po'Boy would satisfy you nicely. For dinner, interestingly and ironically enough, as a Catholic T-Rex living in the US I would still eat at a prime steakhouse. Yes, the temptation to order a juicy bone-in prime ribeye would be tantalizingly great, but settling for Live Maine Lobster is comforting enough for me. Somehow, eating this extravagant luxury doesn't feel like the correct form of penitence, but in my Catholic pious circle, lobster isn't meat so it's good enough for me.
Copyright (c) 2013 Eli Gali
