Vedge Restaurant: Swoon-Worthy Vegan Cuisine

http://www.vedgerestaurant.com/about 

This week I ate at one of the best restaurants anywhere. It's Vedge Restaurant in Philadelphia. 
The meal was truly swoon worthy. Some might call it transporting, but I prefer awakening. It isn’t taking us somewhere; it is letting us be alive, here and now, with this food. 

The menu descriptions themselves strike me as so lyrical, they are worth quoting. The photos were taken with an iPhone and can only suggest the incredible feast for the eyes that we experienced as each different course appeared before us. (Thanks to Vance Lehmkuhl for being my dinner companion and photographer!)

homemake pickles, rye points, smoked mustard
[incredible smoked mustard!]

Vedge is celebrating: here is what we can do with a plant based diet. Here are the senses you can awaken.  Come and let us speak to your sight, smell, taste.

roasted maitake mushroom, celery fritter and remoulade, truffle mustard

fresh hearts of palm, garbanzo crepe,
curried gold lentils, green harissa

grilled seitan, black lentils, grilled leeks,
smoked romesco

Vedge has what they call the "dirt list"--fresh farm vegetables prepared in luscious ways, like this green chard:

Vedge proclaims with every dish: here is something positive in a world that often seems alienating.  You can create.  You can go to the dirt and be inspired by what grows there. You can go to the dirt and know that from it is everything you need to be fully alive, tasting and consuming. Plant yourself here.