su healthy cuisine

su healthy cuisine
725 river road (unit 21)
edgewater, nj
(201) 840 7988
surestaurant.com

type of cuisine: noveau vegetarian/pan-asian
culinary excellence: 8
vegan friendliness: 10
*recommended*

i was headed up to visit my parents in fort lee on saturday and they asked me to find a restaurant where we could have dinner. not terribly hopeful about the prospect of fine vegan dining in new jersey, i checked happy cow's trusty guide. as it turns out, there is a new vegetarian place just 5 minutes from where they live in edgewater! the space is clean and minimalist, if a little drab, with low hanging red lanterns over each table. servers are friendly and the menu reminded me instantly of gobo in new york. in fact, i just looked up gobo's menu online and i think the people at su just copied it straight up. no worries though, because they charge a lot less and the quality of the food is comparable, if not better. between the four of us, we shared up a number of dishes, all of which were labeled V for vegan, D for dairy and/or N for nuts. the appetizers we shared included spinach wheat dumplings, handmade scallion pancakes and spinach, shiitake and baby bok choy wonton soup. the dumplings were pretty and gently flavorful. the scallion pancakes were outstanding, topped with a piquant sauce and mango salsa (again i think they pilfered gobo's recipe and presentation). the soup was delicate and delicious. for my entree, i selected the steamed vegetables with tahini sauce. this was a really nice basket of carrots, squash, cauliflower, parsnips and best of all, lotus root chips. the tahini sauce was perfecto. my mom ordered the nori wrapped bean curd, an interesting and tasty dish comprised of little seaweed wrapped disks that were reminiscent of fish, served with baby bok choy and broccoli in a sweet tamarind sauce. luca got the winner of the evening - roasted whole wheat seitan with chinese greens and sumptuous mushrooms. such intense flavors and really satisfying textures. i wasn't able to taste my dad's entree, the artisan flat bread, since it was loaded with cheese, but he seemed pleased with his choice. we also shared the yam and yucca fries, which were crispy, sweet and amazing. everyone agreed that su will be the go-to restaurant whenever we're in town.

luca and i decided to go back for more on the return trip, sampling additional menu items. the vietnamese summer rolls were ok - cold julienned vegetables with an eerily crab-tasting product wrapped in rice paper and served with a clear tangy dipping sauce. su's pad thai is excellent and extremely filling. the stir friend whole wheat seitan is a little over-the-top - it's so crispy and battered that you hardly taste any wheat gluten at all, but the citrusy sesame flavor is still tempting. this was served with blase wilted greens and little dried shreds of beets.

all in all, i think su is a most welcome addition to the food scene on the other side of the gw bridge. i wish there was a place like this near philly!