Grant Butler Turns Nel Centro Momentarily Vegan-Friendly

Grant Butler, currently twenty-two (out of twenty-eight) days into his Going Vegan project, reports on a visit to Nel Centro, owned and recently kitchen-helmed by local mogul David Machado, and which typically has absolutely nothing vegan on the menu. As in, even the croutons on the salad are made with butter. Which is tragedy until Butler--or, actually, an excited line cook--finds that necessity becomes the mother of grilled-vegetable invention, and makes our newly-vegan friend a pile of zucchini, squash, and fennel. Relative success?

“If that had been on the menu, I would have order it,” one of my friends said on seeing my dish. Something like that ought to be on the menu. So how ‘bout it?