Vegan MoFo!- Monk’s Cafe, Philadelphia
Monk’s Cafe is a Philly institution. Fantastic beer selection, and they always have something vegan on the menu! Sometime in the past year or so they upgraded their vegan burger from an obviously commercial patty (Boca or Gardenburger or something) to an obviously house-made burger, which was a great improvement. They also have a seitan cheesesteak (leave the cheese off for vegan!). And even better, there’s always at least one vegan entree on the menu, which seems to change every few months. This most recent visit offered a seitan/mushroom meatball dish with polenta and mixed vegetables. They actually ran out of this entree so even though three of us ordered it there was only one serving available. My fellow vegan dining companion got the vegan burger instead, and an omni friend confused the waitress by switching to a meat burger.
I expected the solid variety of polenta and was surprised to receive the soft variety, which I don’t typically like very much. But this serving was pleasantly seasoned and went well with the tomato sauce and soft balls of seitan and mushrooms. The vegetables were cooked perfectly and were also nicely seasoned.
A word of warning if you do go to Monk’s, especially on a weekend evening. If you want a table, they want you to order food. Otherwise you can stand at one of the two small bars. It is a small place and they do not take reservations. You have to put your name on a waiting list, and you have to make sure your entire party is there before they will put your name on the list. At peak hours, it can be quite a wait. We went on a Saturday and were told 45 minutes to an hour, but it was more like an hour and a half. This all sounds like a pain, but if you like beer it’s worth it once in a while. It’s much better to go for lunch, or on a random weekday for dinner. I once went on a Wednesday right after work, and got seated right away. The owners of Monk’s also own Belgian Cafe, which has a much roomier dining area and also has several vegan options on the menu (including a fantastic vegan creamed chipped “beef” for brunch!)
