4:30 on a Friday afternoon and I am leaving the office – should be an exciting time, right? After all it is the official start of the weekend and what could be better?  How about an I-95 on ramp that isn’t backed up onto the street!  This is not looking good – so I go to Plan B. I’ll travel up Delaware Ave in my quest to get home.  Resistance is futile. The YEARS of construction on and around 95 continues and that means almost constantly changing traffic patters. Seems like a new pattern today has me moving two city blocks in roughly 20 minutes.  So it’s onto  Plan C – one that I rely on often: find a spot close to where I am and EAT!  Thankfully my commute home passes by the Fishtown section of Philly. Fishtown has come alive in recent years with countless places to grab a really good bite to eat.

I wasn’t far from Cedar Point Bar and Kitchen.  I have been here a couple of times before for brunch after a couple of races in the city.  But it has been a while, and I was never here for dinner so I figured I may as well give it a play.  It was early enough that the place wasn’t packed yet – they have outside seating and since it was a nice night it was already full.  The bar was also full but the dining are had plenty of seating and I got seated right away.

Looking over the menu they have a few vegan options and I decided that tonight I was going for a couple items I haven’t tried in the past.

Cauliflower Fritters with Peanut Butter Collard Greens 

Cauliflower Fritters – I have become a huge fan of cauliflower as of late, and the menu description mentioned peanut butter – so how could I not order this? Really I can eat almost anything with peanut butter!  The collards were creamy and tender with a good level of spice to them and a distinct flavor of peanut – think Thai Peanut Sauce. The fritters were crispy outside yet soft inside. They had a nice smoked flavor; probably from a nice dose of smoked paprika. I tried them both separately, and while I could eat lots of the collards alone, the cauliflower was slightly one dimensional. I definitely suggest eating them together as a bite as this makes a really good plate of food.

Kale Burger & Fries

Kale Burger. In my pre-vegan days burgers were always one of my favorite things to eat, so I am always on the search for a great vegan burger.  I was a bit disappointed that my search couldn’t end here. The flavor is good and I could taste both main ingredients of kale and white beans, though it ate more like a pate than a patty.  I didn’t mind that as much as the fact that it was a little flat with no real big punch of flavor that one looks for in a burger.  Even a nice shot of salt and pepper would have helped.  The brioche bun was slightly dry but the sage aioli helped out a bit with that situation; however unless I read the menu description I would have never guessed it was a sage flavor.  Unfortunately even the last saving grace of the plate, the fries, couldn’t help. I love fries with the skins still on, but these were pretty mushy and I left the majority of them behind, which is unusual for me.  I have to keep myself from eating  fries off others’ plates normally!

So I wish I could say this helped make my commute home a bit better, but it seemed I just hit another road block with the burger.  However I am not giving up on this place. The brunch items I have had were really good and worth going back for; I will review a brunch sometime soon.  My recommendation: if you find yourself here for dinner, skip the burger and order a couple of appetizers – the above fritters and their veggie wings (ordered at a previous brunch visit) should do the trick to satisfy any hungry vegan!