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Vegan restaurant Goldie’s, one of the four restaurants in Asbury Park owned and operated by the Smith group, is the subject of a laudatory review in tomorrow’s New York Times Sunday edition.

The Times Fran Schumer cites Smith junior partner Mark Hinchliffe, a vegan who was instrumental in the creation of Goldie’s, as aiming for “a restaurant devoted to plant-based dishes that was more about fun than deprivation.”

Schumer wrote that Goldie’s meets Hinchliffe’s goal:

The emphasis is apparent in both the mood, which is hip, and the décor, which is dramatically urbane. Free of agitprop photographs of innocent animals, the walls are apolitical but beautiful: one is simply black; another shimmers gold. White, midcentury modern tulip chairs and tables light up the otherwise dimly lit room.

The menu, too, is distinctive. Rather than perform vegan alchemy, transforming beans into beefsteak, or feature fake meat oddities like Field Roast and seitan, Goldie’s works with ordinary ingredients that just happen to be vegan. The deep-fried mushrooms, handmade corn tortillas and my favorite item, roasted corn and pea salad, are dishes anyone could love.

In giving the Cookman Avenue restaurant a “good” rating, Schumer had ample praise for the staff.

“At Goldie’s, the use of plant-based ingredients is hardly a hardship. It is, instead, a challenge that the staff rises easily to meet,” she wrote.

Smith also owns and operates Porta Pizza, Brickwall tavern and Pascal and Sabine in Asbury Park. The group has recently opened restaurants in Jersey City and Newark, as well as buying property in Burlington City with the aim of opening restaurants there.

Click here to read the full Times review of Goldie’s.

[Photo above of the bar at Goldie’s. Asburyparksun.com photo.]

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