Currently viewing the tag: "VV Pennslyvania"
Sprig & Vine is a delightful cafe nestled cozy and snug on the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border in New Hope, Pennsylvania. On the Delaware river, New Hope offers an idyllic setting for an urban escape… and a proper all-vegan ‘last of 2012′ brunch with Ms. CandyP.
We started with some hearty biscuits and cashew-herb gravy. Savory, substantial and delicious.
Will travel for a Tofu Benny! Ever since I glimpsed their menu months back I have been daydreaming of this dish… carefully however, accepting the possibility that the success of this vegan brunch classic lives and dies by the quality of the Hollandaise. We were happy to see these tall Ben’s were covered in an aerated Hollandaise, air-bubbled and indicative of a light, frothy texture. Oh yum.
You know I had to zoom in on this bad boy.
The choppy Delaware river on a windy winter day.
After brunch, a proper lunch. On Sundays Kaya’s Kitchen does an all-you-can-eat buffet. All I can eat all-vegan? Hold me back! Plenty of tasty options, Caribbean inspired.
This was a flavor-packed buffet. Most notable, soft and delicate potato-filled pierogi. I had to get up for seconds.
Last but certainly not least, all-vegan bakery in Matawan, New Jersey, Papa Ganache.
This bakery is stock with beautiful and delicious vegan treats, including these babies.
All dressed up for the New Year!
They also have plenty of gluten-free goodies… a whole showcase full (above).
Ok, 2013. I’m ready!
Ever since I saw the Philadelphia’s Memphis Taproom on Diners, Drive-ins & Dives and learned it had a couple of vegan options, I’ve been wanting to go. The draw? Their vegan “bacon”. Not a packaged meat analog but coconut. Smoked coconut, smoked in a smoker. This ingenious creation is used in their vegan B.L.T. and graces the plate on their tofu scramble, along with vegan blood sausage. And one gorgeous day, CandyPenny and I were there to give it a try.
The Vegan Rooster. A moist tofu scramble, two chunks of the deceivingly light vegan blood sausage, a pile of smoked coconut bacon, some potato wedges and toast. Spot on! Though it may look like any other scramble, the Memphis Taproom does it much better: with housemade accompaniments and extra points for creativity. I cleaned my plate. After all, we had a bit of a drive and were hungry. I was a bit concerned the portion would not satisfy at first. But it was the perfect amount of food.
With some time to kill before our dinner reservation, the gorgeous unseasonably potent sun out and the guise of coming to Philadelphia with any other reason other than eating stripped, we took a quick detour to Bethlehem, home of the famous Vegan Treats!
There was so much to choose from. A slew of adorable personal cakes, danishes, cannoli, cheesecakes–My goodness! I have never seen a more impressive bakery case. Vegan or not. Hands…down.
I got the gorgeous and nostalgic Funfetti mini-layer cake and had a quick photo shoot with it before my first bite. It was nice to see other patrons snapping pictures of their beautiful selections as well.
More fun on the inside. Vegan Treats sure can whip up decadent delights in many shapes and forms. The delicious treat hit the spot and helped us through the hours until our next meal.
This was it. The reason for our trip: Vedge, Philadelphia new vegan fine dining spot from former Horizons owners (you remember Horizons, don’t you?) The vegetable-based menu looked downright heavenly and, though we were stuffed with sweets and scrambles, we were ready.
Firstly, Vedge sells plates and the house recommends 3-4 to make a full meal. It would save the wait staff a good portion of time if the menu and website indicated this. That being said, the plates are assembled to perfection, shaking your taste buds’ hands at first and then leaving them panting and lusting for more in the end. Vedge knows food. Knows how to combine it to produce pleasure. Wow. Did I mention my first plate? Layers of gold beets, smoked tofu, avocado and capers next to a puddle of cucumber dill sauce and a toasted wedge of pumpernickel. My only critique was that the capers were too many. An easy fix.
My second plate was one off of “The Dirt List”, their farm vegetable sides: Brussels, shaved and grilled with smoked mustard
This was my main plate: a tender and light grilled seitan in black lentils and mushroom topped with a creamy horseradish sauce and garnished with a pickled kohlrabi, a type of turnip. Utterly fantastic. Vedge, I will return. And next time I will be getting dessert.
So what if Philadelphia sports fans have a terrible reputation… and the SEPTA subway trains are home to a human hostility I haven’t experienced in some time… and that the Phillies are whipping the Mets’ butts in the National League East… and that I had to take a certification exam to get my literacy coach license the next day… Citizens Bank Park, the ballpark of those Philadelphia Phillies, has got the best vegan stadium offerings this side of the Mississippi! An adventurous group of us food and baseball connoisseurs visited the park to taste and run back to New York City, the best city in the world. 
With the Phillies first place in their division, the ball park was packed. The game was an important one for most there, but not so much for us. Although the Mets came back to take the series, winning game 2 and 3 of the series, the night we chowed down, game 1, they lost. But look! The V-bomb dropped in the concession stand, clearly and easy to find. I had to nab a vegan chicken sandwich, which they whipped up in the back with some fresh lettuce and tomato. And look at all those veggie dogs. Artsparrow partook but was a bit disappointed about the lack of fixins. 
My sandwich and the soda I grabbed, which was diet unfortunately. I am not a fan of diet soda! 
Finally at our seats, I dug in. Not bad! I mean, sure it needed some Vegenaise and was a bit dry, but I was eating a vegan chicken sandwich at a baseball stadium! 
Here’s the vegan philly steak sans the cheese. Being excited and eager to get to Philly, I had forgotten a container of vegan cheesewhiz in my classroom’s fridge; I had made it the night before to bring in to the stadium. I was very disappointed in myself. But even though it was missing this key ingredient, I enjoyed it. It was tasty… a nice hoagie with lots of onion and soy science meat.
The gang scarfs down the food before we leave during the 7th inning stretch to head back to New York.
There was more to report on but time and appetite were constraints. Maybe I’ll get back to Citizens Bank Park again one day… buuut I think I’d opt for Horizons next time I’m in Philly.
Enjoying a week off for winter recess, it was time to escape, however briefly, to new east coast vegan options. Philadelphia recently opened its first all vegan, all gluten-free bakery! And with the city being just a short ride away, CP and I made a day trip especially for Sweet Freedom Bakery.
Sweet Freedom Bakery is a great addition to Philadelphia’s vegan scene. The scene that includes one of the best meals of all time (Horizons, blogged ’bout here), as well as a huge quantity of mock-meat Chinese restaurants.
I got a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting. This is my favorite flavor combination in a cupcake and it is essential a bakery does this basic right. The cupcake had a soft texture and tasted healthy… in a good way. The icing balanced out the cake nicely, it was a thicker, cocoa-ier chocolate buttercream. Very good! I also got one of their Magic Bars, a layer of coconut-dusted ganache on top a layer of crumbly cookie.
To tide us over for an early dinner we took a quick trip to Maoz, the “quick-service” vegetarian falafel chain with the mind-blowing fixin’s bar. I loaded up my pita pocket to the brim with their fresh offerings.
We also hit the new upscale vegetarian grille on the block, Thoreau. Thoreau was a elegant spot and our entrees were ridiculously fresh and flavorful. Before our entree we were given a choice of pumpernickel or rosemary fresh-baked bread, along with a melon-ball of spicy vegan butter.
I chose the Cubano Supper, one of Thoreau’s few vegan entree options, which included 3 plantain empanadas filled with sunflower seed-chipotle pesto, a tower layered with yellow tomato and a tasty guacamole, an ample pile of delicious mango papaya relish and topped with jicama slaw. It was very flavorful, clean and satisfying but not the greatest value.
Flying in and out of Pittsburgh to embark upon a vegan eats road trip, CandyPenny and I had a list of potential hot spots to check out in Pittsburgh, Akron and Columbus. Hoping to make the most of 3 days on the road, we had to push our caloric intake to the max! Luckily for me, nursing a summer cold and sore throat, excess energy intake helped me with a quick recuperation. Here is what we ate in between long stretches in the Chevy Cobalt:
Quiet Storm in Pittsburgh is a large yet cozy living room serving hearty grub with many vegan options. I had the Nothin’ Fancy: tofu scramble, potatoes and toast with a side of veggie sausage and a dollop of soy margarine. The scramble had a unique flavor but was a bit dry. In fact, the entire dish, though tasty, was all a bit dry and would have benefited from some vegetable or sauce incorporation. But it is called Nothin’ Fancy after all! I’d happily return to Quiet Storm to check out another option.
After my savory brunch, it was time for some sweet. We hit Oh Yeah! Ice Cream & Coffee for some sugar. Oh Yeah! is an ice cream parlor that offers Temptation soy ice cream from my favorite Chicago Soydairy. Once you pick your flavor, you can choose from the huge selection of interesting swirl-ins posted on their chalk board, many nostalgic, like Corn Pops and Nilla Wafers; many healthy, like Super Green Super Food, flax seed and hemp protein and many simply disgusting, like bacon and turkey jerky. And best yet, your ice cream concoction can be atop a huge vegan Belgium waffle if you so desire. And we desired… we chose the vanilla swirled with real pineapple on top of their cinnamon massive waffle.
Moving onward to Akron, Ohio with great speed, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, we were sure that Vegiterranean, The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde’s vegan restaurant, was going to be a sure highlight of our trip! We arrived at the desolate downtown Akron when the blazing August day was meeting dusk. A beautiful pink-grey surrounded our table outside. The restaurant was on the bottom floor of a building of luxury apartments, one of which Chrissie apparently lived in. There was a lively crowd of patrons sipping cocktails and having dates around us. The menu, being all vegan, was overwhelming with many delicious-sounding options. I ordered the Italian Fritto Gardein Scallopini, herbed, battered and fried Gardein cutlets served with “Chrissie Fries” and mustard greens. I had never had Gardein cutlets and, considering the price of the dish, I was figuring them to be more mind-blowing then the processed soy protein patties they were. Deep fry them and glaze them with a sweet Asian-style stir fry sauce and you lose the Italian flair. The greens were fresh and tasty but the fries, which the menu promised would be the best fries I’d ever tried, were simple garlic fries with a bit of rosemary. The fresh complimentary bread was very good, as was CandyPenny’s Vichyssoise. So I was a bit disappointed in my meal, yes, but more so at the indifferent server’s attitude once he realized we wouldn’t be ordering the four course meals plus drinks. Though I am happy such a place exists, especially in Akron, Ohio, I had hoped for more.
Akron’s saving grace was Mustard Seed Market, which we serendipitously stumbled upon after our G.P.S. unit wackily configured the closest health food store as like a million miles away. Mustard Seed Market had it all: samples (i.e. breakfast), vegan cakes and cupcakes, a restaurant upstairs, organic produce, etc. Their aisle signage even dropped the v-bomb (below)! They also had a bunch of products that haven’t even hit New York City yet. After some fantasies of courting the store’s buyer, we filled up our water bottles and headed to Columbus, ready for some more food.
Super-duper vegan Ohio highlight was Columbus’s Pattycake Bakery in the Clintonville section of Columbus. This all-vegan bakery was just as adorable and delicious as their website, bookmarked for months and drooled over often, would indicate. The counter and blackboard displayed way too many scrumptious items for our short visit to the area. I chose the beautifully-decorated strawberry mousse cake and a whoopie pie to go.
Moist delicious cake plumed with real strawberry infused frosting. So pritty and so good.
Oh my whoopie pie! This tasted and felt exactly like a devil dog.
Having our dessert first, we next hit Whole World Natural Restaurant for simple and yummy veg fare. The place has been around since 1978 and surely continues to thrive thanks to its healthy and natural hippie fare. I ordered the housemade broccoli burger on the housemade bun. Notice the theme? So fresh and delicious was my brown rice and broccoli patty on warm, soft whole wheat bread that I kind of regretted asking for the vegan cheese on top, which was Follow Your Heart, as its flavour and texture dominated. The chips and a pickle “deluxe” options wasn’t a bargain at an extra $2.
Our final meal back in Pittsburgh, the one that had us dropping off the Cobalt without a drop of gas left, barely making our flight back to J.F.K., was at Kaya. Taking a bit of a detour and the 25-mph back roads between Columbus and Pittsburgh we had worked up a huge appetite. We hit Kaya with only meager expectations but were blown away. This Caribbean fusion spot in downtown Pittsburgh’s Strip District had a menu of wonderful ingredients and flavors we wished we’d have free range of, given their limited vegan selections, however our dishes knocked our socks off. I began with corn and lentil beignets with a green curry sauce. This could have been a stand-alone meal; it was that satisfying. But my entree, Jamaican green curry vegetables with saffron rice was thee best curry I ever had. Add this delicious food with great service and a waitress who drops the v-bomb first, and you got a great end to a vegan journey in the Ohio Territory.
Moist delicious cake plumed with real strawberry infused frosting. So pritty and so good.
Oh my whoopie pie! This tasted and felt exactly like a devil dog.
Having our dessert first, we next hit Whole World Natural Restaurant for simple and yummy veg fare. The place has been around since 1978 and surely continues to thrive thanks to its healthy and natural hippie fare. I ordered the housemade broccoli burger on the housemade bun. Notice the theme? So fresh and delicious was my brown rice and broccoli patty on warm, soft whole wheat bread that I kind of regretted asking for the vegan cheese on top, which was Follow Your Heart, as its flavour and texture dominated. The chips and a pickle “deluxe” options wasn’t a bargain at an extra $2.
Our final meal back in Pittsburgh, the one that had us dropping off the Cobalt without a drop of gas left, barely making our flight back to J.F.K., was at Kaya. Taking a bit of a detour and the 25-mph back roads between Columbus and Pittsburgh we had worked up a huge appetite. We hit Kaya with only meager expectations but were blown away. This Caribbean fusion spot in downtown Pittsburgh’s Strip District had a menu of wonderful ingredients and flavors we wished we’d have free range of, given their limited vegan selections, however our dishes knocked our socks off. I began with corn and lentil beignets with a green curry sauce. This could have been a stand-alone meal; it was that satisfying. But my entree, Jamaican green curry vegetables with saffron rice was thee best curry I ever had. Add this delicious food with great service and a waitress who drops the v-bomb first, and you got a great end to a vegan journey in the Ohio Territory.
Vegan Reporting By Location
