Philly’s most stellar vegan burger pops up just once a month
Turned off by the industrial fake meat alternatives, Pietramala chef Ian Graye wanted to make a veggie burger that was "obviously made from vegetables." It's available one Sunday per month.
As a passionate but open-minded burger aficionado, I love the occasional vegetarian alternative to beef. Yet I despise the industrial meat-replacement patties from Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger that at one point dominated the market. These high-tech, plant protein-based Franken-patties simply taste awful, with a petroleum-like back flavor that reminds me of driving past an oil refinery; perhaps that’s why the industry is struggling. Ian Graye, the chef behind Philly’s most cutting-edge vegan kitchen at Pietramala in Northern Liberties, shares the sentiment.
“There’s an aftertaste that lingers in the mouth and it always comes up the back of my throat after I’m done eating,” says Graye, who’s been working on his own vegan patty for the past decade. “I wanted to make a veggie burger that was made from vegetables.”
Earlier this year, Graye began selling his veggie burger one Sunday each month, when the restaurant is normally closed and his staff is off-duty. Part of the burger’s appeal is that it appears to be an elemental patty of coarsely ground veggies — smoked Mycopolitan comb tooth mushrooms, heirloom pinto beans, charred onions — sustainably repurposed excess ingredients from the restaurant’s dinner production. (The burger’s traditional appeal as a delicious vehicle for leftovers is universal: Some of the region’s best beef burgers, like the smash patties at Wildwoods’ BBQ, are ground from the trim of briskets otherwise destined for the smoker).
The magic of Pietramala, an Inquirer 76 restaurant, is that none of its vegan wonders are as simple as they seem; these burgers are no different. The patty takes three days to prepare — much longer if you count the many months it takes to ferment the housemade tamari, miso, and other scratch larder ingredients that bolster each patty with an impressively deep, layered savor. (Graye ferments his own tamari and miso, in part, to assure they’re not too salty. They’re gluten-free, as well, even if the finished burger itself is not).
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Graye takes care to make sure extra moisture is removed from the blend before it’s bound with vital wheat gluten, steamed, and set, producing half-inch thick disks that are far firmer — dare I say meatier? — than other squishy bean patties I’ve tasted. Once given a hard sear in a cast-iron skillet, these crusty burgers get basted with an umami glaze made from the reduced bean pot liquor that’s been emulsified with more miso and tamari, lending each burger a juicy shine before it’s set onto a seeded bun with ripe tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and a special sauce made with pickle brine, fermented chilies, and lots of garlic.
One caveat to this stellar burger is that Graye’s not seriously scaling up production any time soon. That said, he’s bumping his batch to 150 burgers for Sunday and he’s now taking burger reservations with prepayment to streamline service.
Veggie burger, $16, on select weekend days and holidays at Pietramala, 614 N. 2nd St., Philadelphia, (215) 970-9541; pietramalaphl.com. Watch the restaurant’s Instagram for updates on sale dates.