Vedge is a fine-dining

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

restaurant located in the Midtown Village neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. In 2018, '' Food & Wine'' named them one of the 40 most important restaurants of the previous 40 years.

History

Vedge was opened in 2011 by Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau, both of whom are natives of Philadelphia and

James Beard Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

nominees. The restaurant is housed in the

Princeton Club The Princeton Club of New York was a private club located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York founded in 1866 as the Princeton Alumni Association of New York. It reorganized to its final namesake in 1886. Its membership composed of alu ...

, a building on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in the Midtown Village/Gayborhood area of Philadelphia.

Food

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

'' magazine called the food "deceptively vegan" and ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'', "unexpectedly bold." VisitPhilly.com describes the food as "moving away from the 'protein at the center of the plate' model" and instead focusing on vegetables. The word "vegan" does not appear on the menu, which chef Richard Landau called "a conscious decision," saying he wanted Vedge to be judged against the best restaurants in Philadelphia rather than against other vegetarian restaurants. Vedge has their

seitan Seitan (, ; Japanese: セイタン) is a food made from gluten, the main protein of wheat. It is also known as miànjīn (), fu (Japanese: 麩), milgogi (Korean: 밀고기), wheat meat, gluten meat, vital wheat gluten or simply gluten. It is m ...

custom-formulated by a local artisan producer.

Bitters Bitters (plural also ''bitters'') is traditionally an alcoholic preparation flavored with botanical matter for a bitter or bittersweet flavor. Originally, numerous longstanding brands of bitters were developed as patent medicines, but now ar ...

and

shrubs A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

are house-made. ''Bon Appetit'' called the dessert selections "seriously interesting." The ''

Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Penns ...

'' called their wine offerings a "standout global list."

Reception

'' Bon Appétit'' said 'Vedge may be a “vegan” restaurant to some, but to us it’s just a great place to eat, full stop.' ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

' '' Robert Draper called the experience an "epic vegan meal — a phrase I never expected to write in my lifetime." ''Food & Wine'' described their flavors as "incredible". ''

Shape A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie ...

'' named them one of the top 10 upscale vegan restaurants in the United States.

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

named them one of the top 20 vegan restaurants in the United States. In 2019, Big 7 Travel named Vedge one of 50 best vegan-friendly restaurants in the world. In 2018, ''Food & Wine'' included them in a list of the 40 most important restaurants of the past 40 years and said they had pioneered and invigorated modern vegan dining, and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'' named them one of the 10 best vegan restaurants in the country. In 2017, ''

Tasting Table ''Tasting Table'' (incorporated as ''TDT Media Inc.'') is a digital media company focused on food and drink. The brand's website and email newsletter report on food and drink trends in the categories of dining, wine, cocktails, cooking and food ...

'' named them one of the 8 best vegan restaurants in the U.S., ''

The Daily Meal The Daily Meal is a food and drinks website. It is the first site launched by Spanfeller Media Group. Jim Spanfeller is a former CEO of Forbes.com. In 2016, Spanfeller was acquired by Tribune Publishing. Content The Daily Meal produces original co ...

'' named them one of the best vegan restaurants in the country, and they were

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coverin ...

's highest-rated restaurant in Philadelphia. In 2016, ''

Wine Enthusiast ''Wine Enthusiast'' magazine is an American wine magazine published by Wine Enthusiast Companies in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1979 by Adam and Sybil Strum, Wine Enthusiast Companies engages in the wine accessories, storage, information, educat ...

'' named them one of the 100 best wine restaurants in the U.S. and called them "perhaps the country's best vegan restaurant." In 2015, Vedge was named one of the six best fine-dining vegan restaurants in the U.S. by PETA and BuzzFeed named them one of 24 "

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" vegan restaurants. In 2014, the restaurant was one of five in Philadelphia profiled by

London Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (f ...

food critic

Giles Coren Giles Robin Patrick Coren (born 29 July 1969) is a British columnist, food writer, and television and radio presenter. He has been a restaurant critic for ''The Times'' newspaper since 2002, and was named Food and Drink Writer of the Year at the ...

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary seri ...

's Million Dollar Critic and ''

Relish A relish is a cooked and pickled product made of chopped vegetables, fruits or herbs and is a food item typically used as a condiment to enhance a staple. Examples are chutneys and the North American relish, a pickled cucumber jam eaten with ho ...

'' named them one of the 15 best vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the U.S. In 2013, ''

Gentlemen's Quarterly ''GQ'' (formerly ''Gentlemen's Quarterly'' and ''Apparel Arts'') is an American international monthly men's magazine based in New York City and founded in 1931. The publication focuses on fashion, style, and culture for men, though articles on ...

'' named them one of the 12 outstanding restaurants of the year and '' Travel + Leisure'' named them one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the U.S. In 2023, the ''

'' named Vedge to its list of the best vegan restaurants in the world.

Criticism

Edward Behr of the ''Financial Times'' said the cooking did not "show a strong thread of style."

References

{{Veganism and vegetarianism, state=expanded Vegan restaurants in the United States Restaurants in Philadelphia 2011 establishments in Pennsylvania Fine dining Vegan cuisine Restaurants established in 2011

History

Food

Reception

Criticism

See also

References