I wish someone could have heard the conversation Kyle and I had on the way home from this dinner.
“What does A Votre Sante mean anyway?”
“I think it’s another Saint.”
“No, that’s not right.”
“Maybe twenty something?”
“Maybe something sane?”
“No.”
“Hmmm…”
“Is it French?”
“Latin?”
“No idea.”
“Well, I give up.”
“We’ll look it up when we get home.”
“Okay.”
No seriously. We are really dumb when it comes to languages outside of English and Spanish (I can see Kyle rolling his eyes right now saying “speak for yourself”). Truthfully, all I can say in French is “je voudrais une salade” which, as it turns out, isn’t enough. But let’s not go back down that path…
Like I was saying before I went off on a complete tangent, Monday night Kyle and I had dinner with friends at A Votre Sante. And we did end up looking up what the name meant once we got home…so for those who aren’t fluent in French, it means “to your health.” Cheers!
Knowing drinks would put me to sleep, we got right to ordering food.
Kyle got the soup of the day, a split pea soup. I had a few bites and it was quite delicious. It came with cute mini cornbread muffins on the side with sesame seeds on top.
Our dining companions ordered the Organic Beet Salad with “goat cheese, toasted pine nuts, blood orange vinaigrette.” I snuck a bite of their beets, which were delicious, especially with the blood orange vinaigrette.
For entrees, Kyle got the Blackened Salmon Salad with “all natural salmon, roasted red pepper, organic corn, organic pear tomatoes, organic mixed greens, and balsamic vinaigrette.”
The other couple with us split two entrees, including the Grilled Cypress Island Salmon with garlic cilantro sauce, brown rice risotto, sautéed spinach and the Falafel Platter.
I also went with the Falafel Platter which was almost ridiculously excessive as far as size goes. The plate had “grilled falafel patty, humus, tabuli, lettuce, tomato, tahini sauce, green salad, whole wheat pita.” Look at the amount of hummus!
The falafel patty was warm and crispy and seasoned really well. It rivaled the one I had at Blue Barn in SF.
I didn’t love the tabouli, but that’s par for the course (I’m not a big parsley person and I really dislike mint). The pickled red cabbage, however, was superb.
I had a few pita wedges (so soft and doughy!) with hummus and some falafel, but since I had already eaten beforehand (and completed a 400 mile drive) I was more focused on keeping my eyes open than satiating myself.
I can’t wait to go back to A Votre Sante though. Kyle and I agreed there was so much on the menu we wanted to try. Vegan pizza. Vegan enchiladas. I could go on and on. The place was a mix of comfortable and cozy while still spacious and clean. The staff was nice and attentive, too. Good ambiance, good food, good company. All in all, a win.
Do you speak any other languages?
I took a wild guess and guessed correctly! I knew ‘A’ was ‘to’ and Votre was ‘your,’ and had to fill in the blank with ‘Sante.’ 🙂 That falafal platter looks amazing!!!
I want that falafel platter in my stomach. Now. Looks great!
What a beautiful name for a restaurant – now that I understand what it means, anyways. 😉 All those meals look delicious – so fresh and vibrant and nutritious and colourful. Yum! 😀 I’m always so stoked to see all the amazing vegan restauarants you go to, and practically have a Hungry Hippie inspired restaurant bucket list in CA and NYC! xyx
I want some falafel!!!
I speak English, German, French, Spanish and Norwegian..and Czech, but that´s my mother´s language 🙂
Oh my gosh that falafel platter looks amazing. I have heard of Blue Barn but never been.. guess I’ll add it to my list! 🙂
I know Spanish and took one semester of Italian. My brother is taking French though. I keep telling him we’ll take a trip and country hop that way we can speak to everyone haha.
Everything looks so good! Love the lights outside too, quite enchanting. I speak Arabic, French, Spanish, Swedish and a little English- but it doesn’t make anything taste better! 🙂
Languages: English, bit of French (so I guess unfair advantage- knew what A votre sante meant 😉 thanks Canadian education system for putting my French years to good use!), taking introductory Spanish currently, Mandarin Chinese, and Taiwanese (dialect. My grandparents don’t speak Mandarin well so I know a bit, and can understand more than I can speak!)
Your platter looked scrumptious. My tummy is sad that it does not have any of that deliciousness in it. :(.
Yum, falafel platter of glory! You don’t like mint!?! Crazy! I lived in Japan for a while, so I USED to be able to speak it (enough to get by, anyway) but I find if you’re not speaking the language every day, you lose it so quickly. I can still read it OK, but speaking is a bit slow these days!
Mmm falafel platter. I would’ve ordered that, but all the food looks awesome!
that restaurant sounds amazing! I can speak a little french (i took it from 4th – 10th grade and somehow it stuck). I took Spanish in college and can barely say anything at all. Apparently my lower and middle grades french teachers were better than my college professor… hmmm.
I seriously wish we had just some of your dining options here in Miami! I speak Ukrainian and I majored in French in college. Wish I went the Spanish route!
omg major NOM to that falafel/hummus platter. hummus looks so fluffy and delish!
when i first moved to LA this was one of the only vegan places in town! i can’t believe i still haven’t gone…
I cannot wait to give this restaurant a try! The falafel platter looks phenomenal. Thanks for the wonderful photos and review!
I don’t speak any other languages fluently, though I wish I did. I guess my mom was right when she said I’d regret dropping my foreign language in high school.
Uhm.. falafel <3 I speak English, Danish and a little German and Italian. + Some sentences in Russian
Love the dialogue…just about any conversation I have like that ALWAYS ends up with, “Just Google it!” Haha!
That beet salad with the blood orange vinaigrette (man, I can NEVER spell that right the first time!) looks amazing! I love how the goat cheese is all fancy looking…yeah, so that statement really makes me sound like a Beverly Hillbilly or something! 😉