Le Peg is a new french brasserie inspired restaurant down along the waterfront in Philadelphia, set in a beautiful building across from the Race St. Pier, located at 140 N Columbus Blvd. While not a vegetarian restaurant, I’ve had some good dishes there, and enjoyed some drinks at the very nice bar inside, as well as a few beers outside in the cool beer garden courtyard.

A truly fantastic building, which was formerly a high pressure pump house for the Philadelphia Fire Department, has been beautifully remodeled with a modern industrial look – a lot of steel and hard surfaces and industrial style classic lights. No sofas, cushions or velvet curtains here. The main floor has a large bar and an open kitchen along with the dining area. Upstairs there is some more seating in a balcony overlooking the main floor.

After watching the building being renovated I was excited to try it out, and when it opened with this years Fringe Arts Festival I headed down. (The building is a theater as well and participates in the festival). Once inside I knew it was a place I wanted to love.

Unfortunately the menu is limited for vegetarians, especially vegans. Perhaps this is no surprise, as it is billing itself as a french brasserie inspired place. Now that I have been there a couple of times, I would say its very nice for drinks and a few dishes at the bar, as long as you eat dairy. If not, it’s tough. However, what I do eat there is very very tasty.

I highly recommend trying the seasonal vegetable plate. Often this can be a boring offering at restaurants, but not down at La Peg.  When I was there last, on a cool October evening, this fall inspired dish featured wild mushrooms over sweet potato cakes, with a sauce of pureed parsley and another sauce of a mushroom puree. It was incredible. The mushrooms were maitake, which was nice. The two sweet potato cakes were seared, and there were some hazelnuts and peanuts along with this dish, adding some interest and crunch.

Another very good tasting dish suitable for us vegetarians was the potato rosti. The potatoes were crispy, in a formed into a shape like a big burger, in a small dish surrounded by the tomato sauce. I was expecting a cheesier dish, and pleasantly found it not so. The tomato sauce was a bit salty, but packed with flavor and a fine a dressing for the potatoes. The shaved cheese was simple and very good quality.

I also really thought the french bread they presented us with was exceptional. It was served with a good quality butter, and they were happy to bring out some fantastic olive oil when requested, which pleased my dining partner who prefers to avoid dairy. The french fries here are also very nice, thin and crispy with a nice ketchup too.

There are also some dishes classified as salads that would work for vegetarians and vegans, such as a carrot salad, a mesclun and a beet salad, which does have yogurt. However, The Rock and Roll Vegetarian is not big on salads, so I can’t report on these.

This is a place we will be happy to spend some time at the bar. Well made cocktails, a good selection of quality beer, and so far some very good glasses of both red and white wines have all gone down well. If you can make it over before the winter sets in, try sitting outside in the beer garden. They even have some outdoor fireplaces they light at night.

La Peg is happy to tell you that they are still developing, and have some ideas to put in place moving forward. A nice jazz brunch would be a great addition to the neighborhood, if they were to ask me, and I’m always up for happy hour… Hopefully they will extend a more complete menu for those of us that don’t eat meat or fish, and we could enjoy a fine dinner there too.

Come on La Peg, break out of the limited brasserie traditions! You’re too good to exclude us for dinner! A vegetarian can dream I guess.

La Peg is open 7 nights a week, from 5.00 PM. For reservations, call 215.375.7744