Hip City Veg

127 S. 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 278-7605
Website

HipCityVeg, one word or three? I'm not sure, but either way, I've decided to call it TimeMoneyCalories, because that's what I wasted on a cool, windy day during my lunch hour on this recent visit to the new Rittenhouse eatery.

In case the title leaves you guessing, it's a strictly vegetarian joint that opened a few weeks ago in what used to be Pad Thai Shack – talk about quick turn-over. It's "fast food" for health nuts, vegetarians, etc. with a pretty comprehensive menu that offers a range of plant-based salads, sandwiches, wraps and sides.

The inside is small, but clean and modern with an open kitchen – the line runs the length of the space, its only separation being a chest-high counter. It's nice to see what's going on in there, and while I took a late lunch, even at 2pm, this place was packed with a steady flow of customers so I didn't get the opportunity to really sneak a good peak.

After little deliberation, I decided to order the Crispy Hipcity Ranch and a side of sweet potato fries (they don't offer regular ones). After nearly 10 minutes, my name was called and I retrieved my bag.

Not surprising that the packaging was, dare I say it, "hip." It was clean and really driving home the whole, "we recycle" thing, but I found myself having trouble breaking the sandwich out of its little tightly pleated shell. There was sauce everywhere to begin with.

The Hipcity Ranch came with battered chick'n, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles & peppercorn ranch on some sort of large, really bread-y, dense brioche roll. I took one bite and realized that I'd have to deconstruct this thing to even try and enjoy it. The bread was 5/6ths of the sandwich, and it was d-r-y. The ranch wasn't ranch, it was like a bland soy-based mayo that offered moisture, but really no flavor.

I pulled the chick'n out and ate it first. It WAS crispy, and pretty delicious. With a well-seasoned batter with the punch of coarse ground black pepper, it reminded me of a sassy McDonald's crispy chicken, only 3 times the price, for (most likely) the same (soy-based) ingredients. All of the bread and its 'ranch' dressing sat idly nearby, waiting to join the paper bag in the can.

The sweet potato fries were good. Not crispy, but still good, likely because their mate, a cilantro-black bean dip, was the highlight of the meal. My chick'n patty definitely saw a few dunks in this stuff as well. It was flavor-packed with bits of cilantro and tasted like a fresh Tex-Mex ranch.

Sadly, I can't say another visit will be in order, especially when a $14 price tag leaves me mostly with food waste. Next time I'll go around the corner to McD's when a crispy chicken sandwich is what I'm craving.

-posted by gabulous

Soy Cafe

630 North 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123-3040
(215) 922-1003

I had been living in the area for a long time and often passed by Soy Cafe, always without the slightest bit of interest. Many years later, a friend moved to the neighborhood and expressed such interest, sighting,"they have really great reviews on Yelp." So I did my own research and found that, yes, he was absolutely right - maybe it was time to give them a try. By now, a taste of Soy Cafe was in the cards.

Nearly deterred again because I absolutely can't stand their signage, I remembered that it's not (always) proper to judge a book by its cover. I mean, great food doesn't have to be represented through great design, right? (In a perfect world...)

The interior is actually quite nice and has most of the original architecture in-tact, refinished & painted in cool colors to create a relaxing environment, with a mish-mash of tables and chairs – I guess it would be considered "shabby chic." If that means anything at all.

There's also a crazy magazine collection. They must spend upwards of $500/year on subscriptions alone.

Well, finally, to the food. The menu offers an odd mix of American-Japanese items with an emphasis on fresh veggies and vegan ingredients, though they do offer a few carnivorous alternatives. I opted for a special item, the vegan cheesesteak wrap.

Talk about freshly delicious. Bursting with flavors of crispy fresh romaine and juicy ripe tomato, the wrap was a very unexpected translation of the Philly classic. Like, I don't even think it warrants being called a 'cheesesteak,' but in their defense, there was an abundance of fake meat (seitan) and fake (vegan) cheese to account for the bulk of the sandwich. Finished with some marinated red onions and honey mustard drizzle, this thing was absolutely delicious. Be warned, Soy Cafe, if any die-hard cheesesteak fans find out about this menu option's namesake, there might be trouble on the horizon.

We also ordered the turkey pesto sandwich, made with 98% fat free turkey, homemade sun-dried tomato pesto, black olives, tomatoes, soy cheese and spring mix on choice of bread - sun-dried tomato, in this case.

This was another winner, for certain. Using only the freshest ingredients with thick slabs of juicy turkey, this sandwich was a well balanced construction served on rather thin slices of bread that stood up to the challenge. I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually had properly ripe tomatoes like these on a sandwich, save for the ones I pick out of my own backyard.

And not to mention the Asian-style salad! That ginger-sesame dressing gets me every time. Fresh greens topped with paper thin spiral-shaved beets & carrots and a healthy dose of the Japanese topping, this would make for the perfect accompaniment to any meal.

Well done, Soy Cafe, well done!
-Posted by gabulous

Vegan Fig Bars

The other day, while out on a South Philly fig hunting bike ride with a Vegan partner in crime, I realized we didn't have a plan as far as how to prepare the figs. I figured a homemade take on Fig Newton's would be a good compromise, as I normally only think of figs as a complement to meat. We were lucky enough to get about 30 fresh figs from various trees in a couple of neighborhoods.

This recipe was SUPER easy, and really quite good.
Ingredients:
1c shortening
2c flour
4c diced fresh figs
2c water
1/2t salt
1c brown sugar
2 c quick cooking oats
2T lemon juice
2T orange peel
1c Honey
2T balsamic vinegar


Take a medium sauce pan, and add 4 cups diced figs, 2 cups water, honey, vinegar and orange peel. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for an hour.


Next add 2 table spoons of flour mixed with 2 table spoons of water and stir in until it becomes a thick (Fig Newton like) mixture. Add 2T lemon juice, cook an additional 5 minutes and take off of the heat.


After that, cream together the shortening, and the brown sugar. When that is throughly mixed, add in the oats and keep on mixing! Spread half of the oat/shortening mixture on the bottom of a greased glass baking tray, and dump on the fig mixture.


Spread the mixture evenly across the entire tray.


Cover with the remaining oats and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Although not necessary, we threw it in the broiler to brown up the top. Slice them while warm, and let cool completely before removing.


Although this picture is bad (Iphone!), the finished product tastes great! Next time, I might try something different for the top crust. Also, you could put virtually ANY fruit in the saucepan to start and it would have similarly great results (cherries, peaches, or blueberries come to mind). Give it a try, and impress your Vegan friends.