New to Philadelphia, the recently opened Beefsteak, 3417 Spruce St., is a deliciously cruel tease.
The latest addition to the veggie-centric fast-casual dining chain has no “beef” or “steaks” on the menu and it is buried in the lower levels of Houston Hall’s food court on the University of Pennsylvania campus, with no signs on the outside to lead anyone who doesn’t already know about it to.
But we did find it, and dammit this place should be kept a secret that only college students should know about, even if the name kind of tricks carnivores.
“The name sparks a conversation,” executive chef Pat Peterson said. “The name started with the idea of vegetables being sexy. That’s the thought that led to the development of the restaurant. We were trying to think of a name that would cleverly and playfully express what we were doing. The beefsteak tomato has a very meaty bite to it and we thought that would be a nice play on words, and we use that product in the fantastic sandwich that we’ve got. The name shows our playfulness and gets everybody talking about us.”
The sandwich namesake, the Beefsteak Tomato Burger ($4.99), has a thick slice of tomato taking the place of the burger patty, with onions, sprouts, herbs, capers and sea salt rounding it out. But the real draw to Beefsteak is its salads and bowls, ranging from the Naked Bowl ($7.99) with yellow squash, potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli and green beans, to the Kimchi-wa ($8.79) with corn, carrots, edamame, bok choy, kimchi and soy ginger. You can also choose your own combinations from the fresh and impressive selection of vegetables over a base of rice, greens, bulgur or quinoa. Then (carnivores, pay attention!), you can jazz up your bowl with a selection of sauces (black bean, garlic yogurt, cilantro or spicy tomato), meats (or meaty-ish) additions like chicken sausage ($2.99), avocado ($1.99), poached egg ($1.59) or salt-cured salmon ($3.99), and textual finishes like cucumber salad, seaweed salad, crispy onions or kimchi.
It’s hard to get a combination wrong and most of the veggie, carb, protein and sauce mixtures work well together.
The drink selections at Beefsteak are equally vibrant, with options like lavender lemonade and beet/apple juice (the staffers at Beefsteak highly recommend mixing the two together and they are absolutely right), to quench your healthy thirst.
“What we tried to do is change the way the world sees vegetables,” Peterson said about Beefsteak’s culinary vision. “You can come in and have a really great-tasting meal that you’ll enjoy at a price point that you’ll enjoy. The quality of the food is great and what you just sat down and ate was actually one of the most nutritious meals you can eat.”
Beefsteak is definitely making gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan dining on-the-go convenient, tasty and affordable. If you are up for a healthy culinary treasure hunt, break out a map and a compass and find Beefsteak.