While this season’s “Restaurant Wars” seemed a bit anemic, there were still some excellent dishes. Dan’s winning smoked walleye, Dan’s carrot-centric take on clam chowder, Savannah’s chawanmushi, Manny’s mole and Soo’s rice cakes all garnered high acclaim, but one that stood out particularly for me was Amanda’s vegan gumbo z'herbes with greens, grilled mushrooms and kombu.
While judge Tom Colicchio initially said it was good, though it "doesn't eat like gumbo,” he later called the idea of using kombu as the central flavoring ingredient in a vegan gumbo "brilliant."
