Recognition for Mark Reinfeld’s vegan fusion restaurant, The Blossoming Lotus

Best Restaurant on Kauai: The Blossoming Lotus Wins Prestigious ‘ILIMA Award – Latest of Numerous Awards for Organic, Gourmet Vegan Restaurant and Founders. The Blossoming Lotus recognized as the Best Restaurant on Kauai by the Honolulu Advertiser. The 2006 ‘ILIMA award went to the world renowned restaurant, and marks the first time in history that a vegetarian restaurant has won “Best of” from among hundreds of restaurants serving all kinds of fare.

Honolulu, HI (PRWEB) October 10, 2006

The Blossoming Lotus recognized as the Best Restaurant on Kauai by the Honolulu Advertiser. The 2006 ‘ILIMA award went to the world renowned restaurant, and marks the first time in history that a vegetarian restaurant has won “Best of” from among hundreds of restaurants serving all kinds of fare. Co-founder Gabriel Zingaro accepted the award on behalf of the Lotus at the Gala ceremony, October 9th at Diamond Head Theater on Oahu.

This prestigious award joins recent accolades bestowed on the restaurant, such as the acknowledgment in Pauline Frommer’s 2006 Hawaii Guide as the “Best Place to Eat” on Kauai. The Lotus was also voted, “Best Vegetarian Restaurant” on Kauai by readers of Garden Island Newspaper, for the second year in a row.

All with good reason, just ask any of their happy diners.

The Blossoming Lotus is located in the Historic Dragon Building in downtown Kapa’a at 4504 Kukui Street and is the only “certified green” restaurant in Hawaii. The gourmet vegetarian menu is billed as creative satisfying food with a conscience. The innovative cuisine gave rise to Vegan World Fusion Cuisine, a cookbook by founders, Bo Rinaldi and Mark Reinfeld, showcasing more than 200 international dishes from the Lotus. Highly acclaimed, this beautifully illustrated cookbook has drawn words of praise from all quarters of the culinary world.

. Winner 2005 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
. Winner 2005 PETA Proggy Award, Best New Cookbook
. Winner 2005 Cookbook of the Year, VegNews
. Winner 2005 Nautilus Award, Best Small Press
. Nominated Best Cookbook, Foreword Magazine
. Semi-Finalist, Best Cookbook, Independent Publishers Association

Co-founder, Bo Rinaldi notes that this exciting honor validates what he has always believed, “The 2006 ‘ILIMA award confirms that vegan cuisine and fine dining are not mutually exclusive. We thank our friends in Hawaii and travelers from around the world, who support us in our mission to offer the very best of Vegan World Fusion Cuisine to diners at the Blossoming Lotus.”

Founder and Executive Chef Mark Reinfeld characterizes Lotus cuisine as international gourmet vegetarian, and commented, “Only about 10 percent of our guests are vegetarian, the rest just come here because they really like the food.”

Vegan chef and author Mark Reinfeld offers a variety of best selling vegan cookbooks. He specializes in vegan, vegetarian, raw food and gluten free plant-based diets. He offers a series of vegan cooking classes, including 2 day workshops, teacher trainings, 5 and 10 day immersions, as well as retreats, tours and vacations in both America and Europe. He further offers vegan fusion cuisine recipe development and consulting. To receive the latest news please sign up for his Newsletter and RSS Feeds, or contact Mark directly.