Kate F.
Yelp
When I found out the owners of Vedge were opening a market and restaurant in Glen Mills, I was beside myself with excitement to have a delicious, plant-forward restaurant so much closer to home --- and of course, when reservations opened up, I immediately snagged one for their first weekend of dining service. I am always a little skeptical of brand new restaurants that may have some kinks to work out, but our meal at Ground Provisions was excellent from start to finish. While it is an entirely vegan menu, the skeptics should know every single course we were served was objectively phenomenal food that just happens to be made without animal products.
Side note, we arrived a few minutes early to check out their market, which offers a variety of plant-based snacks and sauces along with a small to-go refrigerator with a few sandwiches and vegetable side dishes. I was excited to a see a shelf of Burlap and Barrel spices, a personal favorite of mine, and spotted several specialty ingredients that are often difficult to find in the typical grocery store.
Once our friends arrived, the servers offered to take our coats before seating us in their dining area, which is small but well-decorated and quite cozy.
We were offered their drink menu to make our only decision of the night: did we want one of their 3 cocktails, 2 local beers, or a glass/bottle of one of their natural wines? They also offer a wine pairing for $35, which we thought was very reasonably priced, so I had to indulge!
From there, we began our five course prix-fixe tasting menu, which, per the restaurant website, will evolve monthly and feature seasonal produce from local farms. It's also priced well at $75 per person.
Our first course was Langos, a soft, pillowy potato bread filled with herbs and served with a smoked onion dashi and seaweed butter that was an absolutely delightful place to start our meal. I often avoid finishing my bread to leave room for other courses, but I could not help but devour it all.
The second course, The "Dirt List" was a selection of vegetable side dishes served family style: roasted carrots with whipped tahini, braised broccoli rabe with grits and tomato conserva, and a caesar-inspired salad. The four of us could not agree on which was our favorite --- all were delicious in their own way (to me, the clear winner was the roasted carrots!).
The pasta course was third, and while it was perhaps the least photogenic, I thought it was one of the most flavorful, featuring rounds of semolina pasta with a fennel cream sauce, topped with pistachio and just a hint of heat.
Our main course was the unanimous favorite: a smoky, grilled Lion's Mane Mushroom that was actually quite meaty in texture, served over mashed sunchokes. I think we all would have gladly accepted seconds or even thirds of this course --- just a beautiful, well crafted dish.
Our dessert course featured a creamy, pineapple lush tartlet with chocolate crumb crust and a lavender cream, both of which had textures that made it hard to believe they were non-dairy --- we all scraped our plates clean on this course, too.
A few times throughout our meal, our waiter asked if we had any feedback for the restaurant, and I honestly couldn't come up with anything that we would have changed about the meal. The service was friendly, approachable, and seemed knowledgeable about the dishes and wines they were serving, and the food was absolutely incredible. I've already booked my March reservation and absolutely can't wait to go back!