Cafe Manna - Milwaukee Journal Review

I thought this was an interesting review of the vegetarian restaurant in Brookfield called, Cafe' Manna by the Milwaukee Journal food critic. This is the restaurant that Ben gave us the gift certificate to. Maybe after reading this review you might consider eating here.

Good to the last crunch
Café Manna revels in fresh vegetables
By CAROL DEPTOLLA
Journal Sentinel dining critic
Posted: June 11, 2008

Brookfield - An acquaintance of mine once flippantly remarked that he liked his dinner at a vegetarian restaurant just fine, but everything would have tasted better with a little bacon sprinkled on top.

That thought never crossed my mind at Café Manna, a vegetarian restaurant that opened Feb. 18 in Sendik's Towne Centre. The dishes were global in flavor and thoughtfully presented, and though I had a few quibbles, I'm counting some of Manna's offerings among my new favorites - meatless or otherwise.

Café Manna is a rarity. Many area restaurants offer at least some vegetarian or vegan dishes, but only a few are entirely vegetarian. Manna is one. What's more, 95% of Café Manna's food is organic, said owner Robin Kasch, and the restaurant will buy some of its produce from local farmers this summer.

It's not just what's on the plates that's green at Café Manna. Products used for carryout are biodegradable: The containers are made of sugar cane, the utensils from potato.

There is a lightness, a freshness, to the 48-seat restaurant, from the striking tiger-stripe floors made of eco-friendly strand bamboo to the warm golden walls, colored with non-toxic paint.

The artwork consists predominantly of large, close-up photographs celebrating produce: freshly dug potatoes, sunshiny lemons. And, echoing the decor, every dish reveled in freshness.

Take the salads. I could imagine what a relief any of them would be on the hottest summer days.

The two entrée-size salads I sampled were built on mixed greens that were cold and crisp, as every salad should be but so often isn't. Asparagus, yellow squash and vivid-red threads of beet adorned the Fresh Country Vegetable Salad ($9.75). Smooth, creamy goat cheese, with a contrasting crust of crunchy chopped pecans, topped it. An herb vinaigrette, fragrant with basil, was a perfect complement.


Lively, peppery flavors marked the celeriac, radish and watercress salad ($9.75), dressed with a toasted mustard-seed vinaigrette. An oversize Asiago crisp, a good 5 inches across, was perched dramatically in the salad. The only off note was that it had been baked a little too long, dulling the cheese flavor.

Each visit was started not with bread and butter, but with complimentary cashew-coconut hummus and flatbread, which also can be ordered as an appetizer. That might have been enough to tide us over until entrées arrived, but my dining companions and I were ready to try more, piqued by the slightly sweet spread.

Walnut and feta paté ($7.50), with the flavor of the ground walnuts bounding through, tasted especially good on slices of aromatic rosemary-olive bread. Baba ghanouj ($5.25), the Middle Eastern eggplant-sesame dip, was nice with large slices of summer squash and other veggies.

Finely chopped mushrooms - duxelles - were savory in the wild mushroom and goat cheese crostini ($8.50), but the goat cheese seemed more garnish than flavor component. Each appetizer was ample for several diners.

The culture hopping on the menu overseen by chef Jason Stevens continued with the entrées, with Italian, Indian, Middle Eastern and Japanese influences. A spectacular-looking dish was the sesame-encrusted tofu with asparagus and sun-dried tomato risotto ($14.75). The tender sautéed tofu slices were arrayed around a mound of the risotto; an aged-balsamic vinegar reduction decorated the plate. The risotto was tender; my preference is al dente.

Cumin and ginger enlivened the spiced tempeh and teriyaki soba noodles ($14.25). It was a dish packed with flavors and textures: substantial buckwheat noodles; pan-seared tempeh, nutty from the soybeans; tender-crisp ribbons of zucchini and other vegetables; a robust tamari-sake sauce.

Ayurvedic dhal ($9.25), ordered by a dining companion, hews to an ancient Indian philosophy linking diet and way of life to wellness. Although that might sound more good-for-you than good, the yellow split peas, cooked until tender and thickened, tasted delightfully of Indian spices.

It was served with a perky pyramid of brown basmati rice. I enjoyed the flavors but thought I'd long for a different, crunchier texture midway through the dish, as inauthentic as that might be. I'd probably do better with Manna's Peace Bowl with Curried Cashew Crunch (rice pyramids with steamed vegetables).

Great flavors and freshness came through in the sandwiches I tried, too. A relish of tomato, Greek olives, red pepper and feta topped the grilled Mediterranean Portobello mushroom sandwich ($10.50). It came on a bun when I first had it, but I saw it served on whole-grain bread on a subsequent visit. Accompanying it was a light couscous dotted with sweet dried currants.

As great sides go, though, the mashed celeriac-Yukon potatoes that came with the hearty grilled herb eggplant and tofu sandwich ($8.75) can't be beat, but the slightly spicy wasabi-scented spinach-red potato salad ($3.75 a la carte) was a strong contender. I'd gladly return for those dishes alone. (A half-dozen sides can be ordered separately.)

Among desserts, a clear winner was a daily special, a chocolate cake ($6.95). The cake itself was vegan - though the cream cheese frosting wasn't -and had good height despite the lack of eggs, and a deep chocolate flavor. A blackberry-pear crisp ($6.25), served warm, was lightly sweet.

A carrot layer cake ($5.75), with spice from crystallized ginger and crunch from macadamia nuts, was so good that we ordered it on a second visit, but the cake seemed dry the next time. I could taste the banana but not the fig in banana fig pudding ($5.25), though there were plenty of fig seeds.

Servers largely were knowledgeable about the menu and diligent about warning us at the outset when dishes were unavailable, with just a couple of missteps: One identified a white tea as a black tea, and said prices on the new wine list - three reds and two whites, all organic, by the glass ($6.95-$9.95) - were the same as the old list, though we learned otherwise when the check arrived.

On a busy weekend night while we waited for our server, I appreciated that she stopped by to say she'd attend to us as soon as she could. A little acknowledgment goes a long way. But because we had waited so long, when she appeared she was poised to take our dinner order. I'd still rather start out with a drink to unwind before I launch into dinner.

In addition to wine, Café Manna's beverages include sparkling juice, about a dozen teas, green limonade (the juice of lime, kale, rainbow Swiss chard, bok choy, ginger, fresh pear and agave), almond milk and something sorely in need of a sexier name, Potassium Broth ($2.75) - made from a variety of root vegetables, including beets and sweet potatoes.

I'd have it again but as a first course rather than a beverage; it had an earthy-sweet flavor that was satisfying, just like so many of Café Manna's flavors.