Blue Sage in Southampton, PA
Last week I ate an amazing meal out in Southampton (near NE Philly off of Street Rd) while visiting in-laws. The Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille is a terrific little place in a strip mall, and it's not the boring-crunchy variety of vegetarian that tends to turn off carnivores. (I'm a carnivore, previously a vegetarian.) As a public service, here's a tip. Go. Soon! I shared two appetizers--the blue corn tacos with goat cheese, asparagus and red pepper pesto were breathtaking (and under $9), and the fried plantains with a parfait of black hummus, sour cream, and multicolored tomatoes was also moutwatering. For an entree, I had the blue plate, which was grilled portabellas with mashed sweet potatoes, a grilled avocado and a summer bean/corn salad; my husband had wild mushroom risotto. None of the entrees were over $17 on the menu. We shared a dessert, a hazelnut toffee basket (I don't know why they called it this, it didn't look like a basket) filled with chocolate buttercream mousse (much heavier than regular mousse, more like frosting--yum) with carmelized bananas. It's a BYOB place and you definitely need reservations for weekend dinners--I don't know about weeknights. I think it's also open for lunch like Thurs-Sun. It's small and kind of noisy with some close-together tables but that's okay because you get a better view of the dishes you didn't order, which are all presented beautifully. The service was very professional and prompt, not obsequious. They have a website but it doesn't really say anything about the owners or the restaurant's history, sadly. I will definitely go back.
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Blue Sage Vegetarian Grille
772 2nd Street Pike, Southampton, PA 18966
By YummyProf
on Jul 12, 2007 01:09 PM
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We had a similar experience at Blue Sage last month. The food was great. The place also does a very brisk take-out business.
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Blue Sage is close to my home and office and I've had dinner and lunch there more times than I can count. The food is very good but they don't often change the menu so after several years I just stopped going for six months or so. When I returned, the menu was essentially the same and the food was as good as always.
IIRC, the owner is self-taught and while the food is quite flavorful and inventive, it's not particularly sophisticated or complex. But if I wanted that, I'd go to Matyson. Make no mistake, even though it's vegetarian, the food tends to be rich and fairly high in calories. Even the soups and salads.
There's not much turnover with the wait staff who are very pleasant. The sound level gets pretty high when it's crowded, which is during most lunch and dinners Wednesdays through Saturdays. I think they're closed Monday and Tuesdays.
BS is a BYOB, which makes it an even better bargain.
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