Protein-Packed Cashew Butter Cups That Have No Business Being So G-D Delicious

     It’s kind of ridiculous how much I love green juice. I’m probably the last person (/vegan blogger) who would tell people to eat something that doesn’t taste great just because it’s good for you. But guess what? Veggie juice, when done right, is AMAZING. It’s like my favorite thing after hummus and Ron Swanson. So how happy am I that a new juice place has opened in Philly?
    Philly has been screaming for more juice bars, at least in Center City. (At least in my head.) I needs my juice! And with more vendors creating more competition, the prices are getting much more affordable. I’m tired of spending upwards of $10 in the suburbs for a juice that I down in about 9 seconds. (I drink juice fast.) No juice should cost almost a dollar per second! Luckily, the new Yellow Juice Bar, right across from Helium Comedy Club at 2046 Sansom, is not only well-priced but delicious. 
     Upon entering, I was delighted to see that Yellow Juice Bar offers smoothies with protein add-ins, some vegan food options, and banana whips in addition to juice! Also, adorably, they call the banana whips Banana Twirls. It’s like ballet dancing for fruit.

     Before getting to the important stuff (what I ordered and how it tasted), can we just take a moment to appreciate those prices? Yes, it’s still a lot of money for a drink, but not compared to what other juice bars charge for the same if not inferior products. $6 for the biggest size is good in my book for a place in Center City. I do wish they had a 24oz. size, though. 

     Usually my juice tastes veer towards veg-heavy and fruit-light, so I ordered the 16oz. Green Day juice: spinach, cucumber, celery, kale. With no apple in it to balance all the green, I asked the guy if he’d add some ginger so, because I love ginger. He added a bit of lemon and ginger, and had me try it before declaring it finished. I don’t know why, but when he said, “Do you want me to add more ginger?”, I said yes. Oops! It was pretty spicy, but it wasn’t overpowering and I still tasted mostly green. Pretty nice! 

     I also ordered a shot of wheatgrass. At $3, it’s on the more expensive end of what wheatgrass shots should cost, but this could have been the best shot I’ve had of the stuff. It was really sweet and had no aftertaste, which in itself is worth an extra dollar. So good. And, it comes with a frozen orange bite, which I adore. I can’t abide places that don’t give a piece of orange with their wheatgrass. 
     I was nearly awash with juice, but then the two guys working behind the counter offered me a shot of ginger. I stood by the counter and the three of us clinked our little shot glasses and downed a fresh ounce of pure ginger. Umm, have you ever had just pure ginger juice before? It is ROUGH. I mean, I loved it, but it is rough! My insides were on fire for a good 3 hours. Hot damn! You have to try this! It was so nice of them to offer me some after I made my love of ginger known. There were a few other patrons watching as my face and body went through convulsions for a good minute, so that was a little embarrassing, but then I felt kind of amazing. So much juice! 
     I’m definitely going to frequent Yellow Juice Bar, and I’m eager to try the smoothies, the food, and of course the dancing yellow fruits. Did I mention that they have a bathroom? And it’s pretty clean? Another point! And they deliver! If you’re into that sort of thing.
    The only thing I really dislike about this place is that it opened now, after I’ve moved out of the building literally a block away. Other than its bad timing, it’s pretty great. I’ll be going here often! Hopefully they will institute some punch cards for frequent customers, because I love me some punch cards. Almost as much as I love green juice. (No, not nearly as much as I love green juice.)

     Zaatar & Co. is one of the few Middle Eastern restaurants in the region. I dumbly expected to find a lot of hummus on this trip, I don’t know why. (Because hummus should be available like water, right?) However, this was the only place I could find it. So, if you’re like me, that should be enough motivation to go here.  
     Man alive, did we have trouble finding this place. All of the info from Google maps and Happy Cow is WRONG. Like, wrong sections of the city wrong, not just wrong side of the street wrong. The restaurant is actually located just off the main street in the Old Town, across from Caffe Libris and generally behind the Old Synagogue. Luckily, there was a clapboard sign on the main road leading to the alley.
     We had such a hilarious time here. First of all, when we walked in, the owner proclaimed, “Bosnia is out of chickpeas.” It was kind of hysterical. She explained that there was something of a chickpea shortage going on, resulting in exorbitant prices, and they were out of them that day. I was on the verge of tears, because it had been almost a week without hummus. Luckily, she checked for me, and found some hummus and falafel stored in the fridge from the day before. Yay!

     I begged her to bring me the hummus and falafel, and then we ordered a bunch more. To start, I ordered carrot ginger soup. It was brothy, not creamy like most carrot ginger soups I had. It was a bit plain but fine, and I was happy to have some sort of vegetable.      
     Next, she brought us elderflower juice. This was amazing. She said this glass was mixed with some other flowers. The juice was just sweet enough, and really pleasant.

     The hummus and falafel were pretty good, not the best I’ve had but considering I asked for it knowing it wasn’t fresh, it was fine. We also had tabbouli. The herbs seemed really fresh. 
      The best food we ate, by far, was the zaatar manakeesh, a pizza dough-like flatbread with zaatar spices and olive oil on top. When I was in Jordan, I fell in love with this dish. It’s everything you could want from fluffy dough. Delicious. This version was really hot and the crust was awesome. Want now.
     While we ate, the woman was frantically dealing with a million different things – she was on the phone with her supplier (arguing about chickpeas, I assume), doling out assignments to employees, seating customers and discussing the menu, and conducting a job interview with the poor guy sitting near us, waiting nearly throughout our entire meal to talk to her. During all this, she spent considerable time talking to us about her life in Bosnia, her husband, her years spent in America and Asia, and more. I kind of love her.

ZAATAR & CO, Sarajevo

• Water speed: I had to ask for it a lot, but she was incredibly busy. My standards for water became much, much lower in the Balkans.
• Bathrooms: It’s downstairs, again past the kitchen. I guess that’s common in Bosnia.
• Service: Slow, but worth the comedy.
• Food: Good for lunch. 
• Bonus: The owner is a character. Also, once you find it, it’s very convenient to a lot of sights.