mi lah vegetarian

mi lah vegetarian
218 south 16th street
philadelphia, pa
(215) 732 8888
www.milahvegetarian.com

type of cuisine: international vegetarian
culinary excellence: 3
vegan friendliness: 10

i had been meaning to go to mi lah since it opened in october. when i saw their online dinner menu i couldn't believe my good fortune! such scrumptious sounding food - could horizons have a competitor? as it turns out, they do not. mi lah is just terrible. it's the kind of place that makes me feel embarrassed to be vegan because it reinforces that oft-held omnivorous belief that if it's vegan, it must taste like crap.

luca and i started our meal off with some complimentary pumpkin hummus. this spicy pate, which would more accurately have been referred to as pumpkin seed hummus, wasn't bad, but it was served on this strange hard-as-a-rock flatbread that tasted like foot calluses. yes, it's gross because it's true. then came our appetizer: pumpkin dumplings in a ginger sage gravy with some little browned summer squash dice. this just didn't work for me. the dumplings were more like large pieces of pumpkin gnocchi and the sauce was pretty unappealing. my entree - the roasted root vegetable tart - was definitely the best thing about our meal. though i found the butternut puree around the tart a bit dirty-tasting, i loved the salty-sweet bright orange squash chunks held in by a pleasant pot-pie crust. the top layer of spaghetti squash seemed bland and unnecessary. poor luca couldn't even eat his seitan skewers due to some bizarre astringent flavor in the "mango jalapeno" glaze. i couldn't blame him - that was some of the worst seitan i've ever tasted. fortunately, the waitress was kind enough to provide him with an alternative dish. she recommended the roasted fingerling potatoes with spinach, tempeh, black beans and avocado corn salsa, which was better, but still totally weak. it's a huge pile of hot salad sitting atop a few dry earthy-tasting blue potatoes and smothered in a coconutty mayo-type dressing. capping off our illustrious meal was fresh-baked mini chocolate cake, served with a scoop of vanilla temptation ice cream. other than the fact that the cake was mush inside and this brand of soy ice cream is cloyingly sweet, i wouldn't classify it as a "bad" dessert. lisa's friend joe, who's a bit of a maverick himself, was dining at the table next door. he seemed excited about their new brunch menu, despite his luke-warm reaction to mi lah's food. me, i'm done with them.