veggieburgh

There are many reasons to love Cafe Phipps: local organic produce, compostable dishes and cups, natural lighting, surprisingly comfortable wooden chairs, and the pierced, dreadlocked counter staff. It is also one of Pittsburgh’s few health-focused restaurants and offers many well-marked vegetarian and vegan options. The prices are reasonable, especially given its location within an admission-charging attraction. You’ll just have to deal with the muzak, which last week included sax highlights of Cats, Phantom of the Opera, and Evita. But we won’t hold poor renditions of Broadway’s long-running family friendly fare against them.

I had the wild mushroom melt with gruyere. It came with chips and cilantro-stem-laden salsa. The sandwich bread was perfectly crusty, and the scant gruyere tasty, but overall the sandwich was dry and those mushrooms were mostly your everyday criminis. Some tomatoes and spinach might have added some moisture and color.

Josh had a veggie gyro stuffed with red and yellow peppers, seitan, tomatoes, and a pickle, dressed with lemon juice, tahini, and something spicy (maybe just chili powder). I liked the long, thin strips of seitan, though Josh found them a little too chewy. Though more flavorful than the mushroom melt, this definitely isn’t date food: it’s awkward to hold and very drippy. But the dressing is tangy and sweet, the pita soft and it gets points for being healthy. We also tried the tomato and red pepper bisque, which was creamy and sweet without being heavy.

Overall, we loved the atmosphere and the cafe’s philosophy, and the food was pretty good for the price. We’d give it five veggies for the worm composting of their pre- and post-consumer waste alone. Was the food great? No. But it’s also pretty early in the season for Pittsburgh-area farmers, so we’re optimistic the fare will improve later in the summer, and it’s certainly good enough year-round to continue to support a restaurant that is so environmentally and health-conscientious.

[4 veggies]

Recommended dishes:

• Red pepper and tomato bisque
• Veggie gyro (if you don’t mind a little mess)