New Jersey Restaurant Serves 5-Course Vegan French Dinner Complete with Plant-Based Snails

New Jersey French restaurant Avenue is offering veganized versions of classic French cuisine during its first-ever vegan weekend on March 22 to 24. The five-course dinner menu includes Carrot Tartare; Red Wine Raviolo with vegan egg yolk, spinach, and walnut cream sauce; and Bouillabaisse with plant-based components that mimic the traditional fish-based ingredients in the stew such as onions (calamari) hearts of palm (scallops), eggplant (snails), potato, basil-and-chia-seed caviar, and seaweed broth. The three-course vegan brunch menu will include “Eggs” Benedict with squash and chickpea eggs and coconut hollandaise on an English muffin; and Gravlax with cured smoked carrots and whole-grain bread with traditional accompaniments such as dill and mustard sauce. “We are seeing more and more people moving toward plant-based diets, so we wanted to bring this trend to Avenue,” Joshua Sauer, Avenue executive chef, told VegNews. “Vegan French cuisine is uncommon given the heavy use of dairy and meat, so it’s been fun to experiment with ways to transform classic French dishes into plant-based delicacies.” Based on customer feedback during the event, select dishes will be added to the regular menu. The restaurant is also hosting a free Sunday vegan market on its rooftop pool deck which will feature vegan vendors such as The Baklava Lady and A Vegan’s Touch.