I am at the Mana Food Bar, a Lilliputian-size eating place on West Division Street in trendy Wicker Park. Mana Food Bar is a vegetarian restaurant, but it's not in-your-face vegetarian (a tag at the bottom of the menu reads "add tofu to any small dish for $1 and large dish for $2.").

Those who follow my weekly rantings and ratings know full well that I am as far away from being a vegetarian as Beijing is from Barcelona. But when Mana Food Bar popped up on the culinary landscape, I decided to take a closer look. The owners -- Susan Thompson (De Cero and Sushi Wabi) and Jill Barron (executive chef at De Cero) -- have the cred to pull off something special.

I like the vibe here, all of its 10-foot-wide atmosphere, a dozen counter seats and a couple of booths and tables.

First up was an order of pho (pronounced puh -- rhymes with "duh"). Pho is a Vietnamese rice noodle dish that normally includes some type of meat (beef most commonly). No meat in this pho, but it wasn't missed all that much. The rice noodles were nice, the broth was clear (as it should be, and definitely not a beef broth). The seasonings (mint, lime, Asian basil) rounded out the flavor quite well, and a touch of chiles gave the dish a good kick in the heat.

The menu range is quite wide, from a tasty and refreshing "summer salad" of chickpeas, tomato, olives, cucumber and hearts of palm, to dengaku. Dengaku (aka dengaku miso) is so simple --grilled Japanese eggplant glazed with miso -- yet it was startlingly delicious. I could become a vegetarian with a dish like that (maybe in another lifetime).

Spanakopita is another example of the breadth of the menu. Classic triangular shape, flaky filo captured the filling of feta and spinach with a touch of dill. A fluff of baby greens on the plate added more interest.

And then there was the "Mana slider." I wouldn't trade this slider for a White Castle slider, but I liked it. This "burger," tucked into a soft and cushy slider bun, was a puck packed into shape with a combination of brown rice and mushrooms. It was a bit on the dry side (I would suggest that the spicy mayo the menu promises should be laid on with a heavier hand). The burger came with a small bowl of sliced sweet pickles, and those were good.

The hummus was excellent. Not saturated with oil (as too often happens), it was a generous portion (most of the dishes on the menu can be had "small" or "large") accompanied by toast and vegetables (a couple of baby carrots, broccoli and one lonely string bean.)

To accompany any or all of this, Mana Food Bar offers everything from sake cocktails to smoothies. Also, there is a whole range of "Just Squeezed" juices. There's wine, too (four each of red and white by the glass or bottle).

The one dessert sampled, the banana walnut cake, was very good. The cupcake-shape cake was nicely moist and deep with, well, bananas and walnuts.