They say that the internet is isolating us under the guise of bringing us together; that we have traded face-to-face friendships for cyber relationships. Today I proved that theory wrong. I went out to dinner with two of my blog readers, Claire and Justin, who live in Philadelphia. They suggested we hit The Belgian Cafe for vegan wings and beer. Good call. We enjoyed a bunch of laughs, cheap $3 pints, and some mighty good food. We started with the stuffed tofu (pictured above), which isn't so much stuffed as sliced with stuff in the middle. The tofu was stuffed with Spaten Optimator (what is that? It sounds like a Transformer), cherries, cashews, cilantro and garlic, and was served with garlicky sesame spinach. We also got the pomme frites (read: French fries) served with a smoky ketchup and vegan aioli.
And, as promised, the vegan wings (not bad, but I actually prefer mine).
Justin ordered the vegan burger, which seemed to be lentil-based but no overly mushy.
Claire got the gazpacho and salad.
I settled on the vegan Reuben because it has always struck me as a weird sandwich. Although I think they doused the bread in oil before toasting it, it was very tasty indeed. I will have to look up Isa'a recipe when I get home. It came with a salad of greens and beans. Nothing special but a nice balsamic dressing.
All in all, a great time was had by all! Thanks, Claire and Justin!