East End Eats: Babette's

Babette's may be the only restaurant on the South Fork to serve a tofu dish to knock the socks off even a dedicated carnivore.

I know, I know. There are certain reigning prejudices about health food. The uninitiated have been heard to mumble, "How many stomachs will I need to digest this?" as they order some form of gluten-based meat substitute. Too often, health food seems to have a hearty flavorlessness that no amount of tamari can conquer.

Not so at Babette's. Here, health conscious means more than just vegetarian.

The menu is a multiethnic bag of tricks with a smattering of cuisines from around the world - Moroccan, Japanese, Mexican, Thai, Italian, Creole - reinterpreted for a South Fork audience. There is an abundance of choices for true vegetarians and plenty in the way of seafood and poultry for the non-veg set.

With an ultracool decor and a steady soundtrack of background music by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughaun, and Ray Charles, Babette's would fit in as well in downtown Manhattan as it does on East Hampton's Newtown Lane.

They don't serve Coke, they serve China Cola. And instead of Rolling Rock and Budweiser, the microbrew Sierra Nevada is the beer du jour. The tuna is dolphin safe and the chicken is free range. Get the picture?

We started off big, with pan-seared five-cheese ravioli, a popcorn chicken salad, a barbecued tofu and grilled vegetable quesadilla, and an Indonesian Waldorf salad. The ravioli was drizzled with a Balsamic reduction and rubbed with a light olive oil-and-basil mixture.

The Waldorf salad was nothing like Grandma's mayonnaise-based apple-walnut melange. Instead, baby greens were tossed in light, sweet dressing with smoked tempeh, celery, apples, walnuts, and raisins. Both were quite good and are recommended.

The chicken salad, a special served with peach chutney and greens, seemed to need some kind of dressing. It was less impressive.

Double Thumbs Up!

By far the best appetizer was the quesadilla. This is the one to order when you want to show a disbelieving meat eater that tofu can be really, really tasty.

A whole-wheat tortilla is stuffed with barbecued tofu, grilled veggies, and a jack cheese, in a slightly spicy barbecue sauce, and served with greens, avocado, sour cream, and fresh salsa. Double thumbs up.

The sampler, an appetizer including hummus, tabouleh, cold sesame udon noodles, and bits of the same barbecued tofu, also gets high marks.

Any one of the starters might have been just right for a light meal. Ba bette's kitchen does not subscribe to the big plate, small portion aesthetic.

Someone Else's Dinner

The first time I ate there, which was only recently, I couldn't help but ask the diners at a neighboring table what they had ordered. I had been hoping to catch a glimpse of someone's entree, but this was after my selection was already made.

The woman seated at the table smiled back at me, obviously as pleased with the beautiful and plentiful dish before her as I was impressed by it, and informed me it was the wasabi-crusted salmon teriyaki.

My pan-seared boneless rosemary chicken was very good, with plenty of steamed greens and garlic-mashed new potatoes, but I made a mental note to try the salmon next time.

Authenticity

And so I did. This rather untraditional salmon is crusted with horseradish mustard and sesame seeds, and finished with a light teriyaki sauce. Three or four pieces are garnished with pickled ginger and more wasabi, then coupled with a side of wild rice pilaf and steamed vegetables. It is flavorful, but not too spicy.

Someone else tried the playa enchiladas, which contained blackfish, shrimp, black beans, and polenta in a whole wheat tortilla with poblano sauce and Cheddar cheese. While the shrimp were a bit tough, the dish as a whole was well executed and tasted more authentic than the average East End enchilada.

Two of our group went for the simple turkey burger served with roasted potatoes. One jazzed it up with Cheddar cheese and "turkey bacon," which he said was as good as the real thing, no kidding.

Babette's proves that eating healthy doesn't mean eating dull, and that the best elements of vegetarian cuisine can enhance a well-rounded menu in surprising ways.

Distinct Satisfaction

What's more surprising is that the various cuisines represented on the menu are more than just names. Each dish brings something different to the palate, a distinct and satisfying taste.

The real pleasure of Babette's is seeing such creativity in vegetarian dishes and seeing so much of it. Every restaurant on the East End offers salmon or chicken, but to find tofu or tempeh done with the same flair commonly applied to meats, poultry, and fish is rare indeed.

Those who don't understand health food may not appreciate how special this is, but those who do will probably go back to Babette's again and again.