Tuesday, April 6, 2010

thoreau vegetarian grille (CLOSED)



thoreau
1033 spring garden street
philadelphia, pa 19123
(215) 232 9001
thoreaurestaurant.com

type of cuisine: vegetarian
culinary excellence: 9
vegan friendliness: 9
*recommended*

dear readers, horizons has a competitor. in philadelphia. this is not a joke. from the creators of blue sage in southampton comes a damn fine new vegetarian restaurant called thoreau. luca and i headed downtown on friday night with a bottle of natura to check out the goods. our server started us off with some rosemary focaccia and herbed butter, which i hope was vegan but forgot to ask. in the bread department, horizons takes the lead, as their focaccia is served warm and in breadstick form, as opposed to the giant room-temperature slices offered by thoreau. we skipped appetizers since i wanted to save some room for dessert and i had heard that the entrees are generously portioned. this was most definitely true. my dagwood cubano sandwich was actually two hefty sandwiches piled one on top of the other. god damn was that a good sandwich. warm avocado, cucumber, roasted red pepper and "catalina" style mayo (vegan upon request) on pressed focaccia with a side salad. seriously one of the best sandwiches i've had. such a delectable mix of creamy, savory and salty with even a little sweetness. ate one of the sammies at the restaurant, took the other home for saturday lunch. luca's blue plate was also surprisingly good. it was a piping of purple okinawa sweet potatoes and grilled avocado halves filled with edamame succotash and glazed shiitakes in a lovely carrot syrup. extremely flavorful in similar ways as horizons' dishes. only one of thoreau's desserts are vegan, but it is the only dessert you could ever want: hazelnut toffee basket, or more accurately, a heavenly scoop of chocolate buttercream mousse with a hazelnut oatmeal tuille cookie and some incidental bruleed bananas and a blackberry. every spoonful of this luscious mousse was completely over the top. it was hard to focus on anything else. in the sweets department, thoreau takes down horizons. i thought thoreau would be another mi lah or govindas - obligatory to try as a vegan, but nothing to sustain interest. i am so pleased to say i was wrong. thoreau is a place i will go back to until i've tried all of their vegan menu items.

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