Vegicano Cinco de Mayo Pop-Up with Peaceful Provisions

Last month, Vegicano hosted a pop-up dinner at Urban Vegan Kitchen with desserts by Peaceful Provisions; you can bet I was there.

The cocktail list was varied and I was glad they offered mocktails; it's so boring when the only options for those not imbibing are water & soda.

I chose the non-virgin madame du berry: mezcal, blackberry, lemon, peach bitters. It looked like it would be fruity and was served in this delicate champagne glass, but the surprise was on me because I forgot that mezcal is a smoky tequila. My fault entirely, and it's not the first time I've made this mistake. I get it, many people like to mix their sweet and savory. I am not one of these people! 

 

I was uber grateful when the amuse bouche showed up to cleanse my palate: brocetita de sandia vestido: watermelon, cucumber & red onion with chile, salt, & lime. What a bolt of flavor! We were definitely off to a good start.

*the picked onion was sandwiched in the cucumber fold

The evening's food menu:

 

The appetizer was guacamole estilo vegicano: with chipotle roasted chickpeas & walnut cotija and the guacamole was so delicious that I was able to look past the customary cilantro within. The crunch of the chickpeas were such a nice counter to the creamy guac (why haven't I seen this paired before?!) and the homemade chips were divine. It was really difficult to share this with my 3 tablemates; I easily could have commandeered the whole bowl and left happy.

There were two dinner options: glutenous or gluten-free; we all of us went for the gluten. Filete de seitan a la mexicana: with arroz y rajas, refritos, and cucumber pico turned out to be a flavorful spin on traditional beans and rice featuring seasoned rice and peas, melt-in-your mouth refried beans, and a slice of succulent seitan topped with onions and tomatoes (gluten-free option substituted jackfruit and yuba for the seitan). As someone who is used to the multi-faceted tacos and tortas served to order at Vegan Shop-Up, this struck me as Vegicano Unplugged.

For dessert, Peaceful Provisions offered the choice of either a donut hole trio (gluten) or chocolate cake: salted coconut dulce de leche, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and spiced almonds (gluten free). I was THRILLED with my donuts, but had the opportunity to try the cake via my generous pal and it was amazing as well.

I know; it's blurry and dark. It was the best I could do before it was speared by 4 forks.

Three flavors of giant donut holes: chocolate ganache filled & tossed in spiced sugar, raspberry & cholula glazed, dulce de leche filled & topped with pepita. I expected to automatically love the chocolate the most, but they were all so wonderful with distinct flavor profiles that I honestly could not pick a favorite.

Keep your eyes and ears open for whatever Vegicano and Peaceful Provisions do next- either together or individually. They are talented people who continue to surprise and delight.

Urban Vegan Kitchen- Quick Review

It wasn't until I was in an Uber headed for Urban Vegan Kitchen that I realized it was located in the former Blossom on Carmine space. I thought it surprisingly fortuitous for one vegan restaurant to replace another until I arrived and my friend told me she thought they were still affiliated. I glanced around and the similar decor seemed to support that theory. A quick Google search brought up results from places like Seamless and Open Table that referred to UVK as, "formerly known as Blossom on Carmine," and,  "a.k.a. Blossom on Carmine-" seemingly suggesting definitively that she was correct. This article confirmed the association.

Unlike, say, Peacefood Cafe's severely limited brunch, the UVK brunch menu lists an impressive amount of offerings. As it happened, my friend and I both chose the same: breakfast sandwich: crispy tofu rounds, avocado, kala namak, shiitake bacon, hollandaise aioli, arugula, red onion, multi-grain english muffin served with garlic sauteed kale, homefries, ketchup. A note about the homefries: you can order them separately and they are described as seasoned potatoes with chives. I was very excited; potatoes can sometimes be the star of the show and I'm okay with that.

The dishes and mugs that UVK uses are beautiful pottery pieces that really lend themselves to the presentation, but I found the components of the meal to be considerably less stellar. The homefries for which I'd had such high hopes were under-salted and seemed "seasoned" with only pepper- nary a chive to be found. As my friend pointed out, the sauteed kale looked like the decorative or ornamental variety you see planted around strip malls in the fall. It was wilted and chewy and I began to wonder if it was meant to be edible. Another Google search does not recommend:

"...there is ornamental kale, and there is culinary kale. Both are members of the brassica family, but they're not quite the same...Ornamental kale is still edible, but you probably wouldn't enjoy it much, as the plant is fairly tough and chewy."

The sandwich, although in desperate need of hot sauce, was good- albeit oily. Curiously, it consisted of three, thin, fried, stacked, rounds of tofu along with the aforementioned accoutrements, but even the English muffin was soaked with oil- presumably from the grill? Again, the overall taste was relatively yummy, but rather underwhelming. Coincidentally, this has also been the issue in the past with Blossom on Carmine. Tastewise: way better than Blossom du Jour's messy egg, cheese, and bacon muffin...nowhere near as good as Terri's simple but delicious bacon, egg, and cheese muffin with hollandaise.

All this to say that I think UVK is simply a new concept for Blossom and it's not necessarily one I'd care to revisit. Coming in at $16 for the plate (one of the less expensive menu items), this turned into a $25+ brunch with OJ, tax, and tip. I guess brunch isn't one of the meals I tend to splurge on (ahem, dessert), but just speaking in terms of good food for the price, this falls skewed towards not-really-for-me as opposed to would-go-again. I guess I should just be happy they didn't charge a brunch surcharge.