Since moving to Philadelphia for college back in 2006, I loved having options of vegan friendly restaurants in the city. One of my favorite spots was Horizons on South Street. This was upscale, not an everyday type of restaurant - but the food was so delicious that I wish I could afford to eat there for every meal. However, it made an excellent special occasion restaurant that I looked forward to each time I went. After Horizons closed in 2011, the owners opened up Vedge which still held the high standards of food that Horizons did, but now in a smaller, tapas-style dinner.
Vedge is one of my favorite restaurants, and we still typically go there on special occasions (birthdays, anniversary, around valentines day, randomly if we're in the city to grab a drink and dessert, etc.). I was VERY excited when I found out that they were opening a new street food style restaurant called V-Street. I kept checking out updates on their facebook and twitter and around the vegan internet rumor boards about the different types of food they may be serving in their new restaurant. I could not wait!!
Jason told me this past Friday that we'd be going to an exclusive tasting preview of V-Street. I was SO excited! I kept thinking of what they may make and looking forward to the event. It did NOT disappoint and only makes me even more excited for the restaurant to finally open (which should be in October 2014!).
We started out with a delicious sake based cocktail that Kate made. It was very fresh and a great way to start the meal.
Our first course was the Banh Mi Chopped Salad. This included tofu, green chile, cucumber, daikon, bean sprouts, and shredded greens topped with a delicious creamy cilantro sriracha dressing all on top of a piece of grilled baquette. Definitely an amazing starter salad!
Our next course was the Funky Kimchee Stew. This was a delicious kimchee stew with charred broccoli and fried rice. Not expecting to be blown away by a soup/stew when it comes to street food - but this was absolutely amazing and I'd order it in a heartbeat!
Our third course was something I had to google prior to eating it. We saw the menu as we sat down and saw the word "Langosh". Both of us not knowing what that was - thanks to Google explaining that it was a type of Hungarian flatbread, we were excited for this course to come around! This was a langosh with creamy sauerkraut dill dip and smoked beets. I believe the beets were the only item I did not eat that night. I have utmost confidence that Rich & Kate know how to cook vegetables to make anyone like them, however I have quite the aversion to beets. The dish did not disappoint around them though!
Our final course was a delicious grilled carrot. Not just any carrot though. This course was described as Choripan - whole roasted carrot with black beans and chimichurri. Although we were definitely getting full by this point, this dish was still extremely exceptional and ended the meal on a very high point. They stated that this will typically be served sandwich-style - so I'll be interested to see how that is when V-Street does open.
No meal is complete without dessert - and Kate is AMAZING at desserts so I was very excited to try her concoction! As full as we were, she had us drooling as she put together this intricate and beautiful dessert. This was called the "Halo-Halo" and was comprised of sweet potato ice cream, blackberry sorbet, and fruit salad topped with coconut whipped cream. This was the best way to end the night on a sweet note.
Attending this evening's sneak preview of V-Street was such a great experience and really built the anticipation of the restaurant to open in October.
And of course, as good as this meal was - you know I will be at Vedge on my actual birthday coming up. :)
V-Street
126 19th Street
Philadelphia, PA
Expected opening: October 2014
Expected opening: October 2014
Vedge
1221 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA
1221 Locust Street
Philadelphia, PA
