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| - A lot of vegan places treat meat like an ex-boyfriend they've never quite been able to get over - creating this meat-like shrine in the empty place of their menu, constantly mashing tofu and beans into meat-like shapes, drunk-texting meat at three in the morning and asking whether it misses them.
While Pura Vida is not a vegan restaurant, but it DOES serve a full vegan menu. And since I went on a wild vegan bender with a visiting friend, rampaging through Cleveland's vegetarian options and devouring lettuce by the bushelful, I can tell you that this is the best vegan place I've found in town....
...simply because it likes vegetables AS vegetables.
The mushroom ravioli I had was delectable, as it had a chili sauce that gave everything a wonderful tang. My date had a rice pilaf with asparagus and roasted tomato that had a rich, luscious taste. Their African peanut stew made kale, peanuts and sweet potato into a soup so satisfying it could have passed as an entree.
What they do here is say, "Well, we want to make a bunch of vegetables seem richer than a salad - how can we change the flavor to deepen it?" And they ask wise questions, and they discover ways to make it complex without adding the ol' standbys of meat or eggs.
The only real downside is that their drinks were equally complex. We had a thai martini and a red pepper drink, both of which had strong flavor profiles. Delicious in the abstract, but the coconutty flavor of the martini didn't go with anything on our table - in fact, it was SO strong it was at odds, fighting with the peanut stew and the ravioli, and instead we sipped water and left the drinks about two-thirds undrunk.
But I will go back. They have vegan nights to introduce people to what vegan cuisine can be, and I trust them to unlock it. If you're curious, this is a pretty good place to start.
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