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Vedge's maestro on vegetarian dining scene

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat: Craig LaBan: The farmer's markets are in full bloom. Restaurant menus are channeling every manner of bean, root, berry, and green. So I've got a guest here today who knows what to do with that bounty and

Here is an excerpt from Craig LaBan's online chat of July 15, 2014:

Craig LaBan: The farmer's markets are in full bloom. Restaurant menus are channeling every manner of bean, root, berry, and green. So I've got a guest here today who knows what to do with that bounty and make delicious sense of it all: Philly's own Carrot Whisperer (Pickler and Smoker) chef Rich Landau, who co-owns Vedge with his wife, pastry chef and sommelier Kate Jacoby. Welcome! Vedge is a vegan restaurant, but it's much more: an inspired exploration of what's possible with vegetables, and one of the more refined experiences in town, down to the curated wine list.

How often do you get out to eat at restaurants, Rich, and how important is that in framing your own food ideas?

Rich Landau: We actually eat out often . . . We rarely eat at vegan restaurants, prefer to see what the mainstream is doing.

C.L.: Can you be more specific - what inspired you in past months?

R.L: We just had a stellar meal at a.kitchen, Petruce, and Kanella. What stands out from these experiences is the creativity with vegetables. Not just salads any more.

C.L.: Any great mainstream chef worth their weight in beets is giving produce its due. From Osteria's antipasto plate to Zahav's fried cauliflower to the petit pois at Volvér, the wood-roasted sweet potatoes and carrots at Petruce, the exquisite dashi soup at Serpico, and pretty much all of Eli Kulp's fermentation-forward menus at Fork, High Street, and a.Kitchen, it's quite clearly cool to be a veggie geek these days.

Reader: I love Vedge! My vegan wife and I (omnivore) are hesitant to visit some mainstream restaurants without even a vegetarian entree. I'm sure you get professional courtesy, but what's your general impression of willingness to accommodate a vegan? We do try to correspond with restos ahead of time and have had good (sometimes great - Red Barn Cape May) experiences.

R.L.: Great question! We get a lot of professional courtesy but its pretty easy for a vegan "civilian" to score a great meal. First thing we do - look at the menu online and see how much the chef loves their vegetables. Then call ahead and ask. It never hurts to ask. We have had stellar meals around the world this way (some pretty bad ones, too).

 C.L.: Any techniques you've become very fond of lately - things that might translate easily for home cooks?

R.L.: I have been into doing a lot of ash lately - where you put foil-wrapped vegetables directly on hot coals, then turn off the heat and let them slowly "melt." Also we have been doing a lot of pickling, fermenting, and curing. We have been working on "misozuke" for V Street, which are miso-cured vegetables. The miso puts flavor in and draws moisture out. The flavor is unbelievable.

C.L.: When's V Street going to open?

R.L.: We're still shooting for early October. We're digging through cookbooks making foods we've never heard of. We're working on a langosh, a Hungarian flatbread that tastes like a savory doughnut, and a choripan, an Argentine sandwich that we will be doing with smoked carrots.

C.L: I'd eat a shoe stuffed with your smoked carrots.