Dear "Cheftestants;"

I just watched this week's Top Chef, and I am so disappointed. The contestants were asked to create a "fine dining" meal for Natalie Portman, who's a vegetarian. They were given an absolute boatload of possible ingredients to use. Here's what they came up with -- some boiled leeks, some rolled-up eggplant, a couple bites of artichoke with fennel puree, a couple bites of eggplant, some mushrooms with kale, an asparagus salad with banana polenta, and a random mixture of vegetables including thinly sliced beets and a few fresh chickpeas.

They don't all sound like they'd taste bad, but my god, I'd be so hungry afterward! And did they forget about ingredients besides vegetables? I mean, I love veggies as much as (probably more than) the next guy, but fer chrissakes, I would like a carb or a legume, too! One of the judges asked the losing contestant what his protein was. He replied that the leeks were, like, simulating a protein. Huh?

So for the benefit of the chefs who were completely thrown by the vegetarian challenge, here are some ideas for you based on my favorite local dishes.

At Tower Cafe, they serve a chile relleno that is completely elevated by a couple things. First, instead of just cheese, they add currants and pine nuts to the filling. Second, they use a fresh pasilla chile instead of canned, and it retains its texture. Finally, they bread it with something like panko and deep fry it so that it remains whole and toothsome instead of a soggy eggy mess.

At Maalouf's Taste of Lebanon, they make a fantastic falafel sandwich. Fresh, steaming balls of falafel are stuffed in a pita with lettuce, tomato, and pickle spears and doused in tahini sauce. Maybe it's not fine dining, but try adding some fresh herbs, make your own pita bread (easy), and maybe play with the pickles and tahini... The show frequently asks contestants to make street food into fine dining. Why not try it with falafel?

At 33rd Street Bistro, they make a panini with roasted eggplant, roasted red peppers and cambozola cheese. It's a great combo.

At Paesano's, they have a penne pasta with kalamata olives, whole cloves of roasted garlic, and crumbled feta. I know pasta is the "easy out" when it comes to vegetarian food, but it can be sublime.

At Celestin's, they have a creole vegetable stew served with black beans and rice. On the side you can also get tomato-avocado salade, tostones, sweet potato fries, or corn cakes.

At the Sacramento Brewing Company (I haven't been in a while, but they used to have this) there's an eggplant napoleon with pesto, goat cheese, and a tomato sauce.

At any Indian restaurant (we go to Kathmandu Kitchen) you can get a samosa stuffed with potatoes and peas and served with a tamarind or mint sauce. Or what about a curry and rice?

At Tres Hermanas I get a big platter of fajitas. Again, perhaps fajitas don't lend themselves to fine dining, but think of how you could tweak it so they could. I know that at Mustard's Grill in Napa, I always get the corn tamales.

At Kamon sushi, they have several beautiful vegetarian rolls. My favorite isn't on the menu -- it's called the Mary roll, and it includes tenpura sweet potato and avocado.

At Ravenous Cafe, I had a terrific risotto with mushrooms.

Cafe Bernardo makes a grilled polenta with marinara sauce that's a great standby if I'm not getting a sandwich or pizza.

And that short list is leaving off things like Moroccan couscous with vegetables, various Asian foods like pad thai or "Buddha's Delight" or pho, Greek foods like spanikopita, tiropitas, and dolmas, and a bajillion more ethnic cuisines. I know I'm not a chef and as a home cook, I'm not under the same pressure that the potential Top Chefs are. No one's going to vote me out of the kitchen. But I manage to come up with filling, healthy tasty vegetarian meals about five nights a week. And I guarantee it's not going to be two chunks of boiled leek.