Palace Makes Vegetarian Fit for a King

Scott Cherry
September 3, 2009
Tulsa World

Chef-proprietor James Shrader and sous chef Grant Vespasian of Palace Cafe recently made the decision to present diners a separate vegetarian menu to complement the regular dinner menu.

“We’ve always been able to do variations off our regular menu to accommodate vegetarians or people with other dietary needs, but we reached a point where we decided it made more sense to go ahead and create a vegetarian menu,” Vespasian said.

“Rather than be little brothers to the regular dishes, we wanted the vegetarian dishes to be stars on their own. As it turned out, a lot of people who aren’t vegetarians order off the vegetarian menu because the food looks so good.”

The Palace Cafe already was a Tulsa World four-star restaurant, so we stopped in for dinner recently to see how the vegetarian fare measures up with the regular menu.

The vegetarian menu is available only at dinner.

My choice was the grilled apple polenta ($14) with a grilled Caesar salad (half salad $4.50 with entree), and it was a dandy.

There didn’t seem to be much to it — a round of apple polenta, topped with wilted spinach, a layer of chevre (goat cheese) and a healthy drizzling of cherry chutney that ran down the sides — but the flavor combination was marvelous.

Vegetable paperdelle ($16) with a half caprese salad ($6) wasn’t your normal veggie medley plate.

This one was loaded with sauteed tomatoes, miatake mushrooms, yellow beans, arugula and housemade paperdelle (wide, flat noodles) and held together with a lemony vinaigrette.

Miatake mushrooms are the centerpiece of another entree, and we got a taste of this locally grown ‘shroom.

It had been grilled over pecan and had an earthy, smoky flavor, bolder than a portobello.

“It’s steak for vegetarians,” Vespasian said.

The Caesar, which had one full stalk of romaine, was fine, but the full, fresh basil leaves tried to overpower the delicate heirloom tomatoes and light housemade mozzarella in the caprese.

Our dining partners that night felt more carnivorous, so we got a nice sampling of the full dinner menu, as well.

Some of the highlights included some fabulous bento (small appetizers), including shrimp-shiitake potstickers that came with a sake dipping sauce, maple quail breast that had a smoky flavor and was served over polenta, and salmon over potato pancakes, which was sensational.

Gazpacho, which had a tomatoey, spicy quality, was a great starter on a warm summer night, and the desserts — chocolate gateau ($6) covered in rich, dark-chocolate ganache; a banana creme brulee (for two, $8), and amazingly refreshing watermelon sorbet ($7) — were sinful ways to end the evening.

Oh, the meat. Slices of smoked pork tenderloin ($22) with a maple-rum glaze, whole fried Yukon fingerling potatoes and sage-mustard sauce, and an thick, 8-ounce, tender, perfectly cooked beef tenderloin ($30) with blue-cheese scalloped potatoes and wild mushrooms made me remember why I never will become a full-fledged vegetarian.

Palace Cafe has a separate lunch menu with more of an emphasis on sandwiches, soups and salads, and a Sunday brunch menu featuring a tempting selection of both breakfast and lunch dishes.

Prices range $7 to $15 on both menus.

“Lacey Wissen, our pastry chef and lunch chef, is a vegetarian and easily can customize our lunch items for vegetarians, too,” Vespasian said.

Lunch is 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, dinner 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and brunch 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Works of local artists are displayed on the walls.

They were vibrant oil paintings by Terri Wagner when we were there.

Reservations may be made through a nationwide service at tulsaworld.com/opentable .

Food vs. music

When Palace Cafe sous chef Grant Vespasian reached a crossroads in his life, he went with his gut feeling — literally.

“I had an opportunity to audition for David Cook’s touring band after he won ‘American Idol’ (2008), but at the same time I was getting more and more interested in cooking,” Vespasian said. “I didn’t make the audition. I realized food was a bigger passion.”

One of the reasons bass player Vespasian had an opportunity to try out for the band was that he and ex-Tulsan Cook were roommates before Cook’s “Idol” experience.

“I was working in restaurants and he would call me and say, ‘Man, bring me a hamburger or something. I’m starving,’ and I would say, ‘OK, you go mow the yard and I’ll bring home food,” Vespasian said. “Now he has a house in L.A. and is traveling the world.”