Streets of Philadelphia…

Enjoying a week off for winter recess, it was time to escape, however briefly, to new east coast vegan options. Philadelphia recently opened its first all vegan, all gluten-free bakery! And with the city being just a short ride away, CP and I made a day trip especially for Sweet Freedom Bakery.

Sweet Freedom Bakery is a great addition to Philadelphia’s vegan scene. The scene that includes one of the best meals of all time (Horizons, blogged ’bout here), as well as a huge quantity of mock-meat Chinese restaurants.

I got a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting. This is my favorite flavor combination in a cupcake and it is essential a bakery does this basic right. The cupcake had a soft texture and tasted healthy… in a good way. The icing balanced out the cake nicely, it was a thicker, cocoa-ier chocolate buttercream. Very good! I also got one of their Magic Bars, a layer of coconut-dusted ganache on top a layer of crumbly cookie.

To tide us over for an early dinner we took a quick trip to Maoz, the “quick-service” vegetarian falafel chain with the mind-blowing fixin’s bar. I loaded up my pita pocket to the brim with their fresh offerings.

We also hit the new upscale vegetarian grille on the block, Thoreau. Thoreau was a elegant spot and our entrees were ridiculously fresh and flavorful. Before our entree we were given a choice of pumpernickel or rosemary fresh-baked bread, along with a melon-ball of spicy vegan butter.

I chose the Cubano Supper, one of Thoreau’s few vegan entree options, which included 3 plantain empanadas filled with sunflower seed-chipotle pesto, a tower layered with yellow tomato and a tasty guacamole, an ample pile of delicious mango papaya relish and topped with jicama slaw. It was very flavorful, clean and satisfying but not the greatest value.