EYV Review – Vegetable Forward Cuisine in the North Side

Vegetable-Forward Dining Comes to the North Side at EYV

Restaurants that focus on vegetarian and vegan food in Pittsburgh have certainly been on the rise recently, and that’s one trend we can get behind. In addition, the stretch of East Ohio St. that EYV is on has exploded with diverse food options in recent years with the likes of Coop Chicken and Waffles, Subba, Siempre Algo, and Fig and Ash to name a few. As Northsiders we are most pleased with this trend, and given all of this, it feels like the time is now for a restaurant like EYV in this neighborhood.

We visited just several weeks after EYV’s opening and were amazed at the transformation that this formerly run-down building underwent. The space is cozy, modern, and charming. Although EYV was still waiting on their liquor license when we visited, the menu offered several creative mocktails using zero-proof spirits that they hope to keep after the full bar opens.

The food menu is divided into snacks, small plates, and larger plates. All dishes are either vegetarian or can be prepared vegetarian, and many dishes can also be prepared vegan. On our visit snacks included hummus fritters or a broccoli “chicharron” (showcasing the restaurant’s ability to turn traditionally meat-heavy recipes into vegetarian delights), while small plates included a farmer’s salad, pierogies, and mushroom barley risotto.

We shared the mushroom barley risotto to start which really hit the spot on a cold winter day. With a slow cooked egg, Boursin cheese, pickled shallot and fried shallots, it had a creamy richness punctuated by the bite of the barley and the crispy shallots. This one was pure comfort food!

For entrees we opted for the cabbage “pastrami”, and the red beet schnitzel. The cabbage pastrami dish had big hunks of meltingly tender cabbage topped with a thousand island hollandaise, sweet and sour onions, and a rye-Swiss crumble. The dish really did taste like a Reuben minus the meat, in the best way possible. It was savory, hearty, creamy, and comforting.

The beet schnitzel had big slices of fried beets layered on top of braised red cabbage, with potatoes, horseradish cream, and cucumber salad. The horseradish flavor really came through and complemented the beets well. Overall there were lots of different textures and flavors going on in this dish that kept things delicious and interesting.

Veggies are even incorporated into desserts here like celery root ice cream and the sweet potato tart. The tart was one of the meal’s highlights, with its smooth, creamy filling with a hint of orange. On the side was a delightfully tart and intense cranberry ice cream on top of a sage and pumpkin seed streusel that provided a satisfying crunch. We only wish we’d ordered two (or had a great dessert wine to pair with it)!

On top of the creative, veggie-forward dishes, the service was extremely friendly and fun. Our server was very helpful with the menu and steered us toward certain dishes based on our questions, and we also had some great conversations with him. In fact, sometimes a good server really can elevate an experience along with all the delicious food, and ours most certainly did that here at EYV.

If there was any downside from the experience, it would be that the menu was a bit more expensive than what we would have expected for a vegetarian menu and the portion sizes. But this is something we quickly forgot about as we remember the delicious, delicious vegetables we had from our visit.

We look forward to checking out EYV’s bar program once the liquor license comes through and overall love the concept here. We can’t wait to come back as the seasons change to see how spring and summer veggies are incorporated into the menu!

EYV is located at 424 East Ohio Street in the North Side.