I felt somewhat out of place taking a seat at Alice and Friends Vegetarian Café, especially when I saw "With respect for all life, we proudly serve our dishes free of meat, poultry, fish, egg and MSG" written on the front of the menu. Suddenly, reviewing a vegetarian café seemed like a bad idea, considering I am not a vegetarian. Eating "unbeef" is not something I ordinarily do, so I was worried that I wouldn't know how to evaluate it.

Luckily, the menu at this Edgewater spot is long and creative. Instead of feeling limited by the lack of meat options, I was actually overwhelmed by the number of entrees that looked appetizing to me -- not to mention curious about how the variety of meat substitutes would fare in each of the dishes.

We began the meal with shakes (vegan versions are also available) and steamed dumpling appetizers. I didn't enjoy my dining companion's green tea shake as the tea flavor was too strong for my liking; he, on the other hand, didn't mind it as much. The ginseng shake was much better, a tasty, subtlety sweet, pale orange concoction that was topped with whipped cream. Both shakes were light and refreshing: We had pretty much finished them by the time the entrees arrived, yet neither of us felt full.

The six steamed dumplings were average -- a mixture of tofu and veggies enclosed in a doughy pouch. The filling of these dumplings was tasty, but the dough was bland, rubbery, and required numerous dunks in the tangy dipping sauce to render palatable. Next time, I'd opt for the fried version.

I might not have been thrilled with our appetizer, but I was certainly impressed with my Korean Style BBQ entree. Fresh broccoli, carrots, cabbage and rice cake slices were tossed with a generous portion of unbeef in a somewhat addicting spicy barbeque sauce. Granted, the unbeef was more squishy than the real beef I'm used to eating, but overall the robust flavor of this meal overpowered whatever reservations I had about the actual ingredients. I would definitely order this dish again.

My dining companion's yakisoba entree was also good: Pan-fried Japanese noodles, unchicken, red cabbage, and broccoli were stir-fried in a sweet soy sauce. The sauce was good but not very intense, and, therefore, the tastiness of this dish was completely dependent on the freshness of the vegetables and the quality of the unchicken -- both of which in this case, were excellent. And, surprisingly, the unchicken was quite comparable to real chicken.

For dessert, we tried the vegan chocolate cake. I've sampled vegan cakes that have been too dense to enjoy, but the one at Alice and Friends had a good consistency and was even a bit moist. We would've finished the entire gigantic slice if we hadn't already loaded up on shakes, appetizers, entrees, etc.

The staff of Alice and Friends is laid back -- at times, a little too laid back, if you ask me. A pitcher of lukewarm water was delivered to our table (without ice), the tables were wobbly, and the servers never seemed to be around when we needed them. Yet this easy-going attitude seemed quite appropriate for the casualness of the café. And, if the line of friendly customers waiting to eat on a recent weekday evening is any indication, I'd say nobody pays any mind to this inattention to detail.

After all, it is the food that really stands out here. The thing that I liked best about this place is the variety of the menu; I'd go back for the yakisoba or Korean BBQ again, but I'm more interested in trying some of the other creative offerings -- smoked veggie duck, bi bim bob with tofu, almond unchicken -- to see how they'd stack up. Sure, Alice and Friends isn't going to convert me from my carnivorous habits, but I'd recommend it -- even to my fellow meat-eating peers.

Alice and Friends Vegetarian Café is located at 5812 N. Broadway.