it's only natural - middletown, connecticut

Sometimes you find the most wonderful places just because you happen to be nearby.

That's how my wife and I found It's Only Natural (ION), a vegan/vegetarian restaurant in Middletown, Conn. I travel a lot for work, so one weekend earlier this year when she was dropping me off at a hotel near Bradley International Airport to await my 3 a.m. wake-up call, we decided to find a nice vegetarian restaurant somewhere in the vicinity. As always, we scoured Happycow and Google, and we came up with a short list of options. But although we appreciate it when omni restaurants present vegan options and even vegan menus, we do prefer to support wholly veg establishments. And after trolling the online menus we could find, we just had to go with It's Only Natural, even though it was more than a half-hour's drive from the hotel.

I mean, just look at their menu. Here's a taste:
Bullet-point descriptions below are from the ION menu.

APPETISERS
* Bread & Spread: fresh baked whole wheat bread & organic carrot-miso spread
* Chili: spicy vegetables & beans, tortilla chips, tofu sour cream, salsa & scallions
* Vegetable Dumplings: served with a tamari, ginger & garlic sauce

ENTRÉES
* Tempeh ‘Crab’ Cakes: with caesar dressing, sautéed garlic greens & sweet potato fries
* Pierogis: potato spinach dumplings with apple butter, caramelized onions, brown rice garlic greens & tofu sour cream
* Macrobiotic Plate: organic brown rice, legumes, sea & other vegetables & cucumber pickle
* Cajun Tempeh: with roasted red pepper sauce, caramelized onions, brown rice & garlic greens (also a sandwich with soy mayo, carrots, red onion, roasted red peppers & lettuce)

Hands down, their best appetiser is the Southern fried tofu, each breaded and deep-fried bite of which is a tender and crispy, savoury, spicy, satisfying complement to their tangy, garlicky caesar dip. Bring someone to share your meal, because the heap of tofu they serve with this could fill you up on its own. But of course you want room for a hearty entrée as well, and dessert.

Oh, dessert. They offer a wide variety of vegan desserts as well, and I never can resist -- even though I'm always so full after the meal that the idea of another forkful is torturous.

I take figure skating lessons at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, and I happened to have won a free drink in one of ION's Facebook contests, so we dropped in for dinner after my lesson last weekend.

For my free drink, I decided to try the Lemon Drop, a freshly pressed carrot juice with loads of lemon and ginger. Then we started with the Southern fried tofu, of course, stuffing ourselves before we even got to the next course. ION's salads are generous, and we got the caesar, which comes with breaded, fried tempeh and perfectly crunchy croutons. Then we split a piece of chocolate velvet cake. The cake and frosting were the kind that could fool nonvegans, and the presentation included a drizzle of a tangy dipping sauce made from apples. With a chocolate cake, I would expect raspberry or strawberry or even orange in the sauce, but the apple was refreshing and even exotic.

Middletown is an eclectic-looking little town, kind of in the middle of nowhere, but trust me -- ION is more than worth the drive. So go ahead -- find yourself nearby soon.

Middletown, CT
Best Bet:
* It's Only Natural: Vegan and vegetarian restaurant. 386 Main St, Middletown, CT.
Web: http://www.ionrestaurant.com/

[Laur]

Image: Southern-fried tofu at It's Only Natural; taken by me in April 2011.