meritage

meritage
500 S. 20th street
philadelphia, pa
(215) 985 1922
www.meritagephiladelphia.com

type of cuisine: vegan tasting menu
culinary excellence: 7
vegan friendliness: 8

i have given this restaurant an 8 in vegan friendliness because in in june they began offering vegan tasting menus every tuesday night. it is a set menu of 4 courses that they have changed once since that time. their regular menu includes a couple of veganizable appetizers, but no cruelty-free entrees or desserts to speak of.

when luca and i went last month, their menu began with an amuse bouche involving a vegetable tartlette with tomato chutney. the crust was a thin wrapper that tasted a little stale and there was a mystery flavor in the vegetables that i couldn't decipher. after that we got some delicious, salted flatbread with an incredible red pepper sauce that wasn't even listed on the tasting menu. next came heirloom tomato salads with cucumber granita. this was served with a lovely, fine thai basil pesto and oddly enough, some bland little rice cakes. the official 2nd course, which was more like the 4th course, was really yummy - grilled japanese eggplant, salt baked fingerling potatoes, gingered carrot puree, indonesian kaffir lime curry sauce and crispy chick peas. really nice medley of flavors - the eggplant was delicate and the carrot puree was wonderful. followed by mushroom lentil sticky rice in a banana leaf, shallot confit, fricasse of asparagus and royal trumpet mushrooms with lemongrass espuma. i remember enjoying eating the strange rice out of the banana leaf but by that point in the meal luca and i had nearly polished off an entire bottle of the nine vines angoves rose wine that our server recommended. just when we couldn't imagine yet another course, we were brought our dessert - rhubarb soup and coconut panna cotta with a sheet of chocolate. i am a chocolate lover myself, but i don't think it added anything to this fruity dish. i think the "sesame tuile" in the description would have been a better touch. i also didn't love the texture of the coconut panna cotta - very gelantinous - and the flavor was mild yet pleasing.

all in all, i liked the concept of a tasting menu, but i doubt i would have ordered any of those items had i any choice in the matter. maybe the eggplant or the sticky rice, but certainly not the salad or the dessert. everything was prepared well and nicely presented, just not particularly inspiring. meritage's current tasting menu is more my speed. maybe it's time for another visit.

i found this review of this same tasting menu at a fellow blogger's site, which includes photos of all the dishes described. i think i will start bringing my camera to restaurants from now on.