restaurant reviews: Philly food

On our first night in Philly,  Mandi, Asher and  Morgan  and the Road Crew (the name we coined for ourselves)  all went out to A Full Plate.  The ambiance, food and the people we went there with was a wonderful welcome to Philadelphia.  Zach ordered the nutty and creamy vegan mac and cheese.  The vegan reports that while it didn’t have a particularly cheesy taste, it was satisfying and delicious in its own right.  Then nut and bread crumb topping was a particularly nice touch.  I ordered a sun burger, homemade with crushed sunflower seeds, wheat germ and veggies.  Luckily Chelsea ordered my second choice the homemade spinach and black bean burger.  Instead of fries, the burgers came with a nice little salad of beans, onion and cucumbers, a lighter taste to balance with the hearty burgers.  Both were delish.

To top it all of they served our drinks in mason jars, a little touch of home.

must haves on the menu:

a slice of the Elvis cake (banana, peanut butter and chocolate) at mandi's recommendation.

-o-o-o-

In West Philly, Chels Bell’s used her prior knowledge(Mandi and Asher lived in west Philly until recently) and general prowess to direct us towards, Satellite Café for a little nosh and atmosphere while waiting to meet up with Greg.  And Satellite provided.  We sat in the cozy café surrounded by warm rich warm colors, and split the “Bike Shop” wrap.  Named for Firehouse Bicycles  Satelite’s upstairs neighbors, the “bike shop” is a delicious warm wrap with cream cheese, pesto, spinach and roasted red peppers and is available on a bagel and/or with vegan crème cheese.  The warm melty quality of the cream cheese nicely offset the fresh spinach and soft tangy peppers.  For the vegan we got a chocolate peanut butter brownie which was truly a work of art, a rich chocolate brownie with a thick layer of peanut butter chunks and topped off with a drizzling of thin white decorative icing.   The vegan gobbled it up later, quick to assert it as “the best vegan brownie [he’d] ever had, maybe even the best brownie ever. “

Must haves on the menu: 
vegan chocolate peanut butter brownie
Chels say’s: “their coffee is good too!”

-o-o-o-

I can’t say enough about Honey’s sit and eat.  It was recommended to us by Greg, a local vegan, and provided us with a lovely last meal in Philly.   We got table outside and as we began to read, were wowed by the menu.  It  was a breakfast-anytime sort of place with a distinct jewish flair.  The offerings ranged from enticing omelette's (for those who indulge), challa french toast, burgers and latkes.  The guacamole side with homemade chips was the most satisfying portion of guac I've ever been served, even some to take on the road.   The veggie "chicken fried steak" came with a gravy sauce that turned out to have dairy in it, but the accommodating staff was quick to make amends when we discovered it and the vegan seemed to enjoy it.  Chels and I devoured the gently spiced and satisfying vegetable latkes with applesauce.  Late in the meal we discovered that the patty in the chicken fried steak was the same as the vegetable latkes!  double yum!

Must haves on the menu:
vegetable latkes and/or chicken fried steak, hands down.