These Are the Most Beautiful Vegan Dishes We’ve Ever Seen
The hottest restaurant opening in wine country just happens to be vegan. Welcome to Little Saint, where the dishes are meatless, locavore, and picture-perfect.
Thomas J. Story
Not long ago in Sonoma County, plant-based, meatless, and vegan food was relegated to the hippier corners of the county. It was always there, but rarely celebrated in a place like Healdsburg, the picturesque town where restaurants typically serve what people think of as wine-country food, which is to say on the carnivorous side, with the requisite charcuterie boards and meaty entrées, presumably the better to stand up to an inky Cabernet or rich Russian River Pinot. But with the arrival of Little Saint, those days are solidly in the rearview mirror.
Thomas J. Story
Little Saint is a not-very-little but indeed very saintly restaurant where sustainable agriculture and beautiful, better-for-you food coalesce in lovely ways. Housed in a sprawling 10,000-square-foot multi-use building, complete with a performance space, wine shop, and fancy grocery store, the restaurant also features soaring ceilings and an all-day menu that make for an inviting, come-as-you-are experience. This is the latest project from the people behind the world-renowned, three-Michelin-star wine-country destination restaurant SingleThread, with its multi-course tasting menu, Chef’s Table–level culinary inventiveness, and formal (for wine country) hospitality. Little Saint is more casual in format, but no less calculated in execution. Much of the produce comes from the same farm that provides vegetables and flowers to SingleThread. With Little Saint, we’ve moved along from the hippie associations and are now solidly in the era of haute oats for all.
Thomas J. Story
Jokes aside, making excellent vegetables insanely delicious takes more skill than making decent meat taste good. Salty-fatty umami and seared animal protein is pretty much all it takes to make most omnivores happy. At Little Saint they deliver all the satisfaction we’ve come to expect from a top restaurant in vivid dishes that crackle with freshness, texture, and terroir. Here we share recipes that showcase the artistry of chef de cuisine Bryan Oliver and his team, who coax layers of flavor from well-sourced vegetables and herbs, spiced aggressively, and enriched with nuts and oils, to yet again illustrate how meatless can be more.
How to Be a Little Saint-ly at Home
Stuffed Collard Greens with Beet Merguez and Sunflower Seed Dukkah
“We don’t often strive to create analogs for meat, but in some cases where the vegetables are allowed to shine and the flavors are coherent and delicious, we’re happy to bend our own rules,” says Oliver. “This time of the year, Little Saint Farm is abundant with pristine collard greens, which provide the perfect medium to wrap around a beet-forward version of classic spicy merguez sausage. Topped with another Little Saint pantry staple item, sunflower seed dukkah—an Egyptian spice blend of nuts and seeds—this dish is loaded with a variety of textures and flavors that are sure to satiate any carnivore’s cravings.”
Split Pea Porridge with Almonds, Sugar Snap Peas, and Lemon Basil
“At Little Saint, one of our main courses typically tends to fill the role of a creamy, hearty dish along the lines of polenta, risotto, or in this case, a riff on split pea dal,” Oliver explains. “Here, green split peas are cooked down with onions, garlic, ginger, fragrant lime leaves, and almond milk, transforming these humble ingredients into a richly satisfying porridge which we top with blistered snap peas, pea tendrils, and the farm’s first shoots of lemon basil to evoke the essence of spring’s bounty.”
Beet Salad with Mandarin, Achar, Pistachios, and Mint
“The pairing of beets with pistachios and citrus is a classic blend of flavors in the California cuisine repertoire, and we [often] take a twist on this combination with the addition of mandarins that are bursting with salinity, spice, and heat. Roasted baby beets are tender, sweet, and earthy, allowing the bright flavors of spring mint from the farm to round out the dish. [In the restaurant] we make our own pickled mandarin for this dish using California mandarins, but [here] store-bought pickled lime can be used as a substitute for similar results,” Oliver says.
Red Lentil Hummus
“Hummus is a staple on the menu at Little Saint, where a variety of dips and spreads are intended to be paired with raw vegetables, pickles, and our wood-oven-baked flatbread,” Oliver says. “With this version of our red lentil hummus, we make harissa paste utilizing some of our farm’s peppers that we have preserved from the summer growing season, allowing us to capture and highlight some of the flavors of summer in spring.”
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