Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well! For today's post I have another Long Island restaurant that I wanted to share with you, Zen Garden in Great Neck, NY. This one is incredibly special to me as I shared an amazing meal with Doug there. I have shared these meals with you before but this restaurant means so much to me that I figured a full round up MoFo post would be a great way to pay tribute to Doug and a really amazing experience that we had together. For anyone that is just joining me here now, Doug and I were dating/together (we never made it publicly official but we were essentially together) who tragically passed away in the beginning of June.
I'll include wrap up thoughts at the end of the post but I will start off by saying that Zen Garden is fully Vegetarian and mostly Vegan. You'll notice on the menu that everything is clearly labeled and they are happy to answer your questions for you. They also just started serving brunch which is really exciting!
The first time I went I was there for lunch with a great friend of mine. I ordered off of the prix fixed lunch menu and it came with your choice of soup. I almost chose the hot and sour but went with the wonton soup and it was really delicious! It was nice and light and it was a great way to start off the meal.
For my entree I chose the Eggplant with "Chicken" in Garlic Sauce and subbed out the bell peppers for broccoli. It was DELICOUS!!! It came with rice and I chose white rice. The veggies were cooked perfectly, the soy chicken had a really great texture and the sauce was exactly what I was hoping for in a garlic sauce. It wasn't super spicy but it had enough of a kick that it was satisfying the spicy craving. This was an excellent choice and I highly recommend it.
The next time I went to Zen Garden was when I went with Doug. Since he like taking pictures of his food as well I actually have everything from that night photographed. These are actually all his photos because I forgot my phone in the car and he sent all of them over to me later so I can share quite a few dishes with you.
This appetizer was the cedar shoots pancake. I didn't try it but it looked great and he really enjoyed it!
He ordered the Crispy Walnut Shrimp and he really enjoyed it. It looks amazing but I have my mayo aversion so I just didn't want to deal with the sauce. It did look great and I would definitely try it without the sauce. He did say he wished there were more walnuts though.
For my entree I had the General Tso's Tofu with Eggplant which was on the specials list that night. As you can see, the portion was huge and oh my goodness was it delicious! The texture of the tofu and eggplant was absolutely perfect. I love that it comes with broccoli as well, as most dishes do. I was really happy with my choice.
We decided to go for a dessert once they told us that they are made in house and that the owners also own a bakery. How can you not go for dessert?! We split a piece of the red velvet cake because it had been so long since we've had red velvet. You guys. This cake was incredible. We were both in shock by how delicious it was! I highly recommend splurging on dessert and if you are a red velvet fan, definitely go for this cake!
Overall, I LOVE Zen Garden. I haven't been able to go back since he passed because there is still a huge emotional heaviness connected to it. I know I'll get back there again and enjoy an incredible meal in his honor but I'm just not there yet. With that said, I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant. The portions are great (my dinner entree lasted me three meals and he had leftovers as well!) and the food is really high quality. The decor is gorgeous and it truly does have a zen vibe. One thing I will note is that it is a slow service type of place. Our dinner took about 2-2.5 hours. We were fine with it because we were having a great time but just be aware that it make take a while.
I hope that if you are on Long Island or close to it that you'll try out Zen Garden. It is a really beautiful restaurant with delicious food and for me, it holds memories that I will hold on to forever.
