Zare at Fly Trap

I have been wanting to try Zare at Fly Trap for the past few months because I heard they have a special vegetarian menu. I finally went this past Saturday for an early dinner, compliments of Krishen's brother Seantanu, and his girlfriend Marienna, as a thank you for taking care of their puppy a few months back.

Krishen and I arrived around 5:15 to an atmosphere that felt elegant, calming, and cozy. The walls were decorated with old sepia toned photos and illustrations, all framed to fit together like wallpaper. When we arrived, the restaurant was virtually empty, but the crowd quickly grew and every seat ended up being filled by 7pm.

For being such a classy restaurant, they have a great happy hour deal at the bar, even on a Saturday! I believe it goes until 6pm and includes $3 beers and $5 house wine and well drinks.

The vegetarian menu offered some sides and main dishes that I had never heard of before. The downside though, is that most of these options were an appetizer sized-portion, so you have to order two. A few options offered a larger portion for not too much of a price increase, but these were pasta dishes, which I did not want.

I ordered a mushroom cake as my main dish. It is a baseball sized mushroom cake on top of a bed of greens and steamed asparagus which were cut into bite size pieces surrounding the mushroom cake. The presentation was very nice for all the dishes. Krishen and Seantanu ordered halibut, and Marienna ordered a beet salad and a pasta dish.

The dessert menu was very interesting. One desert was a lemon sorbet with noodles in it, topped with tequila and a few berries. There was also a chocolate moose with Rice Crispies added for texture!

The menu is Mediterranean with a Persian influence, which made for a great menu selection. It seemed there was something for everyone. I will definitely be back to Zare, just not often because it was too pricey for my budget. It is a nice date or special occasion restaurant, but not quiet and pretentious feeling. I noticed majority of the tables were filled with groups enjoying each others' company.