Sutra in Wallingford elevates eating your vegetables to a fine-dining experience

When I first heard about Sutra, it sounded like another great addition to a trend I like: enjoying a multi-course dinner at a communal table from a menu of locally sourced, seasonal ingredients.

It was only on second glance that I realized that this tiny Wallingford restaurant is making that experience animal-free. Vegetarians, start your engines. And meat eaters -- don't bail. It's a lovely ride.

You don't have many choices at Sutra. There are only two seatings per night, the menu is fixed and changes daily, and the restaurant is open just four days a week. But giving yourself up to the whims of the chef here doesn't mean that you must be allergy-free and have a stomach of iron. Allergies and diet limitations are easily accommodated with a phone call ahead.

When I made a reservation, I told chef/co-owner Colin Patterson that my boyfriend and I eat everything -- and we nearly did.

The first course, served to us by Patterson's wife and partner Amber Tande, was a smoked eggplant and fresh Moroccan spiced corn cake with an heirloom tomato cucumber mint coulis and creamy coconut saffron sauce that had us (both meat lovers) licking our chops in approval.

The second course bespoke more of that culinary sophistication: sautéed green beans with gooseberries, a molasses chile glaze and arame shiso salad.

The main course came along, spinach and zucchini lasagna with heirloom tomato and fig caponata, and it wasn't until then that we realized that not only was this meal vegetarian, it was -- gasp! -- vegan, a fact revealed by the telltale mealy consistency of dairy-free cheese.

The dessert course brought an avocado key lime ice cream cake with a cashew cacao date crust and marionberry puree. It was at this point that I began to hear the mooing of distant milk cows -- a sure case of wishful thinking. My boyfriend, though, a former vegan with some residual fears of starvation, made it all disappear.

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