Romanesco is a funny-looking vegetable. It's pale green like Gak and covered in tiny spikes. It looks like broccoli's edgy cousin and tastes like a grassier version of cauliflower. It is stunning.
Have you tried it before? Because if you haven't, now's a good time. The locally-grown brassica is available at Blackbrick in midtown. Owner Richard Hales is offering it as a part of his new $10 lunch special.
See also: Blackbrick in Midtown Serves the Chinese Food You've Been Waiting For
The special is available Monday through Friday, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and features three courses.
Start with the vegetable and shrimp egg roll, which is served alongside a pumpkin sweet and sour sauce. Continue with Hales' local-style, stir-fried tofu. This vegan main course showcases flower sprouts from Swank Farms in Palm Beach County and vegetables from Farm to Kitchen -- the company that sources local produce for the city's top chefs. Finish your meal off with a fortune cookie.
The menu will change weekly and will be based on what's fresh off South Florida's farms.
"Besides offering a new style of Chinese cuisine to South Florida, our goal is to offer traditional dishes with fresh local produce and meats instead of harmful conventional farming sources," says Hales.
On the regular menu, egg rolls cost $6 and a similar stir-fry costs $8, so it's a good bargain.
Plus, you'll be adding an alien-looking vegetable to your diet.
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