Grasshopper

Grasshopper in Allston is a vegetarian restaurant serving Chinese and Vietnamese specialties sans-meat, and it's really incredible. Yesterday we went for the vegan buffet, which is the third Sunday evening every month, where you get an all-you-can eat dinner for just over $10, a great deal. Grasshopper serves everything from spring rolls to lo mein to vermicelli noodle dishes, all with tofu, seitan, or imitation-shrimp, chicken pork, etc.- that's so close to the real thing you wouldn't know it's not real meat unless someone told you.

Buffet favorites include the kale with veggie-beef, the fried dumplings, and the infamous "no-name": battered gluten in a sweet and sour sauce topped with sesame seeds - so delicious it needs no name. It tastes like general tso's chicken, a favorite of Chinese take-out, yet without the extra fat, msg, and other additives. Until you've tried this, you would not believe how much it tastes like chicken. Meat-eaters will be satisfied with this dish, even.

Other excellent dishes include spicy curry with sweet potato and tofu, braised spicy tofu and assorted seitans in a clay hot pot with pineapple and lemon grass, and the crispy taro nest. Being a vegetarian restaurant Grasshopper has every combination of vegetable dish you could desire, from juicy eggplant, meaty mushrooms, tender asparagus, rich kale, crisp carrots, savory spinach, sweet leafy Chinese broccoli, spicy bamboo shoots and root vegetables. The menu is a celebration of vegetables in all their many forms. Finish it all off with a surprisingly sweet and delicious avocado soy smoothie and you'll go home happy. (Truth be told, Grasshopper buffet is the only time when I literally feel I may burst afterward ... it's worse than Thanksgiving by far. Who knew vegetables could be that addictive?)

Now the restaurant itself is somewhat hilarious - bright green walls to go with the grasshopper theme, bizzare paintings of obscure animals adorning the walls, such as zebras and other African safari favorites not indigenous to Asia, and faux-Italian themed tiles of different types of wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon decorated with bunches of cartoon-like grapes - creating a whimsical atmosphere. Nestled among the plethora of ethnic restaurants that help to make Allston the thriving cultural melting pot (and late night munchie destination), Grasshopper truly shines. The vegan pizza place two doors down? Virtually empty. Grasshopper buffet? Literally a line out the door. So the next time you're craving Chinese (a stealthy itch that must be scratched), try Grasshopper for a change. It puts meat to shame.