Su Restaurant: Vegetarian Friendly, but Otherwise Needs Improvement

Logan Niles

Living with a vegetarian can sometimes make eating out a challenge. Having spent some years eating vegetarian, raw and even Natural Hygienist, I’ve been in my husband’s shoes where eating out at a non-vegetarian restaurant often leads to lacklustre choices of “pasta” or “salad”. Not my idea of a great culinary experience unless you’re at Bouley, where even a vegetarian will be dazzled.

Living near Edgewater, New Jersey does offer a few more choices than we had expected before moving here, due in part to the large ethnic community comprised of Armenians, Koreans, Japanese, Thai and a smattering of Indians to name just a few. Varied yes, but not usually exceptional. So when we decided to visit “Su” in Edgewater we hoped it might be a of a higher calibre mainly based on online reviews. We had business associates visiting from out of town who are vegetarian, so it seemed the perfect opportunity to try this little restaurant out.

For starters, the location is a bit odd; nestled within a strip-mall comprised of various businesses varying from martial arts instruction to sushi cruises and the area’s only Trader Joe’s, it might be hard to miss if it weren’t for the bright red neon sign proclaiming “Su” in Papyrus font. The color and font style pretty much letting you know you’re in store for Asian fare.

Having stopped by for a take-out menu a few weeks prior (I was thinking of surprising my husband with a late birthday dinner there with friends), I was pleased with the interior of brown suede banquettes, cylindrical orange-red lights, wood inlaid tabletops and a sleek, linear design aesthetic one might find in a modern, upper to mid range Asian restaurant in Manhattan. The menu didn’t look overly exciting, but at least it was completely vegetarian. The menu is also kind enough to call out vegan (V), nut containing (N) and dairy (D) containing items.

The evening of our reservation, we called ahead to see if there was a corkage fee since it’s was a BYOB establishment and thankfully there wasn’t. This proved to be the sole highlight of the evening. We opted for New Jersey’s finest tap water in the face of a large $5 bottle of sparkling water.

Five of us opted to share two appetizers and chose the Handmade Scallion Pancake served with mango salsa $6 (as seen on their take-out menu) and the Tangerine Orange Infused Spiced House Guacamole served with taro chips” $7; say that 10 times fast.

This is where the service issues started. When we arrived at 7:15pm there was a large group of 10 or so guests seated against the wall and a couple opposite them, so I’d say it was relatively slow at that point. Unfortunately, it took quite a while for our appetizers to arrive which left us with time to chat but a nagging feeling that something was amiss.

When our appetizers finally arrived the presentation was nice but that’s where the fun stopped. Now I’m not sure who “hand-makes” their scallion pancakes, but I have never in my life had such a hard time cutting into a piece of food. It’s a good thing the “pancake” was pre-sliced into small, pie shaped wedges because if we had had to do all of that ourselves I fear we might have just given up then and there. The dough had either been over worked or was simply old. On top of the practically impenetrable and dry texture, but a bare trace of scallion could be found. After the prolonged wait for the appetizers, we just crunched and chewed away for what seemed like a painful eternity.

The guacamole was more of the same in terms of disappointments. Not only was the tangerine element non-existent, the zest of which would have gone a long way to improving this dish, but there was hardly any “spice” element to be had. That includes any hint of garlic. This left us with a bland, squat, cylindrical mass of green mush surrounded by a haphazard mess of taro chips (1” and less) that resembled the broken bits you get at the bottom of a bag you’re about to finish. Near the end we had to mush the guacamole with the chip bits and just eat it all with a fork; not a very good experience for the price.

Once our appetizer dishes were finally cleared, more unusual lag time here, we waited for over 20mins for our entrees to arrive. Again, not a good feeling after a very disappointing start, and to my chef’s eye I couldn’t understand why this would be. The larger party had already left and our dishes were far from complex. At this point the height of the table started to get on my nerves. It seems someone didn’t take into account that the height of the banquette was considerably higher than that of the chairs two of us sat upon. It was disconcerting to say the least and left us feeling like kids at the “adult table”; feeling awkward and self-conscious.

Eventually our entrees arrived and I was eager to tuck into my Stir Fried Whole Wheat Seitan with sesame sauce, kale and crispy beet garnish $16. My husband opted for the Nori Wrapped Bean Curd with semi-sweet tamarind sauce, chopped broccoli rabe on a rice puff wafer & pickled ginger $14 followed by our other three guests ordering the Thai Red Fresh Vegetable Curry slow cooked and served in an earthen pot $16 and the Malaysian Coconut Curry with braised vegetables & soy protein nuggets served with 2 roti bread $14. Sides of rice came separately at $2 per small bowl.

My entire entree, served on a 6”x4” rectangular plate, came comprised of a completely bland (most likely steamed) pile of chopped kale next to a brown pile of sticky seitan pieces topped with what looked like former pieces of chayoga beet cut to match stick size before being friend/dried into near non-existence. The beet bits were so shrivelled, so few and so devoid of flavor that they really shouldn’t have been mentioned on the menu at all. My seitan was so hard on the outside and chewy on the inside I was starting to wonder if some cosmic joke being played on me. Like the scallion pancake, I found it impossible to saw away into the pieces and ended up folding them over somewhat under my fork and placing the entire strips into my mouth. This resulted in a whole lot of chewing and my mouth feeling exhausted by the end of the meal. Had either my appetite or the price of the dish been less, I wouldn’t have bothered to finish at all but the thought of trying to eat the sticky, hard stuff for lunch the following day really did not appeal to me in the least. I just couldn’t imagine how much drier and stiffer the seitan would be after a few hours in the fridge and reheating time in the microwave.

My husband faired slightly better on the texture side of things and at least his broccoli rabe was seasoned with olive oil and his protein wasn’t as dry; though it was rather bland. The curries were average and I guess earthen pots must be really expensive if the price of your entree ends up being two dollars higher than the curry with protein nuggets and roti.

Another long wait to have our table cleared amidst table cloth changes and table reorganizations in the background. When we finally got the dessert menu our young waitress informed us that the kitchen was closed (it was 9:40pm by this point) so any desserts that required any level of preparation beyond slicing or scooping would not be available. Hmm, that would have been nice to know 20 minutes earlier when the kitchen staff was still around and we were waiting to be cleared. Heck, that would have been nice to know when we made our reservations. Seems that Su takes their closing time of 9:30pm very seriously and they really don’t care if you’re late in getting to the dessert menu due to their tardy service. We opted for tea $3 a cup (not a pot) and, I should have know better, a slice of Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake $7.

Needless to say, none of us were very surprised when a small, sad and dry looking piece of light brown cake arrived a few moments later. So dry looking in fact that the very tip of the wedge was lifting off of the plate. The whole affair was topped with a wilting piece of parsley; perhaps the waitress’ attempt at garnishing since the place was devoid of kitchen staff. We didn’t finish it.

The saddest part of this entire evening, food aside, is that I am sure “Su” is probably owned and operated by some very sweet, well-meaning people. The decor is nice and soothing but the food is in such stark contrast to their Zen-like aesthetic, where everything is balanced and precise, that it’s flat out jarring. “Su” has a great deal of potential so I hope this review serves as a wake-up call to management. Since our reservation was during the first week of the New Year I can only hope that our experience was due in part to some erratic change in staffing that left them without a head chef. At least for their sake I hope that was the case. Would we go back? Unless they contact me for some menu/recipe consulting, it’s highly unlikely.

If after reading this review you still want to check “Su” out then I suggest trying their less expensive Prix Fix lunch menu for $11.99 where you get a choice of one appetizer/soup and one main course, rice is included with most mains, though beverages and sides are extra.

Su is located on 725 River Road in Edgewater