Truly Tasteful

    Owned by Keanne and Sigret Thompson, The Tasteful Kitchen is the newest vegetarian restaurant in town. The place is a little hard to find when driving down Stone Ave, but at night you find it because of the lights on a tree. The parking and entrance is in the back. The entrance looked so welcoming and friendly like you were about to ask your neighbor for a cup of sugar. Inside the walls were covered with art from local artists in town. There weren't many tables probably about 7.
Even though it was so small you did not really notice the other people in the place.   When we sat down we were treated to some sunflower seed pate. Is was great and went well with the jicama and carrot sticks. The service was nice and so was the waitress (Keanne).
     Next my Mom and I had some complimentary Creamy Carrot and Avocado Soup ($5) which came with a lime and sunflower seed crackers which were made from dehydrated sunflower seed pate. The soup tasted like Campbell's Tomato Soup's more successful older brother.  It was sweet, creamy, and had a little bit of a bite to it. Also it went really well with the lime.
     After that my Mom and I got our Entrees. My mom got the Grilled Portabella Mushroom Sandwhich ($12), which came with a salad. The bread on the sandwhich was good  and the portabella mushrooms were grilled to perfection! The salad went well with the sandwich. The salad had the right amount of vinaigrette. I got the Butternut Ravioli Stack ($12), which also came with a salad. It was dehydrated butternut squash cut paper thin with sunflower seed spinach "ricotta", basically the sunflower pate with spinach, in between. The stack was great, but just a little bit difficult to cut though. There was dehydrated carrots and beets in the salad which gave it a sweet crunchiness to the salad. I also had some lemony undertones to it too.
     For dessert we had the Decadent Carrot Cake ($6). It was honestly the best carrot cake I ever had. It was so moist and rich, and the reason why is the pineapple. It also came with a candied carrot on top, which was a nice touch. The waitress said said it was a family recipe and the owners mother makes all the desserts.
     Come to The Tasteful Kitchen if you want to do yoga, take a vegetarian cooking class, hear a lecture or just enjoy the culinary experience.

The Tasteful Kitchen                           Hours:
722 N. Stone Ave.                                 Wed-Sun 5pm-9pm     
(520)-250-9600                                      * make reservations
www.thetastefulkitchen.com