I took a trip to visit friends in Philadelphia’s Old City this past weekend, and had a wonderful time. It was my first trip to the city, and it turned out to be a wonderful and vibrant place. I went all over the city and saw many historical sites. I ran up the steps of the Art Museum just like Rocky. I also attended some incredibly entertaining pirate burlesque cabaret put on by Cabaret Red Light.

While no vegan cheese steaks were consumed, I ended up eating some seriously good food. We brunched at FARMiCiA, where I indulged in their lone vegan brunch item, scrambled tofu and vegan chorizo with a sopapilla, refried black beans and avocado salsa. The tofu could stand some major improvement, but the meal itself was well balanced and left me feeling refreshed – high praise for a mexican brunch item.

Dinners we took at nearby Han Dynasty, a traditional Sichuan restaurant. My hosts eat there frequently and are friends with the owner, Han. The menu doesn’t explicitly cater to vegans, but after talking with Han he provided us with a feast the likes I’ve never seen before. It was so much goodness we had to go back a second night for a different selection. Here’s some of what I ate:

Cucumbers in chili oil. This was one of the best dishes I’ve had this year. Incredibly hot, but with the coolness and crunch of the lightly salted cucumber.

Homestyle tofu. I’ve had a dish like this many times, but never as good as here. A mild heat, mostly from ginger, and none of the gloopyness that comes with chinese-style sauces.

Pressed tofu and long peppers. Seriously, that’s all that was in this dish, and it was incredible. A powerful heat that subsides quickly.

Tofu in a chili broth with toasted pine nuts. This was by far the hottest thing I’ve eaten in recent memory. The chilis where accompanied by Sichuan peppercorns which numbed the mouth and provided a fierce peppery aroma to the dish. The tofu was of the soft and wiggly variety which soaked up the broth.

A quick question: does anyone know where one can get a nice pair of men’s vegan cowboy boots?

Also, I was quick to catch this little boo-boo by the New York Times on a recipe for Vegan Vietnamese Noodle Salad (which looks delicious, as a note). It’s been since corrected, but look at the first ingredient. Not vegan!

I do love me some Food Network. Even with all the meat (and sometimes there is a lot of meat!), there’s a lot to be inspired by. This weekend we saw an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay involving green chile cheeseburgers, and I felt that I had to give it a go.

I started with a veggie burger based on a recipe from Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, made with yams, black beans, broccoli rabe, and panko. I made the burgers right before cooking them, so they were soft and juicy. This was topped with some roasted hatch (or big jim) chiles, skinned, chopped and fried again, and some red pickled onions (courtesy of Terry Romero’s amazing Viva Vegan). I spread just a little Tofutti cream cheese on the top of my toasted bun to add another creamy element to the dish.