But when I entered the bright and airy restaurant, any reservations that I had as a carnivore and chocolate lover vanished. Located in Thornes Market Place on Main Street, Paul and Elizabeth's appears spacious (it seats 100), yet is able to remain intimate and cozy. Pretty cream- and salmon-painted walls complement the hardwood floors and light wood tables. Tapestries, pottery and framed pictures hang throughout the restaurant. Plants are suspended from the ceiling and candles and flowers decorate the tables.
Entering their 25th year, the owners remain engaged in the daily work of their restaurant; Elizabeth offers seats to customers while Paul, adorned with his chef's hat, is busy in the kitchen. The restaurant caters to the Bread-and-Circus crowd of vegetarian and organic food lovers, but manages to make its menu palatable to all of its patrons.
Appetizers are a particular strength, often offering a sampling of several foods in one dish. The pan-seared ravioli, hummus platter and deep fried tofu and mushrooms all run for about six dollars. My companion was more than content with her choice of scrumptious challah, one of the many breads and muffins that help make the restaurant popular.
Paul and Elizabeth's offers six or seven salads that are substantial enough to be a meal on their own, including a tasty-sounding Greek salad, but we bypassed those for the entreés. Shrimp, scallops and scrod make appearance after appearance on the menu. My choice, the Cajun Sampler, offered those three staples with a spicy étouffée sauce on a bed of rice. One of the heavier dishes in the menu, it was not amazing, but was still enjoyable, especially because of its spices.
Other seafood dishes, such as the tempura, lightly batter-fried vegetables or shrimp, and the fresh pasta, are more popular due to their lighter but more filling nature, the former being a particular favorite. Most entreés range from thirteen to fourteen dollars, with the vegetarian dishes a few dollars less.
An elaborate menu of daily specials offered more sophisticated seafood: swordfish, mahi-mahi and curried shrimp. A fettuccini dish rounded out the specials. Soup lovers will be pleased with a wide variety, including chowders, shrimp and noodles in broth and a sweet potato soup.
Another perk of Paul and Elizabeth's is the servers. Because the restaurant is so willing to cater to special diets and allergies, the servers are well versed in the contents of the food and willing to make any alterations. One waitress, who was going off duty, stopped to tell her customers who their new server would be. The patrons were pleased.
Considering the warm atmosphere, the delicious and healthy food, the fairly reasonable prices, and the wide range of clients (families, couples and college students), my companion and I were pleased with our dining experience. We decided to end the evening with a bit of dessert.
Our friendly server stopped to chat and ask us how we were enjoying our dairy-free chocolate mousse cake with raspberry sauce. "It's really good," we said. "What's it made of?"
The server smiled. "That entire cake is made of just three ingredients: all-natural chocolate, maple syrup ... and tofu."
Tofu.
I just might have become a convert.