Thrown for a Loop

Alternative-school angst: I read the responses to your article on CEP ["Million-Dollar Babies," by Margaret Downing, June 27]. They do hold kids longer than warranted, I don't care what they say. I work as a therapist in that setting, and every kid I see bitches about it, it's true. It's countereducational.

Bouncing Back

Tien Ren fan: Yes! I've been going to Wonderful (I still can't call it Tien Ren) for as long as I can remember ["Pro-Choice," by Gary Michaels, August 22]. I'm so glad you wrote this piece about the place. I've been worried that it's going to go out of business since everything else in the shopping center seems to be joining the dearly departed.

I remember the sag in quality a few years back, and I do agree with you that it is right back up to par. The waiter has improved as well. He doesn't seem to stand around and push various religious beliefs the way he once did. But the food always made it worth it, and it's really cool that he always seems to remember who you are, no matter how long it's been since you were there.

The prices are a bit higher, so now I can't go as often, but when I do go -- wow. I don't need to eat for the next two days. Thanks for spreading the joy to a new generation.

Stephanie Hart
Houston

Meaty matters: Many of the entrées in these vegetarian (and vegan) restaurants are essentially using vegetables (and other nonmeat products) to try to approximate or imitate the real thing: meat! So, what do these people know about what the real dish should taste like, especially if prepared by a true culinary master?

Just comparing the boring offerings of one vegetarian restaurant to another is not helpful to anyone. We all know that any soy-based food product is about as bland as food gets and is only mildly interesting if one uses prodigious amounts of spices, and that vegan desserts are about as insipid as any food product ever devised. Gee, what revelations! Try comparing the food offerings in the vegan restaurant to those generally found in mainstream restaurants in taste, quality, freshness, creativity, etc., and then it may be of some use to your readers, unless your intended audience is limited to vegetarians and vegans alone.

Vegetarians are always lamenting (as in this "review") the woeful lack of vegetarian restaurants in the western hemisphere. Here's a news flash: It's called free-market forces. If there were sufficient demand for this product, there would be a vegan restaurant on every corner. If you think there is some vast conspiracy to limit the dining options of vegetarians, why don't you just try the old "build it and they will come" theory? By the way, any decent omnivore restaurant will prepare vegetarian and often even vegan dishes, if you just ask. In addition, in most cases, such food will be much better than anything that could possibly be found in a vegan restaurant because the chefs are generally not as limited in their creativity and experience as those found in vegan restaurants.

Robert Searle
Houston