Friday, October 1, 2010

horizons

Horizon's is Philadelphia's best vegan fine dining restaurant. It is a frequently debated topic among the Vegan Real Talk bloggers. And here begins my first official VRT review of Ho-Rizons:

I started off with an amazing corn chowder, which included bits of fresh corn and perfectly diced potatoes, crunchy curried tofu croutons, sambal crema, a pinch of microgreens, and the wonderful scent of lemongrass...I knew it was going to be good. And it was.

That night, none of the entrees appealed to me. Horizons always has several appetizers that sound amazing, but the entrees rarely excite me. The Grilled Seitan is good, but it is also very rich and without much textural contrast. I usually get bored halfway through my meal. There are sure to be a couple tofu dishes on the menu, but they are typically seasonal updates of the same thing. Been there.

So, I went with two appetizers for my main: Jamaican BBQ Seitan and Salt Roasted Golden Beets. The BBQ Seitan was better than ever, served atop a perfect creamy potato salad. The Salt Roasted Golden Beets were a lovely presentation of one of my favorite vegetables, but the ridiculous amount of capers nearly ruined it. I'm guessing there were at least 30 of those pungent little balls in my dish. Too much. I did get to try a bite of the Hearts of Palm "melt" and and it was great. It was reminiscent of a crab cake; definitely something I'd order in the future.

For dessert, I had to try the new chocolate beignets. They did not disappoint. The three beignets were of a generous size, cooked perfectly, filled with good chocolate, and dusted with powdered sugar. I wish there had not been so much chocolate inside, as I was unable to enjoy a bite of beignet sans chocolate. The iced coffee float wasn't so great. Like bland, watered down coffee. Do one thing, and do it right.

Overall, I'd give my meal there an 8 out of 10.

I'll be back soon, as I'm super-excited about the fall dessert menu, especially this:

:o

-beka

1 comment:

  1. I dined there this evening as well and went in the same direction you did: appetizers of chowder and salad, salt roasted golden beets, and side of mushrooms split between the two of us. We were saving some room for the new desserts. Everything was really good, but the chowder was the most impressive. I'm a Horizons "ho", so unless the entrees offer something truly different or am craving a particular protein, I go for the apps. We had the fig and pear crumble, only complaint is that I wanted more cinnamon ice cream...I want to try the carrot cake jar next. It looks crazy good.

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