Vegan-Palermo is a hole in the wall that serves vegan versions of Argentine fun food.
Hot dogs.
Empanadas.
Pizza.
You can have a beer.
The ambience is negative zero -
But if you are a vegan looking for hot dogs, empanadas or pizza, you have come to the right place.
And yes, Vegan-Palermo really does pull this off.
It is kind of a miracle that this place works at all.
Vegan cheese is now perfectly excellent.
You can get soy cheeses that are as good or better than cow, sheep or goat cheeses.
So that part is easy.
The hard part is the sausage.
Soy hot dogs are awful.
Did I say awful?
Excuse me.
I meant to say really really really awful.
Yet Vegan-Palermo cooks with this as their staple ingredient and serves up decent food.
How does Vegan-Palermo pull this off?
On the hot dogs - they do what Latin Americans do all the way from Tijuana to Patagonia.
They load their hot dogs up with toppings.
I prefer a good meaty beef dog with a zillion toppings
To a lame little soy dog with a zillion toppings.
But a zillion toppings are a zillion toppings.
Vegan-Palermo has some good ones.
On the empanadas - the secret is the crust.
Argentine empanada crusts are the same whether you are filling them with the finest Italian cold cuts you can or with spinach.
Vegan-Palermo does a fine crust.
I had two empanadas, one with sausage and stuff, one with four cheeses.
The sausage and stuff empanada was glorious, thanks to the crust and to the other fillings covering for the hot dog.
Things were fine.
The four cheeses commanded respect because one of them was blue cheese.
And there was a good chunk of blue cheese in the mix.
So this was not some bland lame tame cheese empanada for people who want plain vanilla.
This empanada had some personality and some bite.
My wife had vegan pizza.
She was unenthused.
I liked her pizza better than she did - but I was not madly in love.
She doesn't like a whole lot of cheese on anything - even if that cheese is vegan.
Argentine pizza piles up the cheese to the roof.
If there is less cheese than crust on an Argentine pizza, then by local rules, that pizza has failed.
My wife was not thrilled by the Argentine rules.
I thought the crust was fine and the cheese was fine.
I suspect I would have liked other flavors on the menu somewhat better.
* * *
Still, overall this is a good place.
The ambience is cheap-little-snack-bar.
This is not where you take your first date to have that magical moment.
If the target of your affections is vegan,
Think about Artemisia.
At Artemisia, you can really put the rose between your teeth.
However, if you have been living together for years,
You argue about where you put your toothbrush, and
This is a utility dinner and not date night,
Vegan-Palermo will do you.
For everyday vegan, the place is pretty decent. read more
