Royal Tavern's Vegan Fare

Veganize Me, Royal Tavern!

BY MARISSA OSWALD Remember the days when dive bars had more hairy-legged creatures running around than food items on their menus?  Well, four establishments later, Stephen Simons and co-owner Dave Frank have brought the beauty of culinary ecstasy back into the Philly gastropub – and now, for vegetarians and vegans.
The first two ventures arrived a few years ago in the form of Mexican Cantinas; Dos Segundos located at 931 N Second St (2nd and Wildey) and Dos Caballitos, at 1651 E Passyunk Ave (12th and Morris).  Then came the 56 S. Second St.’s Kyhber Pass Pub – a reinvention of its punk rock venue days to a food-minded beer garden.  But venture further down Passyunk and you’ll find the same cool crowd at the Royal Tavern.
The fare includes Fresh-popped popcorn with truffle butter and parmesan, variations on glazed chicken wings, meatloaf sandwiches with bacon marmalade, smoked gouda grilled cheese, and of course, the angus burger; topped with bacon, caramelized onions, smoked gouda, chile mayonnaise, and a trademark pickled long hot pepper.
Possibly the most interesting aspect of the menu are the foreign twists on American classics.  Think curried chicken hotdog wrapped up in Indian lovash bread with curried coleslaw, or caesar salad with chipotle-sour cream dressing and polenta croutons.
What really made my heart sing were the many vegan options, including a tempeh-greens-tomato-pesto and seedy-bread piled high club, a vegan sloppy joe with jalapenos (no worries, you have the option of getting tater tots on the side), and the grilled sweet potato bahn mi, which is more bread and raw veggies than sweet grilled orange deliciousness.  Thankfully, vegan mayo and siracha came with the just-right fries for dipping, so to add some taste to the bahn mi, I mixed the two and made my very own  spicy mayo.
But the real crowd pleaser was the angus burger, which someone in my party lauded as “one of the best burgers I’ve ever had.”
And although both the tempeh club and bahn mi were a bit dry, I would easily come back for the vegan sloppy joe and the fries, which were almost perfectly crispy and soft at the same time.  And on my second visit, maybe I’ll pay more attention to the microbrews and other libations.  Eh, probably not.