Vegan MoFo: Blackbird Pizzeria...part 3...and softserve!

Sooo...have you read enough vegan pizzeria accolades yet? You're going to have to sit through just one more.


Truly, Philadelphia is such a vegan-friendly city, and there is no reason to get stuck going to the same place three meals in a row. It's just that sometimes when you're tired, hungry, and you don't feel like wandering off into bad-traffic parts unknown, it's easier to stick with what you know. I wondered if the employees would recognize us and question whether we ever feed our children any other food groups. Even though I changed Sissy's hairdo and added a cap to my head, lo and behold, the jig was up; we were declared "their best customers." If only they knew they how generous I am with free advertising.

I learned that Blackbird has only been open for about "a month and a half" claimed the cashier.

Let's look at this potato pizza close up. We are all just raving about this stuff.

I will say that the 2nd time we came, the potato pizza wasn't quite as tasty as the 1st and 3rd times. Almost, just not entirely. Maybe it wasn't as fresh, or maybe there weren't as many spices the 2nd time.

Clearly, I'm going to attempt a potato pizza when I get home.

Here is one I think is lovely with different colored potatoes.

The actual main reason we sojourned back to Blackbird was Ryan's feelings that a Philly Cheesesteak was imperative for celebrating our visit. (I actually had a "duh!" moment when I made the connection of Philadelphia with its cheesey successor.)

I've ordered cheesesteak sandwiches from a few different vegetarian restaurants, and I've yet to find one I didn't like. This one was heavier on the bread than I may have preferred - and light on the seitan, but I liked it and would order one again. (Well...if they were all out of pizza that day, then I would.). Also, this was just one sandwich; I definitely don't think I could have eaten both halves by myself.

I wasn't pleased with myself for all of that flour running through my veins, so I shared my sandwich and ordered a caesar salad, as well. This one had onions, artichokes, and crouton, among other things.

Later, we stopped by B2 because I had heard they served "vegan softserve." It's a small, eclectic coffee house. They aren't entirely vegan, but there are many vegan simple sandwiches and vegan desserts.

We all liked the ice cream. It tasted like homemade icecream. Ryan said it definitely had a soymilk taste to it, which wasn't a bad thing.

They were very nice because when my 3 year old dropped her icecream cone on the ground, they replaced it for free. I offered to pay, but they refused.

Some preferred their softserve in a cone.

And the rest of us ordered ours in cups.

I would have chosen cone if it had been chocolate.

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Tomorrow, I'll try to write about my afternoon/evening from "you know where" which was at least pleasantly topped off with a visit to one of my all-time favorite restaurants, Candle Cafe.

Vegan MoFo: Philadelphia

The next leg of our journey took us to a cute, small town in Pennsylvania, amidst Amish country. We actually stayed with a blogging friend (from my family/homeschool blog) I'd never "met." It was a great experience, and I loved her as much as I knew I already did. I think I may have freaked her out after she came over here and read my vegan story. (She knew I was vegan but maybe didn't realize how deeply and for how long.)

She was incredibly gracious and accomodating. (And she's weird herself, anyway because she doesn't like vegetables or fruits so we're kind of even. Right, Annette? ;) ) She sent me a dozen emails beforehand, checking and rechecking ingredients, to make sure she fed us "correctly." We had oatmeal for breakfast, pb&j's and carrots and apples for lunch, and spaghetti with sauce and black beans + salad for supper. She did great! She had even made vegan fudge for us, using this recipe.

Onto Philadelphia...I love Philadelphia!

And I love it when I see signs like this one.

I saw the all-vegan Blackbird Pizzeria on Happy Cow but was bummed because it appeared to be closed during lunch. We just happened to wander upon it as we were looking for something else, and it was open. (From what I understand, it's now located in the spot Gianna's Grill was formerly located.) It has a bit of a "hole in the wall" type atmosphere (but seemingly clean). The employees were all very friendly and helpful.

They had several pizzas ready to order by the slice, or you can place a special order, as well. It was sooo exciting. Maybe this was only my second all-vegan pizza place (also Cruzers in L.A.) I've ever been to?


My oldest son immediately zoomed in on the potato pizza. It was so intriguing and delicious. I've never had anything like it. I really want to try this at home. We all loved it.

We also ordered pepperoni, cheese, and a vegetable type.

I'm probably not the best reviewer because I'm excited enough just to be eating at the place with "All Items are Vegan" written on the wall, that my taste buds may or may not be thinking clearly. I'm pretty certain this was a great place, though. (Ryan says yes, it was.) I can, of course, make a vegan pizza any ol' day, but I have never made a crust so fluffy and crispy at the same time. And I just walked up to a counter and ordered it, ate, and left my dirty dishes behind...I love vacation. Definitely 10 thumbs up from the whole family.

They have many other items on their menu: sandwiches, garlic bread, etc.

They also sell desserts. I knew just by looking at them, they had to be from Vegan Treats, and I was right. Leave it to my funny 10 year old to pick out the kooky pretzel brownie. We all kind of shared everything.


So...I so wanted to love all of these because I always drool over the Vegan Treats pics. They were fine, but I didn't moan, "These are sooo good," with a mouthful of food, like a might if they really blew me away. I think this is why I only thought they were fine: I prefer my desserts chilled. Especially if the frosting isn't overly sweet. I'm not a huge cake-at-room-temperature person. I know that when you chill chake, it can dry it out, which is why they don't do it. It just feels like these luscious looking frostings would taste better chilled. My favorite part of all of these was the brownie at the bottom of the pretzel concoction. It was good!


There were, however, 3 other little mouths that weren't as discriminating as mine. And that's all that really matters. I felt very happy for them since they only get desserts a few times a year at restaurants, during our trips and travels.

We walked around the area surrounding Blackbird in South Philly (fun area but maybe not so kid-friendly; we had to avert their eyes away from a few different stores). We also made it to see The Liberty Bell.

Just because our hotel was so close, and we knew the route, we decided we might as well go back to Blackbird. We thought it seemed necessary to order a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich while we were in town. However, they had just used their last two pieces of bread when we walked in. Therefore...we ordered pizza again. Apparently, we were subconsciously fine with that since we plowed through it with no problem.

Tomorrow night, I might insist on a raw dinner in NYC to balance things out a bit.

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I'm behind on blog reading and replying because it's harder to comment while on my phone. And I'm often needed in the car to open packages, locate missing Leapster cartridges & blankies, etc., and watch out for exits. I'll get caught up soon. I appreciate all of your trip well-wishes, and I enjoyed all of your Vegan Essential entry comments. (I will get your extra entries posted soon, as well.) Vegan MoFo has been fun, and I don't want to miss out on the "party" one bit.