41 replies to this topic

[DonRocks]

Years ago, I enjoyed several meals at Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant in Vienna. I thought many times about returning, but for whatever reason, I just never seemed to get there.

Then about a month ago, I returned. Then I went again. And again.

And yesterday I found myself in my car, having just ordered a Curry Paradise lunch entrée for $5.95. In the parking lot at the back of the restaurant, enjoying a quiet meal by myself, I took two bites of the dish, and then I started laughing.

I started laughing because the food was so unbelievably good, the latest in an unbroken string of terrific plates at Sunflower. From dish-to-dish, from day-to-day, this place is consistently good - one of the few restaurants in the entire area where you can seemingly throw a dart at the menu and hit a winner.

Golden Nuggets are marinated yuba wrapped with shredded shiitake mushrooms, soy protein and bamboo shoots in a druggingly delicious house brown sauce. If you serve this dish to a child, or even an adult, they’ll have no idea they aren’t eating meat. Forget the health/vegetarian angle: this place is great! And even if you’re a college football player, you can walk away from a meal here stuffed to the gills, entirely satisfied, and still somehow managing to feel healthy and not weighed down. White And Green Jade is layers of steamed spinach with “very precious” bamboo fungus, Chinese jujube, Chinese wolfberry, fresh enoki mushrooms and sweet corn in a light ginger sauce. If some of these terms are unfamiliar, their menu has an entertaining and informative glossary in the back which is a perfect way to pass the time while waiting for your food to arrive. Staffed mainly with Asian-Americans, it still manages to have a funky, flower-child feel to it. They don’t serve alcohol, but offer up an interesting selection of juices and teas. The only thing to avoid are the desserts, which are simply not good because they use no eggs, dairy or sugar.

If I lived closer to Sunflower, I’d get carryout lunches several days a week, and if I was forced at gunpoint to pick just one restaurant in the Washington DC area where I had to eat every meal for the rest of my life, I would choose

Well, I guess I would choose Citronelle. But Sunflower would at least get a thought.

This food is perfect for carrying out and reheating in the microwave, and will easily stay fresh in the fridge for a second night because of the airtight containers and vegetarian purity. As they say on the menu, “Everything is free of MSG, and only organic flavor enhancers, such as kelp powder, kombu, sea salt, canola oil, nutritional yeast, gomashio, barley malt, brown rice syrup, and vegetable stock are used.”

Sunflower is only one exit outside the beltway (take I-66 to Nutley Street, take a left on Route 123, and it will be almost immediately on your left) and is only a twenty-minute drive from the DC line without traffic. Their website is here.

You'll thank me, I promise you!
Rocks.

[kventura]

I absolutely LOVE sunflower. As a vegetarian, it's so great to look at a menu and know you can order anything on it. If only I lived closer...
We have a few similar places here in MD (Yuan Fu, Vegetable Garden), and they are very good, but they are no Sunflower.

[xdcx]

I absolutely LOVE sunflower. As a vegetarian, it's so great to look at a menu and know you can order anything on it. If only I lived closer...
We have a few similar places here in MD (Yuan Fu, Vegetable Garden), and they are very good, but they are no Sunflower.

I'd take Yuan Fu and Vegetable Garden over sunflower pretty much every time. Sunflower is good, but after a while of going there semi regularly, you realize one basic truth that isn't found at YF or VG, everything at sunflower tastes pretty much the same. And while it's all very good, after awhile you just get tired of the same old thing.

[DonRocks]

Good news for vegetarians in Seven Corners: Sunflower is opening a second branch. It's going to be in what is now the Golden Diner restaurant - a free-standing place you've probably never heard of, but nevertheless right there on Route 7. I talked with the Vienna location, and they said they hope to open before Christmas.

Cheers,
Rocks.

[agm]

NQD and I ate at Sunflower once several years ago. Although I'm a devoted carnivore, I have had many wonderful vegetarian meals in my life. None of them at Sunflower. I'm not a big fan of mushrooms, and generally dislike most forms of imitation meats or other processed vegetable proteins (including tofu and seitan and wheat gluten). Consequently, I found very little on the menu that seemed worth trying, and whatever it was that I finally ordered (long since purged from my memory), I found it to be one of the worst meals I have ever had. Anywhere. Including public school cafeteria lunches.

But YMMV.

[Demvtr]

I had dinner at Sunflower last night, my fourth dinner there over the last few years. I've never had a bad meal there, though some experiences were better than others. Their eggplant medley is outstanding, a huge mound of sauteed eggplant in an appealing sauce, and their version of General Tso's chicken is sweet, slightly spicy, and less chewy than many imitation meats. The dish I had last night, Songbird, features a chewier soy product in the same sweet-and-spicy sauce as the Tso entree, tossed with watercress, peanuts, celery, and a yam flour substance called Konnyaku that you should read about on the menu's glossary. (I'm fine, thanks.) The Songbird entree was good enough that I ate leftovers for dinner tonight.

Part of the restaurant's appeal is the size of its menu; the number of dishes and combinations is near-overwhelming. And there are items on the menu one is not going to find anywhere else in this area. I'm happy to hear that they are doing well enough to open a new branch.

[DonRocks]

and a yam flour substance called Konnyaku that you should read about on the menu's glossary.

I defy anyone to read that glossary start-to-finish and not bleat out laughing at some point.

[ScotteeM]

I defy anyone to read that glossary start-to-finish and not bleat out laughing at some point.

I didn't laugh.

But then, I work for a veterinarian who specializes in Traditional Chinese Medicine, so I'm used to those types of explanations.

I did smile when I read the name on the home pregnancy test I saw in the pharmacy at Great Wall last week. I don't remember it exactly, but it was something like "Happy Fast Answer."

[hexerei]

This was the perfect place to bring vegetarian dates to. Granted, I don't have to bother anymore as I'm marrying the god empress of steak, but I do miss Sunflower. I loved the General Tso's and have a hard time getting the meated version without harkening back to the much better Sunflower version.

I did run into one problem, however. One said former date was both a vegetarian and suffered from Celiac disorder (gluten intolerance) and while the staff were very kind and understanding to her allergy (assured her of using seperate and clean pans, etc.), there was apparently enough gluten in the air to bother her a bit. She likened it to not being quite as bad as being in a bakery, but enough to where she was turning a little red.

Dating someone who won't/can't eat meat or bread can be a little hellish for someone raised on German cooking...

Again, totally marrying a Steak Walkure, but for a while I tried to fight my baser meaty bread urges.

[Scott Johnston]

I had another great meal at Sunflower last weekend. We started off with two soups, Wonton Soup with Spinach in mild spicy mushroom broth and the other Japanese seaweed with fresh enoki mushrooms and shredded ginger roots in vegetable stock. While both good, I would have gone with the wonton soup next time.

Fried "Chicken" was just that, something fried that tasted like chicken. THe app was made with fresh white mushrooms and soy protein. Now, do not wine about vegan foods that look like meat. Forget chicken, this dish is great in its own right. The "chicken" was accomplied by a sauce that looked like a sweet and sour sauce, but oh so must better.

The main entrees were General Tso's (fantastic) and the Curry Supreme that, while good, would have benefitted from some additional heat. General Tso's Surprise is chunks of soy protein in hot kong-pao sauce, garnished with steamed broccoli and carrots. ANother dish that was great that night and eben better the next day. Curry Supreme is chunks of soy protein stewed with broccoli, potatoes, mushrooms, carrots and green peas in a special Japanese curry sauce.

Along with a killer ice tea, I went home with lots of food, and feeling pretty healthy!

[gizydorczyk]

Noticed they will be opening a second location in Seven Corners in what was formerly a diner and prior to that a Pizza Hut.

[Destruya]

The first time we came back to this area and I saw that Sunflower was right next to a McDonald's, I had to appreciate the dichotomy.

[Pete]

Paula and I live about 5 minutes from Sunflower, and have talked repeatedly about trying it. Ten months of talking about it finally lead to trying it Wednesday night. We started with the Cold Basil Roll, which contains Jicoma, bean sprouts, carrot, lettuce, dry spiced tofu, vegi-ham, cilantro and peanuts wrapped in basil and rice paper. This was excellent, and a refreshing way to start off our meal. For entrees, I had the General Tso's surprise. Other than the uniform shape of the chunks of soy protein, you couldn't distinguish this from your standard General Tso's chicken. I enjoyed this dish very much; however, the "hot" kung pao sauce had no trace of spiciness. It was also surprisingly filling as I could barely finish half of the dish before calling it quits. Paula really enjoyed the Golden Nugget, which is marinated yuba (bean curd skin) wrapped with shredded shiitake mushrooms, soy protein and bamboo shoots in a brown sauce. I'm sure it won't be another 10 months before we go again.

I got a takeout menu when I left, but was advised that it would only be good for another two weeks as "the menu will change due to the new restaurant opening." I guess that means that the Seven Corners location should be opening soon.

[mktye]

I got a takeout menu when I left, but was advised that it would only be good for another two weeks as "the menu will change due to the new restaurant opening." I guess that means that the Seven Corners location should be opening soon.

The Seven Corners location is now open.

Just got back from a very nice lunch there. We shared General Tso's Surprise (subbing spinach for broccoli) and Eggplant in Basil Chili Sauce. Both dishes were from their Lunch menu and delicious. I especially liked the eggplant which was very much a Thai-style preparation. Although both were marked "hot spicy" on the menu (and as Pete already noted), neither dish had much heat to it. The menu is huge and I'm really looking forward to exploring more of it.

They're open Mon-Sat 11:30 - 10:00 and Sunday noon-10:00. 6304 Leesburg Pike, between the Chevron Station and the Suntrust Bank.

[cheezepowder]

We've been to the Vienna location a few times and went to the Route 7 location for the first time. I like the steamed moo shu rolls but would enjoy them more if they came with hoisin sauce rather than a sweet and sour/ketchup-y sauce. Like many on this thread, I've gotten the General Tso's, maybe the Songbird, in the past. I thought I'd try something different this time so I had the Eggplant Lover-"Golden brown battered eggplant stuffed w. organic cheese, soy protein & sun-dried tomato & pine nuts pesto in sweet & sour sauce, garnished w. mango, red bell pepper, green soy bean, fresh msurhoom & carrots." It came with four pieces of battered and fried eggplant "sandwiches" (two oval slices of eggplant with melted cheese/tomato/pesto in between) placed on top of the vegetables/soy protein/sweet and sour sauce. It was like getting a Chinese and an Italian dish in one entree. The eggplant was a bit firm for my taste. Interesting, but I think I'll order something else next time.

[DonRocks]

Sunflower amped up the heat on their General Tso's Surprise ($7.25 at lunch, served with miso soup). While it used to be primarily a sweet dish, with the merest hint of heat, it's now primarily a sweet dish, but with enough heat so it stings a minute later. Not bad!

Cheers,
Rocks.

[lperry]

Sunflower at Seven Corners last night. Steamed dumplings to start - they were very good with a soft, home-made wrapper and gently spiced filling. I had the kale and burdock which came with tofu, seitan, and chick peas in a nice sauce (I have no idea what was in the sauce - it was slightly sweet). BF had the golden nuggets. I can't say "nugget" without giggling, so I couldn't order them, but he shared and they were very nice. I've only had abur age in the traditional form with vinegary sushi rice and the sweet sauce, so this was an interesting change. Everything was very good, the kale dish reheated beautifully for my lunch today, and the service and atmosphere were both great. It was our first time and we will definitely be back.

[beachgirl54]

Tried the 7 corners outpost last night. It was good . . . but not great. Maybe I ordered wrong? Had the golden nuggets, which were served in a too-sweet gloppy sauce. They were okay. My friend had the General Tso's and that was much better. Also liked the steamed dumplings for the fresh ingredients but the wrapper was not freshly made. Finally, we shared the avocado lemon pie - interesting. I will try it again but order differently.

[goodeats]

Tried the 7 corners outpost last night. It was good . . . but not great. Maybe I ordered wrong? Had the golden nuggets, which were served in a too-sweet gloppy sauce. They were okay. My friend had the General Tso's and that was much better. Also liked the steamed dumplings for the fresh ingredients but the wrapper was not freshly made. Finally, we shared the avocado lemon pie - interesting. I will try it again but order differently.

Nope, it's not you. It's whoever is cooking at the 7 corners location. I think things are a bit over-flavored there compared to the 1 time I've been to the Vienna location. My Golden Nuggets were super-vinegary the two times I ordered it (I forgot that I ordered it the previous time).

My one other dish (and sorry, i forgot which one) was off-balance too.

The one dish I really like at the 7 corners location is their turnip/daikon cake appetizer. Really out of this world for me. Soft, not too floury/carby, good flavor, much better than the dim sum cart version.

[DonRocks]

I had a fantastic carryout dish at Sunflower yesterday: the terribly named Macro Plate ($12.50) is one of most satisfying dishes I've ever had here. You dig your way through a pile of dark greens, then find all sorts of things on the bottom - lots of steamed kabocha, burdock, a little hijiki, a slab of organic tofu, barley-like rice. There's even an extra container of rice which I plunked right on top, and a second container of curry sauce (good enough to be a soup) to douse it with. Then once you've created your composition, hit it with some soy sauce to bring it to full life. Good luck finishing it. Order this ample dish and you'll be stuffed, satisfied, and feeling entirely healthy when you're done - especially for someone who dines out every meal, this restaurant is a dream come true.

Cheers,
Rocks.

[lperry]

Went to Sunflower at Seven Corners last night. General Tso's and Golden nuggets were ordered and enjoyed, as were the spring rolls. We were not rushed at all but the food came so fast that we were out of there in about forty minutes. A nice meal.

[cremefraiche]

I guess they’ve calmed down with the overloads of Anne Geddes babies in flower costumes over the years. That used to scare me.... Transitioning from teenager to adult dining, my favorites at Sunflower:

Lam Tofu: A little more mild with the same kind of white sauce as the macro plate. Lam, manager/owner of the Falls Church location, created this dish. (Obviously)

Mini Sukyaki: Ample amount of vegetables and clear vermicelli and mushrooms with bowties of thick seaweed.

Mizuni Sansai Noodles: This is a healthier version of lo-mein with udon or soba noodles. This dish is best served without soup and with the Buckwheat noodles.

Cold Basil Roll: A Vietnamese inspired roll with rice paper, veggie bacon, vermicelli and basil and a peanut dipping sauce.

The Jujube drink is not too sweet and it is good to order with heartier plates such as General Tso’s or Songbird.

Lemon Tofu Cheese Pie: This is the only dessert you should order on the menu. Get a spoon, the lemon sauce has tiny rinds and bursts of tang!

[Dave Pressley]

I finally got an opportunity to eat at Sunflower with my wife and daughter. We desperately wanted to like it, especially after the extremely friendly greeting at the front door and their immediate decision to bring my 3 year-old a water in a fun little plastic cup. (I wish more restaurants would be this considerate!)

Unfortunately, the food simply didn't measure up to the efficient, gracious service we received from beginning to end.

The Fried "Chicken" was pretty poor--a bunch of over-fried, bitter, brown nuggets of god-knows-what served with some strangely flavored red/brown sauce.

Wakame soup was very satisfying and chock full of enoki mushrooms and seaweed. The miso soup was so unbelievably light on the miso that it ended up tasting as satisfying as a warm cup of dishwater...with a LOT of tofu.

I had the General Tso's after reading all of the praise it has received on this site. I had absolutely no difficulty distinguishing it from chicken as it simply had no chew to it after breaking through the batter. The flavor of the sauce was fine and typical of the dish, but the texture was just so oddly soft...like eating a deep-fried unsweetened marshmallow. Maybe this was an off day for the kitchen--I can't imagine anyone confusing this for chicken on any day.

I'll try it again, because I want to like this place (and I need to eat healthier) but I'm not rushing back for anything but the service. In fact, if the service wasn't so friendly, I'd probably not return.

[turbogrrl]

I'll try it again, because I want to like this place (and I need to eat healthier) but I'm not rushing back for anything but the service. In fact, if the service wasn't so friendly, I'd probably not return.

You don't mention which location you went to. I've found seven corners doesn't really make me happy like vienna used to, but since my friend lives a few blocks away from seven corners I haven't made it out to vienna in a year.

[Dave Pressley]

You don't mention which location you went to. I've found seven corners doesn't really make me happy like vienna used to, but since my friend lives a few blocks away from seven corners I haven't made it out to vienna in a year.

Great point. I went to the Seven Corners location. It's about three miles from my house.

[turbogrrl]

Great point. I went to the Seven Corners location. It's about three miles from my house.

I'd say you should try vienna sometime, then. it isn't sparkling fresh like seven corners (one room, all tables, slightly dingy), but they are still cheerful and kid-friendly. And last I tried, the food was much better. I am particularly fond of the veggie-"beef" stew, which they don't even have on the menu at seven corners. I've never found the fried chicken to taste like chicken, but it's always been compelling for me. Still, the faux-meat theme just doesn't work for some people. I've never been able to drink soy milk, much as I'd intellectually like to...

[DonRocks]

I've had the Grilled Organic Tofu and Vegetable Sandwich ($8.50) here several times now, and it's one of my favorite lunch options in Seven Corners. Served on a ciabatta roll, the highlights are the tofu - which has a similar flavor to the one at Thanh Son in Eden Center - and grilled zucchini, eggplant, red pepper, asparagus, and yellow squash which all sounds mundane, but they do a really good job with these vegetables. It's also adorned with some jicama strips for crunch, decent slices of tomato, lettuce strips, and just a hint of tomato-pine nut spread. It's a healthy, tasty sandwich that focuses on the vegetables, not the tofu, and also comes with a little salad on the side. I can't imagine anyone not liking this.

Cheers,
Rocks.

[goodeats]

Lunch was a bit surreal with Josh Groban serenading in the background with a neighboring table asking what tempeh was, or "how could people eat this stuff?" At least it was entertaining compared to my Noodles with wonton soup, which was clumsy looking with huge clumps of baby bak choy and big slices of carrots. I could have used the carrot slice as a shutter-upper, as it fit perfectly in or over the mouth. The broth was not too bad and somewhat comforting for a summer's cold.

[KMango]

A few quick insights from the meal I just had at Sunflower, Seven Corners location…

A note on seating: I was pleasantly surprised to note the adorable outdoor patio near the front entrance. This would be a most pleasant venue for al fresco dining.

A note on flavors (I had hoped to grab the exact dish names from their website, but bad things seem to be happening to good JavaScript and it won’t load): The wakame soup here offers some of the highest quality seaweed available. Enoki mushrooms and the lemongrass also tasted top notch, but the broth lacks as intense a flavor as would be possible with a punch more garlic. Basil summer rolls were some of the freshest in memory, and expertly rolled. The accompanying peanut sauce, while delicious, can turn into a one-note lack of wonder after a few tastes. Ask for a side of hot sauce to perk it up a bit. You can even add a touch of that to your soup to replenish the missing kick. Avocado lemon pie provided light and interesting finish. Don’t think meringue or silk when you order this, it’s a creamy gelatin texture with a remarkably firm crust, lemon sauce spooned over.

A note on vegetarian dining: Kindly and willfully suspend your disbelief for a moment. Consider the possibility that a vegetable-based eating experience can carry far beyond a given meal. In the hour or two after dining from fresh and healthful ingredients, tune into how the meal is settling into your body. Note any digestive tranquility, any unusual boost of energy (prana for you yogis, mana for you gamers). Pinnacle intensity or rarefied flavor is one key objective of dining well, but so can be the less perishable mindset that comes from feeling well.

A note on navigation: Kind of awkward approaching the restaurant from 50 westbound. Kind of confusing leaving the restaurant on 50 eastbound. This entire area can be tricky to navigate on a cloudy evening. Of course, blaring Dig It by Skinny Puppy did not help…...next time, Mozart.

[merc340]

The Vienna location is right down the street from me.

I've gotten a few bad dishes there that were too bland, but the General Tsos "chicken" (actually wheat gluten I believe) is amazingly good. And I'm not vegetarian.

[DonRocks]

I didn't know what Japanese Maze Rice ($9.50) was, so I tried it today at Sunflower. I still don't know if maze rhymes with "blaze" or "blasé," but I think it just means "mixed." What I got appeared to be brown rice with stir-fried vegetables (with plenty of soy sauce) on top, and nothing more than that. It was oily, and not all that good.

Cheers,
Rocks

[Sundae in the Park]

Any recent news on good dishes to try here? I'll be trying it for the first time this weekend (Vienna location). Suggestions on good dishes for kids would be especially welcome! Thanks.

[DonRocks]

Any recent news on good dishes to try here? I'll be trying it for the first time this weekend (Vienna location). Suggestions on good dishes for kids would be especially welcome! Thanks.

Not much ever changes here. I stand by the Golden Nuggets option for a child. There are also sandwiches which are pretty darned good (approaching Nourish Market or Earl's Sandwiches in quality (see my July 9, 2009 post)). For an adult, try the Macro Plate and poke it with soy sauce (honest, if people ate this each day for lunch, they wouldn't be hungry for dinner, and they'd live to be 100). I wouldn't play around too much here if kids are in the equation: get what would sound good if it contained real meat. Nothing here is very spicy, so that shouldn't be a concern (don't do the ma po tofu because it's bland and meh). Please post your children's reactions - I'm curious about their take.

I just read through this thread, and this is a very polarizing restaurant. I agree with xdcx that there is a "sameness" running throughout the menu. Sunflower operates within a very narrow flavor register (think of a singer with only a three-octave range, and also not being able to sing those three octaves with distinction). There will be no knockouts here, and I strongly recommend the Golden Nuggets and this sandwich if finicky children are attending (don't count on alcohol to rescue you if they don't like it). On a side note, this is one of the most bizarre menus in town (I can envision a dish called "kind puddle of seitan with macrobiotic healthful kale.")

[Sundae in the Park]

Ha, we (the adults) were hopeful about the golden nuggets, but no go. We made the children (aged 6 and 4) try one bite of everything, but the wouldn't eat more of anything but broccoli that hadn't touched any sauce and the rice. Hey, at least it was plain brown rice. We liked the nuggets all right (nice crunch), but I didn't care for the sauce (too sweet) and the noodles got very gloppy as they sat in the sauce. The vegetarian (it's funny that they bother to specify vegetarian) fried rice is well fried and extremely tasty, as the brown rice adds nutty notes to the dish. The veg is a combination of frozen peas and carrots and some cabbage and gluten. We also got the eggplant medley, which tastes a lot like ratatouille with some crumbled gluten. Pretty good, but very surprising as I though the restaurant was exclusively Chinese (I did read the menu descriptions, but somehow thought that the combination would come out tasting Chinese instead of completely Italian). Oh, one child ate some of the baby corn fished out of the eggplant medley, but I think that was more due to the novelty of the baby corn than the flavor of the sauce. We got there are 6 and by the time we left the place was just about full. Most folks seemed to getting dishes that looked like General Tso's or other fried bits.

[DonRocks]

Sunflower is good, but after a while of going there semi regularly, you realize one basic truth that isn't found at YF or VG, everything at sunflower tastes pretty much the same. And while it's all very good, after awhile you just get tired of the same old thing.

I've been to Sunflower enough times now where I'm becoming resigned to this school of thought. While I still like the restaurant very much, there's too much reliance on whatever thickening agent they use (perhaps plain old corn starch, but whatever it is gets tiresome). The food, especially after a night in the fridge, is downright gelatinous, and is very reluctant to unthicken.

A note on vegetarian dining: Kindly and willfully suspend your disbelief for a moment. Consider the possibility that a vegetable-based eating experience can carry far beyond a given meal. In the hour or two after dining from fresh and healthful ingredients, tune into how the meal is settling into your body. Note any digestive tranquility, any unusual boost of energy (prana for you yogis, mana for you gamers). Pinnacle intensity or rarefied flavor is one key objective of dining well, but so can be the less perishable mindset that comes from feeling well.

I agree with this wholeheartedly - no matter how much I eat from Sunflower, I never feel guilty, or exhausted, or unhealthy afterwards; the same cannot be said about a Haandi Palaak Paneer, Raita, and Paratha, despite it all being vegetarian. And it's not the nearly vegan aspect of Sunflower; it's their avoidance of heavy oils.

[B.A.R.]

<sub>I love Sunflower and do feel good after eating there. If they only served wine my wife and I would probably go there every couple of weeks.

One benefit about eating at Sunflower is you can be a fearless diner. What does that mean? Well, I have taken many people there and all of them have ordered something that they "didn't know" or had something in their dish that seemed odd (smell, texture, etc). But none have not eaten something because, as one put it, "I'm not gonna be grossed out when I find out what it is"</sub>

[DrXmus]

_{I love Sunflower and do feel good after eating there. If they only served wine my wife and I would probably go there every couple of weeks.}

We are exactly the same way. We hadn't been to Sunflower for months until we went last week and found beer and wine on the menu. One of the beers was O'Doul's (I think) and listed as non-alcoholic, another was Beck's (no mention of N/A) and there were several wines listed, too. We were surprised and happy and thirsty for beer and veggie food so we ordered a Beck's. Of course, we were seriously disappointed when the server told us all the beers were non-alcoholic. He said it as soon as we ordered, so I have a feeling he'd dealt with many disillusioned customers before. Then we asked about the wine - alcohol is alcohol, right? They're all non-alcoholic, too.

[kirite]

We are exactly the same way. We hadn't been to Sunflower for months until we went last week and found beer and wine on the menu. One of the beers was O'Doul's (I think) and listed as non-alcoholic, another was Beck's (no mention of N/A) and there were several wines listed, too. We were surprised and happy and thirsty for beer and veggie food so we ordered a Beck's. Of course, we were seriously disappointed when the server told us all the beers were non-alcoholic. He said it as soon as we ordered, so I have a feeling he'd dealt with many disillusioned customers before. Then we asked about the wine - alcohol is alcohol, right? They're all non-alcoholic, too.

We eat vegetarian at home several evenings a week. We have tried Sunflower but agree that most (all?) of the entrees are covered with the same thick, uninteresting brown sauce. Why can't Sunflower offer a variety of sauces?

[TheMatt]

We eat vegetarian at home several evenings a week. We have tried Sunflower but agree that most (all?) of the entrees are covered with the same thick, uninteresting brown sauce. Why can't Sunflower offer a variety of sauces?

I suppose you could try Loving Hut. I've tried a few of their vegan Vietnamese dishes, and so far all had varying tastes. Though maybe the vegan cheesecake at the end colors my memory. In fact, I'm off to start a thread about them...

[goodeats]

I love Sunflower and do feel good after eating there. If they only served wine my wife and I would probably go there every couple of weeks.

Because they're adhering to Buddhist vegetarian standards, I don't think they're allowed to have alcohol. I don't even think they're using cooking wine in their cooking like typical Chinese households do; especially since alcohol affects the body, which is why they don't use garlic, chives, leeks, onions, etc. So I am rather surprised that they even have non-alcohol beers, as it sounds like they're caving into peer pressure. Interesting.

[DrXmus]

. So I am rather surprised that they even have non-alcohol beers, as it sounds like they're caving into peer pressure. Interesting.

My thoughts exactly.

No garlic or onions, though? Wow, I never noticed, but now that I think about it, I guess you're right. Maybe that's why all the sauces taste the same.

[discojing]

Love Sunflower, especially the Vienna location.
Their brown rice is very good and it always seems to please those with dietary restrictions.

I would argue that their General Tso's "Chicken" tastes better than a lot of the chicken I've had recently from local places like Hunan Number One or Rien Tong (what?! there's no good chinese delivery places in clarendon...) just in terms of 1) texture, then 2) flavor.

I've strayed away from the GT a few times and quickly came back to the yellow brick road. The fake unagi, fried chicken, and ginger stiry fry were alright, though lacking the same level of flavor as the GT Surprise.

I've tried other vegetarian/vegan places and this is by far my favorite.