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• Pescatarian and Macrobiotic/Chayo philosophy

Warning: This place serves REAL fish. Real (out-of-the-sea-had-a-pulse-and-a-central-nervous-­system) fish, but everything else is vegetarian. Brought here by my BF/F for a post Pedro Almodovar movie meal. "I'm So Excited" to have eaten here at this European Cafe style Chaya Restaurant. According to the M Cafe website, Chaya is basically a Japanese style of macrobiotic eating focusing on taste. The European style cafe is too big to be a cafe, so there's some possibly playful ironic tones of cafeteria of large white tile and big chalk boards. I must say I love the accents of lemon plants adding a homey fresh kitchen atmosphere to the dining areas with woven chairs. This place has very friendly and welcoming staff willing to guide us through the M Cafe experience. After some discussion we decided on the Big Micro Burger for my BF/F and, the manager's favorite, the Thai Curry Bowl. I recommend getting a "Green Arny" for your beverage. It's like an Arnold Palmer, but instead of black iced tea, they add iced mint green tea to your lemonade. The Big Macro wasn't a heavy "Big Mac" type of burger we were half expecting, but a light and, dare I say fluffy, whole grain brown rice patty with a generous amount of alfalfa sprouts and soy mozzarella. You get your choice of side and we highly recommend the Kale in a Spicy Peanut Dressing, so scrumptious, that BF/F gobbled it up almost immediately. If you're not on a gluten free diet, I recommend getting the Crispy Seitan for the Thai Curry Bowl. They lay the Seitan on top of the bowl so that it doesn't become prematurely soggy and lose its crispy appeal. The mouth feel of the Seitan had the right amount of crispiness, internal chewiness, and hearty flavoring throughout. As for desert, BF/F and I shared and enjoyed two. The tiramisu balanced with delicate overtones of fresh coffee. So many tiramisus use an old stale mocha which drowns the dessert, but M Cafe somehow knows how to keep the coffee taste fresh. Kudos. Although, I enjoyed the Tiramisu, but I have to say that the Strawberry Shortcake was the best I've ever had and I'm a man who enjoys his strawberry shortcake since childhood. When I visit again, I plan to go after that dark chocolate pudding that was also calling our names. Veg Out, Veggie Army www.VeggieArmy.com