Vegan Chow at Philippe Chow

Philippe by Phillippe Chow at the south end of Ocean Drive, reminds me of Lewis Carroll's Alice and Wonderland. There are white chairs with the funky, violin-like curves and elbow-patch like black padding, reminiscent of something the Mad Hatter would have happily rested his rump on. The bright reds and stark whites of the room make me feel like I'm part of a surreal living chess match. White orchids line the front window, and even the servers match the decor in their light-grabbing starched white jackets.

The restaurant's new location, which opened in December, offered me the chance to try their vegan options, and I was happy to oblige. Our server Josh started us out with a sampling of the restaurant's vegan appetizers.

We got a plate of the crispy seaweed ($9), which is essentially flash fried and tossed in a bit of sugar, and served over a handful of candied walnuts.

Tyson Sullivan

Since the seaweed is naturally salty, the taste is like fluffy Asian kettle corn. The wispy green shreds were soon littered all over the table cloth. Josh assured us that we weren't necessarily the messiest diners Chow's had ever seen; apparently the lightweight flakes often fly around the restaurant like tasty sea-green confetti.

Among the healthy vegetable sides we tried were the green beans ($9 for two people). They were cooked to tenderness and tossed in a red bean sauce. There's nothing complicated about the dish. It's simply high quality vegetables in a tasty brown sauce.

Tyson Sullivan

​We also tried the bok choi and broccoli (each $9 for two people), both of which were cooked to tenderness, without draining the natural flavor of the greens. I love bok choi, so the fact that the sauce was pretty unremarkable did not faze me. The broccoli came coated in a subtle ginger glaze, making it my favorite vegetable of the night. But again, other than the fact that the produce itself was of superior quality, none of these sides was in any way surprising or outstanding.

Tyson Sullivan

​The vegetable spring rolls ($9) were also relatively straightforward; cabbage and carrot rolled in crispy fried rice paper, and set atop more sweet seaweed confetti. They were crunchy and had a clean taste, without a lot of grease.