July 31, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Over the Horizon: healthful, delicious vegan dishes
by LEN LEAR

The Vietnamese bruschetta tastes as good as it looks. Interestingly, 80 percent of Horizons’ customers are not vegetarians.

I think it was Gandhi who said that “if everybody could see what goes on in slaughterhouses, everyone would be a vegetarian.”

It’s a paradox that here in the U.S., the wealthiest country that has ever existed, with the most varied and abundant food supply and the most technologically advanced medical care, we are also the fattest country that has ever existed on this planet — with at least 70 percent of our adults and 33 percent of our children substantially overweight and underexercised. About two dozen nations are ahead of us in life expectancy, a lower incidence of heart disease, diabetes, numerous forms of cancer, etc.

Countless books like Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me and an almost endless array of research studies reported in medical journals like the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the American Journal of Epidemiology have targeted the two leading causes of our unhealthy population.

First is the almost total lack of exercise by more than one-half of our adults, and second is the animal-based diet pushed by the factory farming industry — the unspeakably cruel and highly mechanized system of mass imprisonment, hormone-injected (for fast growth) and slaughtered cattle, pigs, ducks and chickens, producing in us sky-high rates of cholesterol and artery-clogging saturated fats, high rates of breast cancer and a whole host of other ailments, sparking an epidemic of pill-popping and record profits by the pharmaceutical industry.

Even the reality of global warming has been exacerbated by the insidious practices of the death-dealing agribusiness industries. According to a 443-page landmark report by the U.N. Food & Agricultural Organization, released in November, 2006, animal agribusiness is the world’s number one source of water pollution and number two source of greenhouse gases (right behind auto and factory emissions).

Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby are the owners of Horizons, the area’s finest vegetarian restaurant. (Photos by Donna Gentile Wierzbowski)

Among the warriors trying to reverse this catastrophic trend are those promoting a more plant-based diet, in some cases even vegetarian or vegan. For years many Americans who might otherwise have chosen to eat vegetarian meals at least some of the time have eschewed the idea on the grounds that the food tasted like underseasoned mush.

Increasingly, though, vegetarian chefs are finding ways to make their creations with color, texture and flavor to spare. For example, vegan restaurants like VegiTerranean in Akron, Ohio; Sublime in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Veganopolis in Portland, Oregon, have all gotten rave reviews from carnivorous reviewers in their respective cities.

Here in Philadelphia, Horizons, which moved in February, 2006, from Willow Grove to 611 S. 7th St. (between South and Bainbridge, formerly home to a seedy lounge called Goosebumps) in Bella Vista (in Willow Grove it was called Horizons Café), has received unanimous raves from reviewers, including a three-bell review from the Philadelphia Inquirer’s dyspeptic critic, Craig LaBan.

When I went on Citysearch.com on June 19, just before going to Horizons, I found 18 short reviews placed there by customers. Sixteen gave it five stars, the highest possible rating, and the other two gave it four stars. I’ve never seen a higher percentage of five-star reviews on Citysearch.com for any restaurant. It was also called the city’s “Best Vegetarian Restaurant” by both the City Paper and Philadelphia Magazine and “Restaurant of the Year” in 2006 by Vegetarian News Magazine.

Chef/co-owner Rich Landau grew up in Elkins Park eating baloney and tuna fish sandwiches, like almost all of his peers, but at age 16 he developed an ethical aversion to eating animal products. In 1994 he opened Horizons Café as a small lunch counter in the rear of a natural foods store in Willow Grove. One of his customers was Kate Jacoby, then a high school student, who would eventually become Rich’s wife in September, 2004.

Unlike their Willow Grove restaurant, which was BYOB, Horizons has a huge variety of wines, cocktails, beers in bottles and on tap, and after-dinner drinks.

The two-story restaurant has a young, hip feel. The second floor, where we sat, has wooden beams and paddle fans overhead, stained hardwood floors, colorful paintings on the walls, lots of lit candles on mantlepieces and ledges and comfortable chairs. The only negative, as with almost every other crowded restaurant, is the sometimes deafening noise level.

Two appetizers that completely blew us away were the Vietnamese bruschetta with lemongrass-glazed tofu, sriracha mayonnaise and cilantro mint relish ($9) and Jamaican barbecued seitan with green jerk cabbage salad and spicy scotch bonnet cream ($8). Both were spectacular combinations of color, texture and flavor. I can’t imagine a meat eater being disappointed in the firmness of the seitan (textured wheat gluten).

An entree of garbanzo-crusted tempeh (soybean cakes) was a little hard, but the accompanying vittles — golden lentils, fava bean and smoked potato-stuffed piquillo (peppers), lemon aiolo and cured olive salad — were all glorious delights ($18). An entree of Pacific rim grilled tofu (soy curd) with a spicy glaze, seared sushi rice, wasabi edamame cream, pickled shitake, daikon and nori salad was a sublime marriage for anyone who appreciates Japanese food ($18).

Kate makes all the desserts. Her chocolate peanut butter bomb was sensuous, but the accompanying peanut butter ice cream tasted just like peanut butter and thus did not provide any contrast ($7); the lavender cheesecake was heaven and was paired with strawberry slices and a bit of white chocolate caramel ($8).

Our server, Lindsay, was delightful, helpful in answering questions about the menu and efficient. Every table in the dining room was occupied when we arrived at 7:30 p.m., and each table was ‘turned over’ as soon as it was vacated; most impressive for a weeknight. (Landau estimates, by the way, that about 80 percent of his customers are not vegetarians.)