Sunflower Restaurant

A wholly vegetarian restaurant is quite the exotic experience for me.  I’m left at a loss of expectations before I even enter the front door.

Do I need to bring my passport?

Are they going to give me one of those uber-intrusive body scans, and check me for contraband weapons or meats?

Do they speak English?

Will they put me in the corner and eat in a cage if they smell jerky on my breath?

It’s not as bad as you’d think, dear meat eater.  Upon entrance, Sunflower is about as normal as you’d expect any place to be, except for a fetish-level adoration for all things sunflowers.  There’s a large, expensive-looking etched glass wall with a sunflower mural embedded inside.  A sunflower lamp hovers over many diners, looking as if it’s ready to erupt into showers like the produce section at your supermarket, only drenching patrons with delicious seeds.  Sunflower photos. Plush sunflowers. Ceramic sunflowers. Sunflowers made of the parts of lesser sunflowers. You get the point, right?  They wholly live up to their namesake.

The diners were few and far between, perhaps because we came in at an off hour, but I’m guessing more likely because there simply isn’t a huge population of vegetarians in the area.  Jen and I took a corner table, and poured over the options.  I was actually pleased with the fact that there were a copia of options available, so much, that I had some difficulty in picking something from the list.

The pan-fried dumplings were a no-brainer for us.  Realizing that I’ve got my girl hooked on the perfect parcels of deliciousness (as long as they’re stuffed with an assortment of non-meat ingredients), we ordered these, which come with your option of being served steamed or pan-fried.  Each dumpling is filled with napa cabbage, tofu, shiitake mushrooms, ‘bean thread’ noodles, and yuba.  What is yuba?  It’s a tofu ‘skin’ with the consistency of pasta, and not a smaller tuba or something in the family of trombones.  Clarinets, even.  I don’t care what you stuff a dumpling with, it comes down to the dumpling skin and the sauce that makes this dish, and I give Sunflower the seal of approval on these.  I do wish that the dumplings were accompanied by a sweet sauce rather than a soy sauce, but nonetheless, these are a great way to start your meal.

Jen order the General Tso’s Surprise (WUAHAHAHA, SURPRISE! NO MEAT!) which is apparently the restaurant’s best seller, and it’s not hard to tell why. Excellent presentation aside, the dish is absolutely loaded with giant chunks of soy protein, steamed broccoli and carrot slices, then covered in a tasty kung pao sauce.  The sauce really brings this dish together, and the freshness of the vegetables stands out, although I should expected as much with the type of restaurant we were dining in.

I took our waiter’s recommendation to order the Curry Surpreme – soy protein with mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, and green peas served with a thick Japanese curry sauce that really made this a hearty dish, even for a die-head (see also: hard headed) meat eater like myself.  Don’t be fooled, there’s some subtle kick to the curry, and I broke out into a small sweat halfway through the meal.

So what’s the synopsis here?

Sunflower was actually…really good.  I’ll admit that I had my reservations, but just as there’s 1,001 paleo or primal recipes to sub for your favorite foods, there are just as equally as many offerings here at Sunflower to give you an excellent meal at a reasonable price.  The service is very good, and alcohol is available upon request.  You have you option of two locations, one in Vienna and one in Falls Church, which is to say it’s a shame they don’t have one in the city, as I’d think it’d do very well there.

You won’t even need to smuggle in contraband bacon in your underwear like me.

See Sunflower in Vienna on a map here.

See Sunflower in Falls Church on a map here.

Recommended For:

• First Dates
• Vegetarians
• Pescatarians
• Ovolacto-librarians
• Gentle Barbarians

Not Recommended For:

• Paleoheads
• One last meal after a long night at the clubs (You know who I’m talkin’ about, K-town)
• Anthophobics
• Carless Gastronoms
• Showing off your latest meat helmet creation