Wiz Kid Is About to Open in Rittenhouse Square

Photo by Alex Tewfik

Kate Jacoby and Rich Landau’s vegan cheesesteak spot Wiz Kid debuts Friday, August 4th for lunch at 124 South 19th Street, right next door to V Street.

While the Vedge duo opened the first Wiz Kid inside the revamped Art Museum Whole Foods last year, the Rittenhouse outpost has a bigger menu as well as a liquor license: in addition to Waterade, a watermelon lemonade, and Super Green, coconut and rice milks blended with matcha powder, they’re serving up julep tea as well as wine and beers from Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co. Your tea or lemonade can be spiked with a shot of bourbon or gin for an additional $5 (or get that shot on its own, secret menu style, for $5).

And, because this is a Landau-Jacoby joint, the menu is plant-based, fresh, and delicious. What’s surprising is that items clock in at $10 or less. Not bad for vegan food in Rittenhouse.

Photo by Alex Tewfik

In addition to the WK Philly — sautéed maitake and royal trumpet mushrooms topped with Landau’s signature rutabaga-based wiz and caramelized onions — there’s the Roast Rabe, their take on a classic South Philly-style roast pork sandwich, which tops the mushroom mix with broccoli rabe, long hots, and charred onion mayo. (With a killer cheesesteak and the roasted rabe on the menu, it’s sort of like vegans just got their own John’s Roast Pork right in Center City.)

Photo by Alex Tewfik

The KFT (Korean fried tempeh) sandwich, topped with tomato, sriracha Thousand Island, and radish kimchi, adds some crunch to the menu, as do two veggie bowls: a Mediterranean-inflected Cobb with pickled cauliflower, olive salad, harissa tofu, chickpeas, and lemon sumac dressing and a chopped salad featuring a rainbow of fresh veggies (waterlemon radish, purple carrot, cauliflower, and edamame) topped with Green Goddess.

Sides-wise, crisp, deep golden hand-cut fries can be topped with wiz or served okonomiyaki style (that’s Korean barbecue sauce, Kewpie mayo, and nori). And for dessert is the Pot Hole, a round, chocolate brownie-style cake topped with halva buttercream, crushed pistachios, and strawberry jam.

Wiz Kid soft opens for lunch Friday, August 4th and Saturday, August 5th from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. They’ll be closed Sunday and then fully open from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. seven days a week starting Monday, August 7th. Check out the full menu below.

Wiz Kid [Foobooz]