By Brianna Spause
Special Features Editor

Hip City Veg has done it. The small, quick-service restaurant has made the appeal to meat-eaters, vegans, and everyone in between. Their 100% plant-based menu offers a healthy alternative to fast food classics without suffering in the taste department.

Located on North 18th Street in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, Hip City Veg has been offering a deceptively all-vegan menu since they opened their doors in April of 2012.

Critics praise the restaurant’s ability to replicate the taste of classic meat favorites.

“Hip City Veg is always packed but the wait is worth it. An item like the Crispy HipCity Ranch sandwich tastes so much like actual chicken, you can forget it’s not. Self-described as “100% plant-based” foods, it’s hard to believe such a thing was even possible,” Danny Baron said in a Jan. 31 The Couch Sessions article.

Fast and friendly service, paired with a hearty, healthy meal make Hip City Veg stand out amongst the crowd of fast food restaurants that plague the city. Their downfall comes in the small seating features of the restaurant. Approximately eight people can sit down comfortably; which is a mere fraction of the volume of customers bustling in and out.

Customers commonly find themselves taking the short walk to Rittenhouse Square Park to enjoy their meal in the peace of the park. The close location to the park cancels out the disappointing seating arrangements.

“I’m totally smitten with what owner Nicole Marquis and chef Lauren Hooks have done with the space, concept, packaging and food. Clean, smart design gives off a modern gleam, and the “fast food” satisfies on all levels, offering up the salty/fatty/sweet flavors that the human body craves, with a leaner and greener take,” vegetarian food critic Kelly Philips said in an April 2012 Living on the Vedge article.

Alongside healthy choices, Hip City Veg takes steps to supporting the environment. All packaging is 100% compostable, as are leftovers at the end of the night. All deliveries are made by bicycle and the more daring unicycle.

“Getting better starts with what we put in our bodies; it extends to whether we live a life according to our principles,” Marquis reveals in their “Philosophy.”

Vegan or not, this unique restaurant is worth the trip down to the city, for a healthy and satisfying meal experience. The curious, and the conservative are welcome.