Seva’s new location in Detroit helps fill a veggie void

More than most major cities, perhaps, Detroit has long lacked a core of restaurants with robust vegetarian and vegan menus. It's thus unsurprising that news of Seva, the decades-old Ann Arbor stalwart, setting up shop in Midtown generated a great deal of fervor and some sizable early crowds.

There's quite a bit to like about the new place — especially the location and an updated decor. Somewhat disappointingly, though, the cuisine is essentially identical to that of the mother ship, which is to say that its interpretation of vegetarian cuisine is rather anachronistic. As greater numbers of Americans return to farmer's markets, embrace more ingredients, and teach themselves about where and what they're eating, Seva's general approach seems tired.

Consider the General Tso's cauliflower ($7), a generously apportioned appetizer creatively plated in a round baking pan. As the name implies, the dish aims to imitate American-style Chinese cuisine and is thus slathered in a cloyingly sweet, mildly spicy sauce. And while it's nicely cooked with a perfect texture, the notion of battering and deep frying cauliflower seems to imply a need to mask the flavor of the vegetable rather than to celebrate it.

The other appetizers are chiefly simple fare — nachos, mac and cheese, and hummus among them — each with a vegetarian or vegan twist. The tortilla chips for the nachos, the guacamole, and some entrées are clearly fried in-house using corn tortillas. While the flavor and seasoning is generally good, the preparation was inconsistent on more than one occasion — some made perfectly crisp, others annoyingly chewy.

Arguably the best of the appetizers are the yam fries, soft through the center and nicely sweet. They're accompanied by a chili mayonnaise for dipping.

The popular fries are served alongside each of the several sandwiches as well, our favorite of which is certainly the pesto pizza sandwich ($10), a classic combination of basil pesto, mozzarella cheese and sliced tomato between two slices of Avalon bread, all grilled to pleasantly crunchy results.

Other sandwiches include a wrap ($10) with Seva's garlicky red-pepper hummus, carrot, cukes, tomatoes and lettuce; a veggie Reuben; and grilled tofurkey with Daiya vegan cheese.

Appetizers, sandwiches and entrées alike show the same old-school approach, often mimicking carnivorous creations — like the tofurkey sandwich or vegan macaroni with Daiya — rather than striving for more interesting, distinctly vegetarian food. With such a wide array of ingredients available today, it's disappointing that a new restaurant specializing in veggie-friendly cuisine would treat the concept as it was treated 10 or 20 years ago.

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