A new steakhouse dinner experience has hit the menu at an innovative Los Angeles restaurant. Just don’t expect to see savory New York Strips, Porterhouse, Rib-eye steaks or any other cuts of meat on the table because the main dish stars on this menu are veggies.
Yes. Vegetables like tomatoes, cauliflower, eggplant plus a few mushrooms are getting the steakhouse treatment and being “slaughtered” as they take the place of premium meats at the Butcher’s Daughter’s new after-hours dinner menu dubbed Vegetable Slaughterhouse.
“The cool thing about the Vegetable Slaughterhouse is that it’s really rebelling against a normal steakhouse. It’s taking everything you love about a steakhouse experience,” said Heather Tierney, founder and creative director of the New York based vegetarian restaurant and juice spot The Butcher’s Daughter, which has locations in Venice and West Hollywood.
Officially launched this month, the new Vegetable Slaughterhouse menu is meant to recreate the experience of a steakhouse for vegetable loving diners with a tongue-in-cheek dinner concept and serious food offerings focusing on vegetable “butchery.” This means giving seasonal produce the same fire-cooking as well as carving and craftsmanship techniques in the chopping and filleting of vegetables traditionally reserved for meat dishes. And as Tierney points out, the similarities don’t end there, since the kitchen can often look like a slaughterhouse of vegetables when the chefs are preparing the dishes, especially the vegetable juices.
The Butcher’s Daughter’s new after-hours dinner menu dubbed “Vegetarian Slaughterhouse,” is now available at the vegetarian restaurant’s two Los Angeles locations. (Photo courtesy The Butcher’s Daughter.)
“When you juice produce you really slaughter it and if you walk back and look at where we make the juices it looks like a rainbow-colored scene of a crime,” she said. “It is like a slaughterhouse in there but with vegetables,” she added.
While a vegetarian slaughterhouse could be a head-scratching idea for some, it isn’t a far-fetched concept for Tierney, who started The Butcher’s Daughter with the idea of creating what she refers to as “a vegetable-forward restaurant” that elevates seasonal produce as well as juices to star status on her menus. She gave it the cheeky name of The Butcher’s Daughter to add a bit of a cool rebellious spirit to a healthy experience.
The new slaughterhouse dinner experience follows the restaurant’s playfulness and vegetable-loving roots with a menu that includes the Tomato Tartare. This plate reinterprets the steakhouse staple with crispy artichoke, parsley, capers and egg yolk.
“It actually looks just like steak Tartare, it doesn’t look like tomatoes,” she said.
One of the most filling dishes is the Harissa Roasted Cauliflower Steak, which includes roasted poblano labneh and watercress and the Mushroom, Beet & Quinoa Burger, made with tomato, aged gruyere, charred onions, and a secret sauce. It’s served with a steak knife stabbed through the middle of the bun. Pizzas and desserts are also on the menu but for the quintessential steakhouse experience order the Seared Lion’s Mane Steak. This popular edible mushroom is paired with olive oil, mashed potatoes and Café de Paris butter.
Tierney promises a bite of this dish will be like digging into a juicy steak.
“When you cut into it, it’s pinky red like a medium rare steak because it’s marinated in a red wine,” she said. “It’s just so savory and it pairs well with a glass of red wine and it’s hearty like a steak and it’s good for you,” she added.
The Vegetable Slaughterhouse dinner is now available at The Butcher’s Daughter locations at 1205 Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice and 8755 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood. For more information go to thebutchersdaughter.com.
