Evan Elsberry is an energetic, often unconventional chef. And he had an idea for a meal last week that came straight from his unconventional streak.

Elsberry, owner and chef at Evan's Kitchen on 57th Street in Sacramento, staged a specialty wine dinner.

The crazy part? It was vegetarian.

"Wow," said fellow restaurateur Randall Selland, "that's pretty gutsy."

What's the big deal? Just hearing the reaction to the crowd-wowing, layered, artistic meal, gives you a clue:

"This is something special," said Kim Berry, who was there with his wife, Tess." "We're vegetarians and we don't really expect to find something this good. It's so colorful, it's like getting served art."

"I never thought I'd go to a vegetarian wine dinner," said Jerry Thompson. "When we think about spending our money, we think about a big rib-eye steak or something. I'm amazed how satisfying this is."

Thompson and his wife, Joyce, are partnering with Elsberry on the Corner Bar, which is taking over the spot at 57th and J streets after Sweetwater Restaurant's move this week to its new site at 19th and S streets. Joyce Thompson said that partnership made it a lot easier to get her husband to the meal.

"I told him it would be good, but he trusts Evan more than he trusts me," she said."

For loads of people – whether they're serious foodies or not – expectations for vegetarian cuisine can be relatively modest.

"Lots of times, people don't expect a high-end meal," said Selland. "They're used to getting a pasta with some steamed vegetables."

Elsberry knew that going in. He tried a veggie wine dinner in June and didn't get enough takers. He rescheduled, upped the promotion and got more than 40 people to his $60-a-head, five-course meal that he matched with California State Fair Gold Medal wines.

"This is my hobby," he said. "I fancy myself an artist. I couldn't make money writing or painting, but I found out I can cook. I wanted this to be surprising."

Elsberry's cropped hair and burly build, his casual, homey manner, puts you more in mind of a fry cook making burgers than a gourmet chef. His creative food gets lots of respect in Sacramento's culinary community, though. He earned new props for doing the veggie dinner.

"People know how much vegetables cost, and they figure they should only pay so much," said Kerry Kassis, longtime owner of Slocum House in Fair Oaks. "But a creative chef can do a great job with vegetarian dishes. We try to do that here, and good for him for doing this."

"Jeez, Louise, that price is pretty low," Selland said. "Those meals aren't so cheap. The tradeoff is you get cheaper proteins without meat, but a good vegetarian meal is super-labor-intensive."

Plus, Elsberry said, he spent lots on specialty items and spices, and on taking just the best piece of, say, the artichoke hearts that topped a cannelloni with Provencal vegetables. The cannelloni skin was paper-thin slices of jicama and it was served with a red pepper jus. (Elsberry paired it with the 2006 Concannon cabernet sauvignon.)

"The artichokes weren't very cost-effective," he said. "My wife and I ate a lot of leftover artichoke leaves. She's been eating lots of discarded material from this."

Other hits included the tomato and melon salad with tomato mint sorbet topped with a tempura basil leaf and paired with a 2008 Ironstone Xpression Rosé. Another was grilled tofu and marinated eggplant with rice noodles, asparagus, crispy ginger and coconut red curry emulsion, paired with the 2007 Rodney Strong Knotty Vines Zinfandel.

"That could've been a meat dish," Thompson said. "I'd do this again in a minute."

That's why Elsberry's crazy idea was such a good thing. As Selland said, it helps teach people what's out there, why the best, freshest ingredients mean so much, and how much to demand from all kinds of meals.

"We get lots of vegetarians coming back to the Kitchen (one of Selland's three restaurants) because we can surprise them with something special," he said. "We want people to come to us expecting that. Evan's dinner is good for all of us in Sacramento. It helps show people what they should expect."

Elsberry will tell you, even he wasn't sure what to expect.

"To be honest, it was more successful than I thought it was going to be," he said.

Call The Bee's Rick Kushman, (916) 321-1187. Listen to him Tuesdays at 8:40 a.m. on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK).