The Veggielante has had it up to here with people bitching that St. Louis restaurants are vegetarian unfriendly. Sure, we'd like to see more restaurants offering more meatless dishes, but there are excellent choices out there if you take the trouble to look for them. We're not here to proselytize about greening up your diet. Our only motive is to spread the word about places where you can order good grub that ain't got no meat. To enhance your reading experience, we've settled on a handful of criteria we'll use to suss out a restaurant's vegetarian friendliness.
Winslow's Home (7213 Delmar Boulevard; 314-725-7559) is located just west of the Delmar Loop in University City. The combination café/shop makes for an original experience: The store carries household items such as mugs, recipe books, spice racks and even a few craft supplies, while the café features fresh produce, quality wine and organic food staples.
The menu is not exclusively vegetarian, but it has plenty of plant-based options. For breakfast, Winslow's Home offers frittatas with fresh tomatoes, basil and baby arugula. There is also a meat-free breakfast burrito as well as a sandwich made with eggs and a range of vegetables and organic cheeses.
Winslow's Home offers a different quiche each day, which pairs well with one of the café's fresh salads made with seasonal veggies. Additionally, there's the overstuffed "Torta Rustica," which includes spinach, portabella mushrooms, roasted red peppers and fontina cheese stuffed in a in a crisp, flaky pastry crust. Winslow's Home piles ingredients pretty high, so the torta ($9.95) could easily serve as an entire meal.
Dinner specials vary, but black-bean burgers make regular appearances, and all of the restaurant's handmade burgers are topped with a roasted-garlic yogurt spread and spinach and served on grilled focaccia. If a burger doesn't strike your fancy, you can opt for the black-eyed-pea falafel, which is served with cucumbers, mixed greens and Greek yogurt on brioche bread.
Winslow's Home also serves a grilled-cheese sandwich made with white cheddar and fontina and satisfying seasonal soups -- right now it's gazpacho. Vegetarian-friendly food and a charming neighborhood location make Winslow's Home a welcoming spot to chow down on a meat-free (and locally sourced and organic) meal.
