Midtown Lunch

Last week, the new Vegan/Organic food truck, The Green Radish, made its debut in Midtown, with a menu featuring various Vegan burgers, sandwiches, salads, and a wide variety of Vegan desserts. Though I don’t usually go for Vegan or vegetarian food, I have friends and family members who do, and it’s nice to know my options in the neighborhood of where I could be content taking them. I decided to catch up with the truck again this week, and found The Green Radish parked on the NW corner of 47th and Madison, setting itself apart from the food trucks and across the intersection in front of the Chase building on 47th between Madison and Park. Here’s the roundup for our first look…

On my first try, upon the recommendation of the lady taking my order, I went for the Portobello Burger ($10).

On a giant sesame bun, the portobello mushroom burger is as meaty as it can get without being actual meat. Doused in a rosemary balsamic marmalade, the burger was tasty, but definitely pretty messy and slippery, so I had to resort to a knife and fork.

The top of the bun has a walnut pesto spread and below the mushroom is a bed of pickled onions and tomatoes. The balsamic marmalade and pickled veggies together kind of reminded me a little bit of a Filipino chicken adobo dish, which I’m a big fan of, and I liked it for that. I almost didn’t taste the walnut pesto at all though. I think I was expecting it to be more of a basil pesto using walnuts instead of pine nuts, but it was overpowered a lot by the balsamic and pickle flavors.

The second time I went, I had the Black Bean Burger, and enjoyed this one a lot more.

This burger’s tall! The thick, black bean patty is substantial and sticks together very well, not to mention freshly made. Within the patty are onions and red bell pepper chunks, and then it is again topped with marinated onions similar to the portobello burger. The sprouted wheat bun is spread with a generous amount of avocado and chiptole mayo to make for a burger that is accessible to food lovers, despite whether or not they are Vegan or vegetarian.

Though this burger’s much less messy than the portobello burger, it’s still good to be prepared with a solid amount of napkins.

Unsure of if I would be full with just the Portobello burger on my first visit, I ordered a side of roasted corn on the cob ($4) with vegan butter, radish spice, and himalayan pink salt.

Overall, I wasn’t very impressed with my corn on the cob. I only took the meal a block away and the corn was cold by the time I brought it back to my desk. Additionally, I don’t think the pink himalayan salt really made much of a difference to my palate, and the radish spice added very little spice to the corn.

What The Green Radish really shines at, I think, is the dessert. Because my first order of the portobello burger and corn got lost in the shuffle of the first day, I was given a free dessert, which was the blueberry cake with vanilla cream (normally $5). This was a nice light and fluffy cake, similar to a coffee cake. The Green Radish has also been showing photos of their Vegan cookies on FB, which look pretty delicious.

All in all, if I’m looking for something healthy, or a place to take my Vegan/vegetarian friends in the neighborhood, I have a go-to spot.

The + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

• Big burgers!
• Great menu selection
• Love the desserts!

The – (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

• $10 is expensive for a veggie burger!
• Entrees don’t come with sides
• The burgers are more messy than meat burgers…

The Green Radish, Check FB or Twitter for Locations