Allium-free vegetarian dishes at restaurants in the Boston area?

March 26, 2015 11:23 AM

I'm vegetarian and have a hereditary sensitivity to alliums (onion, garlic, leeks, etc.) Unfortunately I can't identify onion/garlic by taste, so when I go out to eat with my boyfriend I mostly resign myself to feeling sick for the next 24 hours or so. What are some restaurants in the Boston area that serve food I might be able to eat safely?

Vegan would be better but I'm fine with a bit of egg or milk in something someone else is cooking. When I'm cooking I love Jain recipes (which have almost exactly my set of constraints, for different reasons!) but I haven't had any luck finding restaurants that cater to Jain customers. There must be a dish or two out there that would fit these criteria, though, right?

I do ask about onion and garlic and request that they be omitted if I eat out, but (a) it doesn't always happen and (b) they're often present in some form the staff doesn't think about (in a sauce, infused oil, etc.) If I really didn't want to be sick AND really needed to eat out I could be more aggressive about this, but it's not like I need to eat at a restaurant--it'd just be a nice treat to have a peaceful meal out.

posted by cogitron to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

Not in Boston, but there are some classic recipes in most (not all) cuisines without alliums, because for instance onion and cream and some other foodstuffs together lead to heartburn. Maybe you could look for those? (Came in to suggest Jain cooking, but you have that covered).
posted by mumimor at 11:33 AM on March 26, 2015

Best answer: Don't ask the waitstaff. Servers can be unreliable. Call ahead, speak to the manager, outline your dietary restrictions. If possible, speak directly to the chef or sous. One of the problems is that onions/garlic/other alliums are literally the building blocks of most restaurant food; making a stock? Includes onions. Basic tomato sauce? Onions and garlic.

Most servers, unless they're very well-trained, don't understand that. Talking directly to the kitchen not only allows them to tell you what is and is not okay for you, it'll also give the chef an opportunity to be creative--and quite possibly create a grateful and repeat customer!
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:34 AM on March 26, 2015 [8 favorites]

Best answer: I wonder if Japanese would work? No miso or other broths that might have green onion, but many vegan rolls would be okay, unless shared cutting boards and knives are an issue.
posted by umwhat at 11:36 AM on March 26, 2015 [4 favorites]

Best answer: The Yelp reviews for Tanjore in Cambridge and Dosa'n'Curry in Somerville suggest that they're accustomed to providing for Jain customers. Good luck!
posted by ostro at 11:37 AM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Buddhist cuisine eschews alliums and is vegetarian, if that's okay. I don't live in Boston but a quick google search comes up with some Buddhist restaurants in the Boston area.
posted by methroach at 11:40 AM on March 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

When I was in Bahrain, I loved this Indian restaurant that served what they called Sattvic food. They said none of the dishes used garlic or onion because it was hard on the body and spirit or something like that. The wikipedia page doesn't mention this as a property of a Sattvic diet, but it's possibly another keyword you could use in your search. I lived about a decade in Boston and don't recall coming across such a place, but I didn't particularly search for one.
posted by losvedir at 1:23 PM on March 26, 2015

Oh! But based on someone methroach's recommendation of Buddhist cuisine, there's an amazing Tibetan place called Rangzen in Cambridge (central square).
posted by losvedir at 1:27 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: nthing Buddhist-vegetarian restaurants (they don't do onions and garlic due to, uh, inciting desire? and impacting subtle body, thus reducing quality of meditation? or whatever.... anyways, it's totally A Thing)

Also check with authentic Chinese restaurants as well. I went into one with a robed monk and they immediately knew to remove onions & garlic without us even asking (although that particular monk wasn't terribly observant on that restriction but your situation is different). So call around and mention Buddhist dietary restrictions and see if they immediately know what you're talking about.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:34 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

I checked out an Aryuvedic cookbook from the library once, and the author didn't cook with alliums. I met an Aryuvedic teacher recently who *does* cook with allium, so it's probably not a guarantee.

I would expect it to be a cuisine where they would be able to accommodate your request with ease.
posted by aniola at 1:45 PM on March 26, 2015

... I think the Sattvic cuisine mentioned above is the same or related.
posted by aniola at 1:46 PM on March 26, 2015

Best answer: Having cooked at a few Boston restaurants a decade ago, yeah ... Call ahead and talk to the chef, a sous chef or the GM. Those are about the only people who will be able to translate your requirements from impossible to a reality. I've been on a few lines and gotten requests like that. The first one is sort of rough, but then at some point you find out a guest like that ups the challenge and makes it a pretty amazing evening.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:47 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

FYI: the places where I worked would have resulted in you eating entirely off menu. That's what made it fun.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:48 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I definitely agree that you need to be asking to speak to the chef. The servers don't know, and if this is a legitimate allergy that makes you feel like shit, you shouldn't feel bad about speaking with the chef.

I googled "jain food boston" and came up with this. May or may not be accurate -- you'll have to do a search for "jain" on the restaurant page where there's a box to search reviews.
posted by AppleTurnover at 4:30 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have worked at various places where the chefs completely failed to understand that food restrictions can be genuine requests for a reason and saw them as an inconvenience at best. They sometimes would say they did one thing and do another, because they figured it was no big deal. They would sometimes do exactly as requested - but there was not necessarily any way to tell just by walking in and asking.

This is why I believe that you would be best off either finding and sticking to trusted cooks or trustworthy cuisines.
posted by aniola at 4:37 PM on March 26, 2015

Response by poster: Wow--thank you so much, everyone!

Follow-up question for folks who recommend talking to the chef: Is there an appropriate way to compensate a chef for making something special, besides thanks and recommendations of the restaurant? Is there a good way to tip--and would that be seen as insulting, or does it depend on the place?
posted by cogitron at 5:30 PM on March 26, 2015

Best answer: I did it for the occasional fist bump. At one of the hotels I was at, some Texans dropped $50 on me their last night in town as well as a couple hundred on their servers after I did their wings in Frank's red hot and Habanero peppers for a week straight instead of what the house sauce was. Occasionally someone would send a beer to the line about 1 minute before closing (which was a standard shift drink anyway...)

I cooked on the upper end of the food echelon. Some guys would occasionally get stressed out by weird requests - but all in all it was good.

As a heads up, the closer to the beginning of the night that you show up the better the chance the kitchen can work something special.

tbh though - just enjoy the effort - even if you don't like it - and make sure you convey your thanks at least to the server.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:58 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Hare Krishna restaurants are cheap, vegetarian, do not use alliiums AND they have never, ever, tried to convert me. Every one I have been to is called Govinda's.
posted by cyndigo at 6:33 PM on March 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: My boyfriend is also vegetarian, also (pre-allergy-shots) allergic to onion and garlic. Your standard "American food" restaurants almost all can handle this, especially if they are slightly upscale; Mexican food is usually fine as well. We liked Boston Burger Company a lot, and Russell House Tavern, and Foundry on Elm, etc. There's some Jain restaurant out in the burbs we liked (I forget what it's called) but honestly we didn't find a lot of Jain places and one place in Boston that *did* have a Jain menu wouldn't serve him from that menu because he wasn't Indian.
posted by phoenixy at 1:56 PM on March 27, 2015