As a countdown to the Best of Broward Palm Beach 2011, coming in June, Clean Plate Charlie is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in South Florida. Send your own nominations to [email protected].
No. 19: Hearts of Palm Cake From Darbster
The problem with a lot of vegetarian cuisine is that most protein substitutes lack the sort of protein satisfaction you get with real meat. I mean, no red-blooded meatist in their
right mind would take a bite of a Garden Burger and think, "Wow, no
more meat for me! This is tops!" But at Darbster in West Palm Beach, a
lovely waterside restaurant serving vegan and raw food, the faux meat
dishes are so tasty and purely satisfying that they could convert even
the staunchest of meatophiles. Chief among them is the palm cake, a
panko-coated orb of goodness that's filled with artichoke-like hearts
of palm. The recipe actually belongs to co-owner Alan Gould, who
dreamed up the idea that shredding the fibrous vegetable would create a
texture not unlike that of crab meat. What you get is a dish that
tastes entirely unique, but has the sort of appealing texture that
would have even Dr. Atkins begging for seconds.
Darbster Waterside Bistro.
8020 S. Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach
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