Mystery Diner in Woodstock: Expressly Leslie a vegetarian staple with flair

Located in the Historic Square in downtown Woodstock, Expressly Leslie Vegetarian Specialties created a menu with something for everyone.

From hummus and smoothies to falafel wraps, soups, vegan pizza and eggplant lasagna, even the most avid meat-eaters will find something worthy of licking their plates clean. The restaurant describes itself as “vegetarian food with a Middle Eastern flair,” and has one of the few Middle Eastern style menus in the area.

Its storefront is located in the Woodstock Square Mall on the southwest corner of the square. Although the restaurant itself has limited space for dine-in guests, seating is available just next door in the mall area.

The Expressly Leslie menu offers smoothies and drinks, soups, daily salads, three-salad plates and wraps, pizzas and specialty plates. In addition to indoor dining, takeout and delivery, Expressly Leslie provides catering services.

This diner ordered the vegan pizza, Bugs Bunny smoothie and a side of pita, and my fellow diner ordered the volcano lasagna, green tea smoothie, veggie chili soup and another side of pita.

Our food was prepared quickly and surpassed our expectations. We admittedly ordered more food than we were able to finish, despite our best efforts. (They did make for good leftovers the next day.)

This vegan pizza is made with hummus, matboukha, Moroccan eggplant, Moroccan sweet peppers, red pepper and olives.

The vegan pizza ($8) came served on pita with hummus, eggplant, red and sweet peppers and matboukha sauce. This pizza alone could have been its own meal, and is one of the better meatless, nondairy pizzas this diner has tried.

The Bugs Bunny smoothie is a blend of fruits, berries, carrots, spinach and pomegranate juice. The green tea smoothie includes a mixture of green tea, banana, agave and berries.

The Bugs Bunny smoothie ($5) was a delicious blend of fruits, berries, carrots, spinach and pomegranate juice. If you’re looking for something a little less tart, however, the green tea smoothie ($5) is a good choice. The combination of green tea, banana, mixed berries and agave made for a sweet and refreshing drink.

The volcano lasagna is made with garlic tomato sauce and Moroccan eggplant wrapped in a lasagna noodle with mozzarella cheese on top.

The volcano lasagna was a filling dish of garlic tomato sauce and eggplant wrapped in a lasagna noodle with mozzarella cheese on top. At $10.50, guests receive their money’s worth of food that lives up to its “volcanic” name.

The veggie chili soup is a blend of black beans, green peppers, poblano peppers and onions. It comes served with pita or gluten-free crackers.

The veggie chili soup ($6.75 for a large cup) was a hearty blend of black beans, green peppers, poblano peppers and onions – perfect comfort food for a cold day (and not too spicy).

Sides of pita can be paired with hummus or a variety of sauces.

Our sides of pita were a nice snack to nibble on once we could fit no more of our entrees.

Overall, Expressly Leslie Vegetarian Specialties offered unique dishes, quick service and filling food that we’ll definitely be back for.

• The Mystery Diner is a newsroom employee at the Northwest Herald. The diner’s identity is not revealed to restaurant staff when ordering or picking up the food. If the Mystery Diner cannot recommend the establishment, we will not publish a review.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Expressly Leslie Vegetarian Specialties

WHERE: 110 S. Johnson St., Woodstock

PHONE: 815-338-2833

INFORMATION: www.expresslylesliewoodstock.com