In his hands, such a challenge hardly seems a chore: Dishes like a warm salad of mushroom and roasted squash, or a lettuce, green onion and cheese tart, are surprising and sustaining "proper food" in every sense.

WSJ: Cookbooks With Veggie Might: Meat-Free Recipes for Spring and Summer

Particularly good: grilled portobello mushroom salad with ginger tomato soy vinaigrette, and rack of lamb with red wine and rosemary sauce.

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Mushroom risotto and chopped vegetable salad, sublime.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

And Neil Perry's Rockpool is a perennial favorite for tasting menus that rival Tetsuya's in the creative use of local ingredients such as a salad of green lip abalone, mussel, clam, tea-smoked oysters and noodles with truffle oil and mushroom soy dressing.

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