To kick off our vegan food tour, two friends and I went to Rue Cler last night. I was really excited because although I have lived in the Triangle for a year, I still hadn’t eaten there. We were waited on by Bryon who was super friendly and gave us a great suggestion for a bottle of red wine that would pair nicely with two of our vegan prix fixe orders and my friend’s short ribs.

(Fun fact: all of the wines served at Rue Cler are organic, which totally blew my mind!).

The first course was my favorite of the three. The nutty smell of the caramelized shallots reached the table before Bryon did with our dishes and the warm vinaigrette made the pomme frites and Frisée melt to perfection. The vegan bacon was good, but I wouldn’t exactly call it bacon and it was a bit too sweet for my liking. I felt that it was better when eaten in combination with the other food on the plate. The best part of the dish, and my favorite item of the night, was the vegan cheese. The texture was perfect and it was really flavorful (I find most vegan cheese to be really flavorless). I couldn’t believe it was vegan. I could actually see myself buying the cheese and a baguette, sitting down with a glass of wine, and watching Glee. I cannot say that about any other vegan cheese that I’ve ever had.

The second course was also tasty. The crackers were nice and the vegetable rillettes was delicious. There’s word on the street that they are going to be tweaking the texture over the next couple of days so that it is more pate like, but I didn’t mind the texture. And I really liked the flavor–it finished with a subtle hint of spice that I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m not so sure that the field greens really added to the dish, but I appreciated the nutrients.

The third course was my least favorite–but there’s a caveat. I’m not the biggest kale fan. The corona beans were delicious and the mushroom veloute, although on the salty side, was a nice addition. The flavor of the lentil sausage was spot on, but the texture was a bit mealy.

All in all, we really enjoyed our meals and the wine and the space and the service (we leisurely ate until 11:30 and they didn’t rush us out or seem the least bit annoyed that we had been eating and drinking for hours). One very important point is that when making your reservation, you have to mention that you’ll be ordering off of the vegan menu, or there may not be vegan food for you to eat when you get there.

One of the definitions of voilà is “to express satisfaction or approval.” I can’t imagine that preparing delectable vegan French food is easy, but you would have totally thought as much from the elegantly flavorful dishes that were prepared at Rue Cler for the challenge. Voilà!