Nourish Plant-Based Cafe and Juice Bar
177 W Girard Ave.
Philadelphia
Open daily 9 a.m.-9 p.m.
When I first walked in to the vegan eatery Nourish, a Black-owned community staple, I was first greeted by a cafe vibe with shelves stocked with natural products for sale, a cold case for to-go juices and pastries, and an ordering counter stocked high with more pastries. To my delight, there was also a section just past the cold case full of tables for sitting and enjoying your meal.
So we grabbed a table and sat with the menu to decide what to get for dinner. (Fake) greenery displayed around the bright cafe, and reggae music played at a comfortable volume, encouraging conversation. I came to Nourish specifically because I was told that they make their own meat substitutes with veggies and grains, as opposed to relying on seitan or soy as their meat alternative. I was impressed by their selection. The dishes relied heavily on different types of mushrooms as a chicken alternative and had house-made “meatballs” made from quinoa, mushrooms, and plantain alongside the traditional seitan options.
We started backwards with dessert and a fresh-made juice, then ordered the vegan “tings” for an appetizer and a meatball sub and the fried chick’un platter for our meals. I was so full by the time our main course came out that I had only a few bites of each to complete this review before we packed them up to go.
For dessert we picked the Carrot Vanilla Agave cake. It was a great choice on our part. I would have never guessed the traditional spice cake was vegan, it was so believable and moist. The icing was a sugar base, which I prefer over the traditional cream cheese icing that usually tops a carrot cake. It was sweet but not overpowering.
My husband Alex, a self described smoothie aficionado, ordered the Fruits and Roots which consisted of strawberries, blueberries, mango, beets, lion’s mane mushroom, sea moss, pea protein, and agave. As someone who believes it’s easy to mess up a smoothie when you start adding in ingredients besides fruit, Alex was pleasantly surprised. I, a person who does not indulge so often in smoothies, felt that the drink had too much of an earthy aftertaste which I determined came from the beets.
Next up came the vegan “tings,” the restaurant’s take on wings, substituting the chicken with King Oyster mushrooms. We got half BBQ and half buffalo. Ooh-wee, the buffalo ones were spicy! I stuck to the BBQ ones; Alex finished off the buffalo ones with pleasure. The BBQ sauce was perfectly tangy with just a hint of heat that brought the sauce together. The mushrooms were a surprisingly good dupe for a chicken wing flavor-wise, but the texture of the wing was definitely different: It was difficult at times to take smaller bites from a single wing because of the chewiness. The breading on the wings was remarkable and stuck to the mushrooms very well.
While we were waiting for our main course to come out, I went over to a table with two friends sitting and enjoying their meal. Roxanna, a vegan, in town from Toronto to visit her friend Bennett who lives in Germantown. They had never been to Nourish before; they were in the area for a concert at near-by The Fillmore. Wanting to grab some food before the show, they searched the web for a vegan restaurant. “My meal is really good,” Bennett told me, “It’s all very filling. And you can get lots of food for not so much money.” Roxanna chimed in: “If there was a place like this in Toronto, I would definitely come back often. There’s so much to choose from on the menu that I would want to come back and try. “
Next our main courses arrived. Of course I wanted to try the meatball sub because of the house-made meat option. Alex got a fried chicken platter that resembled a hearty meal you’d get at a soul food restaurant, with mac and cheese and a kale cooked almost like collard greens.
I’m sad to say I was disappointed in the meatball sub. The meatball was true to its dupe of a meatloaf, but not in a good way; it was too dry. While the marinara sauce was tasty and gave the meatball the moistness it was missing, the vegan mozzarella cheese just wasn’t cutting it. The flavor of the cheese made clear that it wasn’t real cheese. Overall, I wasn’t feeling this sub; I packed it up to go for Alex to take for lunch this week.
The fried chick’un, on the other hand, was bursting with flavor. Made with Enoki mushrooms, battered and fried to perfection, this meal is what I would rave to friends about. The breading was delicious, with the perfect crunch. The sides did not live up to their names. The mac and cheese didn’t taste at all like a mac and cheese, more so just a pasta with an unidentifiable flavor sauce. The sauteed kale included a hefty dose of sauteed peppers, not a combined flavor I enjoy.
The Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars. Lots of options, but not always the most convincing dupe of non-vegan food. I was also disappointed by how much plastic wear the restaurant used, even for sit-down customers.
I give it a 3 and not a 2 because they have the best vegan fried chicken I’ve ever had, by far, and I’ll definitely be telling my vegan friends to try it for themselves.
