Couch Tomato Café (Manayunk, PA)

Couch Tomato Café (Manayunk, PA; http://manayunktomato.com/)

My husband and I were in Manayunk for the annual Arts Festival.  We were looking for lunch and stumbled upon the Couch Tomato Café.  The name caught my attention and I saw open tables outside, so we went to look at the menu.  There were a number of vegetarian items, so we went in and ordered.  The place was packed! There was a small eating area directly inside the door and a counter with stools off to the right looking out the front window.  We walked up to the counter, where they showcased fresh salad ingredients and pizza.  I ordered the Beet It salad and a cup of Gazpacho.  My husband ordered two slices of pizza.  We went outside to await our food.

The salad consisted of spinach, roasted beets, goat cheese, and slice almonds, covered in a raspberry-vinaigrette dressing.  When I first looked at the bowl, I could see that there was way too much goat cheese and sliced almonds, so I had to pick some of those out (more the cheese than the almonds).  The spinach leaves were coated in the dressing – a little too much.  Despite these drawbacks, the salad was pretty good and the dressing was sweet.  The Gazpacho was fantastic!  It was cold and spicy, a perfect contrast.  And I’m not just talking a little spicy, I’m talking eye-watering spicy!  My mouth was on fire but I didn’t want to stop eating the soup.  So good!  Both the soup and salad were served with wheat bread – that was good too, lightly buttered and with a little Italian spice. 

I would certainly go there again – there are so many options.  And, for those of you wondering, my husband was so-so about the pizza.  He ordered one slice of white, which he liked, and one Pepperoni slice, which he said was overcooked and just kind of blah.