Indeed, a young lady was reading one night, and we had to admit: with its mostly white walls, blonde hardwood floor and table tops, Cha-Ya is a clean, well-lighted place. The high organically shaped counter facing the window is ideal for solo dining with a good read.

A clean, well-lighted place brings us naturally to For Whom The Bell Tolls, as, like Maria after an intimate encounter with Robert Jordan, we felt the earth shake. Unfortunately, it wasn't due to the satisfaction of our carnal desires, can't be in a vegan place, could it? It just so happened that the earth literally shook, 4.4 on the Richter scale in Santa Rosa.

But it did spell out the question for us: is the food really this good, or was this just another quake? The answer is: pretty good, so that we even forget that no animal product was involved. You know, there are vegetarian restaurants which serve you meatless meatloafs made of tofurkey, and you think: this ain't right. Cha-Ya does not even pretend to replace meat, and just does its own thing, traditional Japanese way. For us, it's ideal: we are not conscious of eschewing meat, we're just enjoying a fine meal. Perchance he for whom this dishes is served is so satiated, as that he knows not it is meatless. We feel the same in South Indian restaurants (say, Udupi Palace) where the novelty (to us) of the cuisine hides the fact that it's vegetarian.

* Punch line of a Rhymes with Orange cartoon last week

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