Cafe Bamboo on Esplanade

Any of you locals/frequenters been? It%26#39;s a vegetarian restaurant (which, while I AM one, I know N.O. is notoriously not known for great veggie cuisine) and I%26#39;m dying to try it.

-kel

Cafe Bamboo on Esplanade

I have never been...but I have gotten VERY positive feedback from several of my vegetarian B%26amp;B guests who have been there. Hope that helps a little.

Cafe Bamboo on Esplanade

definitely...I%26#39;ll surely be adding it to my line-up!

Bourbon BBQ faux chicken sounds intriguing... actually...the entire menu sounds good (to me) www.cafebamboo.com I%26#39;ll let everyone know as soon as i try it.

My wife who is a vegeterian(no fish either) loved it. There are many other oprions in the Quarter as well. We have never found it difficult for her to find a delicious meal. Most places will prepare meals without meat for her.

yeah...i%26#39;m definitely not complaining. For a city where there%26#39;s copious amounts of restaurants that don%26#39;t highlight vegetarian cuisine, i%26#39;ve never had a problem getting a good meal that fits into my needs.

However, the addition of Cafe Bamboo is exciting! Can%26#39;t wait to try it!

-kel

Many restaurants have vegetarian dishes on their menu and also will make up one on request. It will not be a problem.

cajunyank,

definitely agree with you. as i said in my p.p. even seemingly meat centric places-have always been accomodating for me (and my husband...and my sister in law...we%26#39;re a big veggie family, ha ha)

The reason I mentioned that New Orleans is not known for %26#39;vegetarians%26#39; is that many vegan/vegetarian message boards (happycow.net for instance) often list it as one of the least vegetarian ';friendly'; cities. I completely disagree (and my posts reflect that), you just can%26#39;t be afraid to ask. It reminds me of a line in %26#39;Kitchen Confidential%26#39; by Anthony Bourdain where he laments about vegetarians saying ';Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine.'; ha ha.

one of my meals at Muriels was possibly my favorite, and they just simply removed the tasso and the chicken and voila! amazing vegetarian dish!

just the same it is neat to see a completely vegetarian restaurant in NoLA and I hope it does well

-kel

I am really not a clean freak here but this is another situation where I%26#39;m not sure of my comfort level regarding the kitchen. When it was Siam/Dragon%26#39;s Den, much of the food prep was outside in the courtyard. Anyone could walk right past it on the way to the bathroom. Yuck.

It%26#39;s ENTIRELY possible that this has changed since then, however, so it%26#39;s worth a shot. I hope someone can report back to me on this as I love vegetarian dishes, especially considering I%26#39;m a big carnivore. :-)

I have a friend who lives nearby the restaurant, so we just decided to give it a whirl. The food was pretty decent, but you could tell the kitchen was still in the process of working out its kinks. But overall, not bad!

The soups and the rice bowls were a big hit! They tasted very fresh, and I loved the sweet potato fries. The biggest disappointment was the ';meat'; products, such as Chik%26#39;N and seitan beef - it was rubbery and trying too hard to be like meat, when there is no reason to be. Great veggie dishes sell themselves on their own merit!

The restaurant still has that funky, intimate atmosphere, reminiscent of the times when we could order thai food and bring it upstairs to Dragon%26#39;s Den and eat on the floor cushions (no longer present). And for cleanliness, well - it is what it is...

I used to love the food at Siam. Then I saw the food prep area, complete with large cockroaches. It was outside, after all, so it wasn%26#39;t surprising. Then drinks at Dragon%26#39;s Den--more cockroaches. Again, summer in New Orleans so I wasn%26#39;t shocked. Still, when I did go back to Siam (and I did, a few times, since I loved the shrimp toast!) I made a point not to visit the kitchen area.

I%26#39;m sure Bamboo has fixed a lot of these issues and will try it soon.