Review: Chez Zee
August 30, 2008
Chez Zee is one of those places that you can’t avoid hearing about. Winner of Austin Chronicle’s “Best Dessert” award, I had been wanting to check it out for quite some time. (I do love dessert!). Upon previewing the menu online I saw a large selection of octo-lovo vegetarian selections (salads, pizza, pastas and more), but not a whole lot for the vegan crowd. (View menu)
We arrived at Chez Zee on a Thursday night. It was pretty busy, but there was no wait. The restaurant is very “Austin weird” with a selection of random art work, christmas lights, knick-knacks and an odd collection of games.
We started off with the basil cheese torta, which sounded delicious, but in fact looked like something a kid would make when first learning how to cook. It consisted of cream cheese mixed with pesto which was sandwiched between layers of provolone cheese to create a lasagna like effect. The overall effect, though, was a processed cheese taste akin to cheese wiz. The torta was accompanied by some toasted bread chips that crumbled in your mouth like ash. We we surprised that they did not use the dinner bread with this dish, as their dinner bread was quite good- freshly baked and chewy on the inside with a nice crust. Although the dinner bread was pleasant, it was served with an “olive oil” that was flavored with smoked pepper and garlic. The smokey taste was oddly reminiscent of hot dogs, and upon reading the label we discovered that it is an olive oil and canola oil mix. Not exactly heart-healthy, and it explains their need to cover the oil flavor with the smokey flavor.
