Last Monday, I faced a brief dilemma. My doctor's appointment was unfortunately conflicting with a more recent appointment I had made to eat a free buffet with two of my coworkers.
After a few thoughtful seconds, I did the right thing - I rescheduled the doctor's visit. And I don't regret it.
Jefferson City's newest restaurant, Everest Cafe, has done something that no other has done: It got me excited about vegetables.
Just to be clear, I'm not one of those vegan hippies who plays hacky sack in Columbia's Peace Park, waiting for the next Earth Day. I rather enjoy eating dead animals, especially when they're slow-cooked on my grill.
So it was a pleasant surprise to bite into vegetarian dishes bursting with flavor such as vegetable korma, a creamy Indian-style dish with mixed vegetables, onions, tomatoes and cumin, ginger, garlic and spices.
Everest is located near Little Caesers Pizza where A Taste of India was previously. The St. Louis-based restaurant's only two other locations are in St. Louis.
The management offered a free buffet to the first 50 customers, and they specifically invited a few of us at the News Tribune.
The small buffet offers Indian, Korean and Nepalese dishes. They all had tons of flavor at a fair price - about $9 for the lunch buffet. Customers order off the menu at dinner.
For the menu and other information, visit everestcafeandbar.com.
The chef/owner came out to chat with us and the other customers, regaling us with his incredible life story and his desire to cook healthy food. He also surprised us with a tidbit: His kitchen doesn't contain so much as a pat of butter.
That would normally be a red flag for me, but I didn't miss it a bit.
Clarification: The original version of this article should have noted that Everest's menu also offers a variety of meat dishes, including beef, chicken, lamb and shrimp.
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